Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (German: [ˈɡɔtliːp ˈdaɪmlɐ]; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer, and business leader. He helped develop engines that burn fuel inside and created early cars. He invented a fast engine that uses liquid petroleum as fuel.

Daimler and his long-time business partner, Wilhelm Maybach, worked together to design small, fast engines that could be used in different types of vehicles. In 1883, they created a horizontal cylinder engine that could control its speed, making it useful for transportation. This engine was called "Daimler's Dream."

In 1885, they made a vertical cylinder version of this engine. They attached it to a two-wheeled vehicle, creating the first motorcycle powered by an internal combustion engine. This motorcycle was named the Petroleum Reitwagen (Riding Car). The same engine was later used in a coach and a boat. Daimler called this engine the "grandfather clock engine" because it looked like a large pendulum clock.

In 1890, Daimler and Maybach changed their partnership into a company called Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG, or the Daimler Motors Corporation). They sold their first automobile in 1892. Daimler became ill and took time away from the business. When he returned, he had problems with other company leaders and resigned in 1893. This decision was later undone in 1894. Maybach also resigned at the same time but returned later. Daimler died in 1900, and Wilhelm Maybach left DMG in 1907.

Daimler is known as "the father of the motorcycle."

Early life and education (1834–1862)

Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler was born on March 17, 1834, in the town of Schorndorf near Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg, a part of the German Confederation, which is now Germany. His parents were Johannes Däumler (Daimler), a baker, and his wife, Frederika. By the age of 13 (in 1847), he had finished six years of primary school at a Lateinschule and became interested in engineering.

After completing secondary school in 1848, Daimler trained as a gunsmith under Master Gunsmith Hermann Raithel. In 1852, he completed his training with a trade examination. He graduated in 1852, passing the craft test by creating a pair of engraved double-barreled pistols. That same year, at the age of 18, Daimler decided to study mechanical engineering instead of continuing as a gunsmith and left his hometown.

Daimler joined Stuttgart's School for Advanced Training in the Industrial Arts, where he studied under Ferdinand von Steinbeis. He was very dedicated to his studies, even attending extra classes on Sundays. In 1853, with Steinbeis' help, Daimler got a job at "the factory college," Rollé und Schwilque (R&S) in Grafenstaden. This factory was named after its manager, Friedrich Messmer, who had previously taught at the University of Karlsruhe. Daimler performed well, and in 1856, when R&S began making railway locomotives, Daimler, then 22 years old, was named foreman.

Instead of staying at R&S, Daimler spent two years at Stuttgart's Polytechnic Institute to improve his skills. He gained a deep understanding of steam locomotives and became convinced that steam power would eventually be replaced. He began designing small, simple engines for light industrial use, possibly inspired by the new gas engines of that time.

In 1861, Daimler left R&S, visited Paris, and then went to England. There, he worked with top engineering firms and learned about machine tools. He stayed in England from autumn 1861 to summer 1863, a time when England was known as "the motherland of technology." He worked at Beyer, Peacock & Company in Manchester, where one of the partners, Beyer, was from Saxony. While in London, he visited the 1862 International Exhibition, where one of the exhibits was a steam-powered carriage. These carriages did not inspire him, as his goal was to improve machine tools for metal and woodworking machinery.

Career through 1882

Daimler began working at Maschinenfabrik Daniel Straub, Geislingen an der Steige, where he created tools, mills, and turbines. In 1863, he joined Bruderhaus Reutlingen, a Christian Socialist toolmaker, as an inspector and later took on a leadership role. During his time there, he met Wilhelm Maybach, who was 15 years old and had no parents. Because of Daimler’s ability to organize work, the factory became profitable, but he left in 1869 due to frustration. He then joined Maschinenbau Gesellschaft Karlsruhe in July of that year.

In 1872, when N.A. Otto and Cie changed its structure to become Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz, management chose Daimler as factory manager, skipping Otto entirely. Daimler joined the company in August and brought Maybach on as chief designer. Although Daimler improved production, problems with Otto’s vertical piston design, combined with Daimler’s strong belief in atmospheric engines, caused the company to face difficulties. Neither Otto nor Daimler would compromise. When Daimler was given the option to start a Deutz branch in Saint Petersburg or resign, he chose to resign. He then started his own business in Cannstatt, using savings and shares from Deutz. Soon after, Maybach joined him there.

