Radiators and their use through the decades are testament to the extreme importance of this vital part of any automobile engine's cooling and heating system. Pretty much since the advent of the first internal combustion engine, the radiator has played a role mainly because it is extremely efficient at what it does. Even today's most modern gasoline powered vehicles used a radiator.
These units are basically used to keep any internal combustion engine cool enough to operate efficiently. They can be seen in just about any car, locomotive, motorcycle and airplanes that use piston driven engines. They are operation is extremely simple to understand, though the concept behind them was a stroke of genius. They help push coolant into an engine and then cool that coolant back down.
After the coolant that has been pushed into the engine is sent back to the radiator via means of a pump -- many times referred to as a water pump -- the coolant circulates through the radiator core and is cooled down by means of air rushing through the core in one way or another. Usually, there is a spinning fan placed in front of the radiator which sits in front of the engine.
The German designer and engineer Karl Benz -- who should be most familiar to anybody who has ever heard of the Mercedes-Benz automobile -- was the first to patent a design for a radiator. He beat out two other German engineers named Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler, both of whom were working on radiator designs of their own. Ben's is also considered to be the creator of the gasoline powered car.
As Benz ably demonstrated, he was extremely swift at getting his design patents to the patent office. He also came up with a number of innovations that helped to turn the internal combustion engine into something that was extremely compatible with the idea of an automobile. He was so good, in fact, that he is usually known as the inventor of the automobile. His first engine/radiator was patented in 1879.
From that time until the 1970s, pretty much every radiator and internal core of every radiator was based on the designs of Karl Benz. They also were mainly composed of brass and copper metals. These two durable and versatile metals were so good at helping to dissipate heat that they remained integral to the radiator quite a while. Aluminum has made some gains since, though.
The reason this is so is because aluminum is usually much lighter in weight than brass and copper together. Automotive engineers and auto manufacturers -- during the oil shocks of the 1970s -- began to look for ways to slim their automobiles down in weight. The less a car weighed the less fuel it tended to burn. However, most aftermarket radiators are still made of copper and brass.
The last 10 years has seen great improvement in the manufacture of such copper and brass radiators to the point where many of them are just as light in weight as an aluminum radiator and are usually far more durable and long-lasting. Truly, Karl Benz and his radiator seem sure to be with us as long as there are internal combustion engines running any sort of vehicle.
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