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83-626: Two years after Karl Benz drove the car in public in July 1886, Karl's wife Bertha demonstrated its feasibility in a trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim in August 1888. Around the same time, the Patent-Motorwagen became the first commercially available automobile in history. Émile Roger, who made Benz engines under license in France, was one of the first persons to buy Benz' car; from 1888, Roger

166-547: A toothed rack that pivoted the unsprung front wheel. Fully elliptic springs were used at the back along with a beam axle and chain drive on both sides. A simple belt system served as a single-speed transmission , varying torque between an open disc and drive disc. The first Motorwagen used the Benz 954 cc (58.2 cu in) single-cylinder four-stroke engine with trembler coil ignition. This new engine produced 500 watts ( 2 ⁄ 3  hp) at 250 rpm in

249-426: A Model III, without telling her husband and without permission of the authorities, thus becoming the first person to drive an automobile a significant distance. Before this historic trip, motorized drives were merely very short trials, returning to the point of origin, made with assistance of mechanics. Following wagon tracks, this pioneering tour covered a one-way distance of about 106 km (66 mi). Although

332-491: A TV documentary on the invention of the automobile by Carl Benz, highlighting the very important role of his wife, Bertha Benz. The report is not only on the history of the automobile, but took a look at its future, shown by the Bertha Benz Challenge on 10 and 11 September 2011. The 2011 documentary The Car is Born , produced by Ulli Kampelmann , centered on the first road trip by Bertha Benz. In 2016, she

415-544: A document by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor . Visits to Pforzheim by Heinrich IV in 1067 and 1074 are documented. Before 1080: The "old town" of Pforzheim was awarded market rights ( Marktrecht ). At that time Pforzheim belonged to the estate of Hirsau Monastery , according to monastery documents. From 1150: Establishment of the "new town" west of the "old town" at the foot of the Schlossberg (palais hill) under Margrave Hermann V . 1200: The town charter of

498-505: A library so that unemployed people could at least read. In 1933, 84-year-old Bertha Benz is said to have greeted Adolf Hitler as the "savior of Germans". She and her family were very quickly co-opted by Nazi propaganda, and as early as Easter 1933, a National Socialist memorial was inaugurated for Carl Benz in Mannheim, in which Bertha participated. She later distanced herself from Hitler when she understood that his policies were leading to

581-609: A master builder and carpenter, and her 20 year younger mother, Auguste Friedrich, were wealthy individuals who invested heavily in their children's educations. in Pforzheim in the Grand Duchy of Baden . Her father became wealthy by speculating with real estate. She attended a boarding school in Pforzheim for 10 years and was known for her ambition and fascination with technological innovation , but could not pursue higher education, as women were not allowed to attend university at

664-401: A motorized vehicle while maintaining a career as a designer and manufacturer of stationary engines and their associated parts. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was a motor tricycle with a rear-mounted engine. The vehicle contained many new inventions. It was constructed of steel tubing with woodwork panels. The steel-spoked wheels and solid rubber tires were Benz's own design. Steering was by way of

747-560: A new war. On her 95th birthday, on 3 May 1944, she received the title of Honorary Senator of the Technical University of Karlsruhe , where her husband had studied – women were not allowed to study during her youth. On 20 July 1872, Bertha Ringer married Karl Benz. Together they had five children: Eugen (1873–1958), Richard (1874–1955), Clara (1876–1968), Thilde (1882–1974), and Ellen (1890–1973). The Mannheimer Morgen quoted Bertha as "enterprising mother of five [who] led

830-724: A parade of antique automobiles celebrates this historic trip of Bertha Benz every two years. On February 25, 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route , following the route of Benz's journey, was officially approved as a Tourist or Scenic Route by the German authorities as a route of industrial heritage of mankind. The 194 km (121 mi) of signposted route leads from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim ( Black Forest ) and back. Bertha Benz Bertha Benz ( German: [ˈbɛʁta ˈbɛnts] ; née   Cäcilie Bertha Ringer ; 3 May 1849 – 5 May 1944)

