Around My World

The word ‘automobile’ comes from the combination of the French word ‘auto’, which means self and the Latin word ‘mobilis’, which means moving. The term ‘car’ is synonymous with the understanding that the vehicle can seat anywhere between one to eight people and has four wheels. The primary function is transportation of people; however, it is different from the other public modes of transport.

The automobile as we know it was not invented in a single day by a single inventor. The history of the automobile reflects an evolution that took place worldwide. It is estimated that over 100,000 patents created the modern automobile. However, we can point to the many firsts that occurred along the way. Starting with the first theoretical plans for a motor vehicle that had been drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. A whole lot of people tried to develop ways to make steam powered cars during the 1700's and 1800's. Here is a list of some of the more important ones.

The large-scale, productin line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This concept was greatly expanded by Hendry Ford, beginning in 1914.As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing production by seven to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower. It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco laquer was developed in 1926. This is the source of Ford's aprocypal remark, "any color as long as it's black". In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.