The First Car and then Some More

So many of us drive cars today, and we take the whole experience of driving for granted. Sure, our grandfathers might not have had cars – and even that doesn’t hold true for a lot of people – but our fathers did, and now we do, and those who come after us? They won’t just drive cars; they’ll be flying across the skylines of the cities of the world in their Ford or Toyota or Chevy Hovercrafts. But driving hasn’t always been around, you know. There was a time when automobiles didn’t exist, except in the imagination of a few whom we now might consider visionaries, but who, back in their days, were seen as madmen on flights of fancy. Any guesses as to how far back the drive for driving goes? It goes back, way back to a time when America, as we know it today, did not exist – the year 1335. In that year, a man named Guido da Vigevano came up with the design of a wind-driven ‘chariot’. It was something like a windmill with the drive attached to gears and the gears, in turn, to the wheels. A man named Vaturio also came up with something similar bit it never got built. Much later, the famous artist and sculptor Leonardo da Vinci came up with a brilliant design which can only be described as a tricycle that had to be mechanically driven and steered by tiller, with a differential mechanism placed in between the two rear wheels.

It is said often that the first functional ‘car’ was built in the year 1678 by a Catholic priest, Father Ferdinand Verbiest. Legend has it, that he built a steam powered vehicle for Chien Lung, the Emperor of China at that time. However, this has never been confirmed. In fact, it seems doubtful as to whether this vehicle was anything more than a working model, owing to the fact that the first steam engine (by Thomas Newcomen) was built only in the year 1712. Regarding Thomas Newcomen’s brilliant invention, it was an engine with a piston and a cylinder. Something like it had never been seen before. The engine employed steam in the form of a condensing agent in order to create a vacuum, following which,, with a walking beam overhead, one could lift water by pulling on an attached rod. Let along portable, the gigantic new steam engine was not even under any pressure, but it was merely a boiler that was open and had been attached to the cylinder through pipes. But everything changed in the year 1765. A man named Jamed Watt came up with the first ever steam engine that was pressurized. It turned out to be extremely efficient and more importantly, it was way more compact than the erstwhile Newcomen steam engine.  

It wasn’t much longer after Watt’s invention that two men, Nicholas Joseph Cugnot and M. Mrezin came up with the very first vehicle that was self-powered (this vehicle’s replica can be seen today at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers which is in Paris). Another similar vehicle, made in 1770 had a weight of about 8,000 pounds and its speed topped out at 2 miles an hour. The only problem with it was that it used to tip over in the front, owing to which it had to be counterweighted with something heavy in the back, which was alright, because the vehicle was intended to lug cannons from point to point anyway.
The very first vehicles that were powered by steam were extremely heavy and very ungainly. What’s more, they were of no use unless they were on a surface that was totally flat and even that wasn’t enough; the surface had to be strong enough to bear the weight of the steam-powered vehicle. Due to this reason, special roads were constructed out of iron rails, and thus was the modern rail road born. This continued for another hundred years and then twenty five more after that! As time went by, the vehicles improved in terms of their power and capability to pull more weight, and soon, they could pull ‘trains’ with multiple cars and transport passengers apart from transporting freight. 

By the third decade of the nineteenth century, attempts were on to build a vehicle that could go on the regular roads and that didn’t need to move along on iron rails. Due to some initial accidents and negative propaganda spread by the railroads people, a lot of highly restrictive legislation was passed and the automobile, which could have come to England, didn’t.

A lot of people had attempted to create something like an internal combustion engine, but that wasn’t possible until they found some fuel that could internally combust. In an early attempt, gunpowder was considered and tried, but unfortunately, it was a no-go. The very first gas was generated when coal was heated under pressure in a boiler. The very first gar-powered engine that was small enough to fit in a smaller vehicle was built by Etienne Lenoir in 1860. Two years later, he drove the first car ever from Paris till Joinville. The engine stats were pretty cool for that time – turning at 100 rpm, it was a big and clunky one-half HP engine with a 5-inch bore plus a stroke of 24 inches.

