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Friday, August 31, 2018

Start of the Production of a new Porsche Macan, Leipzig, Germany Plant

Series production of the new Macan has begun at the Leipzig site, with the first customer vehicle successfully making its way through the body shop, the paint shop and along the assembly line.
Macan, Leipzig, 2018, Porsche AG
Parts of the factory were adapted specifically for the model. The vehicle in the exterior colour Mamba Green Metallic goes to a Chinese customer. China has become the top-selling market for Porsche and with more than 100,000 deliveries since its market launch in 2014, the Macan is particularly popular. The continued high demand for the compact SUV means that series production is being ramped up more quickly than ever before: By the beginning of September, production of the new Macan at the Leipzig site will increase to over 420 units per day, meaning that it will match the high production rate boasted by its predecessor in just a few days.

A model of success: more than 350,000 Macan deliveries since 2014

“The Macan is the very definition of a successful model – for Porsche and for the Leipzig site”, says Gerd Rupp, Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche Leipzig Gmbh. “In 2011, the model was the inspiration for a radical new beginning: That year, the plant in Leipzig was expanded into a full-sized facility to accommodate the compact SUV, featuring its own body shop and paint shop. When the factory was put into operation in February 2014, the plan was to produce 40,000 units per year. Today we produce more than 90,000 units per year for markets around the world, and since 2014, approximately 350,000 units of the compact SUV have been delivered to customers worldwide”.
Macan, Leipzig, 2018, Porsche AG

The vehicle has the exterior colour Mamba Green Metallic 


A number of optimisations to the exterior mean that the new Macan now has an even sportier and more modern look. The rear has been comprehensively re-designed to build upon the sleek design of the predecessor model. The three-dimensional LED light strip provides a characteristic Porsche design feature. The body shop at the Leipzig plant was expanded specifically to create a dedicated area for the production of the rear lid. In addition, various parts of the assembly line have been optimised and adapted to accommodate the new production levels of the compact SUV, thus ensuring that the new Macan loses nothing of its predecessor’s multi-award-winning qualities. In the “Initial Quality Study” conducted by US market research institute J.D. Power, the Macan has occupied the top position several times, most recently last year.

Macan to remain the sporty flagship in its segment

The new Macan celebrated its world premiere in Shanghai at the end of July. The compact SUV has been a great success since its launch in 2014, and has now been significantly enhanced in terms of its design, comfort, connectivity and driving dynamics, allowing the Macan to remain the sporty flagship in its segment. From now on, the new LED technology will also feature in the headlights as standard. The most striking innovations inside the vehicle include the 10.9-inch touchscreen of the new Porsche Communication Management (PCM), re-designed and re-positioned air vents and the GT sports steering wheel familiar from the 911. The PCM enables access to new digital functions, such as intelligent voice control and the online navigation system provided as standard. The vehicle’s range of comfort equipment has also been expanded to include a traffic jam assistant, an ioniser and heated front windscreen.
The new Macan, Infographic, 2018, Porsche AG

Automobile Assembly and the Next Generation of 3D Printing -- Mercedes-Benz


Partner project involving Premium AEROTEC, Daimler, and EOS for developing series additive manufacturing (3D printing) reaches new milestone. Pilot plant with EOS M 400-4 four-laser system for industrial 3D printing with metal materials.

