Car History 4U

History of Motor Car / Automobile Inventions and Improvements

6.1 Brakes

    • The drum brake was invented in Germany by Wilhelm Maybach in 1901.

    • In 1902 Louis Renault (French) invented the version on which the modern drum brake is based.

    • Self adjusting drum brakes were invented in the 1950s.

    • Malcolm Loughead patented a hydraulic braking system in the USA which was first used on the 1920 Duesenberg car.

    • See Part 1. The Early History, Section 10.7 (Disc Brakes).

    • In 1949 Crosley Motors became the first American car manufacturer to fit disc brakes. In the same year Chrysler fitted a type of disc brake to their fourth generation Imperial models.

    • Disc brakes were developed by Dunlop in Great Britain in the early 1950s and fitted to a Jaguar C-Type racing car in 1953.

    • In 1954 an Austin Healey 100S became the first production car to be fitted with disc brakes on all four wheels.

    • Disc brakes started to replace drum brakes in the 1960s.

6.2 Car Radio

    • The first car radio was invented by Paul Gavin (American) in 1929.

    • The product was called “Motorola” (a moving radio).

6.3 Cruise Control

    • The first cruise controls fitted to cars were based on the centrifugal governor, a technique invented in 1788 by James Watt and Matthew Boulton (British) for use on locomotives.
    • They were first fitted to cars sometime between 1900 and 1910.
    • In 1945 Ralph Teetor (American) invented the modern cruise control.
    • In 1958 a Chrysler Imperial became the first car to be fitted with his cruise control system.

6.4 Door Locks

    • Information required.

    • Which car model had the first doors and an enclosed compartment and in what year?  Was an enclosed compartment first fitted to protect only the passengers but not the driver?

6.5 Fuel Injection

    • In 1955 a mechanical fuel injection system was developed by Bosch in Germany. Two years later, in 1957, General Motors in the United States produced a mechanical fuel injection system.
    • The “Electrojector” developed by Bendix in the United States during the mid 1950s was one of the first electronic fuel injection systems. From 1957 it was offered as an option by Pontiac, De Soto, Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth.
    • However, it was not reliable and was only fitted to about 35 cars.
    • Note: The Bendix fuel injection system was originally used on aircraft during the Korean War (1950-53).
    • Bosch later obtained patent rights to Bendix’s Electrojector system and during the 1960s Bosch developed their own “D-Jetronic” electronic fuel injection system.
    • This was first fitted to the VW Type lll in 1968. Between 1970 and 1973 the system was also used by Volvo, Saab, Renault, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.
    • The D-Jetronic version was last used in 1976. Bosch introduced improved versions, including the L and K-Jetronic systems.

6.6 Gauges

    • By 1922 most cars were fitted with petrol gauges.

    • Speedometers became compulsory in the UK in 1937.

6.7 Ignition

    • Information under preparation.

6.8 Lights

    • Reversing lights were first installed in American cars in 1921.

6.9 Paint

    • In 1920 DuPont in the USA produced a thick pyroxylin lacquer that was quick drying, durable and could be coloured. It was originally called Viscolac®.

    • In cooperation with General Motors DuPont refined the product further and renamed it Duco.

    • Duco was first used by General Motors as a durable, quick-drying finish on its 1923 Oakland models.

    • It reduced paint finish time from two weeks to two days and soon became the standard finish on cars.

    • It remained in use until the late 1960s.

6.10 Power Steering

    • Sometime between 1920 and 1926 Francis Davis and George Jessup (Americans) invented a hydraulic power steering system.
    • In 1926 it was tested in a Pierce-Arrow vehicle.
    • The Chrysler Imperial became the first production vehicle to be fitted with a power steering system in 1951. The system was called “Hydraguide”.

6.11 Radiators

    • The radiator was invented and patented by Karl Benz for use on his first horseless carriage in 1885.

    • It overcame the problem of evaporation cooling, which was boiling away a gallon of water for every hour he operated his single cylinder engine.

    • The first honeycomb radiator was designed by Wilhelm Maybach and fitted to the 1901 Mercedes 35 hp model.

    • Anti freeze became available in the USA in 1905.

    • The Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation in the USA was the sole producer of ethylene glycol up to 1914. Initially it was used as an anti freeze.

    • The use of ethylene glycol as an engine coolant was first proposed in England in 1916.

    • A patent was granted in the USA in 1918 for the use of ethylene glycol to lower the freezing point of water in car cooling systems.

6.12 Steering Wheel

    • The first cars were steered with a tiller.

    • The first car fitted with a steering wheel was a French Panhard & Levassor model in 1898.

    • The first American car to be fitted with a steering wheel was the second car built by Packard in 1899.

    • Left hand steering wheels were first fitted to American cars in about 1908.

6.13 Suspension

    • Independent front suspension was first fitted to a Lancia car in 1922.

6.14 Transmission

    • See Part 1. The Early History, Section 10.3 (Transmission).

    • In 1928 Cadillac/GM introduced a fully-synchronized manual transmission system called Syncro-Mesh.

    • In 1932 Cadillac/GM began working on a shiftless transmission system. By 1934 they had developed a step-ratio gearbox that would shift automatically under full torque.

    • By 1937 they had produced a semi-automatic transmission system called Automatic Safety Transmission (AST). It was fitted to Oldsmobile models from 1937 to 1939.

    • In 1939 GM introduced an automatic transmission system called Hydra-Matic Drive. It was first installed in a 1940 Oldsmobile model.


6.15 Turn Indicators

    • Florence Lawrence (Canadian) invented a turn indicator for cars in about 1914.

    • The device was called an “auto signalling arm” and it was attached to the car’s rear fender. When the driver pressed a button an electrically operated arm raised a sign to indicate the direction of the turn.

    • Florence Lawrence did not, however, correctly patent her invention.

    • In 1929 Oscar J. Simler (American) invented and patented a turn indicator.

    • In 1935 a company in the United States invented a flashing turn indicator.

    • A Buick was the first production car to be fitted with an electrical turn indicator in 1938.


6.16 Windows

    • The first shatterproof safety glass was invented in France in 1909 by Triplex.

    •  Window winders were introduced in about 1925.
    • Power operated car windows were fitted in the USA in 1946.


6.17 Windscreen Wipers

    • See Part 1. The Early History, Section 10.9 (Windscreen Wipers).

    • Gladstone Adams was granted a patient for windscreen wipers in Great Britain in 1911.

    • William Folberth was granted a patient in 1922 for the first automatic (vacuum powered) windshield wiper mechanism.

    • Electric windscreen wipers were introduced in 1922.

    • A Studebaker car was fitted with windscreen washers in 1937.

    • In 1940 Chrysler provided models with two-speed wipers.

    • Note: Headlight wipers were first introduced by Saab in 1970.

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