913-517: A sense, the fraternities were early forms of health and life insurance . 8–9 August 1418: Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor visits Margrave Bernard I (Bernhard I) in Pforzheim. On this occasion the mint of the Margraves of Baden in Pforzheim was mentioned. Mint master was Jakob Broeglin between 1414 and 1431. The emperor appointed the master of the Pforzheim mint, Jakob Bröglin, and Bois von der Winterbach for five years as Royal Mint Masters of

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996-525: A strict regime. Carl Benz is described by contemporary witnesses as a "serious and just person", while his wife is said to have had an "aggressive nature"." Bertha Benz died at age 95 in her village in Ladenburg on 5 May 1944. In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially approved as a route of the industrial heritage of humankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's path during the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. Now it

1079-577: A university in Pforzheim, but this plan had to be abandoned because Margrave Charles I lost the Battle of Seckenheim . 1463: Margrave Charles I was forced to transfer the palace and the town of Pforzheim as a fiefdom to the Elector Palatine after losing the Battle of Seckenheim. He then began to build a new palace in modern Baden-Baden . Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden finally moved

1162-563: Is a Stadtkreis , meaning it is both a municipality and a district at the same time. Also, it hosts the administrative offices of the Enz district that surrounds the city. During World War II , Pforzheim was bombed by the Allies a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardments of World War II, was carried out by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on

1245-468: Is how the chemist in Wiesloch became the first fuel station in the world. She cleaned a blocked fuel line with her hat pin and used her garter as insulation material. A blacksmith had to help mend a chain at one point. When the wooden brakes began to fail, Benz visited a cobbler to install leather, making the world's first pair of brake linings . An evaporative cooling system was employed to cool

1328-446: Is possible to follow the 194 km of signs indicating her route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim ( Black Forest ) and back. The Bertha Benz Challenge , embedded in the framework of the ceremony of Automobile Summer 2011 , the big official German event and birthday party commemorating the invention of the automobile by Carl Benz over 136 years ago, took place on Bertha Benz Memorial Route on 10 and 11 September 2011. It

1411-693: Is still active today as the Loebliche Singergesellschaft of 1501 . (They are probably one of the oldest clubs in Europe). 1520s: The ideas of the protestant religious movement advanced by Martin Luther spread rapidly in Pforzheim. Its most prominent promoters were Johannes Schwebel, a preacher at Holy Ghost church (Heiliggeistkirche), and Johannes Unger, the principal of the Dominican Latin school . 1535–1565: Due to

1494-476: Is used as a scientific meeting facility for a nonprofit foundation, the Daimler and Benz Foundation, which aims to promote science and research in order to gain a better understanding of the correlation between man, the environment and technology. In 2011, a dramatized television movie about the life of Carl and Bertha Benz was made named Carl & Bertha  [ de ] , which premiered on 11 May and

1577-597: The Neckar and Rhine to, among other markets, the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding. Their timbers were also used to construct the foundations for Amsterdam , which was built in a swamp. Since 90: A settlement was established by Roman citizens at the Enz River near the modern Altstädter Brücke (old town bridge). Archeological surveys have unearthed several artifacts of that period which are kept and displayed in

1660-623: The Patent-Motorwagen automobile to the public in Mannheim . It had powered rear wheels with a ringed steel and solid rubber, steerable front wheel and optional seat arrangements and a folding top. Karl Benz was a poor marketer and faced competition by Gottlieb Daimler , which prompted his wife to undertake the test drive in 1888. On 5 August 1888, 39-year-old Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim with her sons Richard and Eugen, thirteen and fifteen years old respectively, in

1743-652: The Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire and conquered the Roman administered area west of the Rhine River. From then on, over an extended period of time, historical records about the settlement were not available. 6th/7th century: Graves from this period indicate that the settlement had been continued. 1067: The settlement was mentioned as "Phorzheim" for the first time, in