Augsburg/Varel, Krailling, Ulm, August 31, 2018 – One year ago, Premium AEROTEC, Daimler, and EOS jointly initiated the NextGenAM project to develop the basis of a future system for series production using 3D printing technologies. Now, the first pilot plant has been put into operation at Premium AEROTEC in Varel, northern Germany – a key milestone. 
Additive manufacturing (AM) is becoming an increasingly important factor in the industry, also with regard to series production. Against this background, the aerostructures supplier Premium AEROTEC, the automotive manufacturer Daimler, and EOS, the leading technology supplier in the field of industrial 3D printing, have joined forces in the NextGenAM project to fundamentally develop the next generation of additive manufacturing. Since the project officially began in May 2017, the NextGenAM team has checked the entire AM process to assess its potential for automation. Now the first pilot plant has been put into operation at Premium AEROTEC’s technology center in Varel. 
Goal of the project is to develop a complete production cell capable of manufacturing aluminum components for the automotive and aerospace industries. The purpose-built pilot facility currently consists of various machines for additive manufacturing, post-processing, and quality assurance. The innovation about the production chain is that the individual steps and the interaction of all additive and conventional process steps are fully automated and integrated, and manual steps have been eliminated. As a result, complex, lightweight and at the same time robust components can be manufactured and the high level of automation forms the basis for profitable production going forward. 
The pilot plant in detail
Center of the pilot production chain is the EOS M 400-4 four-laser system for industrial 3D printing with metal materials. The system is used in combination with the peripheral solutions of the EOS Shared-Modules concept. The EOS M 400-4 in Varel is therefore equipped with a powder station and connected to a stand-alone setup and unpacking station. As a result, filling and emptying the system with the aluminium material, setting up the system to prepare a new build job, and unpacking the built components from the powder bed can be carried out independently of and parallel to the actual AM build process. This significantly increases productivity. The additively manufactured components are transported between the individual stations fully automated and under protective gas in a container on an automated guided vehicle. 
The downstream post-processing has also been extensively automated: A robot takes the build platform with the parts from the setup station and places it in a furnace for subsequent heat treatment. The same robot then removes the platform again and takes it to a three-dimensional optical measurement system for quality assurance purposes. Finally, the build platform is conveyed to a saw, which separates the parts from the platform, making the components ready for further use. 
Working together to design the future of additive manufacturing in series
The successful development of the automated process chain is the result of fruitful cooperation between all the project partners, each contributing their various skills and experience: EOS is the global technology and quality leader for high-end solutions in the field of industrial 3D printing. Premium AEROTEC was the first manufacturer in the world to supply serial 3D-printed structural components for Airbus aircraft. Up to now, titanium powder has been used as material for this. However, one of the aims of the NextGenAM project is also to qualify aluminium for use. The automotive manufacturer Daimler contributes its experience in the field of mass production – an essential aspect if the pilot plant is to be used to manufacture parts on a large scale. 
“In this project we have already succeeded in significantly reducing the production cost per part, thus creating an economic perspective for large-scale digital 3D printing factories,” says Dr. Thomas Ehm, CEO of Premium AEROTEC. 
Dr. Tobias Abeln, Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at EOS, says: “ The integration of the AM process in an automated production line is an important milestone for the broad application of our technology in series production scenarios.” 
Jasmin Eichler, Daimler AG, Head of Research Future Technologies:
“3D printing is well on the way to establishing itself in the automotive sector as an additional manufacturing method with great versatility. With this collaborative pre-development project, we are taking a significant step towards achieving cost-effectiveness in metal 3D printing throughout the process chain. The project lays the cornerstone for the future realization of larger quantities in the automotive series production process – with the same reliability, functionality, longevity, and economy as for components from conventional production.” 
Outlook


In the coming months, the pilot process chain will be further tested at the technology center in Varel and parts of the facility will be audited. In addition, production data will be collected and analyzed with the aim of collating precise data on process times, profitability, and cost optimization. The NextGenAM project is therefore moving continuously closer to its goal of producing highly complex aluminium components in series production in a particularly economical additive manufacturing process. 
For further information, please go to: https://www.eos.info/nextgenam 
Premium AEROTEC is a global player in the aerospace industry and generated revenues of 2 billion euros in 2017. The company’s core business lies in the development and production of metal and carbon fibre composite aircraft structures. The company has sites in Augsburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Nordenham and Varel in Germany, as well as in Braşov in Romania. For further information see: http://www.premium-aerotec.com/
EOS is the world’s leading technology supplier in the field of industrial 3D printing of metals and polymers. Formed in 1989, the independent company is pioneer and innovator for comprehensive solutions in additive manufacturing. Its product portfolio of EOS systems, materials, and process parameters gives customers crucial competitive advantages in terms of product quality and the long-term economic sustainability of their manufacturing processes. Furthermore customers benefit from deep technical expertise in global service, applications engineering and consultancy. www.eos.info 

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Reconfiguring the Built Environment for Autonomous Vehicles

Given the limitations of self-driving vehicle technology, another approach is to modify the built environment, and human behavior, including pedestrians. Below is a sketch of one preliminary initiative:

  • @CITY initiative researches and tests automated driving functions for urban traffic
  • Development of intelligent technologies for greater safety, convenience and more efficient use of existing transport infrastructure
  • Leading German companies, research organizations and the German government are investing around 45 million euros in the urban mobility of the future
Stuttgart. Automated vehicles will become part of everyday life in the near future – not only on clearly structured motorways and expressways, but also in urban areas. Yet urban traffic in particular poses huge challenges for the researchers and developers of the necessary technologies. The task is to master considerably more complex road layouts, processes and possible scenarios. In addition, towns and cities are places where many different road users interact in a relatively confined space.

The @CITY research initiative brings together 15 partners from the automotive industry, supply industry, software development and universities. Subdivided into the two projects @CITY and @ CITY-AF concepts, technologies and prototypical applications are developed, which should enable the automated driving in complex urban areas. The aim is to make the city traffic of the future as safe, comfortable and efficient as possible for all road users.

