Evening star., 1937-10-31
RY THOMAS r. HENRY.

history of the world was driven in
Vienna In the summer of 1864.
It was a peasants hand wagon
equipped with motor using benzine
for fuel-at So a gallon. This motor
was installed in a high wooden tower
over the front wheels. 1t was OF the
free-piston, two-cycle type, and 1t had
Q magneto-electric ignition system.
The inventor was 33-year-old
German mechanic and pioneer elec-
trician, who was accumulating large
fortune by installing electric bell and
gas lighting systems in the homes OF
wealthy Viennese. His name was
Siegfried Marcus. He gained fame
later as one of the foremost European
inventors of the day-but not as the
inventor of the automobile.
Fifteen years were to pass before
George B. Selden filed application for
his celebrated patent in the United
States. 1t was 81 years before Carl
Benz in Germany produced the light,
three wheeled vehicle driven by gaso-
line which is generally recognized
as the first practical automobile. Not
until 80 years later did Charles E.
Duryea and Ellwood Haynes build
the first practical automobiles in
America.
1t seems to be established beyond
question that Marcus was the in
ventor both of the automobile and of
the gasoline engine. Yet even in his
own land his invention was lost sight
of completely, and in the United
States, where the automobile industry
has reached its greatest development,
his name is mentioned, apparently for
the first time, in connection with
gasoline cars, in the 1884 report OF
the National Museum which has just
been issued.
One Sold in United States.
1t is an amazing story-but its most
amazing chapter is still to come.
This 1864 "Marcus-wagon"- it
was called somewhat derisively by his
friends-was a crude affair, fit only to
be plaything of the adventurous.
But even then Marcus was spending
his spare hours on another vehicle
which made its first appearance on
the streets of Vienna in 1875. He was
still years ahead of any other claimant
anywhere in the world to the honor
of having invented the automobile.
This second "Marcus-wagan" was a
remarkable machine. indeed. 1t COM
bined features for some of which the
world was to wait for another two
generations. On this machine the in
yentor filed application for patent.
He built three of them. The first
he used himself to take his friends
for rides around Vienna. The second,
together with the patent rights, was
sold to manufacturing firm in Hol-
land, which made no use of its pur-
chase. The third was sold in the
United States.
The first, after an eventful history,
has recently been installed as the prize
exhibit in the Technical Museum in
Vienna. All records of the two others,
so far as can be ascertained, have
completely disappeared. There is no
record of the name Of the American
purchaser. Newspapers between 1875
and 1880, so far as can be ascertained,
contain no mention of it.
Lost: A Precious Relic.
Did it inspire some American in
ventor? Is it still extant, or has it
long since disappeared in the junkpile?
These questions, at least for the time
being, must remain unanswered. ANY,
body who can find this old automobile
will have his hands on one of the most
precious of historical relics.
All this is on the authority of the
Technical Museum in Vienna. 1t has
Just issued brochure on Marcus in
connection with the exhibit OF the
1875 automobile. This strongly hints
that the machine sent to America had
an important, although unwrltten, IN
fuence on the automobile industry.
For this second car was no play
thing. The one now on exhibit is
described as "astonishingly modern,
both as a whole and in its details.
Water carried in special container
serves for cooling the motor For
speed regulation a small handwheel,
which controls the throttle opening,
is controlled from the drivers seat.
A lever, operated from the drivers
seat. is used to start the motor by
means of a rachel arrangement. A
friction clutch, also operated from the
drivers seat, serves to connect the
crankshaft to belt-driven wheel
from which the propeller shaft and
rear wheels are set in motion by means
of Y1I1noh her of heltS
Wheel Mountings Different.
Accordingly, the second Marcus
car has drive similar to the one in
general use 20 years later, just before
the turn of the century. However,
Marcus had not anticipated the va
riable gear ratio. The front wheels
also were not yet independently
mounted on kingbolts as in the mod
ern automobile, but were mounted in
the manner taken over from the
horse-draWn carriage. e., on
straight axle. The drive wheels at
the rear, however, are not rigidly con-
nected together but are connected
through friction coupling with spiral
springs on the ends of the axle shaft,
by which sort of differential is at
tanned. Finally, this car has also the
worm-gear steering equipment which
has been used so extensively in later
machines"
In addition, Marcus was using
four cycle gasoline motor, in which
the gas is compressed before explod-
ing. 1t was not until 1876-a year
after the recorded appearance of the
second Marcus wagon that this prin-
eiple, which is the basis of all gaso-
line motors today, was patented in
Germany by N. A. Otto.
From his 1864 machine Marcus con-
tinued the magneto-electric, make
and-break ignition system, to the in
vention of which he himself attached
the greatest Importance. There Is
evidence, cited in the Technical Mu-
scum monograph, that he never con-
sidered the automobile itself of much
significance.