Vivinus cars were made by Ateliers Vivinus S.A. , a company founded in 1899 in Schaerbeek , Brussels . The company was renamed Automobiles Vivinus S.A. in 1908.
87-488: The owner, Alexis Vivinus (1860-1929), had made bicycles in the 1890s and become an importer of Benz . From 1895 he started to make his own range of cars. These were belt -driven voiturette models with a 785 cc single-cylinder engine and 2-speed transmission by belt drive. Licences to make his designs were sold to firms such as New Orleans of England, Georges Richard of France and De Dietrich in Germany. From 1907
174-409: A horseless carriage . Based on his experience with, and fondness for, bicycles, he used similar technology when he created an automobile . It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones) with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to
261-624: A scales factory. In 1868 he went to Pforzheim to work for the bridge building company Gebrüder Benckiser Eisenwerke und Maschinenfabrik . Finally, he went to Vienna for a short period to work at an iron construction company. In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Benz joined August Ritter, in launching the Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop in Mannheim , later renamed Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working. The enterprise's first year went very badly. Ritter turned out to be unreliable, and
348-494: A bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. In 1883, the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: Benz & Companie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik , usually referred to as Benz & Cie. Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static gas engines as well. The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing
435-461: A director of Benz & Cie. During a birthday celebration for him in his home town of Karlsruhe on 25 November 1914, the seventy-year-old Benz was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the Karlsruhe University , thereby becoming—Dr. Ing. h. c. Benz. Almost from the very beginning of the production of automobiles, participation in sports car racing became
522-538: A document by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor . Visits to Pforzheim by Heinrich IV in 1067 and 1074 are documented. Before 1080: The "old town" of Pforzheim was awarded market rights ( Marktrecht ). At that time Pforzheim belonged to the estate of Hirsau Monastery , according to monastery documents. From 1150: Establishment of the "new town" west of the "old town" at the foot of the Schlossberg (palais hill) under Margrave Hermann V . 1200: The town charter of
609-476: A few months later. According to German law, the child acquired the name "Benz" by legal marriage of his parents. When he was two years old, his father died of pneumonia , and his name was changed to Karl Friedrich Benz in remembrance of his father. Despite living in near poverty, his mother strove to give him a good education. Benz attended the local school in Karlsruhe and was a prodigious student. In 1853, at
696-453: A major method to gain publicity for manufacturers. At first, the production models were raced and the Benz Velo participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen 1894 . Later, investment in developing racecars for motorsports produced returns through sales generated by the association of the name of the automobile with the winners. Unique race vehicles were built at the time such as
783-602: A range of more conventional 4-cylinder cars were made with shaft drive, along with motorcycles and aero engines. The company went into liquidation in 1912. The workshop was taken over by Fabrique d'automobile belge [ fr ] . Vivinus himself later joined Minerva . This article about a veteran automobile produced before 1905 is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Benz %26 Cie. Carl (or Karl ) Friedrich Benz ( German: [kaʁl ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈbɛnts] ; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant ; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929)
870-564: A sense, the fraternities were early forms of health and life insurance . 8–9 August 1418: Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor visits Margrave Bernard I (Bernhard I) in Pforzheim. On this occasion the mint of the Margraves of Baden in Pforzheim was mentioned. Mint master was Jakob Broeglin between 1414 and 1431. The emperor appointed the master of the Pforzheim mint, Jakob Bröglin, and Bois von der Winterbach for five years as Royal Mint Masters of
957-561: A university in Pforzheim, but this plan had to be abandoned because Margrave Charles I lost the Battle of Seckenheim . 1463: Margrave Charles I was forced to transfer the palace and the town of Pforzheim as a fiefdom to the Elector Palatine after losing the Battle of Seckenheim. He then began to build a new palace in modern Baden-Baden . Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden finally moved
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#17328555203121044-455: Is situated about halfway between the cities of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe at the confluence of three rivers ( Enz , Nagold and Würm ). It marks the frontier between Baden and Württemberg , being located on Baden territory. From 1535 to 1565, it was the home to the Margraves of Baden-Durlach . The City of Pforzheim is a Stadtkreis , meaning it is both a municipality and a district at
