Car History. 11. A New Fuel: Petronium 1

 At the end of 1874, a gentleman was hurrying down a street in Mannheim.

He kept glancing at his watch as he pushed his way through the crowd. His name was Gottlieb Daimler. He was on his way to meet an old friend who lived in Mannheim, but since he was already very late, he was almost running. While rushing through the busy street and weaving dangerously between people, Daimler suddenly collided head-on with another gentleman. The impact sent both of them stumbling backwards and falling to the ground. Daimler, realizing it was his fault for moving so quickly, immediately apologized.

“I’m terribly sorry.”

“I’m terribly sorry.”

As soon as Daimler spoke, the other man said the exact same thing. Normally, in such a situation, people would glare angrily, tell the other to watch where they were going, or even curse. Yet this stranger apologized instead. Daimler thought he was a strange man, and the other man also looked at him as though he were strange. In fact, this man too had been hurrying along at great speed to attend urgent business, just like Daimler. Both had expected to be scolded, but since they received an apology instead, they saw each other as odd. The man Daimler had collided with was Karl Benz, returning home from outside business to continue his research.

Gottlieb Daimler

Karl Benz

(In reality, these two geniuses never once met face-to-face during their lifetimes. Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz lived about 100 kilometers apart and both worked on automobile-related projects, yet they knew nothing of each other’s plans. If Benz, Daimler, and Maybach had met early in their development, history might have been rewritten. When such geniuses come together, the result is not simply 1+1=2, but sometimes 10 or even 1000. Although Daimler and Benz never actually met, this story allows them to encounter each other—if only once by chance.)

After apologizing on the ground, the two brushed past each other and continued on their way. At that very moment, from a building across the street from where they were walking, there was a loud bang. Everyone on the street turned toward the sound, and Daimler and Benz also stopped to look. Black smoke poured from the windows, and flames flickered out. People whispered anxiously, and soon a man, his clothes singed and face blackened, ran out of the building shouting:

“Help! Petronium has exploded! Call the fire brigade!”

Bystanders rushed to calm the man, while some brave souls entered the building to rescue those trapped inside before the fire engine arrived. At that time, petronium (kerosene, gasoline), which was commonly used in homes and businesses for removing stains from laundry and cloth, often caused fires due to its explosive nature.

Watching from across the street, Maybach and Benz both realized, at the very moment of the explosion, the immense explosive power of petronium. They began to imagine using it as fuel for the engines of their dreams. Soon, the fire brigade arrived, and as the surroundings grew noisy, Daimler and Benz remembered their own schedules, exchanged a brief nod of acknowledgment, and went on their separate ways. Maybach, on his way, kept thinking about petronium and concluded it was worth researching. Benz, too, resolved to first build a gas-powered engine and later turn his attention to exploring petronium.