Gottlieb Daimler and the invention of the first truck

One of the greatest talents of inventor Gottlieb Daimler was finding new areas of application for his engine. He invented the motor cycle, then went to the motorised car, a motorised firefighting hose and then, in 1896, he invented the truck.
Pragmatism was behind the design of the first truck in the world, which looked like a cart with an engine and without a drawbar. The engine, called "Phoenix", was a four-horsepower-strong two-cylinder engine located at the rear, with a displacement of 1.06 litres, originating from a car. Daimler linked it to the rear axle by means of a belt. There, there were two helical springs to protect the engine, which was sensitive to vibrations. The vehicle rolled on hard iron wheels, after all. Daimler steered the leaf-sprung front axle by means of a chain. The driver sat up front on the driving seat as with a carriage. The engine was at the rear of the vehicle. The fuel consumption was approximately six litres of petrol per 100 kilometres. In the terminology of the day, that would be "0.4 kilogrammes per horsepower and hour".
The belt drive sent the power from the engine to a shaft fitted transversely to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, both ends of which were fitted with a pinion. Each tooth of this pinion meshed with the internal teeth of a ring gear which was firmly connected with the wheel to be driven.
In 1898, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach shifted the two-cylinder Phoenix engine of the six horse power vehicle, which had been located at the rear, to a position under the driver's seat, with the four-gear belt drive also being transferred forward. However, this solution still left a certain amount to be desired. In the same year, the truck was then given the face which clearly distinguished it from the car and was to level the path towards ever-increasing output and payload. The engine was placed right at the front, in front of the front axle. It conveyed its ten horsepower via a four-gear belt drive and a front-to-rear longitudinal shaft and pinion to the internal ring gears on the iron wheels at the rear. For these vehicles, Daimler made the crucial improvement not only to the drivetrain, but to the engine itself. Instead of a hot tube ignition, the new low-voltage magnetic ignition from Bosch ignited the petrol-air mixture in the cylinders of the 2.2-litre two-cylinder engine, and the radiator had a completely new design.
However, Gottlieb Daimler – probably because of the large number of innovations – was cautious at first before presenting his new five-tonner to the public. The vehicle which was highly modern at the time underwent "Customer testing" which is how the test procedure would be called today. For months, Daimler subjected his new five-tonner to the daily grind of work at a brick factory in Heidenheim, and he painstakingly remedied the shortcomings it showed.
Gottlieb Daimler went to Paris to publicise his new product at the world exhibition. There, an automobile show was held in the Tuileries park, following a contest organised by the Automobile Association of France on the subject of "motorised vehicles for city travel". At the exhibition, Gottlieb Daimler presented his new five-tonner and a four-horse power- belt-driven vehicle. "Huge crowds of people, many vehicles of all kinds and our truck are very popular," Daimler's wife Lina noted with satisfaction in June 1898.
In the United States, the Daimler Motor Company was founded as part of a partnership between Gottlieb Daimler and William Steinway of the piano manufacturers Steinway and Sons sold Daimler engines for yachts and launches as well as for commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks.. The company had its headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, New York City, close to the headquarters of Steinway in Astoria.
By1905, the Daimler range included light vans with a choice of payload of up to 500 kg 1000 kg to 1500 kg. They were powered by two-cylinder engines with eight to sixteen horse power. Four-cylinder engines with 16 to 35 horse power powered the heavy-duty class with two to five tonnes payload.
In 1900, Karl Benz took the plunge, progressing from the van to the real truck. The first range consisted of three models: the lightest version (1250 kilogrammes payload) was powered by a five to seven-horse power one-cylinder engine, the medium-duty version for 2.5 tonnes payload used a ten-horse power one-cylinder engine and the heavy-duty model for 5.0 tonnes payload had a two-cylinder Contra engine which achieved fourteen horsepower. What all three had in common was that the engine was no longer in the rear, but at the front, and positioned horizontally, and it drove the rear axle via a four-gear transmission and chain.
And thus was born the first van and then the first lorry!