1131-666: Is still active today as the Loebliche Singergesellschaft of 1501 . (They are probably one of the oldest clubs in Europe). 1520s: The ideas of the protestant religious movement advanced by Martin Luther spread rapidly in Pforzheim. Its most prominent promoters were Johannes Schwebel, a preacher at Holy Ghost church (Heiliggeistkirche), and Johannes Unger, the principal of the Dominican Latin school . 1535–1565: Due to
1218-460: Is still used by Porsche , Subaru , and some high performance engines used in racing cars . In motorcycles, the most famous boxer engine is found in BMW Motorrad , though the boxer engine design was used in many other models, including Victoria , Harley-Davidson XA, Zündapp , Wooler , Douglas Dragonfly , Ratier , Universal, IMZ-Ural , Dnepr , Gnome et Rhône , Chang Jiang , Marusho , and
1305-464: The Mercedes-35hp of 1902. The engine was built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek under a contract for him to purchase thirty-six vehicles with the engine, and for him to become a dealer of the special series. Jellinek stipulated the new engine be named Daimler- Mercedes (for his daughter). Maybach would quit DMG in 1907, but he designed the model and all of the important changes. After testing,
1392-462: The Board of Management . Ganß worked in the commercialization department, which is somewhat similar to marketing in contemporary corporations. The new directors recommended that Benz should create a less expensive automobile suitable for mass production . From 1893 to 1900 Benz sold the four wheel, two seat Victoria , a two-passenger automobile with a 2.2 kW (3.0 hp) engine, which could reach
1479-602: The Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles as Mercedes-Benz , honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the 1902 Mercedes 35 hp , along with the Benz name. The name of Mercedes 35 hp had been chosen for ten-year-old Mercédès Jellinek , the daughter of Emil Jellinek who had set the specifications for the new model. Between 1900 and 1909 he was a member of DMG's board of management, however had resigned long before
1566-590: The Honda Gold Wing . Although Gottlieb Daimler died in March 1900—and there is no evidence that Benz and Daimler knew each other nor that they knew about each other's early achievements—eventually, competition with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Stuttgart began to challenge the leadership of Benz & Cie. In October 1900, the main designer of DMG, Wilhelm Maybach , built the engine that would later be used in
1653-522: The Mercedes-Benz among other brands. Benz is widely regarded as "the father of the car", as well as the "father of the automobile industry". Carl Benz was born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant on 25 November 1844 in Mühlburg , now a borough of Karlsruhe , Baden-Württemberg, which is part of modern Germany. His parents were Josephine Vaillant and a locomotive driver, Johann Georg Benz, whom she married
1740-582: The Neckar and Rhine to, among other markets, the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding. Their timbers were also used to construct the foundations for Amsterdam , which was built in a swamp. Since 90: A settlement was established by Roman citizens at the Enz River near the modern Altstädter Brücke (old town bridge). Archeological surveys have unearthed several artifacts of that period which are kept and displayed in
1827-627: The Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire and conquered the Roman administered area west of the Rhine River. From then on, over an extended period of time, historical records about the settlement were not available. 6th/7th century: Graves from this period indicate that the settlement had been continued. 1067: The settlement was mentioned as "Phorzheim" for the first time, in
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#17328555203121914-536: The heritage division of the clan of the Margraves of Baden, Margrave Ernst of Baden made Pforzheim the residential town of his family line. He decided to use the Schlosskirche St. Michael as the entombment site for his family line. 1549: A large fire caused severe damage to the town. 1556: After the conclusion of the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, Margrave Karl II introduced Lutheranism ( Protestantism ) as
2001-452: The ignition using sparks with battery , the spark plug , the carburetor , the clutch , the gear shift , and the water radiator . Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that the Benz's enterprise be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained. They were forced to improvise an association with photographer Emil Bühler and his brother (a cheese merchant), to get additional bank support. The company became
2088-466: The joint-stock company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in 1882. After all the necessary incorporation agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest position as director. Worst of all, his ideas weren't considered when designing new products, so he withdrew from that corporation just one year later, in 1883. [REDACTED] (mechanically operated inlet valves) Benz's lifelong hobby brought him to
2175-470: The "new town" was mentioned for the first time in a document. The "old town" continued to exist as a legally independent entity. 1220: The Margraves of Baden selected Pforzheim as their residence. This resulted in the "new town" becoming prominent. 1240: A mayor of Pforzheim was mentioned in a document for the first time. 13th/14th century: Pforzheim enjoyed its first period of flourishing. A group of influential patricians emerged. They developed
