| | First truck produced by Gottlieb Daimler |
1 October 1896. This date turned out later to be of great historical significance. On that day, the following was entered in the production records of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt near Stuttgart: "Motorised goods vehicle, order no. 81, vehicle no. 42, four hp two-cylinder engine, weight of the complete vehicle: 1,200 kilograms for carrying a load of 1,500 kilograms, invoiced to British Motor Syndicate Ltd. London." Ten years after the invention of the first car, Gottlieb Daimler had built the world's first truck.
The world's first truck looked like a horse-drawn cart without a drawbar. The driver was seated on the coach-box ahead of the front axle, out in the open air. Hence the truck was a cab-over-engine unit.
The engine was installed in the rear – a Daimler "Phoenix" two-cylinder engine which developed 4 hp from a displacement of 1.1 litres. Engine power was transmitted to the rear axle by a belt system, a design resembling that of the planetary hub reduction axles introduced decades later.
According to the first brochure, Daimler supplied the truck in 4, 6, 8 and 10 hp versions, with payload capacity ratings between 1,500 and 5,000 kilograms and top speeds of up to 12 km/h. However, Gottlieb Daimler and his collaborator Wilhelm Maybach were not content with the rear engine configuration. In the next models, the engine was installed in the frame underneath the driver's seat and the rear axle was driven by means of a chain. Power was conveyed by a gearwheel transmission, the engine was cooled by Wilhelm Maybach's tubular radiator and started by means of low-voltage magneto ignition. In the next generation, the engine was placed under a bonnet above the front axle – and the conventional truck was born. |
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