Bosch Automotive A product history

22 | Supplement 2 | Journal of Bosch History
Motorization fuels demand
The starter has the features typical of
many products brought to market by Bosch
in the period between the first world war
and the first crisis in the automobile industry
in 1926. Their aim was to eliminate the
shortcomings in operation and safety that
were coming to light as motorization really
took hold. Wherever these shortcomings
became apparent, Robert Bosch looked for
new ideas that he then optimized, or inventions
were made in-house that were then
developed until they were ready for series
production. The manually operated rubber
wiper, developed by Prince Heinrich of
Prussia, became the electric windshield
wiper, the electric horn replaced the rubber
bulb horn, and car heating systems consigned
the hand warmers and long johns
resorted to in the winter to the history
books. Finally, the direction indicator – or
turn signals, as they have been known
since 1949 – carried out the function
previously performed by the driver‘s
outstretched arm.
Many of these products – such as the
horn, the windshield wiper, and the turn
indicator – can be attributed to the work
of Gottlob Honold, who also developed
high-voltage magneto ignition. He was
the company’s first head of development,
setting up a department whose potential
quickly became clear to Bosch. There are
currently some 33,000 people working in
research and development at Bosch, and
this department was where it all started.
Diesel and gasoline engine management
In the era up until the 1920s, the automotive
business sector was dominated by
electrical components. However, Bosch
It was not only the manufacturers of
stolid family sedans that favored Bosch.
Exclusive carmakers such as Bentley and
Bugatti also opted for the southwest
German automotive supplier (c 1935).