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1826-548: The heritage division of the clan of the Margraves of Baden, Margrave Ernst of Baden made Pforzheim the residential town of his family line. He decided to use the Schlosskirche St. Michael as the entombment site for his family line. 1549: A large fire caused severe damage to the town. 1556: After the conclusion of the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, Margrave Karl II introduced Lutheranism ( Protestantism ) as

1909-470: The "new town" was mentioned for the first time in a document. The "old town" continued to exist as a legally independent entity. 1220: The Margraves of Baden selected Pforzheim as their residence. This resulted in the "new town" becoming prominent. 1240: A mayor of Pforzheim was mentioned in a document for the first time. 13th/14th century: Pforzheim enjoyed its first period of flourishing. A group of influential patricians emerged. They developed

1992-638: The Auer Bridge Gate, the Upper Mill and the Nonnen Mill were burnt down). The French also stole all church bells, except for one minor one. On 20 September 1692, again crossed the Rhine river under the general command of Marshal Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges , and advanced toward Durlach and Pforzheim. On 24 September, 2,000 cavalry soldiers and 1,200 infantry and artillery troops under

2075-641: The City of Pforzheim. Below they are mentioned in clockwise order, beginning to the north of the city. Except for Unterreichenbach, which belongs to the district of Calw , all of them are part of the Enz district. Ispringen , Neulingen , Kieselbronn , Niefern-Öschelbronn , Wurmberg , Wimsheim , Friolzheim , Tiefenbronn , Neuhausen (Enz) , Unterreichenbach , Engelsbrand , Birkenfeld (Enz) , Keltern and Kämpfelbach . The city of Pforzheim consists of 16 city wards. The communities Büchenbronn, Eutingen an der Enz , Hohenwart, Huchenfeld and Würm, which by way of

2158-471: The French troops had crossed the Rhine river under the command of Marshal Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges at Philippsburg on 3 August 1691, they assaulted the Margraves' residential town of Durlach and 1,200 cavalry men, 300 dragoons and 1,200 infantry men advanced toward Pforzheim where they arrived in the morning on 9 August and surrounded the town. When the approximately 200 imperial soldiers under

2241-411: The German imperial command, who were defending the town, were forced to surrender. After a short period of looting, the French troops set the inner town area on fire on 15 August, which made that area uninhabitable for several weeks. Then the French moved on. During the following two years, French troops stayed away from Pforzheim, but the economic situation of the town was miserable. In addition to this,

2324-527: The Kappelhof Museum. The settlement was located where the Roman military road connecting the military camp Argentoratum (nowadays Strasbourg in France) and the military camp at Cannstatt (now a suburb of Stuttgart ) at the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire crossed the Enz river. This place was known as Portus (meaning "river crossing, harbor"), which is believed to be

2407-781: The Palatinian Succession " (also called the Nine Years War ) caused tremendous destruction in Southwestern Germany. The French "sun king" Louis XIV 's efforts to expand the territory of France up to the Upper Rhine river and to put the Elector Palatine under pressure to severe its ties with the League of Augsburg included the Brûlez le Palatinat! tactics of destroying major towns on both sides of

2490-476: The Patent-Motorwagen worldwide attention and got their company its first sales. Bertha Benz was not allowed to study in the Grand Duchy of Baden , and her financial and practical engineering contributions have long been overlooked until the 21st century. Cäcilie Bertha Ringer was born on 3 May 1849 to a wealthy carpenter family in Pforzheim . She was the third of nine children. Her father, Karl Friedrich Ringer,

2573-504: The Patent-Motorwagen, although later tests by the University of Mannheim showed it to be capable of 670 W (0.9 hp) at 400 rpm. It was an extremely light engine for the time, weighing about 100 kg (220 lb). Although its open crankcase and drip oiling system would be alien to a modern mechanic, its use of a pushrod -operated poppet valve for exhaust would be quite familiar. A large horizontal flywheel stabilized