2262-520: The 20 years following the end of the war, Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt. The town reflects the architecture of the postwar period and has some landmark buildings of the 1950s. Pforzheim is located at the northern rim of the eastern part of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and the rim of the hilly country of the Kraichgau , in an open valley at the confluences of the rivers Würm and Nagold , as well as
2349-614: The Auer Bridge Gate, the Upper Mill and the Nonnen Mill were burnt down). The French also stole all church bells, except for one minor one. On 20 September 1692, again crossed the Rhine river under the general command of Marshal Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges , and advanced toward Durlach and Pforzheim. On 24 September, 2,000 cavalry soldiers and 1,200 infantry and artillery troops under
2436-530: The Benz Velo. The early Velo had a 1L 1.5-metric-horsepower (1.5 hp; 1.1 kW) engine, and later a 3-metric-horsepower (3 hp; 2 kW) engine. giving a top speed of 19 km/h (12 mph). The Velo participated in the world's first automobile race, the 1894 Paris to Rouen , where Émile Roger finished 14th, after covering the 126 km (78 mi) in 10 hours 01-minute at an average speed of 12.7 km/h (7.9 mph). In 1895, Benz designed
2523-682: The City of Pforzheim. Below they are mentioned in clockwise order, beginning to the north of the city. Except for Unterreichenbach, which belongs to the district of Calw , all of them are part of the Enz district. Ispringen , Neulingen , Kieselbronn , Niefern-Öschelbronn , Wurmberg , Wimsheim , Friolzheim , Tiefenbronn , Neuhausen (Enz) , Unterreichenbach , Engelsbrand , Birkenfeld (Enz) , Keltern and Kämpfelbach . The city of Pforzheim consists of 16 city wards. The communities Büchenbronn, Eutingen an der Enz , Hohenwart, Huchenfeld and Würm, which by way of
2610-467: The French troops had crossed the Rhine river under the command of Marshal Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges at Philippsburg on 3 August 1691, they assaulted the Margraves' residential town of Durlach and 1,200 cavalry men, 300 dragoons and 1,200 infantry men advanced toward Pforzheim where they arrived in the morning on 9 August and surrounded the town. When the approximately 200 imperial soldiers under
2697-460: The German imperial command, who were defending the town, were forced to surrender. After a short period of looting, the French troops set the inner town area on fire on 15 August, which made that area uninhabitable for several weeks. Then the French moved on. During the following two years, French troops stayed away from Pforzheim, but the economic situation of the town was miserable. In addition to this,
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2784-515: The Kappelhof Museum. The settlement was located where the Roman military road connecting the military camp Argentoratum (nowadays Strasbourg in France) and the military camp at Cannstatt (now a suburb of Stuttgart ) at the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire crossed the Enz river. This place was known as Portus (meaning "river crossing, harbor"), which is believed to be
2871-420: The Karlsruhe polytechnical school, which he subsequently attended. Benz graduated on 9 July 1864, aged 19. Following his formal education, Benz had seven years of professional training in several companies, but did not fit well in any of them. The training started in Karlsruhe with two years of varied jobs in a mechanical engineering company. He then moved to Mannheim to work as a draftsman and designer in
2958-537: The Motorwagen was a Parisian bicycle manufacturer Emile Roger , who had already been building Benz engines under license from Benz for several years. Roger added the Benz automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and initially most were sold there. The early 1888 version of the Motorwagen had only two gears and could not climb hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after Bertha Benz drove one of
3045-742: The Palatinian Succession " (also called the Nine Years War ) caused tremendous destruction in Southwestern Germany. The French "sun king" Louis XIV 's efforts to expand the territory of France up to the Upper Rhine river and to put the Elector Palatine under pressure to severe its ties with the League of Augsburg included the Brûlez le Palatinat! tactics of destroying major towns on both sides of
3132-501: The Rhine river and began the destruction of major towns in Baden. On 10 August 1689, a French army unit under the command of General Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac appeared in front of Pforzheims town gates, but this time the town refused to surrender. In response, the French army began shelling the town with cannons from the Rod hill located southwest of the town, and the several hundred soldiers of
3219-411: The Rhine river. These tactics seem to have been mainly the idea of the French war minister, François Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois . Pforzheim was occupied by French troops on 10 October 1688. Commanding officer is said to have been Joseph de Montclar . The town was forced to accommodate a large number of soldiers and had to pay a large amount of "contributions" to the French. When the army unit
3306-404: The age of nine, he started at the scientifically oriented Lyceum . Next he studied at Karlsruhe's polytechnical school under the instruction of Ferdinand Redtenbacher . Benz had originally focused his studies on locksmithing , but he eventually followed his father's steps toward locomotive engineering. On 30 September 1860, at age 15, he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineering for
