Daimler Wire Wheels 1889

- Paris World Exposition, 1889: Presentation of the Daimler wire-wheels car

The twin-cylinder V-engine was the perfect drive system for the highly-elegant wire-wheel car initiated by Maybach, so called for its slender iron wheels. This was an entirely new design. Of particular note are the technical similarities with the bicycle, in particular the frame and chassis, which is why in his design sketches Maybach also referred to the vehicle as a “quadricycle”. The frame and wheels of the wire-wheel car were supplied by Strickmaschinen-Fabrik AG of Neckarsulm, a well-known local firm of bicycle manufacturers, which later achieved international fame under the name NSU.
Maybach additionally used the robust tubular steel frame of the lightweight vehicle as a conduit for coolant water and positioned the engine in the rear. On the rear axle beside the right-hand wheel he fitted a sealed bevel gear differential, and on the left wheel a brake drum with a band brake operated by a hand lever from the driver’s seat.
There were initially problems with the steering – axle pivot steering did not appear on a four-wheeled vehicle until Benz introduced it in 1893 – which explains why the design documentation still contained a draft for a “three-wheeled velocipede” with steerable rear wheel. This three-wheeler design soon disappeared back into the drawer, however, when a different solution was found to the steering problem with the four-wheeled wire-wheel car. Here, using the same principle as a bicycle, each of the front wheels was individually mounted in a fork and linked by a track rod. So when the steering lever was turned, the wheels tracked a common radius.

The wire-wheel car gave Maybach the opportunity to try out his design for a geared manual transmission with four speeds. This consisted of various gear pairings with straight-cut teeth, of which one pair was in service at any given moment. First gear enabled the vehicle to travel at up to 5 km/h, fourth gave a top speed of 16 km/h. During an extended test drive in Paris the transmission was impressive enough to convince an engineer from Renault, the carmaker that had been founded only the previous year. It was so efficient that it became the model for all subsequent gear transmissions for motor cars.

The World Exposition was to be the scene of another event of enormous significance – Gottlieb Daimler cemented a business partnership with Louise Sarazin, the widow of his long-standing French business colleague, Edouard Sarazin. She acquired the licensing rights to Daimler engines on condition that the engines bore the name “Daimler”. This was to prove a catalyst for the French automotive industry, as well as for the widespread growth in general of the automobile – since France would be at the centre of this growth. Before long, there were more cars equipped with “moteurs système Daimler” than in its country of birth, Germany, where distribution was moving ahead at a comparatively slow pace.

In 1890 Louise Sarazin married Emile Levassor. Her husband’s company Panhard & Levassor also supplied engines to other companies. Their biggest customer was the family-run Peugeot company, which bought the wire-wheel car at the end of the World Exposition. Using this as a model, the company began building its own automobiles, supplied exclusively until 1906 with Panhard & Levassor engines produced under the Daimler licence. By the turn of the century Peugeot had become France’s leading car manufacturer. The wire-wheel car was an important milestone in automotive history. As was the V-engine, of course, which went on to become the drive system for all kinds of vehicles.

Wallpapers : Daimler Wire Wheels 1889