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2656-527: The Patent-Motorwagen, was aware of the need for publicity. She took the Patent-Motorwagen No. 3 and drove it on the first long-distance internal combustion automobile road trip to demonstrate its feasibility. That trip occurred in early August 1888, when she took her sons Eugen and Richard, fifteen and fourteen years old, respectively, on a ride from Mannheim through Heidelberg , and Wiesloch , to her maternal hometown of Pforzheim . In Germany,

2739-508: The Rhine river and began the destruction of major towns in Baden. On 10 August 1689, a French army unit under the command of General Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac appeared in front of Pforzheims town gates, but this time the town refused to surrender. In response, the French army began shelling the town with cannons from the Rod hill located southwest of the town, and the several hundred soldiers of

2822-411: The Rhine river. These tactics seem to have been mainly the idea of the French war minister, François Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois . Pforzheim was occupied by French troops on 10 October 1688. Commanding officer is said to have been Joseph de Montclar . The town was forced to accommodate a large number of soldiers and had to pay a large amount of "contributions" to the French. When the army unit

2905-489: The cemetery on the estate of the Dominican order near nowadays Waisenhausplatz found during the last century may indicate that hundreds of citizens became the victims of the plague. There are indications that a fraternity for taking care of the sick and removing the bodies of the deceased from houses was formed in 1501, whose members later on stayed together and became known as the choral society Singergesellschaft , which

2988-508: The close by city of Calw and about 4000 in Stuttgart , which accounted for approximately one quarter to one half of the populations of those towns. Outbreaks of the disease were reported for many places in southwestern Germany, Bohemia , the Alsace region in nowadays France, Switzerland, and Italy. Common graves with massive numbers of human bones at the cemetery of St. Michael Church and

3071-411: The command of Marshal Noël Bouton de Chamilly , moved to Pforzheim, where the town and 600 soldiers of the imperial German army in town surrendered without any military engagements. The rest of the French army arrived on 27 September under the command of Marshal de Lorges. On the same day, the French army moved on to Oetisheim near Mühlacker and attacked an imperial army unit of 4,000 cavalry men under

3154-637: The command of Captain Zickwolf and other men in the town refused to surrender, the siege began. After shelling the town during the day and the following night, the resistance of the town broke down and on 10 August in the morning the French forced the town gates open, occupied and looted it (although with little success, as there was not much left to be taken away). On 12 August, the French moved on, this time refraining from setting houses on fire. The fortification had again been damaged, though (the White Tower,

3237-433: The command of Duke Frederick Charles of Württemberg-Winnental in their camp. As they were taken by surprise, they withdrew hastily and lost several hundred men, either killed or captured by the French. (The Duke himself was among the French prisoners.) On 28 September, the French army returned to Pforzheim and established a camp. It was reported that the entire Enz valley between the village of Eutingen east of Pforzheim and

3320-698: The date of the application became the patent date for the invention once the patent was granted, which occurred in November of that year. Benz unveiled his invention to the public on 3 July 1886, on the Ringstrasse in Mannheim. For the first time Karl Benz publicly drove the car on July 3, 1886, in Mannheim at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). Benz later made more models of the Motorwagen: model number 2 had 1.1 kW (1.5 hp) engine, and model number 3 had 1.5 kW (2 hp) engine, allowing

3403-405: The dissemination of the ideas of humanism and the protestant reformation movement. The most famous pupils included Reuchlin himself, Reuchlin's nephew Philipp Melanchthon , and Simon Grynaeus . 1460: Margrave Charles I established a kind of monastery (Kollegialstift) at the site of Schlosskirche St. Michael, turning the church into a collegiate church . There were also plans to establish

