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Gottlieb Daimler Facts & Worksheets

Gottlieb Daimler was a German engineer credited for being a pioneer of internal combustion engines and automotive development with his lifelong business partner Wilhelm Maybach.

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Gottlieb Daimler was a German engineer credited for being a pioneer of internal combustion engines and automotive development with his lifelong business partner Wilhelm Maybach. He also invented the high-speed liquid petroleum-fuelled engine. Daimler founded the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG), or Daimler Motors Corporation, which produced the first Mercedes model in 1902.

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Key Facts & Information

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

  • Gottlieb Daimler was born on March 17, 1834 in Schorndorf, Germany. He was the son of a baker, Johannes Däumler or Daimler, and his wife Frederika. His father wanted him to become a municipal employee, but Daimler had already shown an interest in engineering.
  • He finished his primary studies in Lateinschule at age 13 and secondary school in 1848. He also attended Latin School and technical drawing classes.
  • After graduating from secondary school, he began an apprenticeship as a gunsmith under Master Gunsmith Hermann Raithel.
  • He ended the training and took a trade examination, which he passed with a pair of engraved double-barreled pistols.

EARLY LIFE

  • He decided to leave town and stayed in France, where he honed his mechanical engineering skills.
  • Daimler enrolled at Stuttgart’s School for Advanced Training in the Industrial Arts, where Ferdinand von Steinbeis taught him.
  • He showed how hardworking he was, even taking Sunday morning classes.
  • With his professor’s help, he got to work at a “factory college” Rollé und Schwilque (R&S) in Graffenstaden, where he did excellent work. He became a foreman at the age of 22 on the railway project the company had undertaken.

A CAREER IN ENGINEERING

  • In 1861, he took a position as a technical draughtsman in Geislingen. He then moved to the engineering factory of Bruderhaus Reutlingen and became a workshop inspector in 1863. The company is a Christian institution that gives homes and jobs to the socially disadvantaged. He met Wilhelm Maybach, who was a 15-year-old orphan, and became his lifelong collaborator.
  • He left Reutlingen and became a head foreman at Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft in Karlsruhe in July 1869.
  • In 1872, he was made factory manager at Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz, a company founded by Nicolaus Otto. He also brought Maybach as chief designer.
  • Daimler wanted to build small engines to use in transportation, but Otto had no interest in this. After having serious arguments in engine patents and supposed professional jealousy on Otto’s side, Daimler was fired in 1880. The company, however, granted him 112,000 Gold Marks in Deutz shares as compensation for the patents of Daimler and Maybach. Maybach followed him.
  • Daimler purchased a villa in Cannstatt with a greenhouse that he converted into a workshop with a brick extension. Daimler and Maybach spent long hours developing their own engine. They wanted to use gasoline as fuel for their engines. They also experimented with Otto’s four-stroke process as the operating principle for these engines.
  • Daimler finally filed a patent for their first engine fueled by ligroin in 1883. The engine used hot tube ignition and was small and running fast enough at 600 rpm. It became their basis for installation in a vehicle.
  • They first made an experimental wooden motorcycle known as the Riding Cycle or Riding Car, which used an engine called the Grandfather Clock. They made an even more compact version of the Grandfather Clock, which they installed vertically beneath the seat. They were granted a patent for this in 1885.

FIRST FOUR-WHEELED AUTOMOBILE

  • In spring 1886, Daimler bought an American coach from coachbuilder W. Wimpff & Sohn. It was secretly delivered on August 28 and was meant to be a birthday present for Daimler’s wife. Maybach supervised the installation of the engine for this coach at Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. For this, they used drawback steering and made the power transfer through belts. It became the world’s first four-wheeled automobile.
  • After the success of his first automobile, Daimler used his engine on boats. It increased his sales until he could buy another property at Seelberg Hill, Cannstatt, and employ 23 employees. Daimler ran the business, and Maybach ran the engine design department.

INCORPORATING HIS BUSINESS

  • As much as Daimler wanted nothing to do with incorporation, his hand was forced when he suffered a lack of liquidity. He needed to find partners. This led to the creation of ‘Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft with Max Duttenhofer and William Lorenz in 1890.
  • The shareholders’ agreement envisaged Maybach as a chief engineer, which was unacceptable to someone of his stature. This made him decide to leave the company and continue to design in his own house before moving into a nearby hotel thanks to Daimler’s support.
  • Unable to obtain majority control, he sold out and then resigned. DMG expanded, but it changed and did not have commercial success after Maybach’s departure.
  • Daimler and Maybach continued to work together with Paul, Daimler’s son. They designed an engine called the “phoenix” and had DMG make it. DMG offered Maybach employment but he declined as he wanted to return with Daimler.
  • Duttenhoffer refused to agree to Maybach’s term. However, a group of English industrialists, whose spokesman was Frederick R. Simms, offered to purchase the rights for England at 350,000 marks and demanded that Daimler be allowed to return to the company.
  • Daimler and Maybach’s return significantly improved the fortunes of DMG. Daimler was included on the Supervisory Board as an expert adviser and general inspector, while Maybach was a chief engineer with a share value of 30,000 marks.

PERSONAL FACTS

  • Gottlieb Daimler was married twice. His first wife was Emma Kurtz of Maulbronn in 1867, with whom he had two sons. However, she died in 1889.
  • When Daimler suffered from heart problems in 1892, he was sent to Florence to recuperate. He met Lina Hartmann nee Schwend, the owner of the hotel he was staying in and a widow, 22 years his junior. They married on July 8, 1893.
  • Daimler died at the age of 65 on March 6, 1900. Maybach resigned from DMG in 1907.
  • Years after his death, DMG and Benz & Cie cooperated many times and in many ways, which led to the eventual merging of the two oldest automobile manufacturers in the world in 1926. The new company was named Daimler-Benz AG.

Gottlieb Daimler Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Gottlieb Daimler across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Gottlieb Daimler worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Gottlieb Daimler who was a German engineer credited for being a pioneer of internal combustion engines and automotive development with his lifelong business partner Wilhelm Maybach. He also invented the high-speed liquid petroleum-fuelled engine. Daimler founded the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG), or Daimler Motors Corporation, which produced the first Mercedes model in 1902.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Gottlieb Daimler Facts
  • Daimler’s Profile
  • Before the First Car
  • Daimler’s Journey
  • Lifelong Ally
  • Inventor’s Inquiry
  • Daimler’s Encounters
  • Two Car Pioneers
  • Through Thick and Thin
  • Fact or Bluff?
  • Design Your Own Car

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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