1895 Benz Velo – introduced ten years after the first patented Benz automobile of 1885
Steam-powered self propelled vehicles were devised in the late 17th century. A Flemish priest, Ferdinand Verbiest, demonstrated in 1678 a small steam car. The car was made for the Chinese emperor. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot successfully demonstrated such a vehicle on a real scale as early as 1769. Cugnot’s invention initially saw little application in his native France, and the center of innovation passed to Great Britain, where Richard Trevithick was running a steam-carriage in 1801. Such vehicles were in vogue for a time, and over the next decades such innovations as hand brakes, multi-speed transmissions, and improved speed and steering were developed. Some were commercially successful in providing mass transit, until a backlash against these large speedy vehicles resulted in passing laws that self-propelled vehicles on public roads in the United Kingdom must be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag and blowing a horn. This effectively killed road auto development in the UK for most of the rest of the 19th century, as inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in railway locomotives. The red flag law was not repealed until 1896.
The first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789. Later, in 1804, Evans demonstrated his first successful self-propelled vehicle, which not only was the first automobile in the USA but was also the first amphibious vehicle, as his steam-powered vehicle was able to travel on wheels on land and via a paddle wheel in the water.
Belgian born Etienne Lenoir made a car with an internal combustion engine around 1860, though it was driven by coal-gas. His experiment lasted for 7 miles, but it took him 3 hours; He would have been faster on foot. Lenoir never tried experimenting with cars again. The French claim that a Deboutteville-Delamare was succesfull, and the French celebrated the 100th birthday of the car in 1984.
It is generally acknowledged that the first automobiles with gasoline powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously by several German inventors working independently: Karl Benz built his first automobile in 1885 in Mannheim. Benz was granted a patent for his automobile on January 29, 1886 and began the first production of autombiles in 1888. Soon thereafter, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart in 1889 designed a vehicle from scratch to be an automobile rather than a horse carriage fitted with an engine. They also were inventors of the first motor bike in 1886. Much earlier, an Austrian inventor Siegfried Marcus in Vienna built a crude vehicle by placing an engine on a handcart around 1870, although it is disputed whether it ever ran, and he never applied for a patent for this type of invention. The first four wheel petrol-driven automobiles built in Britain came in Birmingham in 1895 by Frederick William Lanchester who also patented the disc brake.
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On August 2010 I bought from Orange Romania SA a mobile phone, LG GT405. First video that I made was with deficiency, but I didn’t use the warranty to repair it.
After one year, the touch screen is blocked, so I went to the store from where I bought it asking to be repaired. I mentioned both the problems with the touch screen and the video. The warranty is for 2 years.
I received back the mobile phone, with the mention that the touch screen was replaced. No mention about video. The quality of the videos remained the same. I sent it back asking to take a look at the video.
This time I have received back the mobile phone with the mention that the video camera was replaced. I tried it, and there was no change in the quality of the films. I sent it back.
This last time, I have received it back with the mention: “unconfirmed deficiency”. I made a last video with the mobile phone after I have received it, this one that I uploaded to YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-hLg2IysM0. The original file can be downloaded from http://www.sfetcu.com/MOV010.3gp.
As you can see the video, please help me to understand writing your opinion, if:
1. I am wrong, the image has a good/standard quality, and Orange has right with the mention that the deficiency is unconfirmed;
2. The image is with deficiency but this is the normal quality of the LG mobile phone videos, so it is not Orange’s fault;
3. The image is with deficiency and LG Electronics manufactures mobile phones with a better quality of the videos, but Orange didn’t respect my rights;
4. Other situation (please name it).
P.S. I notified both Orange and LG Electromics about this problem. Orange sent me an answer in which I am adviced to send them a request (I sent it three times!). I have no answer from LG Electronics yet.
