Stuttgart, May 3, 1999 - Bertha Ringer was born in Pforzheim on May 3, 1849 and was 23 when she married Karl Benz on July 20, 1872. She passed away 55 years ago, on May 5, 1944, two days after celebrating her 95th birthday in Ladenburg, in the state of Baden, where the family finally settled.

History is punctuated by the efforts of committed women who have made significant contribution to the life's work of their famous husbands. One such figure is Bertha Benz, the resolute lifetime companion of Karl Benz, the father of the automobile.

Bertha Benz

Even during the engagement before her marriage to Karl Benz, Bertha made a determined and selfless decision which was to prove crucial to her husband-to-be. When it was revealed that Karl Benz had been maneuvered into an almost untenable financial situation by a business partner, Bertha Benz barely hesitated before prematurely paying in her dowry. Although not a huge amount of money, it was enough to buy out the partner and secure all future decision-making powers for Karl Benz.

Although his work was constantly afflicted by one setback or another, Karl Benz was given constant strength by Bertha's unshakeable belief in him and his invention and pushed on regardless. On January 29, 1886 he applied for a patent for his three-wheeler with a gas engine. This represented an important historical milestone, in which Bertha Benz played a considerable role.

The patent specification (DRP. No. 37435) is recognized today as the birth certificate of the automobile. Karl Benz went on to build further, perfected versions of his "patent motor car." Despite a mostly enthusiastic reception from the public, the commercial success he craved remained elusive.

Once again he became wracked by self-doubt and again it was his wife who found a way out. She realized that the general public remained inherently suspicious about the feasibility and reliability of this driving machine, which people saw as powered by secretive, "devilish" forces. The dynamic Bertha reasoned that the only way to convince people that the motor car would actually work was to prove it to them in practice.

Early one August morning in 1888 -- and without the knowledge of her husband -- she set off in Karl's three-wheeler with the couple's two sons on the journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim. As darkness fell, the intrepid trio arrived safe and well in Pforzheim. They then sent Karl a telegram to tell him that they had successfully completed the first long-distance journey in his motor car.

News of this sensational event spread like wildfire. Two kids and a woman in a hissing and snarling, horseless carriage - it had to be the work of the devil incarnate! Yet, Bertha Benz had achieved what she had set out to do.

The critics were won over by the reliability of the Benz motor car and it had become the talk of the town. Karl Benz was later to write in his memoirs: "Only one person stood by me during those times when I was heading towards the abyss. That was my wife. With her bravery and courage she could always find new hope."

May 7, 1999 -- Ford Motor Company has been named one of five finalists for a 1999 Computerworld Smithsonian Award in the category of Manufacturing. Established in 1989, the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program was created to search out and publicly honor individuals and companies whose use of information technology produces positive social, economic and educational change.

Other Computerword Smithsonian Award finalists in the Manufacturing category are: The Boeing Company, Cisco Systems, Georg LingenbrickGmbH & Co, and Bath Ironworks. The winners will be announced at an annual gala on Monday, June 7, at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Information on Ford's innovative use of the Internet have been added to the Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian.

Ford is being recognized specifically for leveraging information technology and the Internet to manufacture and deliver its vehicles on a customer-demand basis, substantially shortening the order-to-delivery process to create automobiles on demand.

"A completely new approach to the customer purchase experience, revolving around using high-speed communications, data analysis and the Internet is changing the way people buy vehicles and related services from Ford," said Bud Mathaisel, chief information officer, Ford Motor Company "This new approach will help Ford become the leading consumer company for automotive products and services."

Ford has made the automobile purchase experience as simple as logging onto the Internet. "The impact of the Internet is profound," Mathaisel said. "It provides us with the perfect medium to listen to our consumers and provide them with the exact information and vehicle they want."

Consumers can virtually specify and order the exact vehicle they want, arrange for financing and obtain a delivery date—plus receive continuing e-mail updates. "These emerging technologies are helping Ford connect with current and potential customers and anticipate their present and future needs," he said.

"Three factors were of particularly high priority for us," comments Tesco Distribution Limited's Head of Engineering, Nigel Baranowski. "Namely, fuel consumption, vehicle price (purchase price and residual value) and repair and maintenance costs.

The latest order is the result of extensive trials conducted by Tesco Distribution Limited. An eight-week evaluation between eight different vehicles was arranged by Tesco, from which two Scania models came first and second respectively in terms of fuel consumption. The trucks are tractor units for local and regional distribution with Scania 9- and 12-litre engines.

"We are naturally delighted to have again won such a major order from Tesco," said Ulf Bundell, Managing Director of Scania (Great Britain) Limited. "Tesco first purchased Scania trucks back in 1992 when the company placed its initial order for 28 units. Since then, we have worked hard to strengthen the partnership and demonstrate the whole-life benefits that can be achieved with our products." The Tesco heavy truck fleet comprises more than 1,200 vehicles, the vast majority Scania. During the past five years the company has bought some 1,100 Scania trucks. Since two years, Scania has been the market leader on the UK heavy truck market. In 1998, a total of 5,700 Scania trucks were registered.