I am intrigued by what I call the Frisome Women (Friggin’ Awesome Women). I was raised by one who was raised by one, married to one, have a sibling who is one and may be raising one. Smart, focused, pragmatic, creative and tough, they have a certain sixth sense for what works! They don’t mince words, don’t suffer fools, and want to get things done. I am intrigued by what makes them tick. You all know one or may even be one.
Bertha Ringer was a Frisome. She was born into a wealthy family in Pforzheim, Germany, on May 3, 1849 (167 years ago today). Her dad wanted a son and wrote in the family Bible: “Unfortunately only a girl again”! Bertha, however, was an intelligent girl who at an early age was very interested in technical things like the locomotive. When she was allowed to attend school at the age of 9, her interest was in the Natural Sciences. However, in that era, women were not allowed into institutions of higher education. It was the scientific belief that the lighter brain of women was logically unable to absorb and process as much information. Moreover, too much thinking was thought to be harmful to their reproductive abilities!
The beliefs of the day irked her greatly. It didn’t help when she read what her dad wrote in the family Bible. These factors might have lit up her subsequent determination to show her dad and the world that women could be great too.
On June 27, 1869, while on a trip with her mother, a poor young engineer joined them in their coach. They soon started talking and he told her about his dream of building a driverless carriage. She was hooked. By the next year, they were engaged. The man’s name was Karl Benz.
In 1870, Karl owned an iron construction company. His business partner was irresponsible and the company was failing. Karl was also a terrible businessman. As a single woman at that time, Bertha was allowed by law to invest in a company and so she rescued Karl’s business using funds from her substantial dowry.
They got married in 1872 and Bertha Ringer became Bertha Benz. They moved to Mannheim where she helped her husband start the Benz Gasmotoren-Fabrik – a company that manufactured internal combustion engines. Problems with the banks led to the closure of that business after a year.
In 1883, Bertha helped Karl Benz start another company – Benz & Cie. They made industrial parts. That business venture thrived. This allowed Karl to turn his attention to his lifelong dream – the invention of a driverless carriage powered by an internal combustion engine, in other words, an automobile. History then was full of several engineers before who had built versions of a driverless carriage but hadn’t been able to market them with any success.
After several failed attempts, Karl finally finished work on his first horseless carriage in December 1885 and received a patent for it in 1886. It was powered by a four-stroke, single-cylinder, 0.67 horsepower engine and had three wheels – one in front and two in the back. It was the Patent-Motorwagen No.1. For fuel it used the solvent ligroin that you bought from a pharmacy. It had no gear system and had brakes and wheels made out of wood!
By 1888, he had built 2 more – the No.2 and No.3. The No.3 was much improved with a 2 hp engine and max speed of 10 mph (16 km/h).
He showed the Model 3 at the Paris expo in 1887. In late summer of 1888, it went on sale as the Benz Patent Motorwagen.
Well, Karl like most great inventors was also terrible at marketing and couldn’t find any buyers or get anyone interested in his invention. Bertha had seen him build his Motorwagen and believed in the product. She thought it was ready for prime time and needed publicity. She had invested a lot of money in the venture and she needed to see some returns. Moreover, not too far away was a gentleman called Gottlieb Daimler, who together with his partner Wilhelm Maybach, were trying to build a driverless carriage too.
So one early morning in August of 1888 (may have been the 5th or the 12th), she left her husband a note, packed her two sons, Richard who was 13 and Eugen who was 15 into the Patent Motorwagen No.3 and drove off to visit her mum in her hometown of Pforzheim which was 66 miles (106 km) away!
Now let that go through your heads for a minute! 66 miles in a contraption that had never been tested before over more than a few miles in town! In 1888! On roads meant for horses and carriages! By a 39-year-old woman with 2 teenage boys! Now isn’t that just friggin’ awesome?
Now the big idea wasn’t really to visit her mum. It was to prove to her husband that his invention was great and ready for prime time and to give the car publicity.
The journey took her just over 11 hours. She stopped at several pharmacies to buy ligroin as fuel. The motorwagen used a surface carburetor which doubled as a reservoir for 1.5 liters of fuel. (Subsequent models had a fuel tank and also, her experience probably birthed the concept of the gas station). At one point, she had to repair the car’s ignition and she improvised with her garter. When the fuel line became clogged, Bertha cleared it using her hairpin! When the wooden brakes began to fail, she got a shoemaker to make leather pads for them, thus coming up with the idea of brake pads. At one point, she had to get two young boys to help her sons push the car up a hill (that bore the idea for a gear system).
The arrived in Pforzheim tired and dirty but in safely. Once in Pforzeim, she sent her husband a telegram to let him know they had arrived safely. Can you imagine him freaking out?
She stayed for 3 days with her mum and then made the return trip to Mannheim using a different route. This way, she was able to introduce the car to even more people. The reception ranged from wonder to frank fear of the “Smoking Monster”.
Beside getting a lot of publicity for the Motorwagen, she had also undertaken the first test drive of a car!
Her 120 mile trip was the catalyst Benz & Cie needed. Karl Benz became credited with inventing the predecessor of the modern car. By 1899, Benz & Cie was the world’s largest automobile company with a staff that had grown from 50 to 430. That year, they sold 572 vehicles!
Karl and Bertha, along with sons Eugen and Richard, also formed a new family-owned car company, Benz & Sons in 1906. The cars they made became popular in London as taxis because of their quality and reliability. It closed its doors in 1924.
Benz & Cie on the other hand stayed in business until 1926 when it merged with it’s main competitor, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) to form the Daimler-Benz AG. The rest, as they say, is history!
Karl Benz among other inventions went on to build the first truck and also to invent the flat or boxer engine that is still used in Porsches and other racing cars. Among some of his honors was a doctorate from his alma mater, the Technical University of Karlsruhe. He died in 1929.
On her 95th birthday on May 3, 1944, Bertha was honored by the Technical University of Karlsruhe, her husband’s alma mater, with the title of Honorary Senator. Two days later, she died.
Among her many honors is also the Bertha Benz Memorial route. The route traces her path during the world’s first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888 from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back.
What a woman! A mother, investor, test driver, mechanic and inventor! Now tell me Bertha Benz was not a Frisome!
Can you imagine what she might have achieved if she had been allowed to study at a university? Can you imagine what Karl Benz would have done without her?
So as you speed off in your AMGs, G-wagons and SLs, spare a minute to wish her “Herzlichen Geburtstag” on the other side.
What is the saying again? Behind every successful man, is a friggin’ awesome woman!
Frau Bertha Benz, you were friggin awesome!