-
Seat Belts
The first U.S. patent for automobile seat beats was issued to Edward J. Claghorn of New York, New York on February 10, 1885. -
The Begining
Karl Benz, the German mechanical engineer who designed and in 1885 built the world's first practical automobile, and Henry Ford, who improved the assembly line for automobile manufacturing and invented a car transmission mechanism, and others. -
History of American Roads
Just over a century ago, steamships, canals, railroads, and the telegraph were up and running. Yet the invention that would spark a revolution in transportation was a simple two-wheeler - the bicycle. Its popularity in the 1880s and 1890s spurred interest in the nation's roads. However, it was the car that was destined to dominate the new roads. -
Brakes
In 1901, British inventor Frederick William Lanchester patented disc brakes. -
Electric Starters
In 1910, Vincent Bendix patented the Bendix drive for electric starters, an improvement to the hand cranked starters of the time. -
Car Radio
In 1929, American Paul Galvin, the head of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the first car radio. The first car radios were not available from carmakers. Consumers had to purchase the radios separately. Galvin coined the name "Motorola" for the company's new products combining the idea of motion and radio. -
Power Steering
Francis W. Davis invented power steering. In the 1920s, Davis was the chief engineer of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, and he saw first hand how hard it was to steer heavy vehicles. Davis quit his job and rented a small engineering shop in Waltham, MA. He developed a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering. Power steering became commercially available by 1951.