3393-487: The air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The Allies believed that precision instruments were being produced here for use in the German war effort and that the town was a transport centre for the movement of German troops. From 1945 to 1948, Pforzheim (after the initial French occupation) was administered by the United States military and was part of the short-lived state of Württemberg-Baden . In
3480-400: The business's tools were impounded. The difficulty was overcome when Benz's fiancée, Bertha Ringer , bought out Ritter's share in the company, using her dowry . On 20 July 1872, Benz and Bertha Ringer married. They had five children: Eugen (1873), Richard (1874), Clara (1877), Thilde (1882), and Ellen (1890). Despite the business misfortunes, Benz led in the development of new engines in
3567-579: The car on 3 July 1886 in Mannheim at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). The next year Benz created the Motorwagen Model 2, which had several modifications, and in 1889, the definitive Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced, showing at the Paris Expo the same year. Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as " Benz Patent-Motorwagen ") in the late summer of 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The second customer of
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3654-484: The cemetery on the estate of the Dominican order near nowadays Waisenhausplatz found during the last century may indicate that hundreds of citizens became the victims of the plague. There are indications that a fraternity for taking care of the sick and removing the bodies of the deceased from houses was formed in 1501, whose members later on stayed together and became known as the choral society Singergesellschaft , which
3741-448: The close by city of Calw and about 4000 in Stuttgart , which accounted for approximately one quarter to one half of the populations of those towns. Outbreaks of the disease were reported for many places in southwestern Germany, Bohemia , the Alsace region in nowadays France, Switzerland, and Italy. Common graves with massive numbers of human bones at the cemetery of St. Michael Church and
3828-411: The command of Marshal Noël Bouton de Chamilly , moved to Pforzheim, where the town and 600 soldiers of the imperial German army in town surrendered without any military engagements. The rest of the French army arrived on 27 September under the command of Marshal de Lorges. On the same day, the French army moved on to Oetisheim near Mühlacker and attacked an imperial army unit of 4,000 cavalry men under
3915-626: The command of Captain Zickwolf and other men in the town refused to surrender, the siege began. After shelling the town during the day and the following night, the resistance of the town broke down and on 10 August in the morning the French forced the town gates open, occupied and looted it (although with little success, as there was not much left to be taken away). On 12 August, the French moved on, this time refraining from setting houses on fire. The fortification had again been damaged, though (the White Tower,
4002-433: The command of Duke Frederick Charles of Württemberg-Winnental in their camp. As they were taken by surprise, they withdrew hastily and lost several hundred men, either killed or captured by the French. (The Duke himself was among the French prisoners.) On 28 September, the French army returned to Pforzheim and established a camp. It was reported that the entire Enz valley between the village of Eutingen east of Pforzheim and
4089-432: The company in 1904 as the designer of passenger vehicles. That year, sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3,480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles. Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Benz founded another company, C. Benz Söhne , (with his son Eugen and closely held within the family), a privately held company for manufacturing automobiles. The brand name used
4176-405: The dissemination of the ideas of humanism and the protestant reformation movement. The most famous pupils included Reuchlin himself, Reuchlin's nephew Philipp Melanchthon , and Simon Grynaeus . 1460: Margrave Charles I established a kind of monastery (Kollegialstift) at the site of Schlosskirche St. Michael, turning the church into a collegiate church . There were also plans to establish
4263-414: The early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenue, in 1878 he began to work on new patents. First, he concentrated on creating a reliable petrol two-stroke engine . Benz finished his two-stroke engine on 31 December 1879, and was granted a patent for it on 28 June 1880. While designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine, Benz patented the speed regulation system,
4350-485: The financial markets of those days. The town drew its income from the wood trade, timber rafting , the tannery trade, textile manufacturing, and other crafts. Documents mention mayor, judge, council and citizens . The town walls surrounding the new town were completed about 1290. During this era, three Roman Catholic orders established their convents in town (the Franciscan order established their domicile within