Otto four-stroke engine (1876)

In 1872, at the age of 38, Daimler and Maybach began working for the world's largest maker of stationary engines at that time, the Deutz-AG-Gasmotorenfabrik in Cologne. The company was owned in part by Nicolaus Otto, who was searching for a new technical director. As directors, Daimler and Otto focused on improving gas engines, while Maybach worked as the chief designer.

In 1876, Otto created a new type of engine called the four-stroke cycle engine (also known as the Otto Cycle). This engine used four steps in its process: intake, compression, power, and exhaust. Otto worked on this invention for 14 years, and he hoped it would replace steam engines, which were widely used at the time. However, his engine was not yet advanced or efficient.

Otto’s engine was patented in 1877, but one of his 25 patents was later challenged and canceled. Daimler worried that Otto’s patent would stop him from creating his own engine. Daimler hired a lawyer, who discovered that a patent for a four-stroke engine had already been issued in Paris in 1862 to Beau De Rochas, a French engineer.

At the same time, Daimler and Otto had serious disagreements. It is said that Otto felt jealous of Daimler because of his university education and expertise. Daimler wanted to build small engines for use in transportation, but Otto had no interest in this idea. When Otto excluded Daimler from his engine patents, tensions grew between them. In 1880, Daimler was fired and received 112,000 gold marks in Deutz-AG shares as compensation for the patents held by both Daimler and Maybach. Later, Maybach also left the company and joined Daimler.

Independent inventor of small, high speed engines (1882)

At Cannstatt, Daimler and Maybach, who had more creative ideas, worked together to design an engine. Daimler insisted on using a hot tube system created by an English inventor named Watson instead of a difficult-to-use slide-valve ignition system, because electrical systems were too slow to work properly.

In the summer of 1882, Daimler moved to Cannstatt, a town near Stuttgart, and bought a cottage in Taubenheimstrasse using 75,000 Gold marks from a payment received from Deutz-AG. Maybach joined him in September of that year. In the garden, they built a brick addition to a large glass summer house, which became their workshop. Their work worried the neighbors, who told the police they might be making fake money. The police got a key from the gardener and searched the house while Daimler and Maybach were away, but they only found engines.

Daimler and Maybach spent many hours discussing how to best power Otto’s four-stroke engine design. They chose a type of petroleum product that was widely available. At the time, the main petroleum products were lubricating oil, kerosene (used for lamps), and ligroin (a type of petroleum naphtha), which was mostly sold in pharmacies as a cleaner. As described by antique car expert Michael Plag, "Leichtbenzin [meaning ligroin and similar petroleum products] was commonly available in pharmacies at the time. This is a flammable fuel called n-hexane."

Dream engine (1883)

In late 1883, Daimler and Maybach created the first engine powered by ligroin. They received a patent for this engine on December 16, 1883. The engine met Daimler's goal of being small and fast enough to operate at 750 revolutions per minute (rpm). Over the next four years, better designs increased the speed to 900 rpm. In early 1884, Daimler built three engines using this design, and one of them included a flywheel. This engine was smaller and lighter than engines made by other inventors at that time. Daimler used hot tube ignition until 1897, when he switched to electrical ignition designed by Bosch.

Grandfather clock engine (1885)

The engine, which included a flywheel, was placed inside a lightweight vehicle called the Reitwagen, the first vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine.

After a lot of work and testing, the two inventors completed a 0.5 horsepower (0.37 kW; 0.51 PS) vertical single-cylinder engine. This engine was installed in the Reitwagen, a specially designed two-wheeled frame with two spring-loaded stabilizers.

Features of the 1885 engine included:

• a single horizontal cylinder with a volume of 264 cc (16 cubic inches), measuring 58 mm × 100 mm (2.3 in × 3.9 in)
• air cooling
• a large cast iron flywheel
• a surface carburetor
• a hot tube ignition system (patent 28022)
• cam-operated exhaust valves, which allowed the engine to run at high speeds
• 0.5 horsepower (370 watts)
• a running speed of 600 revolutions per minute, faster than earlier engines, which typically ran at 120 to 180 revolutions per minute
• a weight of about 50 kilograms (110 pounds)
• a height of 76 centimeters (30 inches)

In 1885, they created a carburetor that mixed gasoline with air to be used as fuel. In the same year, Daimler and Maybach built a larger version of their engine, which was still relatively small but had a vertical cylinder with a displacement of 100 cc and produced 1 horsepower at 600 rpm (patent DRP-28-022: "non-cooled, heat insulated engine with unregulated hot-tube ignition"). This engine was named the Standuhr ("grandfather clock") because Daimler believed it resembled an old pendulum clock.

