The history of Mercedes-Benz (part one)

Gottlieb Daimler was born on March 17, 1834 in Schorndorf. After training as a gunsmith in France, he studied at the Stuttgart Polytechnic from 1857 to 1859. After performing various technical activities in France and England, he started working as a draftsman in Geislingen company in 1862. He met Wilhelm Maybach in 1865.

“It’s not the idea, it’s the execution that counts.”

It all started in 1834.
Gottlieb Daimler was born on March 17, 1834 in Schorndorf. After training as a gunsmith in France, he studied at the Stuttgart Polytechnic from 1857 to 1859. After performing various technical activities in France and England, he started working as a draftsman in Geislingen company in 1862. He met Wilhelm Maybach in 1865.
In 1872, he worked as a technical director of the Deutz Gas motor en fabrik gas engine manufacturing company, where he got acquainted with four-stroke engine technology. After differences with the CEO of the company, he left the job in 1882.
Daimler set up a workshop in the greenhouse of his villa to focus on the development of four-stroke gasoline engines. Then, in collaboration with Wilhelm Maybach, in 1884, he built an internal combustion engine known today as the “Grandfather Clock”.
With its compact and light weight design, this device forms the basis of installing the engine in the car.
However, the costs of experimental operations soon affected Daimler’s entire fortune, and he was forced to find business partners. On November 28, 1890, together with Max Dottenhofer and his business partner Wilhelm Lorenz, he founded the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft. While Duttenhofer tended to produce stationary engines, Daimler preferred to focus on automobile production, and this caused a conflict between them.
After the resignation of Wilhelm Maybach in 1891 due to unacceptable contract conditions, Daimler resorted to trickery and continued the production of Maybach engines, but registered all the patents in his name. Strained relations with Duttenhofer and Lorenz led to Daimler leaving as a shareholder, but with the worsening financial situation that led to a stagnation of technical development, they forced DMG to bring back Wilhelm Maybach in 1895. Maybach first started the cooperation again. He enlisted and hinted that he would not return without Daimler. Eventually, business pressures lead to both of them returning to the company. Thanks to the Phoenix engine made by Maybach, the Daimler engine is gaining popularity abroad. A group of British industrialists is ready to pay 350,000 marks to obtain a license to use it. Maybach is appointed as technical director of DMG and Gottlieb Daimler becomes general inspector of the technical supervisory board. The return of both men to DMG was a major unexpected development for the company, but Gottlieb Daimler only enjoyed this development for a short time. He died on March 6, 1900 due to heart disease.