Car makers around the world love inventing all kinds of weird and wonderful technology! Most of it is useful and has helped to shape our attitudes towards driving. If nothing got invented, we would be driving around in noisy, smelly and unreliable cars!
As car drivers, we often take for granted the features and technology that we use in our workhorses. In today’s blog post, I will take you through a trip back in time to find out. You will learn when certain car technologies got invented, and who invented them.
1844 – vulcanised rubber (for tyres)
Early cars from the 19th century did not use tyres. Instead, they used wooden wheels that had bands of metal wrapped around them. That didn’t do much for driver and passenger comfort!
Around 170 years ago, a man named Charles Goodyear invented vulcanised rubber. That form of rubber was soon used to create car tyres!
1901 – disc brakes
All modern cars have front disc and caliper brake systems, and most have rear disc brakes too. But that wasn’t always the case! Only a few decades ago, most cars had drum brakes as standard.
The major downside to drum brakes is that they are inefficient, and cannot slow down a car as fast as disc brakes can.
Disc brakes (that use calipers) were first invented in England by a man named Frederick William Lanchester. He used them on the cars that bore his name.
1930 – car radio
We are all used to listening to the radio or playing some music when we drive cars. But did you know cars didn’t always have “in-car entertainment”?
The world’s first car radio was on sale in 1930 by the Galvin Corporation in the USA. Dubbed the “Motorola 5T71,” in today’s money it would have cost you around £1,000 to buy!
Of course, back in those days compact discs and audio cassette tapes (remember them?) were not invented yet. The only thing you could do was listen to radio programmes.
1948 – electric windows
Take a look around any car dealer’s showroom, and all the cars for sale will have electric windows as standard.
About 15 years ago, electric windows were optional extras in most cars and only fitted to luxury cars as standard. But before 1948, you couldn’t buy a car with electric windows for love nor money!
British car maker Daimler invented electric windows. Those of you into your cars will know that Daimler was a British car brand, but was later absorbed by Jaguar Cars back in 1960.
1959 – three-point seat belts
It doesn’t matter whether we are drivers or passengers in a car, we all have to wear seat belts. They help protect us from injury and restrain us in accidents. But seat belts as we know them have only been around for 55 years.
Volvo Cars of Sweden began building cars with three-point seat belts back in 1959. Today, all cars have them fitted as standard.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey through time. Thanks for reading!
