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Friday 15 July 2016

Motor car parts

In 1896 the English engineer Frederick W. Lanchester introduced epicyclic gearing, which foreshadowred automatic transmission. His revolutionary epicyclic gearbox (years before Henry Ford adopted it), gave two forward speeds plus reverse, and drove the rear wheels via chains.

On May 21, 1898, the first car bumper was fitted. The bumper was fitted to a prototype vehicle at the Imperial Wesseldorf wagon factory in Moravia (now Czech Republic). The car set off on a test drive to Vienna and the bumper fell off after less than ten miles.

Chrome plated front bumper on a 1958 Ford Taunus. By Yeti.bigfoot - Wikipedia Commons

The 1901 Model R Oldsmobile runabout, referred to as the Curved Dash Oldsmobile, was the first car to have a speedometer. The development of the speedometer is credited to A. P. Warner, the founder of the Warner Electric Company. He invented a mechanism called a cut-meter, used to measure the speed of industrial tools, and realized that this could be adapted to the motor car.

Several inventors patented windscreen cleaning devices in the early 20th century.  In 1903 Alabama born Mary Anderson devised an operational windshield wiper, which she called a "window cleaning device" for electric cars and other vehicles. Operated via a lever from inside a vehicle, her version of windshield wipers closely resembles the windshield wiper found on many early car models.
Anderson's patent was issued to her by the US Patent Office on November 10, 1903.

Anderson's 1903 window cleaner design

English football club Newcastle United FC's official club photographer in 1908, Gladstone Adams, was on his way home in the snow when he realized what a good idea it would be to have a device that cleaned your windscreen as you drove. Adams' windscreen wipers invention was patented in 1911 but was never manufactured.

Silent movie actress Florence Lawrence invented a mechanical signaling device, which, after a button was pushed by the driver, a sign would pop up from the rear bumper indicating which way the car was turning. It didn't catch on.

In 1939, the U.S. automaker Buick first introduced the "Flash–Way Directional Signal," which operated in the familiar way – a stick, mounted on the steering column. In its original incarnation, this turn signal only flashed the rear lights; by the next year, front lights were flashing as well. By the end of World War II, directional signals were standard in most American automobiles.

Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain in 1939.

The first modern three point seat belt, the design which is used in most consumer vehicles today, was patented in 1955 by the Americans Roger W. Griswold and Hugh DeHaven.

The three point seat belt was developed to its modern form by Swedish inventor Nils Bohlin for Volvo, who introduced it in 1959 as standard equipment.

A 3-point seat belt. By Gerdbrendel at the English language Wikipedia,

Bosch has the world's biggest windscreen wiper factory in Tienen, Belgium, which produces 350,000 wiper blades every day.

Windshields have an SPF of 50, better than most sunscreens.

The "dashboard" was originally a barrier of wood or leather at the front of a horse-drawn carriage or sleigh to protect a driver from mud or other debris "dashed up" by the horses' hooves. Today it refers to the evolution of that flat board which now contains displays, gauges and instruments.

Vehicle horns can be used melodically, in musical works. For example, George Gershwin's 1928 orchestral work An American in Paris calls for the use of four taxi horns.

The average car has around 30,000 parts.

Todayifoundout.com,  Daily Express

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