Showing posts with label automobile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label automobile. Show all posts

June 26 - Inventions and Patents Day

Posted on June 26, 2021

This is an update of my post published June 26, 2010:


On this date in 1498, the toothbrush invented in China.



On this date in 1819, the first U.S. patent for a velocipede – an early version of the bicycle—was awarded to William K. Clarkson, Jr., of New York.



On this date in 1894, the first U.S. patent for a gas-driven auto was awarded to Karl Benz of Germany.






A patent is a country's promise that an inventor has exclusive rights to his invention for a limited period of time. This means that somebody can't buy a product, study it, and exactly copy it to sell it and make money. However, people can reinvent things, making improvements and changes, and be rewarded with their own patent as well as the right to make and sell their unique version of the product.

After a while, a company's patent expires, and the invention is free for everyone to copy and manufacture. However, some aspects of a company's product may be covered by copyright. Note: it is not always easy to enforce a patent or a copyright - especially if the copy-cat company is located in a country that doesn't honor such niceties!






















626 Day






(Saturday closest to June 25)




(Fourth Saturday in June)










(Last weekend in June)





Summersgiving Day

(Saturday after the Summer Solstice)

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June 4 - Henry Ford's First Test Drive!

 Posted on June 4, 2021

This is an update of my post published on June 4, 2010:


On this day in 1896, Henry Ford put the finishing touches on his first vehicle.

This self-propelled vehicle ran on a gasoline-powered engine. 

Sitting on four bicycle tires, it didn't look much like modern automobiles, but it was their direct ancestor.

Ford called this first vehicle a quadricycle. It was also called a horseless carriage and a gasoline buggy.

On that day in 1896, Ford started up his quadricycle and drove it around the streets of Detroit, Michigan. Naturally, it attracted stares and questions from onlookers.


I wonder if it seemed very low to the ground next to the people on horseback and horse-drawn carriages?

The quadricycle only had two gears—and no reverse! It reached speeds of 20 miles per hour.

Later in 1896, Ford sold this first quadricycle for $200. He built two more in the next three years, and of course went on to make better and better cars, including his famous Model T.


Eventually, Ford bought back his first quadricycle for $65. It is now on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Design a vehicle or transport system of the future.

Think about the stuff you've seen in science fiction movies. Are those vehicles possible? Practical? Desirable?

Do you have any completely original ideas?

Remember, most invention is really REinvention.

Take some vehicle that works and re-design it so that it's better: cheaper, faster, smaller, larger, “greener” (by which I mean better for the environment), or ...

Find Out More


Read a short bio of Henry Ford. Ford is famous for his invention and reinvention, of course, but he is also famous for some of his labor practices, for being pro-peace during the beginning of World War I, for working with fellow inventor George Washington Carver...and for a yucky thing: for being anti-Semitic. That means that Ford said and wrote hateful (and untrue!) things about Jewish people.

 

Notice that at the bottom of the bio page there is a free jigsaw puzzle and some other activities.

 

Learn about Henry Ford's assembly line. Then try out assembly-line principles with by making edible cars (first activity).

 



Also on this date:






















 

 

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April 25 - License Plate Day

Posted on April 25, 2020

Whenever there is some new gadget or technology available, some rush to be the first on their block to own it...
...and some people bash it. 

In the case of the automobile, as late as 1901 (about 15 years after the introduction of cars as commercial products), the publication Turf, Field and Farm called the car "an unnatural vehicle." Some cities were passing laws that basically harassed auto owners, and people with cars complained that they didn't have equal rights with drivers of horse-drawn vehicles.



So many drivers in New York State were excited when a new law was passed on this date in 1901. I gather that the new law made regulations for automobiles - and statewide laws make it MUCH easier to know and follow the laws than each and every town and suburb having their own laws. 

But there was something else in that NY state law: auto owners were required to prominently display their initials on the back of their vehicles, in a very noticeable place, with the letters being at least 3 inches tall. 

Mind you, the people who owned cars had to DIY these identifying letters - any color, style, or material - and many took the easy way out and simply painted their initials on their auto. Some people bought metal house letters (used in addresses / apartment numbers) and attached them to leather or wood, and somehow attached the whole shebang to the back of their vehicle. It sounds challenging, actually.


I bet you quickly realized that just being identified by two or three letters wasn't going to help when there were thousands and thousands of cars on the road. I mean, there have got to be a lot of people with the initials CME (my initials), or JMM (my husband's initials), or most other combos.

Still, these simple initial identifiers are considered the beginning of license plates. Now we have personalized (or vanity) license plates, special government plates, fundraiser backgrounds for especially pretty plates, and of course license plate games!

Kids First license plates are colorful, have a pair of charming handprints, and state "KIDS FIRST" at the bottom. People who want this plate have to pay a bit of money - money that goes to the North Carolina Children's Trust Fund.
But then someone ordered a personalized Kids First plate:


I like these three license plates a lot. They're probably my favorites - of the ones I've seen, that is...



There's a lot of variety of license plates in any one state. For example, these are just some of the California license plates you might see:











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