In November 1885, Daimler placed a smaller version of this engine into a wooden two-wheeled frame with two outrigger wheels, creating the first internal combustion motorcycle (Patent 36-423impff & Sohn "Vehicle with gas or petroleum drive machine"). This vehicle was named the Reitwagen ("riding car"). Maybach traveled three kilometers (two miles) alongside the Neckar River, from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim, reaching a speed of 12 kilometers per hour (7 miles per hour).

First automobile (1886)

In 1886, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler each created an automobile in Germany, about 60 miles apart.

In Mannheim, Karl Benz designed a motorized vehicle with an engine he built himself. He received a patent for his motorwagen on January 29, 1886.

Gottlieb Daimler used a 1.1 horsepower engine and had a four-seater phaeton built by Wimpff und Söhne to hold it. The engine was installed by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen and powered the rear wheels through a two-speed belt drive.

On March 8, 1886, Daimler and Maybach secretly brought an American Model coach made by Wilhelm Wimpff und Sohn into their home, telling neighbors it was a birthday gift for Mrs. Daimler. Maybach oversaw the installation of a larger version of the Grandfather Clock engine into the coach. This became the first four-wheeled vehicle to reach 16 kilometers per hour (10 miles per hour). The engine power was transferred through belts. The vehicle was tested on the road to Untertürkheim, where the MHPArena, formerly known as the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, is now located.

Daimler wanted to use his engine in many ways. He and Maybach applied it to:

• Water transportation in 1886, by fitting it into a 4.5-meter-long boat. The boat, named Neckar after the river, reached a speed of 6 knots (11 kilometers per hour or 6.9 miles per hour). This was the first motorboat, and boat engines became Daimler’s main product for several years. Early customers worried the petrol engine might explode, so Daimler covered it with ceramic and claimed it was “oil-electrical.”
• Streetcars and trolleys.
• Air travel, when Daimler replaced a hand-operated engine in his balloon with his own. This balloon, often considered the first airship, flew over Seelberg on August 10, 1888.

In 1887, they sold their first foreign engine licenses. Maybach traveled to the 1889 Paris Exposition to showcase their work.

First Daimler-Maybach automobile built (1889)

More engines were sold, especially for use in boats. In June 1887, Daimler purchased another property on Seelberg Hill in Cannstatt. The building was located far from the town on Ludwigstraße 67 because Cannstatt's mayor did not support the workshop. The new building cost 30,200 goldmarks and had space for 23 workers. Daimler handled business matters, while Maybach oversaw the engine design department.

In 1889, Daimler and Maybach created the Stahlradwagen, their first automobile that was not based on a horse-drawn carriage. Instead, it was somewhat influenced by bicycle designs. No vehicles were made in Germany, but the design was allowed to be built in France. Both engineers presented the Stahlradwagen to the public in Paris in October 1889. That same year, Daimler's wife, Emma Kunz, passed away.

Daimler Motors, thePhönixengine, and the first motorcar sold (1890 to 1900)

As demand for engines increased, especially for use in motorboats and railcars, Maybach and Daimler expanded their business. In 1890, Daimler started his own engine company called Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG). With financial support from Max Duttenhofer, a gunpowder maker; Kilian von Steiner, an industrialist and banker; and Wilhelm Lorenz, a munitions manufacturer, DMG was officially founded on November 28, 1890. Maybach was the chief designer of the company. DMG’s goal was to build small, high-speed engines for use in land, water, and air transportation. Daimler illustrated the three uses in a sketch that became the basis for a logo with a three-pointed star.