To make automated urban driving convenient, safe and efficient, it is therefore necessary to optimally combine many different components – from highly precise map systems and sophisticated sensor technologies to the algorithm-based detection and interpretation of situations. That is the objective of the @CITY collaborative project, which was initiated at the end of 2017, and the @CITY-AF partner project, which launched on 1 July of this year and which is designed to convert the findings from @CITY into concrete automated driving functions. A total of 15 partners from the automotive industry, component supply industry, software development and science have joined forces in both initiatives. They receive funding of around 20 million euros from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi).
Recognise well, understand better, act optimally
The development of automated driving in urban areas is anything but an end in itself: "We see the potential to further reduce the number of accidents in towns and cities while at the same time making considerably more efficient use of the existing transport infrastructure," explains Dr. Ulrich Kressel, project coordinator of @CITY and responsible for pattern recognition at Daimler AG. "In addition, we are laying the foundations to enable all road users to enjoy a high degree of individual mobility in an age of demographic change and increasing urbanisation."
As @CITY is concerned with a wide rage of different areas, the research initiative is divided into seven subprojects.
Detecting environments and understanding situations
What is the road layout? What road users do I have around me? What might be their intentions – and what conclusions can I draw from them? The aim of this subproject is to "teach" automated vehicles such thought processes, which are a matter of course for the human brain. To do this, the developers combine state-of-the-art sensor technologies, empirical knowledge and information from digital maps.
Digital maps and locations
Maps: They play a key role in automated urban driving. When intelligently linked with on-board sensors, they not only provide an up-to-date, constantly dependable environment model; thanks to accurately surveyed landmarks, future HD maps will also enable the vehicle to be precisely localised within an urban area. Such map systems will even be capable of pinpointing the position of a kerbstone down to an accuracy of just a few centimetres.
Concepts and pilot applications
To allow an automated vehicle to make its way safely from A to B while obeying the rules of the road, it needs to produce the right reaction at the right time. This requires virtually every conceivable scenario to be considered – especially at neuralgic points, such as junctions, roundabouts or when interacting with more vulnerable road users. Building on this, the researchers develop pilot applications with appropriate driving strategies.
Human-vehicle interaction
This subproject is concerned with the interaction between the three protagonists: vehicle user, automated vehicle and other road users. In other words, each must be able to understand what the other is doing or plans to do. For example, the researchers examine how everyday forms of human communication in road traffic (eye contact, gestures, etc.) can be carried over to automated systems without this resulting in misunderstandings. At the same time, the aim is to allow passengers to take part in as wide a range of driving-unrelated activities as possible.
Automated driving across urban hubs
High traffic density, dynamic environment and high distraction potential: junctions and roundabouts are among the accident blackspots in towns and cities. Automated driving functions can make for significantly better safety at such locations. A redundant sensor system, for example, does not suffer from fatigue and can detect a much wider environment than a human. This also poses the greatest challenge, especially as urban hubs are not uniform and come with complex road layouts.
Automated driving on urban roads
Compared with trunk roads, urban roads present a host of scenarios with which automated driving functions must cope. Static and dynamic bottlenecks in particular – such as building sites or parked delivery vehicles – play a major role in the development of appropriate driving strategies, as does the interaction between cars and public transport, for example at bus stops.
Interaction with more vulnerable road users
Whether consciously or unconsciously: In urban areas, cyclists, pedestrians, construction workers and the like are in constant communication with car traffic. This subproject, therefore, is concerned with how to enable an automated vehicle to identify the intention of a pedestrian who uses only the direction of their head and position of their feet to indicate whether they intend to walk across a pedestrian crossing.
@CITY Automated Cars and Intelligent Traffic in the City
The @CITY research initiative brings together 15 partners from the automotive industry, component supply industry, software development and universities. The two partner projects @CITY and @CITY-AF aim to develop concepts, technologies and prototype applications to enable automated driving in complex urban areas. The goal is to make urban traffic of the future as safe, convenient and efficient as possible for all road users. While the focus of @CITY (01.09.2017 – 31.08.2021) is on detecting environments and understanding situations, along with digital maps and localisation, the purpose of @CITY-AF (01.07.2018 – 30.06.2022) is to convert the findings from @CITY into concrete automated driving functions. The total budget of the initiative is around 45 million euros – some 20 million euros of which is from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi).
The project participants are automotive manufacturers AUDI AG, Daimler AG, MAN Truck & Bus AG, component suppliers Aptiv Services Deutschland GmbH, Continental Automotive GmbH, Continental Safety Engineering International GmbH, Continental Teves AG & Co. oHG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Valeo Schalter und Sensoren GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, 3D Mapping Solutions GmbH and research organisations German Aerospace Centre, Technical University of Chemnitz, Technical University of Darmstadt and Technical University of Munich. Other university and research institutes as well as small and medium-sized enterprises are also involved in the initiative as subcontractors.
Further information is available at www.atcity-online.de

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Advertising the Edsel -- A Car without a Position within the Marketplace?

A post from Ed -- 

Here's a great example (see ad attached) of how -- from the very beginning --- Ford didn't know how to position Edsel in the marketplace.  Comparing the Edsel to a Cadillac?  And then the second ad (attached), if you read the last sentence, the Edsel from a price standpoint is compared with the "low priced three" -- Plymouth, Chevrolet, and Ford.  So I'm thinking that the marketers actually likely robbed a few sells from Ford -- cut off your nose to spite your face as they say.