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3486-420: The engine, making water supply a big worry along the trip. The trio added water to their supply every time they stopped. The car's two gears were not enough to surmount uphill inclines and Eugen and Richard often had to push the vehicle up steep roads. Benz reached Pforzheim somewhat after dusk, notifying her husband of her successful journey by telegram. She drove back to Mannheim several days later. The trip

3569-423: The evening of 23 February 1945. Nearly one third of the town's population, 17,600 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The Allies believed that precision instruments were being produced here for use in the German war effort and that the town was a transport centre for the movement of German troops. From 1945 to 1948, Pforzheim (after the initial French occupation)

3652-491: The financial markets of those days. The town drew its income from the wood trade, timber rafting , the tannery trade, textile manufacturing, and other crafts. Documents mention mayor, judge, council and citizens . The town walls surrounding the new town were completed about 1290. During this era, three Roman Catholic orders established their convents in town (the Franciscan order established their domicile within

3735-571: The first half of the 16th century Pforzheim's printers contributed significantly to the establishment of this (in those days) new medium. 1501: Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden enacted the " Ordinance on the timber rafting profession in Pforzheim". The single timber logs that were floated from the deeper Black Forest areas down the Enz, Nagold and Wuerm rivers were bound together in the Au area to form larger timber rafts. Those rafts were then floated down

3818-490: The first true automobile . In 1875/76, when Bertha was pregnant with her third child, the bailiff had their workshop emptied, because they could no longer pay their debts. But they continued and on New Year's Eve 1879, the two were able to get a two-stroke engine to work for the first time. Eventually, in December 1885, they finished work on the first horseless carriage, 13 years into their marriage. Karl Benz applied for

3901-470: The functions of a regional center (Mittelzentrum) for the towns and municipalities Birkenfeld (Enz) , Eisingen , Engelsbrand , Friolzheim , Heimsheim , Ispringen , Kämpfelbach , Keltern , Kieselbronn , Königsbach-Stein , Mönsheim , Neuenbürg , Neuhausen , Neulingen , Niefern-Öschelbronn , Ölbronn-Dürrn , Remchingen , Straubenhardt , Tiefenbronn , Wiernsheim , Wimsheim and Wurmberg . The following towns and communities share borderlines with

3984-552: The hilly country of the Kraichgau , in an open valley at the confluences of the rivers Würm and Nagold , as well as the rivers Nagold and Enz . Due to its location, this city is also called the "three-valleys town" ( Drei-Täler Stadt ) or the "Gateway to the Black Forest" ( Pforte zum Schwarzwald / Porta Hercynia ). Pforzheim and its surrounding area belongs to the "Densely Populated Area Karlsruhe/Pforzheim". Pforzheim has

4067-425: The latest regional administrative reform during the 1970s were incorporated into Pforzheim's administration , are represented by independent community councils and community administrations. In important matters concerning any of these communities the opinions of the respective community councils must be taken into consideration. However, final decisions on the matter will be made by the Pforzheim city council . It

4150-603: The lower Enz, Neckar and Rhine rivers. The timber rafting stations of Weissenstein, Dillstein and Pforzheim were well known in the profession. 1501 was also the year for which an outbreak of the plague (probably the bubonic plague ) is recorded in the Swabian chronicle Annalium Suevicorum by Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen professor Martin Grusius, published 1596. It is not known how many of Pforzheim's citizens died in that year, but there are reports of 500 deceased in

4233-399: The mints of Frankfurt and Nördlingen . The Margrave was appointed as their patron. 1447: The wedding of Margrave Charles I (Karl I) of Baden with Katharina of Austria, the sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (Friedrich III), was celebrated in Pforzheim with great pomp (including tournaments and dances ). 1455: Johannes Reuchlin , the great German humanist ,

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4316-491: The nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City"). With an area of 97.8 square kilometres (37.8 sq mi), it is situated about halfway between the cities of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe at the confluence of three rivers ( Enz , Nagold and Würm ). It marks the frontier between Baden and Württemberg , being located on Baden territory. From 1535 to 1565, it was the home to the Margraves of Baden-Durlach . The City of Pforzheim