From 1882 to 1890, Daimler refused to form a company that sold shares. He had seen other inventors lose control of their companies to shareholders who did not understand their work. This happened to Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, Karl Benz, and August Horch. Daimler disliked forming a company that sold shares. Without enough control, he sold his shares and left the company. DMG grew, but it changed. New leaders focused on building stationary engines and considered merging DMG with Otto’s Deutz-AG.

In 1892, DMG sold its first automobile. DMG developed a high-speed inline-two engine called the Phönix, for which Maybach designed a spray carburetor. This engine was used in a car that was not widely liked and entered production in 1895 after a disagreement between Daimler, Maybach, and DMG’s board was resolved.

Gottlieb Daimler, who was 58 years old, had heart problems and collapsed during the winter of 1892–1893. His doctor recommended a trip to Florence, where he met Lina Hartmann, a 22-year-younger woman who owned the hotel where he was staying. They married on July 8, 1893, and honeymooned in Chicago during its World Fair.

After returning from the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago with his new wife, Daimler tried to buy enough shares in DMG to regain control. This effort failed. Daimler sold all his shares and patents and left the company. Maybach had already left earlier.

Disputes with Wilhelm Lorenz continued. Daimler tried to buy 102 additional shares to gain majority control but was removed as technical director. The company owed 400,000 Gold Marks. Other directors threatened bankruptcy unless Daimler sold all his shares and patents from the previous 30 years. Daimler accepted the offer, received 66,666 Gold Marks, and resigned in 1893.

In 1894, at the Hermann Hotel, Maybach, Daimler, and Daimler’s son Paul designed a third engine called the "Phoenix," which DMG produced. It had:
– four cylinders cast in one block, arranged vertically and parallel
– camshaft-operated exhaust valves
– a spray nozzle carburetor, patented by Maybach in 1893
– an improved belt drive system

This engine may be the same one described by American author Henry Brooks Adams in his autobiography, based on his visit to the 1900 Paris Exposition.

Daimler and Maybach continued working together. They built a four-cylinder engine with Maybach’s spray nozzle carburetor. This engine competed in the first organized automobile race, "Paris to Rouen," and outperformed all other entries from DMG. Frederick Simms, a longtime friend of Daimler, insisted that Daimler return to DMG as a condition of paying £17,500 for the transfer of Daimler licenses to the British Daimler Company. This helped stabilize the company’s finances. Daimler, now 60 years old, returned to DMG and received 200,000 Gold Marks in shares and a 100,000 Gold Mark bonus. Simms gained the right to use the name "Daimler" for his company’s products. In 1895, the year DMG assembled its 1,000th engine, Maybach returned as General Inspector and received 30,000 shares.

During this time, DMG licensed the production of Daimler engines worldwide, including:
– France, starting in 1890, through Louise Sarazin’s license to Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot
– the United States, starting in 1891, through a partnership with Daimler Motor Company of Long Island City and Steinway & Sons
– the United Kingdom, starting in 1893, through Frederick Simms’ Daimler Motor Syndicate, later transferred to the Daimler Motor Company in 1896
– Austria, through Austro-Daimler

Gottlieb Daimler died in 1900, and in 1907, Maybach resigned from DMG.

Founding of Daimler-Benz

In 1885, Daimler created the first vehicle that used liquid petroleum as fuel. A few months later, Karl Benz designed the first car specifically built for use, which had a two-stroke engine he invented. Daimler and Karl Benz did not meet during this time. In 1896, Daimler’s company (DMG) filed a lawsuit against Benz & Cie for using a patent Daimler had registered in 1883 related to hot tube ignition. Daimler won the case, and Benz’s company had to pay money payments to DMG. Daimler and Benz did not meet in court in Mannheim. Later, when the Central European Motor Car Association was founded, Daimler and Benz still did not speak to each other.

After Daimler died, the two companies worked together in many ways. Following years of collaboration, on June 28, 1926, representatives from Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) and Benz & Cie signed an agreement to merge the two oldest car manufacturers in the world. The new company formed was named Daimler-Benz AG.

Honours

Gottlieb Daimler was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1978. From 1993 to July 2008, a stadium in Stuttgart, Germany, was named after him. The stadium, called the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, hosted six matches during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Gottlieb Daimler’s motto was "Das Beste oder nichts," which means "The best or nothing at all" or "Nothing but the best." In 2010, Mercedes-Benz used this motto as their slogan.