Daimler Motorkutsche

1886 · Motorised Carriage · Work 243 of 1,871

Daimler Motorkutsche, 1886, Motorised Carriage

The Daimler Motorkutsche, a converted horse carriage without shafts, standing on a Cannstatt lane, vertical single-cylinder engine between the seats, belt pulleys and gear rings on the rear wheels.

What it was used for
According to the Mercedes-Benz archive, Gottlieb Daimler ordered an "Americaine" carriage from Wilhelm Wimpff & Sohn in Stuttgart on 8 March 1886, ostensibly as a birthday present for his wife Emma, in fact to fit an engine. It was delivered on 28 August 1886 and brought to Daimler's house secretly at night; engine and steering were installed at Maschinenfabrik Esslingen under Maybach's supervision. The vehicle was a test bed, one unit: per the archive Daimler did not, for the time being, think of a successor model or series production, but wanted to demonstrate uses for his engine. No documented date for its first drive was found.
What was new
By Mercedes-Benz's account, a high-speed combustion engine drove a four-wheeled vehicle for the first time: 462 cc, 1.1 hp at 650 rpm, up to 18 km/h, 290 kg; in 1887 it was converted from air to water cooling. The engine was new, not the vehicle: unlike Benz's Patent Motor Car, an integral design of its own, Daimler's was per the archive a carriage without shaft and with fifth-wheel steering. Benz, per the same source, was a few months earlier; the two worked independently, and a 2026 report says it is still unclear whether they ever met. The catch: the public hardly noticed Daimler's road vehicles, while his marine and stationary engines were an immediate success.

Connections

Every connection names its kind. “Forerunner” on its own would be a claim.

  1. Follows fromDaimler Reitwagen1885The carriage's engine is the enlarged single cylinder of the riding car: against the riding car's 264 cc, Daimler and Maybach almost doubled the displacement. The Mercedes-Benz archive calls the riding car the first test object for that engine.Source: Mercedes-Benz Public Archive: Daimler motor carriage, 1886 · Mercedes-Benz Public Archive: Daimler riding car, 1885

Further reading