Maybach - history of brand
A short biography of Wilhelm Maybach: The king of design
1846
August Wilhelm Maybach is born on 9 February in Heilbronn.
1856
Two years after the death of his mother, his father also dies. Maybach
grows up in the "Bruderhaus" in Reutlingen, a progressive
orphanage with its own engineering works where the young people can
learn new skills.
1861-1865
Trains as a draughtsman. Maybach also enrols in evening classes in physics
and mathematics at a school run by the town council.
1865-1869
Works as a detail designer in the engineering works of the "Bruderhaus".
There, Gottlieb Daimler, the manager of the factory, takes the 19-year-old
under his wing.
1869
Maybach succeeds Daimler as a draughtsman at Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft
Karlsruhe AG.
1872
Maybach moves to Cologne and starts work at Gasmotorenfabrik Deutz AG
as head of the design office. Daimler has been a member of the Board
at Deutz since 1872. Maybach prepares the Otto engine, designed by Nikolaus
Otto (1832-1891), for series production.
1877
Maybach reworks the four-stroke engine designed by Nikolaus Otto and
also prepares this unit for series production.
1878
Maybach marries Bertha Habermaas.
1879
Karl Maybach is born on 6 July.
1882
Gottlieb Daimler establishes what is to become Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft
in Cannstatt, near Stuttgart. Wilhelm Maybach follows him to the company.
1883- 1889
After finishing work on the high-speed internal combustion engine, Maybach
looks into how this engine can be used. Daimler and Maybach design their
first two-axle vehicle.
1893
Maybach develops the spray-nozzle carburettor, which is to become the
basis for modern carburettor technology.
1895/96
Maybach designs five new four-cylinder engines with 6 to 23 hp.
1900/1901
Acting on a suggestion from businessman and Austrian consul general
Emil Jellinek (1853-1918), Maybach develops a race car using lightweight
metals. It is fitted with a 35-hp four-cylinder engine featuring two
carburettors. With honeycomb radiator, gear-only transmission and a
very low centre of gravity, this vehicle repre-sents the car of the
future. Jellinek orders 36 cars and names the model "Mercedes".
1901/02
A Mercedes car reaches 64.4 km/h to smash the world speed record.
1903/04
Maybach develops the first six-cylinder Mercedes, producing 70 hp.
1906
Maybach designs an innovative 120-hp race engine with overhead intake
and exhaust valves, and dual ignition.
1907 Maybach leaves DMG. He is made an honorary member of the Association
of German Engineers (VDI).
1908
Together with his son Karl, he begins construction of an airship engine
for Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin.
1909
"Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH" is founded in Bissingen/Enz
(in the Wurttemberg region of Germany) as a subsidiary of "Luftschiffbau
Zeppelin GmbH" and under the management of Karl Maybach. Wilhelm
Maybach becomes a technical adviser.
1916
Stuttgart's technical university presents Wilhelm Maybach with an honorary
doctorate.
1929
Wilhelm Maybach dies on 29 December in Stuttgart.
1996
Wilhelm Maybach is accepted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.
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