January 29: Karl Benz patented the first gasoline-driven automobile (1886)

Benz's Motorwagen

Karl Benz, a German car engineer, patented the first successful gasoline-driven automobile on January 29, 1886 as DRP-37435. Benz is generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car along with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach who worked on a similar type of inventions independently of Karl Benz. Benz patented all of the processes that made the internal combustion engine feasible for use in automobiles. Benz brought his third model of the car to the Paris Expo in 1887 and began to sell his cars to the public, which was the first commercially available automobile in history.