But back in the day no Cadillac owner would have said: "Well, next year perhaps I will consider an Edsel."  While styling and the 1958 recession were often touted as the two big strikes against the success of the Edsel, perhaps the major strike was the inability to position the car in the marketplace?



Mercedes-Benz at Pebble Beach

Mercedes-Benz 500 K Special Roadster (W 29), exhibited at the 1936 International Motor Show in Berlin.
Mercedes-Benz W 125 twelve-cylinder record-breaking car, with Rudolf Caracciola at the wheel. Record run on 28 January 1938 on the autobahn between Frankfurt am Main and Darmstadt, during which Caracciola recorded a speed of 432.7 km/h on a public road.







Mercedes-Benz Classic is exhibiting two outstanding automobiles from the company’s own vehicle collection at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance 2018. This collection is unique in the automotive industry in terms of its importance and size. It includes spectacular racing and record-breaking cars as well as research vehicles and production cars from every era.
Stuttgart. The two vehicles on view at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance clearly illustrate the breadth of the company’s interpretation of automotive sportiness in the 1930s: the Mercedes-Benz 500 K Special Roadster from 1934 stands for the highly elegant aesthetics of a sports car, which the Stuttgart brand provided with customised coachwork bodies. The W 125 record-breaking car from 1938, on the other hand, recalls the numerous race victories and speed records of the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows in that era.
Mercedes-Benz W 125 twelve-cylinder record-breaking car, 1938
The original chassis of the twelve-cylinder record-breaking car from 1938 will be on view for the first time in Pebble Beach together with a body newly built by Mercedes-Benz Classic. The original body is part of the permanent exhibition at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. The record-breaking vehicle was based on the Mercedes-Benz W 125 formula racing car from 1937. A legendary achievement in the vehicle was the absolute speed record on public roads set by Rudolf Caracciola on 28 January 1938: the racing driver reached 432.7 km/h on the autobahn between Frankfurt am Main and Darmstadt over one kilometre with a flying start. That record remained unbeaten for almost 80 years. The presentation of the original chassis together with the body, which has been reconstructed to the highest standards of authenticity, gives a fascinating insight into the details that made the world record possible back then. They include, for example, the ice cooling of the engine, which made it possible to further improve the aerodynamics of the fully streamlined body while achieving a sensationally low Cdvalue of just 0.17.
Technical data of Mercedes-Benz W 125 twelve-cylinder record-breaking carRaced in: 1938
Engine: V12
Displacement: 5577 cc
Output: 541 kW (736 hp) at 5800 rpm
Top speed: 433 km/h
Mercedes-Benz 500 K Special Roadster, 1935
In the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz dominated the market segment of the international luxury class with its eight-cylinder supercharged cars. The “Type 500 with supercharger”, 500 K for short, came out in 1934 as a sporty and elegant top model of the Mercedes-Benz passenger car range and was available in eight different body versions. The crowning glory of all variants was the especially elegant and luxurious Special Roadster. With a price tag of initially 26,000 and later 28,000 Reichsmark (which could also buy a villa at Wannsee), it was also the most expensive version of the 500 K, with only 29 units being produced. The 500 K and its successor, the 540 K, became legends not just because of their superior power delivery, but also because of their ravishingly beautiful, luxuriously finished coachwork bodies. They were built under the direction of Hermann Ahrens in the special car construction department, which was newly founded in 1932 at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen. With their elegant, flowing lines and extensive individualisation options, the bodies made in Sindelfingen were so highly esteemed by customers that, out of the total of 760 customers who purchased a 500 K or 540 K, fewer than 10 percent opted for coachwork from one of the renowned coachwork builders in Germany or abroad – an exceptionally low proportion for a luxury vehicle in those days.
Technical data of Mercedes-Benz 500 K Special RoadsterProduction period: 1934 to 1936
Engine: 8/in-line
Displacement: 5018 cc
Output: 74 kW (100 hp),  118 kW (160 hp) with supercharger at 3400 rpm
Top speed: 160 km/h

Saturday, August 25, 2018

A Brief Review of A.J. Baime, Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans



Go Like Hell, published in 2009, is an excellent read. I am sorry it took so long for me to get around to looking at it.

The book centers on the rivalry between Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari, and their organizations. It culminates with the 1966 Le Mans 24 hour endurance race and in reading this, you are pushed to the finish line at a speed akin to the race itself. In the process of telling this story, Baime contextualizes GP racing during the first half of the 1960s, and does it with remarkable style. Yes, the author characterizes the two chief personalities mentioned above.  But he also does a remarkable job of describing the agony and ecstasy of auto racing at the highest level, and drivers who lived and died during this time -- Ken Miles, Carroll Shelby, Masten Gregory, John Surtees, Phil Hill, and others. I can think of no other book that does a better job in telling this story of one of the most exciting times in racing history.




A Most Unusual 1953 MG TD








I love this car! Obviously my taste in cars leans to the unusual and creative.  