4399-457: The origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim". A Roman milestone (the so-called 'Leugenstein') from the year 245 was excavated in modern times at present-day Friolzheim ; it is marked with the exact distance to 'Portus' and is the first documented evidence of the settlement. 259/260: The Roman settlement 'Portus' was destroyed completely, as the Frank and Alemanni tribes overran

4482-473: The ostensible purpose of the trip was to visit her mother, Bertha Benz had other motives – to prove to her husband, who had failed to adequately consider marketing his invention, that the automobile in which they both had heavily invested would become a financial success once it was shown to be useful to the general public; and to give her husband the confidence that his constructions had a future. She left Mannheim around dawn, solving numerous problems along

4565-463: The patent, but Bertha could not legally apply alongside him despite her financial and practical engineering contributions. With cutting-edge bicycle constructions, the Model I Patent-Motorwagen was the original Patent Motor Car and the world's first automobile. The Model II was converted to a four-wheeler for test purposes, making it the only one of this model. On 3 July 1886, Karl Benz presented

4648-617: The reconstruction of the town and the repairs of the fortifications under the supervision of Johann Matthaeus Faulhaber, the chief construction officer of the Margraviate Baden, required a lot of efforts. The accommodation of an imperial garrison under the command of (then) colonel Count Palffy also was a heavy burden. In 1691, Louvois instructed his marshals to destroy those towns which were to serve as winter quarters for imperial troops, explicitly including Pforzheim, and then continue to Wuerttemberg for further destructions. After

4731-405: The remainder of her life in her villa in Ladenburg. Her fortunes had shrunk due to World War I and hyperinflation , but it did not seem to bother her, as she was accustomed to living modestly to the point of miserliness all her life. The misery of the people affected by the high level of unemployment impressed on her, and she wrote to a journalist that she would like to make her books available for

4814-414: The residence of the margraves to Baden-Baden. This gradually ended the first period of Pforzheim's flourishment. The rich merchants gradually left the town, which declined to the status of a country town of mostly small traders. 1486: The Weavers Ordinance ( Wollweberordnung ) for the towns Pforzheim und Ettlingen was approved by Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden . This was a contract concerning

4897-433: The same trade were established: The fraternity of tailors in 1410, the fraternity of bakers on 14 May 1422, the fraternity of the weavers in 1469, the fraternity of the wine-growers in 1491, the fraternity of the skippers and timber raftsmen in 1501, and the fraternity of the carters in 1512. Members of the same fraternity assisted each other in various ways, for example with funerals and in cases of sickness. In

4980-501: The single-cylinder engine's power output. An evaporative carburettor was controlled by a sleeve valve to regulate power and engine speed. The first model of the Motorwagen had not been built with a carburettor, rather a basin of fuel soaked fibers that supplied fuel to the cylinder by evaporation. The vehicle was awarded the German patent number 37435, for which Karl Benz applied on 29 January 1886. Following official procedures,

5063-540: The small ship of life when it seemed destined to sink. That was my wife. Bravely and resolutely she set the new sails of hope." In 1926, Benz & Cie. merged with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach 's company to form Daimler-Benz , which became home to the Mercedes-Benz. Karl Benz died in 1929 with the beginning of the Great Depression . Withdrawn from the outside world, Bertha Benz lived out

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5146-471: The state religion in the district Baden-Durlach , which included Pforzheim. The (Catholic) monasteries were gradually shut down. 1565: Margrave Karl II chose Durlach as the new residential town. Pforzheim stayed one of the administrative centers of Baden. 1618: At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War , the number of inhabitants of Pforzheim is estimated to have been between 2500 and 3000. This