It is interesting to note that Etienne Lenoir had a separate mechanism for compressing the gas prior to combustion. In the year Lenoir rode the first car between Paris and Joinville, a man named Alphonse Bear de Rochas realized that he’d found a way by which the gas could be compressed in the very same cylinder in which is was supposed to burn. This method – still used today – which involves getting the gas into the cylinder, compressing and combusting the mixture that is compressed and finally releasing it from an exhaust is referred to as the ‘four cycle’ engine or the ‘Otto cycle’.
 
Sweeten your ride

If you love your car, you have to help it look good and presentable. Cars are manufactured in factories by the thousands, only you as the car’s owner can help it look unique and make it stand out. A well maintained car will always give a good polished look, but there are some other customizations that you can carry out on the car that can make your ride look stunning and eye catching. However, make sure that you maintain and look after all the accessories well, a car with many accessories but one that is not well looked after will have a negative reaction from others.

One of the first things that you can do yourself to improve your car’s look is to paint its body. This not only improves the car’s image but also increases the durability of the body of your vehicle; this is because a good quality coat of paint protects the body from rust. Always opt for using the best quality of paint available, the better the quality. The less you would later have to worry about maintaining your car’s body. A painting job is indeed not a difficult or complicated job, but it does require time and patience, so if you are not confident about committing this way to the job, you can get it done professionally.

The following are the steps that you must remember when you paint the body of the car. Firstly, remove all dust, grease or rust and other such contaminants from the surface of the body of the car. After these are removed, wipe it clean with a solvent. After this, spot rub the body to clear any kind of corrosion and then let the body become dry. If you are working on base metal, apply a thin coat of etching primer for better anchorage. Leave this to dry overnight, follow this with a light scruff using emery paper; the, clean again. This must be followed by the application of a single coat of thinned paint, usually known as PS Grey or PS off-white. This should be allowed to dry overnight as well. The body then needs to be kept wet and then rub the body with 600 Grade paper. The next important thing to do is, to rectify any damage on the metal surface; this can be done using putty. The second coat of the PS Grey or PS off-white can be applied after this. This should also be left to dry overnight. Finally, the first coat of the final paint that you have chosen for your car needs to be applied, but thin this with a thinner. This then needs to be dried and wet flat with 800 grade paper. This must be followed by the application of the second coat, thinned as before. This should also be dried overnight. After this has again been cleaned and dried, the final coat must be thinned and applied to the city. Again, dry it overnight. The body should then be hand polished using a rubbing and silicon compound. This should be enough for a good paint job for your car.

Besides, painting the body of your car, there are other things you can do, even to an old car, to make it look admirable again. For example, you can follow these procedures to restore the gloss of the body of an old car. Firstly, wash and dry the car well. If the existing paint of the car has obtained a white hazy look, use high quality polishes that contain, mild abrasives, this will do the job of removing the top layer of dead paint. If you actually look at the paintwork through a microscope, you would see that the body looks like a geographical scene of mountains and valleys. The abrasive type cleanser will smoothen out the peaks and help fill in the valleys that have formed over the years. These cleaners are usually described as being small, medium or heavy cut. A chemical cleaner can also be used; these gently yet effectively remove old wax and contaminants which are there in the old paint. These kinds of cleaners are also very effective in removing stains, bird droppings and tar etc. But what you must do is wax your car immediately after you have cleaned or polished it in order to protect the newly exposed paint layer. This slows the oil evaporation from the new layer and also maintains the shine.

A whole range of accessories are now available today to dress up your car, making it not only unique but more importantly perfect for you. A car owner is now spoilt for choice from hi –tech audio systems to fancy car security from the once humble rear view mirror and wind screen wiper. Not only do accessories for the car make your car look good and make your driving a pleasure, they could also enhance the general comfort for the driver and the passengers. There are a few accessories for your car that are a must in today’s world. They make your car look good and also improve its performance.

