Bertha Benz was a German automotive pioneer. She was the business partner, investor and wife of automobile inventor Karl Benz. On 5 August 1888, she was the first person to drive an internal-combustion-engined automobile over a long distance, field testing the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, inventing brake lining and solving several practical issues during the journey of 105 km. In doing so, she brought the Patent-Motorwagen worldwide attention and got their company its first sales. Bertha Benz was not allowed to study in the Grand Duchy of Baden and her financial and practical engineering contributions have long been overlooked until the 21 st century.
Bertha Ringer, c. 1871, prior to her marriage to Karl Benz
Bertha Benz at age 18, c. 1867
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 3 of 1886, used by Bertha Benz for the highly publicized first long distance road trip, 106 km (66 mi), by automobile
Carl and Bertha Benz 1925 – Zenodot Verlagsges. mbH
Carl Friedrich Benz was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent Motorcar 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.
Replica of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen built in 1885
Engine of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen
An official license to operate the Benz Patent-Motorwagen on the public roads was issued by Großherzoglich Badisches Bezirksamt on 1 August 1888.
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 3 of 1888, used by Bertha Benz for the first long-distance journey by automobile (more than 106 km or sixty miles)