March 6, 1900 – Gottlieb Daimler dies

Gottlieb Daimler was a German industrialist and internal combustion engine pioneer. He and his lifelong business partner, Wilhelm Maybach, produced high speed engines and applied them to a variety of locomotive devices for land and water. In 1883 they developed a highly successful horizontal cylinder engine that could be throttled, allowing the pair to use it on a variety of vehicle types. The motor earned the nickname Daimler’s Dream.

Daimler would go onto invent the first internal combustion motorcycle in 1885. The next year he developed a four wheel vehicle, at about the same time and just 60 miles from where Karl Benz built his in Germany. Benz earned the patent for what is widely considered the first modern automobile. In 1890 the pair converted their partnership to a company known as DMG, which sold its first car in 1892. Daimler died eight years later, on this day in 1900.