5229-501: The time. On 27 June 1869, during an excursion by the Eintracht Club, she met and fell in love with machine lover and tinkerer Carl Benz , who was five years her senior and penniless, but had a head full of crazy ideas, and who could talk better about technology than about feelings. In 1870, two years before her marriage, she used part of her dowry to invest in his failing iron construction company. As an unmarried woman, she

5312-406: The town privileges of Pforzheim. This regulation of the weaving trade did not allow the formation of a regular guild (Zunft). 1491: A contract between Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden and the citizens of Pforzheim was concluded, granting the town of Pforzheim several privileges concerning taxes and business. 1496: Foundation of the first printer's shop by Thomas Anshelm . During

5395-514: The town wall at present-day Barfuesserkirche (the choir of which remains), the Dominican sisters order established their domicile outside the walls of the old town near Auer Bridge, and the Prediger cloister was located east of the Schlossberg, probably inside the town walls). Outside the town wall and across the Enz river, the suburb Flösser Quarters (the home of the timber-floating trade)

5478-410: The vehicle to reach a maximum speed of approximately 16 km/h (10 mph). The chassis was improved in 1887 with the introduction of wooden-spoke wheels, a fuel tank, and a manual leather shoe brake on the rear wheels. About 25 Patent-Motorwagen were built between 1886 and 1894. Bertha Benz , Karl's wife, whose dowry was said to have made a portion of contribution to finance the development of

5561-458: The village of Birkenfeld west of Pforzheim was occupied by the 30,000 French soldiers' camps. From their base in Pforzheim, French army units obviously under the leadership of Marshal de Chamilly advanced along the river valleys of Nagold and Würm and looted and destroyed the villages and towns of Huchenfeld, Calw , Hirsau , Liebenzell and Zavelstein . They also destroyed Liebeneck castle about 10 kilometres from Pforzheim towering above

5644-613: The way. Bertha demonstrated her significant technical capabilities on this journey. With no fuel tank and only a 4.5-litre supply of petrol in the carburetor , she had to find ligroin , the petroleum solvent needed for the car to run. The solvent was only available at apothecary shops, so she stopped in Wiesloch at the city pharmacy , Stadt-Apotheke , to purchase the fuel. At the time, petrol and other fuels could only be bought from chemists [pharmacists in US English], and so this

5727-405: The world’s largest automobile company. In 1906, the family moved to Ladenburg, where Karl, Bertha, and sons Eugen and Richard started another solely family-held automobile business, named Benz Sons (Benz Söhne), which remained family-owned. It folded in 1924 after years of German inflation 1914 to 1923 . In 1925, Karl Benz wrote the following in his memoirs: "Only one person remained with me in

5810-531: Was administered by the United States military and was part of the short-lived state of Württemberg-Baden . In the 20 years following the end of the war, Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt. The town reflects the architecture of the postwar period and has some landmark buildings of the 1950s. Pforzheim is located at the northern rim of the eastern part of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and the rim of

5893-486: Was a German automotive pioneer. She was the business partner, investor and wife of automobile inventor Carl Benz . On 5 August 1888, she was the first person to drive an internal-combustion-engined automobile over a long distance, field testing the Benz Patent-Motorwagen , inventing brake lining and solving several practical issues during the journey of 105 km (65 miles). In doing so, she brought

5976-582: Was a globally visible signal for new automobile breakthroughs, and was only open for sustainable mobility – future-oriented vehicles with alternative drive systems, i.e. , hybrid and electric, hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles, and other extremely economical vehicles. The motto is Bertha Benz Challenge – Sustainable Mobility on the World's Oldest Automobile Road! On 25 January 2011, Deutsche Welle (DW-TV) broadcast worldwide in its series, Made in Germany ,

6059-512: Was a key event in the technical development of the automobile. She reported everything that had happened along the way and made important suggestions, such as the introduction of an additional gear for climbing hills and brake linings to improve brake-power. The pioneering couple introduced several improvements after Bertha's experiences. Her trip demonstrated to the burgeoning automotive industry that test drives were essential to their business. After Bertha's test drive, Benz & Cie. became