4437-736: The first mid-engine and aerodynamically designed, Tropfenwagen , a "teardrop" body introduced at the 1923 European Grand Prix at Monza . In the last production year of the Benz Sons company, 1923, three hundred and fifty units were built. During the following year, 1924, Benz built two additional 8/25 hp units of the automobile manufactured by this company, tailored for his personal use, which he never sold; they are still preserved. The German economic crisis worsened. In 1923 Benz & Cie. produced only 1,382 units in Mannheim, and DMG made only 1,020 in Stuttgart. The average cost of an automobile
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#17328555203124524-565: The first half of the 16th century Pforzheim's printers contributed significantly to the establishment of this (in those days) new medium. 1501: Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden enacted the " Ordinance on the timber rafting profession in Pforzheim". The single timber logs that were floated from the deeper Black Forest areas down the Enz, Nagold and Wuerm rivers were bound together in the Au area to form larger timber rafts. Those rafts were then floated down
4611-477: The first initial of Benz's first name, "Carl". In 1909, the Blitzen Benz was built in Mannheim by Benz & Cie. The bird-beaked vehicle had a 21.5-liter (1312ci), 150 kW (200 hp) engine, and on 9 November 1909 in the hands of Victor Hémery of France, the land speed racer at Brooklands , set a record of 226.91 km/h (141.00 mph), said to be "faster than any plane, train, or automobile" at
4698-654: The first truck with an internal combustion engine in history. Benz also built the first motor buses in history in 1895, for the Netphener bus company. In 1896, Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine . It had horizontally opposed pistons , a design in which the corresponding pistons reach top dead centre simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum . Many flat engines, particularly those with four or fewer cylinders, are arranged as "boxer engines", boxermotor in German, and also are known as "horizontally opposed engines". This design
4785-451: The first was delivered to Jellinek on 22 December 1900. Jellinek continued to make suggestions for changes to the model and obtained good results racing the automobile in the next few years, encouraging DMG to engage in commercial production of automobiles, which they did in 1902. Benz countered with Parsifal , introduced in 1903 with a vertical twin engine that achieved a top speed of 60 km/h (37 mph). Then, without consulting Benz,
4872-425: The latest regional administrative reform during the 1970s were incorporated into Pforzheim's administration , are represented by independent community councils and community administrations. In important matters concerning any of these communities the opinions of the respective community councils must be taken into consideration. However, final decisions on the matter will be made by the Pforzheim city council . It
4959-593: The lower Enz, Neckar and Rhine rivers. The timber rafting stations of Weissenstein, Dillstein and Pforzheim were well known in the profession. 1501 was also the year for which an outbreak of the plague (probably the bubonic plague ) is recorded in the Swabian chronicle Annalium Suevicorum by Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen professor Martin Grusius, published 1596. It is not known how many of Pforzheim's citizens died in that year, but there are reports of 500 deceased in
5046-632: The manner now referred to as live marketing. Today, the event is celebrated every two years in Germany with an antique automobile rally. In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially approved as a route of the industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's tracks of the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. The public can now follow the 194 km (121 mi) of signposted route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim ( Black Forest ) and back. The return trip – which didn't go through Heidelberg –
5133-416: The merger. Benz was a member of the new Daimler-Benz board of management for the remainder of his life. A new logo was created in 1926, consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler's motto : "engines for land, air, and water" ) surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo, and the brand of all of its automobiles was labeled Mercedes-Benz . Model names would follow the brand name in
5220-399: The mints of Frankfurt and Nördlingen . The Margrave was appointed as their patron. 1447: The wedding of Margrave Charles I (Karl I) of Baden with Katharina of Austria, the sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (Friedrich III), was celebrated in Pforzheim with great pomp (including tournaments and dances ). 1455: Johannes Reuchlin , the great German humanist ,
5307-453: The origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim". A Roman milestone (the so-called 'Leugenstein') from the year 245 was excavated in modern times at present-day Friolzheim ; it is marked with the exact distance to 'Portus' and is the first documented evidence of the settlement. 259/260: The Roman settlement 'Portus' was destroyed completely, as the Frank and Alemanni tribes overran
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#17328555203125394-584: The other directors hired some French designers. France was a country with an extensive automobile industry based on Maybach's creations. Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Benz announced his retirement from design management on 24 January 1903, although he remained as director on the Board of Management through its merger with DMG in 1926 and, remained on the board of the new Daimler-Benz corporation until his death in 1929. Benz's sons Eugen and Richard left Benz & Cie. in 1903, but Richard returned to
