Bertha Benz is an extraordinary figure in the history of world motoring. If not for her actions, Carl Benz and his invention – the first car – would not have penetrated the collective consciousness.
It was Bertha, Carl Benz's wife, who played a key role in popularizing the invention. She was a great supporter of her husband's work, and an extremely brave and enterprising woman. She repaired the first car in history using a garter and was the first to drive it more than 100 kilometers.
Who was Bertha and how did she meet Carl?
Portrait of young Bertha Benz (source:https://group.mercedes-benz.com).
She was born in 1849 in Pforzheim, Germany, the daughter of a respected construction contractor. Her parents placed great emphasis on the education of their nine children. Bertha was exceptionally intelligent, easily absorbing technical knowledge, but unfortunately, at that time women were not admitted to universities, so she did not receive a full education. While traveling by carriage to a picnic, she met a young man who enthusiastically dreamed up visions of traveling in a horseless vehicle. Charmed by the genius of her new colleague Carl Benz, she chose him as her husband, despite her parents' reluctance. Before the wedding, she invested in her future husband's ideas (which she could no longer do as a married woman). She believed deeply in his innovative project and actively participated in its creation. She understood the operation of the engine perfectly, and introduced improvements and corrections. In the world of that time, the constant presence of a wife in the workshop and working with her husband was something abnormal, the only role intended for her was to take care of the house and children. The couple, due to working on their inventions, were in a permanent financial crisis and only after 13 years of marriage and work together in 1888, the three-wheeled vehicle with an engine was ready and soon patented. It debuted at the Paris fair, but it turned out to be a complete flop - the regulations of the event did not allow for starting the exhibited machines. The stationary vehicle did not interest anyone, and there was no belief that it could replace a horse.
Bertha decided to show the car to a wider audience, she had a great marketing sense
In August 1888, together with her sons Richard, aged 14, and Eugen, aged 15, driving a Benz Patent-Motorwagen Nummer 3, she set off on a journey from Mannheim to her hometown of Pforzheim without her husband's knowledge. She sat behind the wheel, or rather the stick, and her sons took her place. They aroused unusual interest; villagers made the sign of the cross at their sight, thinking it was a witch's vehicle. Bertha went down in history as the first person to manage to cover a distance of over 100 kilometres (exactly 106 km) on her own, and without the help of a mechanic. During the journey, she personally carried out necessary repairs. She used her own garter to insulate the cables, and a pin from her hat helped to unclog a clogged fuel line. She had to remember to cool the engine with water all the time, and therefore make frequent stops at streams and rivers. They ordered leather brakes from a shoemaker, worn out from braking on steep descents. A blacksmith from a passing town helped repair the drive chain. She also had to buy some fuel (it was ligroin, or petroleum ether, used, among other things, to remove stains), which she obtained from a chemist's. Today, a plaque on the wall of that chemist's reads "The First Gas Station in the World."
The first trip had a wide resonance
The first long car journey in August 1888 (source: www.group.mercedes-benz.com)
The tired and dirty family reached their destination and sent Carl a telegram saying, “We have arrived safely.” The pioneering journey was covered in all the local newspapers, and the story spread far and wide. Thanks to the publicity, the car was able to travel to the prestigious exhibition in Munich, where it received the gold medal of the Exhibition of Engines and Machinery Equipment. From then on, the Benzes were doomed to success. By 1899, the company employed 450 people. World War I forced the couple to join Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, their competitor. The daughter of Daimler designer Emil Jellinek bore the Spanish name Mercedes. The new company received the first part of its name in her honor. This is how the Mercedes-Benz brand was created.
