The roots of Mercedes Benz

On December 31, 1878, a guy named Karl Benz applied for a patent for a two-stroke engine design. Numerous patents had been pursued for the four stroke engine and Benz sought to patent an idea in a less crowded technological arena. In addition to Benz’ designs, several fundamental patent ideas followed for the two-stroke engine in the next decade.

One of the early innovators of the four stroke engine was a guy named Otto, who also worked with a guy name Daimler, which should be familiar names. Early attempts to build a car were thus probably called an Otto-Mobile.