Paul owns this car, and does plenty of the work on it himself. Note the wood steering wheel, his creation.  It has a Volvo P1800 engine, custom air box, Volvo transmission and Austin-Healy 3000 rear end.  The dash is a work in progress! It needs wheel rims straightened, so top speed right now is in the low 50s. 
But I prefer looking at this vehicle to one totally restored and cosmetically perfect. This is what the car hobby is all about.






Selling Checker Automobiles to the People During the 1960s

A Post from Ed -- 



1969 Checker Marathon


1959 Checker Superba





Checker started to market and sell to private citizens in 1959 (see ad attached here) and tried to make the pitch that the Checker sedan was American's only "true family car." (sort of a stretch of the imagination but obviously they wee pitching the rather expansive interior space of the vehicle.

The nationwide dealer network continued to grow through the early 1960s and during the decade of the 60s Checker usually managed to sell between 6,m000 and 7,000 cars a year'. The highest production was in 1962 when sales hit 8,000 vehicles. Sedans and especially station wagons (Marathons) were advertised in upscale national magazines.  The ads targeted upper-middle class people emphasizing the cars' durability and attention to quality.  Were Checker station wagons the kind of vehicles that -- a few years later -- Volvo buyers would fancy?  Both were boxy, utilitarian, and perceived as safe and durable.

In 1962 -- the highest year of production -- approximately 20% of overall production was sold to private individuals but by the early 1970's that percentage declined to 10%.

I still wonder about the kind of people that  bought Checkers.  Did they have to continually address the question friends and neighbors would ask: "But you drive a taxi cab, right?" given Checker's historical association with the cab industry.  What sense of "pride" would a Checker owner hold?  Would the pride of ownership largely surround the personal value of longevity and affirmation of conservative styling given the design rarely changed over the years?  In truth these cars were "durable" largely because they were simple in design (less to go wrong) and with a traditional and simple drivetrain and proven engines sourced from Chevrolet.  

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Mercedes-Benz and the Development of Anti-Lock Braking Technology

Mercedes-Benz S-Class saloons (model series 116) at the test track in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, 1978. The upper vehicle with anti-lock braking system (ABS) remains steerable, while the lower vehicle without ABS continues to slide uncontrollably, despite the front wheels being at full lock



From 22 to 25 August 1978, Mercedes-Benz and Bosch presented the anti-lock braking system in Untertürkheim. A world first, this digital driver assistance system redefined the partnership between driver and car. ABS was available in the S-Class (model series 116) from the end of 1978. Forty years ago, this development was also the starting signal for a unique story of innovation in digital assistance systems, culminating in today’s Mercedes-Benz Intelligent Drive Next Generation.
Stuttgart. Maintaining full control over the car’s steering even under emergency braking, because the wheels do not lock: that is exactly what the anti-lock braking system (ABS) can do. Mercedes-Benz and its development partner Bosch unveiled the world innovation from 22 to 25 August 1978 on the test track at the Daimler-Benz plant in Untertürkheim. Another reason why ABS was such a sensation was that it ushered in the age of digital technology in the automobile. It redefined the role of the vehicle, which, in future, was to become a partner on four wheels – a partner that increasingly provided active assistance to the human behind the wheel.
Mercedes-Benz explained the principle of the anti-lock braking system like this in a brochure forty years ago: “The anti-lock braking system uses a computer to monitor the change in rotational speed of each wheel during braking. If the speed slows too quickly (such as when braking on a slippery surface) and the wheel risks locking, the computer automatically reduces the brake pressure. The wheel accelerates again and the brake pressure is increased again, thereby braking the wheel. This process is repeated several times in a matter of seconds”.
What might have sounded complicated in an age of analogue electrics and electronics was simply convincing in practice: even in wet, icy, snowy or challenging conditions, ABS enabled the automobile to deliver the maximum physically possible braking force, without the wheels locking, while the vehicle remained steerable even under emergency braking.
Following its premiere 40 years ago, it was only a small step before the anti-lock braking system entered series production: ABS made its debut as an optional extra in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (model series 116) in late 1978. At that time, it cost an extra DM 2,217.60. Two years later, it was optionally available in every passenger car manufactured by the Stuttgart brand. In 1981, Mercedes-Benz introduced the anti-lock braking system for commercial vehicles. And from October 1992, ABS was to be installed as standard in all passenger cars from the brand with the star. Today, this assistance system in cars is a matter of course for virtually every manufacturer worldwide – thanks to the innovation culture at Mercedes-Benz.
Magical moment in a unique history of innovation
The premiere of the anti-lock braking system 40 years ago was a magical moment in the unique innovation history of digital assistance systems from Mercedes-Benz. Yet the history of ABS at Mercedes-Benz dates back to the 1950s. In 1953, Hans Scherenberg, then head of design at Mercedes-Benz, applied for a patent on a system to stop a vehicle’s wheels locking under braking. Although similar solutions already existed in aviation (anti-skid) and on the railways (Knorr anti-slip protection), the automobile was a highly complex system with especially high demands on sensors, signal processing and control. For example, the components needed to register the rotational deceleration and acceleration of the wheels without error, including when cornering, on irregular surfaces and in very dirty conditions.
An intensive, continuous exchange of knowledge between the Group’ s own Research & Development and industrial partners ultimately led to success, with 1963 seeing the start of concrete work on an electronic-hydraulic brake control system in the Advance Development department of what was then Daimler-Benz AG. In 1966, the company began collaborating with the Heidelberg electronics specialist Teldix, which was later taken over by Bosch. The result premiered in 1970, when Hans Scherenberg, now head of development at Daimler-Benz, presented the analogue-electronic “ Mercedes-Benz/Teldix Anti-Bloc System” to the media at the test track in Untertürkheim.
The launch in 1970 delivered the proof that the system worked. Yet the developers realised that a digital controller was the right approach for a mass-produced ABS – more reliable, less complex while also much more powerful than analogue electronics. Together with Bosch, which was responsible for the digital control unit, this led to the digital, second-generation ABS. Engineer Jürgen Paul, head of the ABS project at Mercedes-Benz, later described the decision in favour of digital microelectronics as the breakthrough moment in the development of ABS.
The birth of Intelligent Drive from the spirit of 1978
The all-embracing victory march of digital assistance systems in Mercedes-Benz automobiles began with the anti-lock braking system. ABS sensors, among other components, were used also by new systems such as Acceleration Skid Control (1985), Electronic Stability Program ESP® (1995), Brake Assist System BAS (1996) and adaptive cruise control DISTRONIC (1998). Added to these were increasingly powerful sensors, such as the yaw rate sensor of ESP®, the radar of DISTRONIC as well as, at a later date, camera systems, ultrasound and GPS.
Ever since 1978, Mercedes-Benz has regularly set the benchmark for the entire industry with individual digital driver assistance systems. The same applies to the intelligent linking of the systems to produce higher-level solutions. What began as an integrated approach to safety at the turn of the millennium continued with the preventive safety system PRE-SAFE® through to today’s Intelligent Drive Next Level. Never has the automobile been as intelligent as it is today – thanks to a history of innovation at Mercedes-Benz that began 40 years ago with the premiere of the digital anti-lock braking system.