The Sun control film for example, serves the purpose of reducing heat and ultraviolet rays in the car. For automobiles the film comes in premium and economy segments. Not only do these shade window panes of vehicles and add to the sleek look of the car, it also has other benefits. It, saves energy, improves fuel efficiency, reduces the load on the air conditioner inside the car, eliminates glare that could affect the driver negatively. Provides privacy as well as boosts aesthetics. However, such tinted glasses should not be so dark that they obscure the driver’s vision.

Air conditioners have become the most common accessory present in most cars, but if you have an oldish car, here are the reasons why you must get one installed immediately. Air conditioners help to regulate the atmosphere inside the car, making the interior more comfortable, whether it is cold or hot outside. Besides this, occupants of the car are also spared from dust, noise and pollution. Air conditioning also will relieve the driver from stress or inattentiveness caused due to ill weather conditions. Here are some tips on how to keep your automobile air conditioner in top condition. Always get the condenser cleaned during time of normal servicing of your vehicle. A dirty condenser will result in less cooling of the car and will cause the air conditioner to constantly trip. Clean the evaporator periodically to remove dust and foreign particles. A clogged evaporator will again result in les cooling and also less airflow. Do not operate the air conditioner without a refrigerant in the system. This will cause the compressor to fail prematurely.

Just in case you aren’t attentive enough with your garage door or during parking, your car might be in at risk of being stolen. However, today you have a vast range of foolproof security systems to choose from which will help protect your vehicle better. These range from the regular car alarm systems to central locking systems with impact sensors on the gear and the locks. Apart from these there are also the hi-tech telephone digital pad systems as well as paging security systems. The most commonly used accessory for car protection is the central locking with anti-theft alarm. In this, a single remote button locks all the doors including the boot and the ignition is cut off. The advanced versions of these include the impact sensor alarms. These also provide features such as car finder, stereo protection and engine immobilizers. There are even high end sophisticated security gadgets with mind boggling features. The anti-theft paging systems are one such feature. In this system, the car owner is given a pager with an alarm system. If someone is trying to tinker with the vehicle, the car owner will receive a message on his pager with the information that somebody is tampering with the car, of course the pager has to be within a certain distance of the car for the service to function. There are also related systems, such as the remote start system. This allows the car owner to start the engine of the vehicle from a distance, let’s say from inside your house. This way, you can switch the air conditioner and other required features on prior to stepping inside the car, and have the car ready and waiting. Thus, one has the luxury of getting into a cool interior.

Power windows are the other feature that you could install, and this feature has also been around for a while. These are very similar to manual windows but instead of having to crank the window up or down, power windows have an automatic mechanism to do the job for you. This mechanism is controlled by switches located near the driver as well as on each side window for the passengers individually. An important feature of these power windows is that they cannot be forced open because a gear in the electric mechanism has a self locking feature.

You could also replace the old wheels of your car with new alloy wheels which will not only increase the visual appeal of your vehicle but will also improve the performance of your car, by virtue of it becoming lighter, having stiffer resistance to deformation and lower rolling resistance. These wheels are available for all kinds of vehicles and of every design. If this becomes too expensive a venture for you, you could also settle for fancy wheel caps of metal or sturdy plastic. These wheel caps of good quality import a sporty feel for your car and are also easy to clean. However, make sure that these have air vents to help cool the brake drums.

Once considered purely utilitarian, today a complete line of functional and stylish windscreen wipers are available for you to install in your car. The superior wipers are made of top quality aluminum or black powder coat finish and are available in a variety of sizes to match the requirements of the driver as well as for the passenger sides. Heavy duty silicon blades wipe clean and remain flexible year after year. Intermittent rain should be the main reason for the installation of the wipers. You can set the wipers to clean the wind shield every three, five or eight seconds. There are wipers available that facilitate clear viewings through the rear window pane as well. These rear wipers are also available in different designs and sizes to suit your car model.

