No one person responsible for inventing the car
You wanted to know
A young Grayslake Area Public Library patron asked Kids Ink, "When was the first car invented, and who invented it?"
Before there were cars, people depended on trains, and before there were trains, people depended on boats and horse-drawn carts.
The Industrial Revolution, which began in England in the 1700s, inspired inventors and entrepreneurs to think beyond traditional means of power and set the stage for the future of travel and for a boom in manufacturing in Europe and the United States.
In the 1700s, the invention of the steam engine was key to improving productivity in all areas of business. Factories had used water wheels to move machinery and needed to be next to rivers. When steam engines were installed, factories could be constructed in any location.
Inventors started adding steam engines to everything - mining equipment, textile and steel manufacturing processes, iron-fabricating and machines that made machines.
Next they figured out ways to make transportation quicker and more efficient. Once boats had steam engines, transportation time dropped from days to hours. The idea of adding a steam engine to power a cart inspired railroads to construct lighter locomotives, increase mileage and reduce travel times.
Next came cars.
Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, said cars were developed by several inventors, each hoping to dominate the car market.
"The car is one of those things that can't truly be pinned to one specific inventor at one specific time or place. Having said that, Karl Benz's three-wheel Motorwagen and Gottlieb Daimler's two-wheel Reitwagen, both built in Germany in 1885, are generally credited as the forerunners of the modern automobile," Anderson said.
Cars were more reliable than horses. They brought drivers and their companions to locations that were unconnected by train tracks, especially wide open rural areas. An original version used steam power, but gas emerged as an efficient power source that pushed vehicles long distances.
Anderson said people already had embraced the idea of small group or individual transportation.
"There was precedent for individual transportation in the bicycle. From the bike, people came to love the freedom of being able to travel when and where they wanted, regardless of train schedules."
The biggest name in cars quickly became Henry Ford. His genius wasn't in inventing the car, it was in using an assembly line to make cars affordable by cutting production time and consumer cost.
In 1913, factory practices made Model T manufacturing time plummet from 12 to 2½ hours. In only four years, the price dropped by more than 30 percent. In fewer than 10 years, Ford produced 15 million Model T cars.
Ford set the standard for producing a quality product with the Model T and perfected the concept of assembly-line production that became a standard across industries, making the U.S. the world's leading manufacturer for more than 75 years.
Want to see cars in production? The Henry Ford Museum offers visitors an opportunity to see F-150 trucks being manufactured at the Rouge Factory. Car fans might also want to take a spin around the Chicago Auto Show Feb. 14 to 22 at McCormick Place to see the newest car models and prototypes
Check it out
The Grayslake Area Public Library District suggests these titles on cars:
• "Driven: a Photobiography of Henry Ford" by Don Mitchell
• "Henry Ford: Putting the World on Wheels" by the Editors of Time for Kids, with Dina El Nabli
• "Model T: How Henry Ford Built a Legend" by David Weitzman
• "How Does a Car Work?" by Sarah Eason
• "Build Your Own Car, Rocket, and Other Things that Go" by Tammy Enz