6142-413: Was able to do so; after she married Benz, according to German law, Bertha lost her legal power to act as an investor. On 20 July 1872, Bertha Ringer married Karl Benz. Thanks to her premarital financial support, Karl Benz moved on from his failing iron construction company to a new manufacturing venture, Benz & Cie , continuing to use her dowry as financial support, to pursue his lifelong dream of

6225-539: Was about to depart early in the morning of 21 January 1689 (obviously because an army of the Holy Roman Empire had been approaching), they set many major buildings on fire, including the palais, the city hall, and vicarages. About 70 houses (i.e. one quarter of all houses) and part of the town's fortifications were reportedly destroyed. Between 2 and 4 August, the French army under the general command of Marshal Jacques Henri de Durfort de Duras again crossed

6308-408: Was aired by Das Erste on 23 May. A trailer of the movie and a "making of" special were released on YouTube. Pforzheim Pforzheim ( German pronunciation: [ˈpfɔʁtshaɪm] ) is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg , in the southwest of Germany . It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained

6391-597: Was also the salesperson of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in France, selling one to Émile Levassor in 1888. The Patent-Motorwagen was shown at an exhibition in Munich in 1888, winning a gold medal, and at the 1889 Paris Exposition . Due to the creation of the Patent-Motorwagen, Karl Benz has been hailed as the father and inventor of the automobile. After developing a successful gasoline -powered two-stroke piston engine in 1873, Benz focused on developing

6474-554: Was born in Pforzheim on 29 January (he died in Stuttgart on 30 June 1522). He attended the Latin School section of the monastery school run by the Dominican order of Pforzheim in the late 1460s. Later, partly due to Reuchlin's efforts, the Latin School of Pforzheim developed into one of the most prominent schools in southwestern Germany, named Reuchlin-Gymnasium . The school's teachers and pupils played an outstanding role in

6557-495: Was established. Next to the western town wall, the suburb of Brötzingen gradually developed. The Margraves of Baden considered Pforzheim as their most important power base up to the first half of the 14th century. Under Margrave Bernard I (Bernhard I), Pforzheim became one of the administrative centers of the margraviate. 1322: Holy Ghost Hospital was founded at Tränk Street (present-day Deimling Street). Various fraternities , also known as guilds, among people working in

6640-556: Was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame , 42 years after her husband was inducted. In honor of International Women's Day in 2019, the modern Daimler company commissioned a four-minute advertisement dramatizing portions of Bertha Benz’ 1888 journey. The ad was created by Berlin-based ad agency Antoni (the lead European agency for Mercedes-Benz), and directed by Sebastian Strasser via his production company, Anorak Film. The Benz home has been designated as historic and

6723-437: Was officially forbidden and Benz risked a penalty. There were no suitable roads and signs, only a few signposts. It was life-threatening because of the fragility of the car and the road conditions. The wagon was three-wheeled, but the paths were driven by four-wheeled horse-drawn carriages, so the dainty front wheel rattled over tufts of grass, sticks and stones. The trip received a great deal of publicity, as she had sought, and

6806-468: Was settled by the Romans earlier than the current centers of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe were. These colonists constructed a ford through the river, shortly past the confluence of the three rivers, for their military highway. Due to this strategic location, Pforzheim later became a center for the timber-rafting trade, which transported timber from the Black Forest via the rivers Wuerm, Nagold, Enz and down

6889-497: Was the largest town among all towns in Baden, even though at that time it had already declined somewhat. 1645: Toward the end of the Thirty Years' War the "old town" was burned down by Bavarian (i.e. Catholic) troops. It was rebuilt, but without the former fortifications , which gave it the status of a village-like settlement. It soon vanished from historical records. The "new town" had survived. 1688–1697: The " War of

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