German engineer and automobile pioneer Karl Benz, filed a patent for his two-stroke gas engine on 31st December 1878. The patent was granted the next year.
Karl Benz went on to develop the Benz Patent Motorwagen which is regarded as the first true automobile. It had an internal combustion engine and costed $1,000. The motorwagen was patented by Benz, who had applied for it on 29th January 1886.
Years later, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler merged their companies and formed Mercedes-Benz in 1926.