5481-408: The rear axle. Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it " Benz Patent-Motorwagen ". The Motorwagen was patented on 29 January 1886 as DRP-37435: "automobile fueled by gas". The 1885 version was difficult to control, leading to a collision with a wall during a public demonstration. The first successful tests on public roads were carried out in the early summer of 1886. Benz first publicly drove
5568-609: The reconstruction of the town and the repairs of the fortifications under the supervision of Johann Matthaeus Faulhaber, the chief construction officer of the Margraviate Baden, required a lot of efforts. The accommodation of an imperial garrison under the command of (then) colonel Count Palffy also was a heavy burden. In 1691, Louvois instructed his marshals to destroy those towns which were to serve as winter quarters for imperial troops, explicitly including Pforzheim, and then continue to Wuerttemberg for further destructions. After
5655-414: The residence of the margraves to Baden-Baden. This gradually ended the first period of Pforzheim's flourishment. The rich merchants gradually left the town, which declined to the status of a country town of mostly small traders. 1486: The Weavers Ordinance ( Wollweberordnung ) for the towns Pforzheim und Ettlingen was approved by Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden . This was a contract concerning
5742-840: The rivers Nagold and Enz . Due to its location, this city is also called the "three-valleys town" ( Drei-Täler Stadt ) or the "Gateway to the Black Forest" ( Pforte zum Schwarzwald / Porta Hercynia ). Pforzheim and its surrounding area belongs to the "Densely Populated Area Karlsruhe/Pforzheim". Pforzheim has the functions of a regional center (Mittelzentrum) for the towns and municipalities Birkenfeld (Enz) , Eisingen , Engelsbrand , Friolzheim , Heimsheim , Ispringen , Kämpfelbach , Keltern , Kieselbronn , Königsbach-Stein , Mönsheim , Neuenbürg , Neuhausen , Neulingen , Niefern-Öschelbronn , Ölbronn-Dürrn , Remchingen , Straubenhardt , Tiefenbronn , Wiernsheim , Wimsheim and Wurmberg . The following towns and communities share borderlines with
5829-431: The same convention as today. Pforzheim Pforzheim ( German pronunciation: [ˈpfɔʁtshaɪm] ) is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg , in the southwest of Germany . It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City"). With an area of 97.8 square kilometres (37.8 sq mi), it
5916-533: The same time. Also, it hosts the administrative offices of the Enz district that surrounds the city. During World War II , Pforzheim was bombed by the Allies a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardments of World War II, was carried out by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on the evening of 23 February 1945. Nearly one third of the town's population, 17,600 people, were killed in
6003-433: The same trade were established: The fraternity of tailors in 1410, the fraternity of bakers on 14 May 1422, the fraternity of the weavers in 1469, the fraternity of the wine-growers in 1491, the fraternity of the skippers and timber raftsmen in 1501, and the fraternity of the carters in 1512. Members of the same fraternity assisted each other in various ways, for example with funerals and in cases of sickness. In
6090-465: The state religion in the district Baden-Durlach , which included Pforzheim. The (Catholic) monasteries were gradually shut down. 1565: Margrave Karl II chose Durlach as the new residential town. Pforzheim stayed one of the administrative centers of Baden. 1618: At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War , the number of inhabitants of Pforzheim is estimated to have been between 2500 and 3000. This
6177-496: The time, a record that was not exceeded for ten years by any other vehicle. It was transported to several countries, including the United States, to establish multiple records of this achievement. Carl Benz, Bertha Benz, and their son, Eugen, moved 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of Mannheim to live in nearby Ladenburg , and solely with their own capital, founded the private company, C. Benz Sons (German: Benz Söhne ) in 1906, producing automobiles and gas engines. The latter type
6264-464: The top speed of 18 km/h (11 mph) and had a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chained tiller for steering . The model was successful with 85 units sold in 1893, and was produced in a four-seated version with face-to-face seat benches called the "Vis-à-Vis". From 1894 to 1902, Benz produced over 1,200 of what some consider the first mass-produced car, the Velocipede , later known as
6351-406: The town privileges of Pforzheim. This regulation of the weaving trade did not allow the formation of a regular guild (Zunft). 1491: A contract between Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden and the citizens of Pforzheim was concluded, granting the town of Pforzheim several privileges concerning taxes and business. 1496: Foundation of the first printer's shop by Thomas Anshelm . During
6438-504: The town wall at present-day Barfuesserkirche (the choir of which remains), the Dominican sisters order established their domicile outside the walls of the old town near Auer Bridge, and the Prediger cloister was located east of the Schlossberg, probably inside the town walls). Outside the town wall and across the Enz river, the suburb Flösser Quarters (the home of the timber-floating trade)