A demister is another useful appendage to add to your car’s accessories for maintaining ideal climatic conditions inside the car. It keeps the inside of the windscreen moisture free, therefore these are of great help especially in the winter and when it rains, when there is a tendency of the inside of the glass to fog up which hinders the visibility for the driver. During such times, the demister keeps the inside of the car warm and the wind screen and the rear and side windows fog free from the inside.

Upholstery is another great feature for your car that you can literally use like an accessory to make your car look unique and be true to your personality. The material for vehicle upholstery varies from different types of cloth to leather as well. The fabric is fashioned in different ways and it can be fashioned according to your customizations as well. When choosing the upholstery for your car, you must keep in mind such factors such as the general climate and temperatures of where you live. For example, if you live in a place which is generally warm, choose the kind of fabric that breathes easily, this is best in natural fabrics. Also, the manner in which your car is used and your requirements must also be factors while selecting the upholstery. If the car is for rough use, try going for sturdy upholstery, you should therefore not go in for materials such as leather that rely on high maintenance.

Bull bars and Nudge bars are other useful accessories that you could use. Bull bars are the front guards, a mounting system designed to ensure maximum strength in case of direct or side impact on the car. A good Bull bar has unmatched structural integrity, precise fit and innovative style and shape. The concept originated in Australia, where, as the name suggests these bars acted as guards against collisions with animals on isolated sections of the road. In the event of a vehicle hitting an animal by accident, a bull bar would provide the vehicle’s radiator protection from damage. However, now Bull bars have become popular accessories for every car, whether in Australia or not. However, these are the following are the disadvantage of installing bull bars and therefore read through these carefully before you decide on installing them. For many light weight vehicles, a Bull bar is inappropriate because the mounting points are not strong enough in a crash. Due to the added weight, there is also an increase in fuel consumption. There is also a more rapid increase in the wearing out of the tires. The Bull bar most importantly must not hinder the visibility of headlights, the parking lights or other such important lights. For city or suburban use, the Nudge bar is an excellent alternative for a Bull bar. These provide protection for the radiator, but are less likely to cause injury or have a detrimental effect in a crash situation.

Back-up warning systems are the other must-have for your car. These sound an alert when one’s vehicle is being reversed or backed out of its parking place. These alarm sounds come in different audible tomes and songs, from beeps to snappy melodies and messages such as “Attention, this car is backing”. However be sure that the tune or melody is proper enough for you, before you begin regretting it soon.

The Child safety lock is another accessory which is actually a safety device that you must have installed in your car if you have children around who would be travelling by the car. These are installed to prevent children to absent mindedly open the doors. Most vehicles are already built with this feature, but again if your car is an old model, you must look into it immediately. Therefore, when the door has been locked, it cannot be opened from inside, some locks even feature window locking mechanisms as well.

You could also install a shift kit in your car, to make your driving experience better. This is unique only to manually transmitted cars of course. This device replaces the usual gear selector, thereby it shortens the throws of selecting the gears and thus allows an experienced driver to reduce the shift time between each gear and thus helps him to shift gears more efficiently and easily. The shift kit is also useful for those cars that run on automatic transmissions as well. In these types of cars the mechanism of automatic gear shifting often goes into two gears at once while it is shifting from one gear to the other, thus causing a shift overlap. In such cases, if a shift kit is already installed, the kit can prevent this shift overlap from taking place.

The Cruise Control is another device that once installed adds to your driving pleasure. It is a system that controls the speed at which you are driving the car, automatically. The system in fact takes charge of the wheel to maintain a steady speed that you have set. This system becomes extremely useful when you are on long drives on roads with not much heavy traffic. You could even use it as a way to avoid unconscious violation of speed limits. It is quite common, that drivers unconsciously step on the gas a little more than necessary unconsciously when driving down a deserted highway; they end up with nothing more than speeding tickets. The Cruise control system can help you avoid such tragedies! However, using the Cruise Control for driving also requires complete attention or it could lead to several dangers. The Cruise Control system must not be kept in use while driving downhill.

