Unsung inventors

[JFranklin]

Here is a good short video of an auto pioneer. First turn signals.

 

https://www.chonday.com/32935/cacjartlef6/

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Very interesting, Mr. Franklin.  Thank you for posting it.

 

Cannot forget one Mary Anderson who invented windshield wipers.  Your video started me thinking about those little things that keep me up at night such as "monkey wrench".  Turns out there was a gent named Charles Moncky pronounced Monkey of Baltimore, MD who invented it.

 

Regards,

 

Peter J.

[Mark Gregory]

I cannot remember her name but Chrysler had a woman designer in the 1930's ? who designed the interiors of their cars . Great post by the way JFranklin

[Gary_Ash]

I'll nominate Curt Saurer as an unsung inventor.  One of his key inventions was rubber vibration isolated motor mounts, but his life story is very interesting.  See the linked PDF for his story.

 

http://www.studegarage.com/images/other/It was only a motor mount- Gary Ash.pdf

 

[Pfeil]

3 hours ago, JFranklin said:

Here is a good short video of an auto pioneer. First turn signals.

 

https://www.chonday.com/32935/cacjartlef6/

First turn signals;

They first appeared in the 1900s, when they were actuated either mechanically or pneumatically. In 1908, Alfredo Barrachini in Rome added electric lights inside the arms that turned on as they extended, but operation was still by a cable system. Electric operation came in 1918 when the Naillik Motor Signal Company of Boston added electric motor drive. This system was superseded by two French inventors, Gustave Deneef and Maurice Boisson, who used a linear solenoid in 1923. The final complete system came in 1927 when Berlin-based Max Ruhl and Ernst Neuman combined internal illumination and solenoid operation.

The shape of the trafficator arm is closely based upon the shape of the semaphore arm signal used by the Royal Bavarian Railway beginning in 1890. The only difference from the railway arm is that it is halved down its length so as to fit flush with the vehicle's exterior.

They were common on vehicles until the introduction of the flashing amber, red or white indicators at or near the corners of the vehicle (and often along the sides as well). They have been increasingly rare since the 1950s, as ever-tightening legislation has prescribed the need for the modern type of flashing signal. Many historic vehicles (e.g. pre-1960 Volkswagen Beetle sold outside the USA) that are used on today's roads have had their trafficators supplemented or replaced with modern indicators to aid visibility and to meet legislative requirements. Trafficators can now be fitted with flashing lights as an upgrade.

Edited October 17, 2018 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[dictator27]

9 hours ago, Mark Gregory said:

I cannot remember her name but Chrysler had a woman designer in the 1930's ? who designed the interiors of their cars . Great post by the way JFranklin

Probably Helen Dryden.  She also did interior design wotk for Studebaker.

[8E45E]

There were a number of women designers or consultants at the time.  Besides Helen Dryden, there was Eleanor LeMaire, Dorothy Draper at Packard, and Helene Rother at Nash.

 

If one is interested in the women's touch in automotive design, this is a good read: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/damsels-in-design-women-pioneers/9780764354359-item.html?ikwid=damsels+in+design&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0

 

Craig

[prewar40]

Gardner Motor Company had one woman design the griffin, another woman sculpture it.  They also had women colorists to assign their 50 color combinations in the late 20's.

[CarlLaFong]

13 hours ago, Peter J.Heizmann said:

  Turns out there was a gent named Charles Moncky pronounced Monkey of Baltimore, MD who invented it.

 

Regards,

 

Peter J.

Old urban myth

 

[JACK M]

Quick Google search

 

Why is it called Monkey Wrench?

That handy tool, the "monkey-wrench", is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $5000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, Kings County, where he now lives.

[Pfeil]

6 hours ago, JACK M said:

Quick Google search

 

Why is it called Monkey Wrench?

That handy tool, the "monkey-wrench", is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $5000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, Kings County, where he now lives.

Charles Moncky hoax

The following story can be found in sundry publications from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries:

That handy tool, the "monkey-wrench", is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $5000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, Kings County, where he now lives.

Although this story was refuted by historical and patent research in the late nineteenth century, it appears to have been inspired by a real person. Charles Monk (not Moncky) lived in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in the 1880s where he made and sold moulder's tools, not mechanics' tools like a monkey wrench. He could not have invented or named the "monkey wrench" because he was born after the term, "monkey wrench", first appeared in print.

[CarlLaFong]

As I said, old urban myth. The Ancestry website, which contains millions of records, lists no one named Charles Moncky. Not in Baltimore, not anywhere in the world. Everyone knows it was invented by Chester Crescent, first cousin of Asa Hammer who, oddly enough, invented the screwdriver

[JFranklin]

Monkey wrench is the favorite tool of the venerable "grease monkey".

[Pfeil]

Since when was a Grease Monkey ever thought of as venerable??

[8E45E]

11 hours ago, CarlLaFong said:

As I said, old urban myth. The Ancestry website, which contains millions of records, lists no one named Charles Moncky. Not in Baltimore, not anywhere in the world. Everyone knows it was invented by Chester Crescent, first cousin of Asa Hammer who, oddly enough, invented the screwdriver

And Thomas Crapper really did invent the flush toilet.

 

Craig

[8E45E]

18 hours ago, JACK M said:

Quick Google search

 

Why is it called Monkey Wrench?

That handy tool, the "monkey-wrench", is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for $5000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, Kings County, where he now lives.

It used to be called a 'money' wrench at the corner garage, which has all but disappeared.   Now, a dealer, or a bigger shop will charge just to plug their $12K Snap-On ZEUS diagnostic tool to find your engine miss, or other annoying malfunction in a modern car, only to tell you what's wrong with it.  It doesn't fix it for you!   After all, that shop or dealer HAS to earn that money back somehow!!

 

Craig

[Pfeil]

When I was in my first year of college / trade school back 50+ years ago each student had to have a tool box with tools. The first things the instructors would do is inspect our boxes. Pipe wrenches, adjustable wrenches of any kind monkey wrenches etc. were forbidden. The motto was we were going to be professionals and every job uses the proper tool. God forbid a instructor find you using a screwdriver for a pry bar, or a drift. And oh yes, the first question on every written test was our instructors motto which had to be written to the letter. The motto was " Cleanliness is not next to Godliness, Cleanliness IS Godliness".  This is especially true when working on a HydraMatic!   

[8E45E]

55 minutes ago, Pfeil said:

When I was in my first year of college / trade school back 50+ years ago each student had to have a tool box with tools. The first things the instructors would do is inspect our boxes. Pipe wrenches, adjustable wrenches of any kind monkey wrenches etc. were forbidden. The motto was we were going to be professionals and every job uses the proper tool. God forbid a instructor find you using a screwdriver for a pry bar, or a drift. And oh yes, the first question on every written test was our instructors motto which had to be written to the letter. The motto was " Cleanliness is not next to Godliness, Cleanliness IS Godliness".  This is especially true when working on a HydraMatic!   

Or a McCoulloch/Paxton supercharger!!

 

Craig