The world’s first truck

But even Gottlieb Daimler must have felt somewhat scary in view of so many innovations in so short a time. For the time being, he proceeded somewhat more carefully before he launched a new five-tonner (in those days, the tonnage always related to the payload capacity, not to the gross weight). Without much ado, he handed over the truck, which was highly advanced by the standards of the time, to brickworks in Heidenheim, where its weaknesses were systematically identified in arduous day-to-day operation – and eliminated.

After that period, however, Daimler left no stone unturned in promoting his trucks. With his five-tonner, he set out to Paris to present this new truck alongside a four-hp belt-driven car. In this lively metropolis, a competition organized by the French Automobile Club was followed by a motor show in the Tuileries Garden, where Daimler exhibited his latest scions. “Large crowds, many vehicles of all kinds – our truck and taxi attract a lot of attention,” Daimler’s wife Lina noted down on June 15, 1898, pleased with her husband’s success.

Yet those with a doubtful view of the truck with combustion engine remained in the majority for a long time to come. It was generally assumed in Europe that combustion engines were right for passenger cars, and steam engines and electric motors for commercial vehicles. Fears were still too great. People were reserved not only because gasoline had to be bought at the chemist’s. Few people understood the engineering which, incidentally, was far from being able to cope with all the hardships the roads had in store for vehicles at the time. The buyers of Karl Benz’s first bus, for instance, returned the vehicle to him in winter 1895/1896 because they had difficulties negotiating the ruts carved by heavy-duty horse-drawn carts into the roads.

Preparing the ground for the truck

Another general problem was the fact that the spoked wooden wheels customary at the time tended to smolder or even catch fire under certain circumstances. The conventional combination of journal and bushing was susceptible to crushing at the edges, leading to burn marks on the hollow hub. To make things worse, iron wheels provided poor traction, while there was little to prevent solid-rubber tires from melting or crumbling under the impact of heat. And through to the 1920s, pneumatic tires were suitable only for light loads.

Nevertheless, the ground had been prepared for the truck. The industrial revolution gathered momentum, and mass products were pushing into the market. The demand for distribution was rising. The customs barriers within the German Reich had been torn down as early as 1871. The history of road haulage is more closely linked with the history of trade and road construction than is generally assumed. Road haulage flourished at the time of the Romans who used a well-kept network of routes for their trading activities. Trade declined when the routes were no longer maintained. Sectionalism and customs barriers also contributed to this development.

Precursors: Muscle, wind and steam power

In spite of this, attempts had time and again been made to build vehicles which did not depend on animals. As early as 1447, a vehicle was built in Memmingen (and in 1504 also in Pirna), which was propelled by the persons on board via a rotary mechanism. However, this vehicle made progress only on well-made paths. In 1599, Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin came up with a vehicle fitted with sails and driven by wind power. The Prince of Orange-Nassau, governor of the Netherlands at the time, liked to travel in this wind-powered car.

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