Although Henry Ford gets a lot of attention for making cars more affordable, Karl Benz was one of the innovators of horseless carriages some 17 years before the Ford Motor Company began producing cars. The vehicle made its public debut in 1886. It did not have a transmission, so it only moved at one speed and it couldn’t go into reverse. If inventors and engineers had not improved this model, there would be no need for Transmission Parts in Phoenix AZ.
The First True Passenger Car
The Benz Patent Motor Car No. 1 had three wheels and was the first car to run on gasoline with an internal combustion engine. There were some earlier steam-powered and electrically powered vehicles, but their disadvantages left much to be desired. The car as we know it today is much more similar to the Benz model than those earlier ones. Although there was no transmission, the model did have a clutch so that it could move from a stationary position into a forward gear.
Imagine how excited people were to see this invention. They finally were able to fully envision being able to travel without the need for horses, even though that first self-propelled gas-powered vehicle had its limitations.
The Purpose of the Transmission
A transmission brings the engine’s power to the wheels. Multiple gears allow the driver to change speed by adding or reducing the level of torque. Manual three-speed transmissions were added to passenger cars in the late 1890s. By the early 20th Century, most cars had this equipment.
Manual vs. Automatic
Most U.S. residents no longer drive cars with manual transmissions, although this still is the most popular choice in Europe. Fully automatic transmissions first made an appearance in 1948, and drivers increasingly chose vehicles with this option. Today, owners of cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles can have repair and replacement of Transmission Parts in Phoenix AZ for both automatic and manual equipment.
A garage like Denny’s Transmission Specialists provides all types of service for this machinery. The automotive technicians can replace clutches for standard transmissions, for instance, and rebuild automatic transmissions that are no longer in good working order.