Daimler reitwagen

In 1861, Gottlieb Daimler visited Paris , where he studied the first internal combustion engine developed by Etienne Lenoir ^[23] . The experience gained was later useful to him when Daimler joined the company of Nikolaus August Otto .

In 1872, Gottlieb became the technical director of NA Otto & Cie (now known as Deutz AG ) ^[24] , an influential manufacturer of internal combustion engines, which back in 1864 introduced a commercially successful gas-fueled engine. Maybach also followed him, becoming the head of the design department. At the same time, due to the expansion of production, the company changed its name to Gasmotoren Fabrik Deutz AG . In 1876, after a series of experiments, the enterprise succeeded in producing a power unit functioning from burning compressed gaseous oil products ^[25] . In many ways, this was made possible thanks to the joint work of Gottlieb and Maybach.

Due to disagreements arising from a dispute about the size and characteristics of the engines being manufactured, Gottlieb Daimler left the company with Wilhelm and moved to the city of Kanstatt, where they bought a house and built their own workshop ^[3] . Otto powertrains were not able to reach speeds of more than 150-200 rpm. Given this fact, Daimler’s goal was to design an engine of such sizes that would allow it to be used to power a wide range of vehicles, while the minimum rotation speed should be or exceed 600 rpm. In 1883, as a result of the joint efforts of the designers, an engine was created with a horizontal arrangement of one single cylinder that worked on petroleum products. The most important innovation of the invention was the ignition of the combustible mixture in the engine in contact with the glow tube, which provided reliable ignition and made the desired increase in engine speed possible ^[26] . A year later, engineers developed a new engine with a vertical arrangement of cylinders, known as the “floor clock” ^{[27] [28]} because of its similarity to a pendulum clock. The power unit was much smaller in size and was equipped with a Maybach float carburetor. During operation, he was able to reach 700 revolutions per minute ^[29] .

Having achieved their goal, in November 1885, Daimler and Maybach installed a smaller version of the power unit on a wooden bike called the “Petroleum Reitwagen”, thereby creating the world's first motorcycle with a piston internal combustion engine powered by oil products ^[29] (DRP patent No. 36-423 ^[30] - “a car with a gas or oil engine” ^{[31] [32]} ), which became a revolutionary event in technology. A motorcycle (in those days it was called a motor bike) had two small wheels on the sides for stability. The engine, rotating at a constant frequency, developed a power of 0.5 hp. ^{[5] [3]} . A two-stage belt drive made it possible to move at speeds up to 11 km / h ^{[4] [1] [5]} .

Daimler's 17-year-old son Paul became the first motorcycle tester ^[33] . November 18, 1885 he rode on it the way from Canstatt to the side to Untertürkheim, Germany ^{[9] [34]} . It is mentioned that during this trip the vehicle seat was repeatedly overheated and ignited ^{[4] [1] [34]} , which was caused by the operation of the ignition system located directly below it. Wilhelm Maybach later personally tested the motorcycle. It was this invention that strengthened the position of the Daimler and Maybach workshop and served as a solid foundation for future developments. However, after the creation of the Daimler Reitwagen model, Daimler never again returned to the construction of motorcycles, having engaged in the production of power units, and subsequently automobiles ^[34] .

A Daimler motorcycle is a vehicle with a wooden chassis ^[4] on two large carriage-type wheels (with spokes and metal rims) and two small wheels on the sides for stabilization ^[3] . The design provides for a spatial frame and a steering wheel with a direct steering wheel, which was borrowed from a bicycle, which makes this model similar to modern motorcycles. The seat is a saddle for riding ^[3] . The original project of 1884 used a belt drive and a rotary handle on the steering wheel, which applied the brake system when turning in one direction and pulled the drive belt, directing force to the wheels, when turning in the other direction ^[34] . Roper's bicycle of the late 1860s used a similar solution ^{[35] [36]} . However, in the working model, a simple steering wheel without a rotary handle and gear clutch was used ^[37] . The concept was patented on August 29, 1885 ^{[38] [39]} .

The working volume of a four-stroke power unit with two flywheels (one per crankshaft ^[5] ) by an air cooling system is 264 cubic centimeters ^{[5] [40]} . A single-cylinder engine ^[30] is located under the seat and communicates with the rear wheel of the motorcycle using a belt drive. Gear shifting, which was 1 in the first version of the vehicle and 2 in the second (winter modernization of 1885–1886), is carried out using the corresponding lever, for which the motorcycle was equipped with two pairs of pulleys ^[34] . Depending on the selected gear, the motorcycle developed a speed of 6 to 11 kilometers per hour ^[1] .

The mass of the invention was 90 kg ^[5] : the steering wheel, gear lever and gears were made of metal, while the frame, wheels and many other structural elements were made of wood.

The original Daimler Reitwagen was destroyed during a fire in Canstatt, which destroyed the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft plants in 1903 ^{[3] [41]} . However, to the 100th anniversary of the first patented motorcycle, in 1985, ten of its running copies were made. Motorcycle reproductions can be found at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart , the German Museum in Munich, the Museum of the Honda Team (“Honda Collection Hall”) at the Twin Ring Motegi facility in Japan ^[42] , the Ohio Motorcycle Hall of Fame ^[41] , and also in Melbourne , Australia ^[43] .

Copies of the original model vary depending on the modification that served as the basis. For example, the replica in the motorcycle hall of fame is larger in size than the original and uses a sophisticated belt tensioner and steering system according to the sketches of 1884 ^[41] , while the exact copy from the German Museum is equipped with a simple control lever, as well as a ring gear on the rear wheel ^[2] .

• Alexander Usoltsev, Boris Igoshev. History of Technical Innovation: A Training Manual . - Litres, 2015 .-- S. 185. - 4762 p. - ISBN 9785457549043 .
• Victoria Chernysheva. How the Daimler motorcycle was created // Russian newspaper . - 2014 .-- March 17. Archived January 4, 2017.
• Richard Hammond. A Short History of the Motorcycle . - Hachette UK, 2016 .-- S. 22 .-- 208 p. - ISBN 9780297609919 .