10 Inventions that Lead to the Making of the Modern Car!

While we continue to drive our favourite vehicles which now come equipped with modern-day features, we shouldn’t forget about those people who put in a lot of hard work in developing these machines and making our life easier! In today’s featured, we take a moment to thank all the great people who have been there since the initial stages of this industry and have been inventing all the modern-day stuff that we now use! Let’s have a look at 10 inventions that lead to the making of the modern car.

1. Vulcanised Rubber
   

   

   Heard of Goodyear? Well, that’s probably the tyre you are running on right now. Hardware merchant Charles Goodyear was the man behind the invention of the raw material used to develop car tyres. In the early 1830s, Americans were fond of the newly developed rubber goods but stopped buying them when they realise that they would melt in the hot summers. Realising this, Charles Goodyear began making certain modifications to the already existing rubber and finally in 1839, Goodyear added sulfur to the rubber and it actually hardened! He patented the process which we now know as vulcanisation. Vulcanised rubber is used in making transmission belts, seals and of course tyres!

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2. Assembly Line
   

   

   All of us are aware of the high demand for cars around the world. Just imagine if assembly lines won’t have been there, how would we meet the modern-day requirement. This is one of the most considerable among the inventions for the modern car. The first assembly line was developed in 1901 by Ransom E. Olds, founder of Oldsmobile. Earlier, the cars used to stay in one place and the workers used to walk to them. Olds placed the cars on stands with wheels in order to speed up the production process. Henry Ford, later on, developed a conveyer belt system that carried parts to the workers.

3. Internal Combustion Engine

The powerhouse of the modern-day automobile! The IC engine was developed by Nikolas Otto in 1864 which he patented as the “Atmospheric Gas Engine”. The later collaboration among Otto, Daimler, and Maybach gave the first-ever four-cycle engine to the world! Karl Benz developed the 2-stroke engine in 1879.

1. Diesel Engine
   

   

   Another important one among the inventions for modern-day cars. Although Maruti has ditched the diesel engines now, we shouldn’t forget that the fuel and the engine itself delivered great performance and efficiency! This engine has got the highest thermal efficiency possible in an engine to date. This engine was based on a whole new cycle where the power was generated by compression of the fuel.

2. Three-point Seatbelts
   

   

   Nils Bohlin was the person to think about passenger safety. The 3-point seatbelt was first introduced in 1959 by Volvo and was developed by Nils. Nils had earlier worked with SAAB and developed ejecting seats. Before the invention took place, the vehicles used to have 2-point seat belts which were dangerous in case of high-speed accidents and lead to internal injuries to the passengers.

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3. Catalytic Converter
   

   

   While humans were busy driving the vehicles they had developed in the 1800s, environmental pollution started to become a huge concern in the later 1900s. In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency in the US made stricter regulations on exhaust emissions in 1975. This led to the development of the modern-day catalytic converter. Eugene Houdry was the one who developed a catalytic converter that could benefit mankind by converting the hazardous exhaust gases into less harmful ones. This is one of the most notable inventions for the modern car.

4. Airbags
   

   

   American John Hetrick is generally acknowledged as the inventor of airbags. However, it is known that Germany’s Walter Linderer in 1951akso developed a similar system and both of them competed to get the system patented in their names! The initial system employed springs which would trigger the airbag in case of an accident or the driver could also inflate them manually. Further research and modernisation led to what we have right now.

5. Cruise Control
   

   

   This is also one of the most important inventions for the modern car. Famer Ralph Teetor believed that uneven speeds were the cause of the most accidents on the roads. Although Teetor was blind and never drove a car himself, he realised the hazards of uneven speeds while on a drive with his lawyer. Teetor observed that the lawyer would slow down while speaking something and would speed up as he listened while they had a conversation on their way. Cruise Control was first included on U.S. models in the 1958 Chrysler Imperial, New Yorker and Windsor. It became a standard feature on the Cadillacs in 1960 and grew further ahead.

6. Windshield Wipers
   

   

   Imagine taking your head out of the vehicle and seeing if the way is actually clear! Sounds weird? Well, people actually used to do this until Mary Anderson realised this in 1902 and developed a windshield wiping system which she, later on, got patented in her name in 1903. The drivers had to stick their heads out of the windows which made the traffic slower and also distracted them. This major problem was solved by the invention of windshield wipers. Indirectly, the credit for climate-controlled vehicles should also go to her because you can’t control the climate if you need to peek out of the window every now and then.

7. Road Asphalt
   

   

   Well, we have made you know about the inventions for the modern car. But without this one, the cars won’t have been able to run smoothly! We are talking about the road asphalt. Edward De Smedt developed the commercial-grade asphalt in 1870. Starting from Paris, this material was indulged in making roads and was mixed with other materials like pebbles or crushed stones to form a durable surface!

This was all our first list of the inventions for the modern car. These inventions have really proved to be a transformation point in the journey of the development of the automobile. Share this article with all the car owners you know and make them aware about the history of each of the components that their car has for right now!