Re: IML: more info on blinker fluid

[Mark McDonald <tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If such creativity could only be turned toward the forces of good!

(With the appropriate signal, of course.)

MM

On Monday, September 19, 2005, at 05:38 PM, mike and linda sutton wrote:

> Since it has became apparent to me that many people take their 
> blinkers for granted, and since Dick B was thoughtful enough , along 
> with Hugh and a few others, to shed their insight into this I thought 
> Id share what background information I was able to come up with, 
> sketchy as it is in some cases.
>
> In the earliest days, nobody had blinkers or lighting of any kind.  
> This was right after the horse and buggy days and nobody in their 
> right mind would drive a motorcar after dark.  Being that the average 
> speed was about 4 mph, a days drive wasnt much further than the next 
> neighbors house on most country roads anyway, so you just turned 
> around and walked back home or had dinner at their house if it smelled 
> good as you walked by.
>
> As cars got a little faster, lighting found favor and also a way to 
> tell another motorist, or passing pedestrian, or cow, what you 
> intended to do  as you traveled.  Initially you just shouted " Hey 
> idiot , Im going to turn left here "  but soon the more sophisticated 
> people started using signalling devices to tell their intentions.  The 
> earliest were the common arm and hand signals like you learn in 
> drivers ed and promptly never use again, like hanging your arm out the 
> window and making everyone think youre going to slow down or turn , 
> even though youre just hanging your arm out the side.
>
> Then semaphores and lights became popular, and cars finally were able 
> to outrun the pedestrians and livestock on most highways and city 
> streets.
>
> Now flash forward to modern automobiles, and in the 30s the early 
> manual blinkers.....slow, somewhat awkward but stone axe reliable.  
> Turn the switch on and off for whatever light you want to flash.  Any 
> fluid would work, coal oil,  water, alcohol, many early systems used 
> these fluids.
>
> As cars got faster and heavier in the late 40s and 50s, manual 
> blinkers fell out of favor and many people complained about using 
> them.  Women in particular complained about how heavy and slow to 
> respond manual blinkers were, and how easy it was to chip a > fingernail.
>
> While undocumented,  there is historical evidence that Chrysler took 
> the lead and invented the first semi automatic blinkers,  " 
> Turn-O-Matic " , which used a combination of manual pressure and a 
> early , somewhat ponderous,  system of levers, pulleys, turnbuckles, 
> bellows and counterbalances to activate the blinker system.
>
> Then the breakthrough, " TurnFlite "...the early cast iron as well as 
> the later aluminum blinker units were faster, incredibly durable and 
> used the DexTurn 1, 2 and 3 fluids.  Some cars also had the Auto-Turn 
> 1, and Auto-Turn 2 systems but the signal servos were notoriously 
> cantankerous and many people switched back to the more common 
> Turn-Flite blinkers.  Some but nobody knows how many cars in the 80s 
> had the Lean-Turn system, where the ecm controlled the blinker 
> direction and speed, again many were converted to the early system and 
> you can tell by the asterisk next to the blinker lights.
>
>
>
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