Tag: invention

On this day in 1887 Dr. Graham Edgar, developer of the octane rating system, was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. During the pioneering era of the early automobile it was impossible to tell if a gasoline would cause engine knocking due to irregular combustion caused by a nonstandard refining processes and the use of numerous types of fuels within gas engines. The only real way to find out if a particular fuel would work in a certain car was to fill it up and crank it and just see what happens. In 1926, while working for a division of General Motors, Edgar solved this issue by developing the octane rating system. He found that the chemical isooctane would not knock in any engine, under any operating conditions, while n-heptane would always knock in any engine. By mixing isooctane and n-...

Oliver Evans was an American inventor who was essential to the development of steam locomotion. After building a high pressure steam engine capable of sawing marble in the early 1800s, he set out to find financing for a steam powered carriage. When the Philadelphia Board of Health announced concerns about the problem of removing sandbars and dredging in the city’s dockyard, Evans was quick to offer a solution. He convinced the board to fund the build of an amphibious, steam powered dredging machine.  Above: Engraving of Oliver EvansTop: Sketch of the steam powered dredging machine His efforts birthed the first self-propelled vehicle in the United States, which he tested for this first time on this day in 1805. It was also the first known self-powered amphibious vehicle in t...

In the early 1930s, one Richard Hollingshead supposedly came to know a familiar complaint from his plump mother, “Movie theater seats are too small for my frame,” she’d exclaim, probably. To provide his mother with a more enjoyable movie going experience, something that was still relatively new at the time, and to save her from the embarrassment surely associated with breaking chairs, Richard built an at home theater just for her. Ever the good son, Richard nailed bed sheets between two trees on their family property in Camden, New Jersey. He then aimed a Kodak movie projector at it. He changed the world when he parked the family car in front of it so his mother could watch the show through the windshield from the comfort of the large front bench seat. As soon as Richard flipped on the pr...

In the early 1880s, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach started developing what would become known as the Grandfather clock engine, which Daimler received a patented for on this day in 1885. Their workshop? A garden shed behind Daimler’s home in Cannstatt, Germany. What they came up with was an upright 0.5 hp engine, which featured a single horizontal cylinder, air cooling, hot tube ignition and cam operated exhaust valves. It weighed in at approximately 50 kg (110 lb) and had a height of 76 cm (30 in). This was the first practical internal combustion engine. Above: The 1885 Grandfather clock engine. By Morio - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0Top: A Reitwagen replica at Volo Auto Museum in Illinois. By Brian Corey They fit the engine to the pair’s Reitwagen (translation: riding car) in N...

Often referred to as the first movie star, Florence Lawrence, AKA The Biograph Girl, took her own life on this day in 1938. But what does this have to do with automotive history? Between filming more than 250 movies, the actress invented multiple automotive parts taken for granted today. Above: Florence Lawrence. Top: Florence Lawrence sits behind the wheel of a Lozier open touring car with 1912 Pennsylvania license plates. [photo credit: Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research] Lawrence is credited with creating the first mechanical turn signals and brake signals. For the turn system, she rigged up a simple device that allowed drivers to press a button that rose a flag on the back bumper of their car to indicate an upcoming turn. She followed this up with a “stop” sig...

Should you have opened your newspaper on this day in 1963, you may have come across an ad for a brand new Chevrolet, the Chevelle. Officially introduced by Bunkie Knudsen at a press conference the next day, the Chevelle was the only all new US car for the 1964 model year. (But what about the '64 1/2 Mustang!? Ford marketed and VINed the first Mustangs as 1965 models). Chevelle, Hebrew for "My god is a vow," or bold and beautiful, filled the gap between the smaller Chevy II and Chevrolet's full sized models. In its first year, 338,286 units left dealer lots. Top: The first Chevrolet Chevelle newspaper ads ran on this day in 1963 Above. 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malbu Coupe. By Barnstarbob CC BY-SA 3.0 Chevelle two door, four door, convertible and wagon variants came to market throu...

Inventor Robert Kearns, who died on this day in 2005 at age 77, is who you can thank for intermittent windshield wipers. After receiving a patent for the technology in 1967 he approached the large automakers, hoping they'd license it. They all passed. Yet, beginning in 1969 a similar system began to show up as an option in new vehicles. Robert Kearns. Top: patent filing for intermittent wipers Kearns, acting as his own lawyer, went after the Big Three for patent infringement, starting with Ford in 1978 and Chrysler in 1982. The Ford case finally came to a close in 1990. The court ruled the automaker must pay Kearns $10.1 million in damages. A 1992 verdict against Chrysler again favored Kearns, resulting in him being paid some $30 million in damages. A subsequent case agains...