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

The Mercedes-Benz F 7502 aircraft engine and a 1928 record-breaking flight


Klemm-Daimler L 20 light aircraft over Sindelfingen. Pictured on the left the road to Leonberg, on the right today’s road to the hospital, at the centre the Herrenwäldlesberg. Photo from 1928.


Baron von Koenig-Warthausen in front of his Klemm-Daimler L 20 "Kamerad" light aircraft. The pilot flies around the world from 1928 to 1929 with this aircraft. He wins the 1928 Hindenburg Trophy for his leg from Berlin via Moscow to Tehran.
In August 1928, Friedrich Karl von Koenig-Warthausen embarks on a great adventure: He intends to fly to Moscow with his Klemm-Daimler L 20 light aircraft in record time. Once there, he spontaneously decides to fly all the way around the whole world to win the Hindenburg Trophy for long-distance flight. The monoplane is powered by a robust and reliable Mercedes-Benz F 7502 two-cylinder aircraft engine. An authentically reconstructed L 20 like the one Koenig-Warthausen flew around the world is on display in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Today, Daimler pursues connected mobility in the air by acquiring a stake in the start-up company Volocopter, among other things.
Stuttgart. It is the early morning on 11 August 1928. Friedrich Karl Freiherr Koenig von und zu Warthausen, barely 22 years old, takes off for his record-setting flight from Berlin-Tempelhof to Moscow. He has named his Klemm-Daimler light aircraft “Kamerad”, the German word for “companion”. “I circled the airfield twice to say good-bye and gain altitude against the strong wind at the same time. After climbing two hundred metres, I fired a green flare from my flare pistol into the pitch-black sky as a last farewell for my friends. Then up and away!” – as Koenig-Warthausen later recalls this episode in his book “Mit 20 PS und Leuchtpistole” (“With 20 hp and a Flare Pistol”). The pilot intends to be away from Berlin just for a few days. Ultimately, it will be more than 15 months.
The flight first takes him over Berlin’s sea of lights to Poland. Gdansk appears in the early morning sun. Koenig-Warthausen crosses the border to the Soviet Union as planned between the villages “Bigosowo and Balbino near Dünaburg”. The strain of the long flight is growing, but the pilot keeps bearing the record attempt in mind: “I kept recalling the objective of my flight during these oppressive midday hours time and again. I had to make it to Moscow! If I was able to get there without stopping, it would be a world record. Nobody had ever flown such a distance with a lightweight engine. If I made it to Moscow, there was a good chance I would win the Hindenburg Prize with my flight, which had been established for the best German amateur with a small aircraft. Hindenburg flyer, I definitely wanted to become one.”
The yearning to fly
This “Hindenburg Trophy” was awarded by President of the German Reich Paul von Hindenburg for the first time in 1928 and comes with 10,000 Reichsmark in prize money. It would pay the cost for buying the L 20, which the parents of the flyer financed in advance: The monoplane advertised by Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm GmbH Company in Sindelfingen as an “aircraft for school, travel, sport” costs 7,250 Reichsmark in 1928.
The plane, powered by a Mercedes-Benz F 7502 aircraft engine rated at 15 kW (20 hp), arouses yearning in an era buoyed by the excitement about the transcontinental flights of Charles Lindbergh and his successors. Under the headline “Ein Volksflugzeug” (“A People’s Plane”), the “ Berliner Zeitung” newspaper reports on 12 February 1928 about the development by aviation pioneer Hanns Klemm: Light aircraft such as the L 20 with its robust and reliable Mercedes-Benz engine are considered the key to a future democratisation of aviation – similar to what is happening at the time with the automobile.
The record-setting attempt of Baron von Koenig-Warthausen goes to plan at first. However, on the afternoon of the 12 August 1928, the weather begins to deteriorate. He races above the railway tracks toward Moscow through clouds and sheets of rain. Finally, 20 minutes before reaching the Russian capital, the visibility becomes so poor that he has to land the L 20 in a field. The pilot learns the he has almost reached his destination from the mayor of the nearby village. “I had covered one thousand seven hundred kilometres in sixteen hours”, writes Koenig-Warthausen enthusiastically in his notes. “With my flight, I had far surpassed the previous distance record for light aircraft, which was held by two Frenchmen.”