The Vinyl roof is perhaps the most used covering designed for cars, especially the sports cars, not necessarily for luxury models. This kind of covering was initially designed to give the look of a convertible to those cars which had fixed roof; however now it is has become a style statement for several of its owners. There are four different variants for the vinyl roofs. The Full Vinyl roofs are the ones that are most commonly seen, where the vinyl covering covers the entire roof of the car. The windshield pillars may or may not be covered by these covers, but the C pillars are. The Halo is the type of Vinyl covering that is similar to the Full vinyl covering, but it doesn’t cover the windshield or the side windows. This therefore allows the “halo” of the painted steel metal to be visible between the glass and the vinyl cover. The Canopy is the style of Vinyl covering that covers only the front half of the car, usually it ends at the end of the rear view mirrors. The Landau is the exact opposite of the canopy style. This covers the rear half of the top of the car.

Finally, the Sunroof. If you haven’t already been tempted by the variety of these, here are some more reasons why you should go for them. It is basically, a fixed or a movable roof for the car that allows fresh air, sunlight etc to enter the cabin of the car. These are in turn available in various shapes and sizes to suit your needs.

These accessories and add-ons are great for your car, not only to make it look good, but to also increase the car’s usability and comfort.
 
Automobile Designing

Cars! Aren’t you fascinated by the different car models? Their body, shape, color, design, etc. is simply mind blowing. Several different companies are constantly coming up with different automobile designs. The main artists behind all these wonders are the automotive designers. The overall appearance of the automobile is enhanced in the profession of automotive design. Ergonomics is also considered to some extend.

While designing an automobile all the factors such as the comfort, safety, efficiency and productivity of the equipment used in the automobile is studied and examined. Automobiles not only refer to cars but also trucks, motorcycle, buses, vans and coaches. A large team of engineers from different disciplines of automotive engineering does the functional design and development of the modern vehicles.

Developing the visual appearance or aesthetics of the automobile is the primary concern of automotive design. The designers in the automotive design profession have a degree in industrial design, transportation design or have an art background.

Some of the aspects of automotive design are considered by the designing team. The three main aspects of the designing team are the interior design, the exterior design and the color and trim design. These are the main tasks of the designing team. One more aspect of automotive design is the graphic design. This is generally shared amongst the design team.

Starting from the vehicle package, automotive design concentrates mainly on the combination of the form and function. It does not only focus on the isolated exterior shape of automobile parts. The aesthetic value corresponds to the utility features and the ergonomic functionality of the automobile. T

he automotive designers have to be constantly updated with the latest information of the new electronic gadgetry so as to get the best electronic components in their automobiles. These electronic components include the GPS navigation, MP3 players, mobile TV, satellite radio, video playback, HD radio and smart phone interfaces.

Exterior Design:

The surface, proportion and the shape of the vehicle is developed by the stylist responsible for the exterior design of the vehicle. First a series of manual or digital drawings of the exterior designs is done. Further these designs are executed and approved in more detail. Along with the drawings clay or digital models are developed. A full sized replicated model is then designed with the help of the data from the digital models. The clay model is first designed in a computer program and then carved with the help of the CNC Milling Machines. Clay model is very important to evaluate the exterior design of the car.

Interior Design:

The placement, surfaces, proportions and shapes for the instrument panel, door trim panels, seats, pillar trims, headliner, etc. are all considered and developed by the stylist responsible for the interior designs. More importance is given to the comfort of the passengers. Same procedure as for the exterior design is followed here, i.e.  first sketching, then digital model and clay model.

Color and trim design:

The research, design and development of the colors and materials used in the interior and exterior of the vehicle are considered by the color and trim designer. The designer takes care of the fabric designs, paints, plastics, leather, carpets, headliner and many other materials. A unique interior environment experience is given with a proper combination of the color, texture and contrast.

Research in the global trends is done from which trend boards are created. Trend boards keep a track of the design influences. Themes and concepts are then developed from these trends by the designers to make new vehicle models.

Graphic design:

Graphics for the items such as the decals, badges, switches, liveries, dials, etc are developed by the design team.