In 1860 at the age of 16 Karl Benz passed the entrance examination for mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, graduating in 1864. During these years, while riding his bicycle, he began to envisage concepts for a vehicle that would eventually become the Horseless Carriage.
In 1872 he married Bertha Ringer and with the aid of her dowry he managed to start up a company in Mannheim to develop engines. This eventually led him to produce his ‘Motorwagen’ which he patented on the 29th of January 1886, the worlds first patent for an ‘automobile fuelled by gas’.