However, the record is not recognised on formal grounds: The jurors do not recognise the detour required due to the way the border to the Soviet Union runs as part of the flight distance. And will the achievement be enough to win the Hindenburg Trophy? After all, there are other young flyers who are planning similar endeavours with light aircraft at that time.
With 20 hp around the world
As a result, the baron makes the second spontaneous decision within a few days: After the excellent experiences with his “ Kamerad”, he takes off for a flight around the world. The preparations are straightforward: The parents send 500 Reichsmark, the L 20 is fitted with a new propeller with a thin coating of brass sheet as protection against the weather, the pilot invests in “good tools for any potential repairs, a spare wheel and ammunition for the flare pistol [...]. Then I went and bought maps of southern Russia…”.
This is how one of the greatest adventures in the history of the light aircraft from Hanns Klemm starts to pick up steam. Aviation pioneer Klemm is born in Stuttgart in 1885 – one year before the invention of the automobile by Carl Benz – and, after completing his secondary education, studies civil engineering at the technical university in his home town. He soon switches from building bridges and buildings to aviation: He becomes the director of prototyping in the Dornier division of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Company in Friedrichshafen still during the First World War. A stop at Heinkel follows.
In April 1918, Klemm finally becomes chief designer of aircraft construction of what was then Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG). The first proprietary designs such as the Daimler L 11 and L 14 fighter and reconnaissance aircraft already emerge during this time. However, the designs never go into production, because the 1919 Treaty of Versailles prohibits Germany from buying or importing aircraft and their parts. Klemm thus takes over the job of technical director at the Daimler plant in Sindelfingen.
However, the engineer keeps working on his dream of an “ aeroplane for everyone”. It starts with the Daimler L 15 in 1919. The breakthrough finally comes with the L 20 light aircraft.
Klemm ventures into self-employment after Daimler-Benz AG focuses on building vehicles and suspends aircraft production. His company sets up shop in Sindelfingen in 1926. The Stuttgart-Böblingen regional airport is the immediate neighbour at the time. In a brochure published in 1929, the company explains the positioning of its products in the contemporary market for aircraft as follows: “True, there are excellent aircraft for military uses and we have those for aerobatics and air races, we have flying buses and express services with maximum performance – but the general public so far lacked the simple, cheap, easy-to-fly and handle individual means of air travel”. Klemm intends to close this gap with the L 20, which is equipped with the “matching 20-hp lightweight aircraft engine by Dr Ing Ferdinand Porsche, director and chief constructor of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft”. However, at the time the brochure is published, Porsche has already resigned from Daimler-Benz AG created in 1926 by the merger of DMG and Benz & Cie. The pilots flying Klemm aircraft also include celebrities such as Ernst Udet and Elly Beinhorn, who would become the wife of Auto-Union racing driver Bernd Rosemeyer.
With a lightweight to 6,700 metres
The F 7502 air-cooled aircraft engine weighs 48 kilograms. It has two horizontally opposed cylinders with a total displacement of 884 cubic centimetres (75 millimetre bore x 100 millimetre stroke) and produces  15 kW (20 hp) at 3,000 rpm. A three-speed reduction gear ensures the propeller in the L 20 spins at 1,000 rpm.
The engine follows a long and successful tradition of aircraft engines from Daimler-Benz AG and its originating companies. They were continuously advanced since the first powered flight of the airship of Dr Friedrich Hermann Wölfert on 10 August 1888. Back then 130 year ago, a 1.8-kW (2.5-hp) Daimler one-cylinder engine powers Wölfert’s machine. The large Mercedes-Benz V12 aircraft engines in the late 1930s produce nearly 2,059 kW(2,800 hp).
The F 7502 proves to be the perfect engine for the Klemm-Daimler light aircraft. With it, the L 20 reaches speeds of up to 125 km/h in level flight, climbs to an altitude of 1,000 metres in eight minutes without passengers and reaches a service ceiling of 6,700 metres (likewise without passengers). For missions such as the baron’s flight around the world, it is its exceptionally high versatility that is important: The monoplane with a length of 7.30 metres and a wingspan of 13 metres can be folded to transport dimensions of 6.50 x 1.50 x 2.20 metres in just eight minutes. The aeroplane can then be housed “in a barn or garage or hooked up to a small car to be taken to the next place”, the advertising brochure reads. In addition, when landing away from paved runways, the aeroplane impresses with its low centre of gravity that is just one metre above the ground, and the fixed landing gear without continuous axle.
