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 Just about every car built today relies upon the principles known as
Ackermann steering - a system where, in a turn, the inner wheel is
cocked at a more severe angle than the outer, in order to compensate for
the greater distance the outer wheel must travel in a circle. One might
consider Ackermann something of a genius for having sorted it all out.
Only one problem there: He didn't.
So who did?
Let us start with Erasmus Darwin (b. 12 December 1731), a Renaissance
man of sorts, challenging conventional wisdom in a variety of far-flung
fields from invention to industrialism, from botany to physiology, and
from natural philosophy to poetry. Translating botanical books from
their original Latin, writing the groundbreaking Zoönomia,
which helped sow the seeds for grandson Charles's Theory of Evolution,
helping create the Lunar Society (widely credited with kick-starting
England's Industrial Revolution and of claiming Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Priestly
among its members and correspondents), experimenting with galvanism and
helping create a furor that peaked with Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein - all fell within the wide-ranging parameters of his interest.
Considering everything else he had on his plate, you'd think that a
smarter way to steer a carriage would be low on Darwin's priority list,
but he created one. Rather than have the turning axle pivot in the
middle at a fixed point in the chassis, the axle would remain in place
while the wheels, attached to the suspension via spindle and by tie rod
to each other, would turn in parallel. This would make a carriage easier
to steer at speed. Darwin did not patent his design, fearing it would
somehow damage his reputation!
The next step arrived with German carriage builder Georg
Lankensperger; using Darwin's concepts, he made a (theoretically)
workable system in the 1810s. Unlike Darwin, Lankensperger sought to
patent the concept throughout Europe, and in England, he called upon
Rudolph Ackermann to act as his agent.
Illustration by Bromskloss
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