6525-547: The vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of a third gear for climbing hills. In the course of this trip she also invented brake pads. The world's first long distance automobile trip was undertaken by Bertha Benz using a Model 3. On the morning of 5 August 1888 Bertha – supposedly without the knowledge of her husband – took the vehicle on a 104 km (65 mi) trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her mother, taking her sons Eugen and Richard with her. In addition to having to locate pharmacies along
6612-458: The village of Birkenfeld west of Pforzheim was occupied by the 30,000 French soldiers' camps. From their base in Pforzheim, French army units obviously under the leadership of Marshal de Chamilly advanced along the river valleys of Nagold and Würm and looted and destroyed the villages and towns of Huchenfeld, Calw , Hirsau , Liebenzell and Zavelstein . They also destroyed Liebeneck castle about 10 kilometres from Pforzheim towering above
6699-511: The way to refuel, she repaired various technical and mechanical problems. One of these included the invention of brake lining ; after some longer downhill slopes she ordered a shoemaker to nail leather onto the brake blocks. Bertha Benz and sons finally arrived at nightfall, announcing the achievement to Karl by telegram . It had been her intention to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Benz Motorwagen for travel and to generate publicity in
6786-418: Was 25 million marks because of rapid inflation. Negotiations between the two companies resumed and in 1924 they signed an "Agreement of Mutual Interest" valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands. On 28 June 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as
6873-584: Was a German engine designer and automotive engineer . His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886, the same year he first publicly drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. His company Benz & Cie. , based in Mannheim , was the world's first automobile plant and largest of its day. In 1926, it merged with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz , which produces
6960-531: Was about to depart early in the morning of 21 January 1689 (obviously because an army of the Holy Roman Empire had been approaching), they set many major buildings on fire, including the palais, the city hall, and vicarages. About 70 houses (i.e. one quarter of all houses) and part of the town's fortifications were reportedly destroyed. Between 2 and 4 August, the French army under the general command of Marshal Jacques Henri de Durfort de Duras again crossed
7047-404: Was added. Benz & Cie. had grown in the interim from 50 employees in 1889 to 430 in 1899. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899. Because of its size, in 1899, Benz & Cie. became a joint-stock company with the arrival of Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, who came aboard as members of
7134-512: Was along a different, slightly shorter route, as shown on the maps of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Benz's Model 3 made its wide-scale debut to the world in the 1889 World's Fair in Paris; about twenty-five Motorwagens were built between 1886 and 1893. The great demand for static internal combustion engines forced Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim, and in 1886 a new building located on Waldhofstrasse (operating until 1908)
7221-491: Was born in Pforzheim on 29 January (he died in Stuttgart on 30 June 1522). He attended the Latin School section of the monastery school run by the Dominican order of Pforzheim in the late 1460s. Later, partly due to Reuchlin's efforts, the Latin School of Pforzheim developed into one of the most prominent schools in southwestern Germany, named Reuchlin-Gymnasium . The school's teachers and pupils played an outstanding role in
7308-495: Was established. Next to the western town wall, the suburb of Brötzingen gradually developed. The Margraves of Baden considered Pforzheim as their most important power base up to the first half of the 14th century. Under Margrave Bernard I (Bernhard I), Pforzheim became one of the administrative centers of the margraviate. 1322: Holy Ghost Hospital was founded at Tränk Street (present-day Deimling Street). Various fraternities , also known as guilds, among people working in
7395-595: Was replaced by petrol engines because of lack of demand. This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz & Cie., which was located in Mannheim. The Benz Sons automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis . In 1912, Benz liquidated all of his shares in Benz Sons and left the family-held company in Ladenburg to Eugen and Richard, but he remained as
7482-464: Was settled by the Romans earlier than the current centers of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe were. These colonists constructed a ford through the river, shortly past the confluence of the three rivers, for their military highway. Due to this strategic location, Pforzheim later became a center for the timber-rafting trade, which transported timber from the Black Forest via the rivers Wuerm, Nagold, Enz and down
7569-491: Was the largest town among all towns in Baden, even though at that time it had already declined somewhat. 1645: Toward the end of the Thirty Years' War the "old town" was burned down by Bavarian (i.e. Catholic) troops. It was rebuilt, but without the former fortifications , which gave it the status of a village-like settlement. It soon vanished from historical records. The "new town" had survived. 1688–1697: The " War of
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