Friedrich Karl von Koenig-Warthausen takes off in his L 20 from Moscow towards the Orient. He witnesses airfields without hangars or sheds, flies over old fortified towns and the expanses of the Caucasus, over camel trains and giant oil fields with an entire forest of drilling derricks. During a stop in Baku, the baron finally plans to continue to “the fairytale city Tehran” in Persia. During his stays, he gets to know the people in these far away lands. And the young German flyer finds a warm welcome and help nearly everywhere. The French-language Persian newspaper “ Tehran Herald” poetically calls Koenig-Warthausen “a shining star that came down from the sky like a comet”. Even more important to the pilot is probably that he won the 1928 Hindenburg Trophy with his flight to Tehran – he has accomplished his personal goal.
Homeward across oceans and continents
The next legs of the flight take Koenig-Warthausen across Asia. Magical town names start accumulating in the neatly kept log of the L 20, stamped by official authorities wherever possible. In it, the pilot keeps track of every take-off: Among them are Isfahan, Karachi, Jodhpur, Agra and finally Bangkok and Singapore. He continues to Japan by ship and after a few legs of flight from there on to North America. The L 20 crosses the United States from San Francisco to New York, with a small detour to Canada. The German pilot is repeatedly hailed for his accomplishment. On 9 July 1929, the “Tucson Star” writes about the spectacular flight around the world under the headline “Cycle Plane Brings Baron”.
Baron von Koenig-Warthausen misses winning the second Hindenburg Trophy in a row by a hair: He arrives at the Roosevelt Field airfield in New York on 3 November 1929, two days too late for another award. However, nobody can take the triumph of this exceptional flight around the world with  15 kW (20 hp) away from him. The masterpiece is accomplished equally through the performance of the pilot, the loyal and reliable L 20, and the support of people along the route of flight. The “Neue Zeitung Berlin” newspaper writes on 20 November 1929: “The flight had to succeed, not only because the engine was good, not only because the young flyer found the sporting help everywhere in the most far away foreign countries, which his home unfortunately denied him in part […], no: at the yoke of his Hünefeld was a real man, a man who knew exactly what he wanted and who flew with an idea in his mind and in his heart”. The name “Hünefeld” in the article referred to the new name of his L 20, which Koenig-Warthausen picked after his arrival in the USA to honour the record-setting pilot Ehrenfried Günther Freiherr von Hünefeld, participant of the east-to-west flight across the North Atlantic in 1928.
After the ship passage, Koenig-Warthausen takes off from Bremerhaven for the last leg of his flight around the world on 22 November 1929. However, due to poor weather, he ends the flight in Bevensen (Lower Saxony) with an emergency landing. “End of the flight Berlin – Asia – USA – Berlin” is what the baron enters in his log the next day. The Klemm-Daimler L 20 light aircraft is returned to airworthy condition in Bevensen and transferred to the factory of the manufacturer on 28 November 1929.
Replica of the record-setting aircraft in the Mercedes-Benz Museum
The Klemm-Daimler L 20 light aircraft “Kamerad” has been part of the permanent exhibition of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart since 1980. Because the original aircraft of Baron von Koenig-Warthausen no longer exists, a detailed replica based on an L 20 is built specifically for the museum. The baron personally makes a host of documents from the private archives of the Koenig-Warthausen family available for this purpose. Today, the L 20 is part of the “Legends Room 3: Upheavals – Diesel and Compressor” and there soars over the visitors. The dream of the personal aircraft as a means of daily transport is given a strong boost by accomplishments such as the flight around the world 90 years ago with the Mercedes-Benz aircraft engine. This vision has not caught on to date. But that could change in the years to come – for example, due to the aviation start-up Volocopter from Bruchsal. The company intends to launch autonomous electric air taxis (eVTOL) in a few years. Daimler AG holds a stake in Volocopter.