Patent application for double-pivot steering by Carl Benz -- 28 February 1893

Double-pivot steering by Carl Benz. Graphic page from patent specification No. 73515, filed on 28 February 1893 and issued on 14 March 1894. The invention is an essential prerequisite for the safe operation of a four-wheeled automobile: the risk of tipping over in curves is significantly reduced compared to turntable steering from carriage construction. (Photographic nature of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: 2006DIG643-3)

Carl and Bertha Benz in the back seat of a Benz Victoria, 1893. In the front her daughter Klara and Fritz Held. The Victoria was the first automobile with double-pivot steering, for which Benz applied for a patent on 28 February 1893 (patent specification No. 73515, issued on 14 March 1894). The invention is an essential prerequisite for the safe operation of a four-wheeled automobile: the risk of tipping over in curves is significantly reduced compared to turntable steering from carriage construction. (Photographic nature of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Archives: H3072)

Patent application for double-pivot steering by Carl Benz

• Essential prerequisite for the operation of the four-wheeled automobile
• The risk of the vehicle tipping over in curves is significantly reduced
• The first vehicles with double-pivot steering are the Victoria and Vis-à-Vis from Benz & Cie.

Double-pivot steering is one of the most important innovations in the early days of the automobile. On 28 February 1893, Carl Benz registered the design with the Imperial Patent Office (DRP No. 73515, issued on 14 March 1894), a “carriage steering device with steering circles to be set tangentially to the wheels”. It thus creates an essential prerequisite for the safe operation of a four-wheeled automobile: the risk of tipping over in curves is significantly reduced compared to turntable steering from carriage construction. The new design was used for the first time in the Victoria model, Benz & Cie.’s first four-wheeled motor car after the three-wheeled Patent Motor Car, and lais the foundations for the world’s first mass-produced automobile, the Benz Motor Velociped “Velo” presented in 1894.