Monday, August 12, 2013
First directional signal
A 1916 article about the first electric directional signal for cars. Looked something like contemporary traffic lights, with a rotating cylinder bearing four different words and colors, and a bell adding auditory indication of each change. Internally it must have worked like the Breguet telegraph. The STOP indication wasn't the same thing as brake lights, just as the down-pointing hand signal wasn't the same as brake lights. This meant "I'm getting ready to stop", not "I'm hitting the brake now." Several variations on this theme were offered by other companies, some with a railroad-style wigwag arm, some with a flip-up semaphore arm. None became common, none were adopted as standard equipment.
I've always been puzzled by the slow acceptance of directionals in America. The first factory-installed signal was on the 1939 Buick. Like this device, it showed only to the rear. Electrical signals weren't standard equipment until 1961. Hand signals were still legally required (but not enforced) in 1966 when I got my driver's license.
Euro carmakers standardized the flip-up semaphore in the early '30s, so Detroit didn't have an excuse for its slowness. Now we see that the idea was even older than the '30s.
= = = = =
Afterthought: Strange that we maintained the preparatory meaning for turns but not for braking. Hand-out-the-window signals included all three intentions, but modern directional signals include only the two turn intentions. There is no modern signal for preparing to stop. It would be easy enough to rig up, using rate-of-change code in the speedometer software. When present speed is less than speed one second earlier, flash the slowdown light. (I've heard that Czech cars in the 1950's had a similar slowdown light using a mechanical sensor, but can't find anything about this online.)
¶ 2:48 AM 
A 1916 article about the first electric directional signal for cars. Looked something like contemporary traffic lights, with a rotating cylinder bearing four different words and colors, and a bell adding auditory indication of each change. Internally it must have worked like the Breguet telegraph. The STOP indication wasn't the same thing as brake lights, just as the down-pointing hand signal wasn't the same as brake lights. This meant "I'm getting ready to stop", not "I'm hitting the brake now." Several variations on this theme were offered by other companies, some with a railroad-style wigwag arm, some with a flip-up semaphore arm. None became common, none were adopted as standard equipment.
I've always been puzzled by the slow acceptance of directionals in America. The first factory-installed signal was on the 1939 Buick. Like this device, it showed only to the rear. Electrical signals weren't standard equipment until 1961. Hand signals were still legally required (but not enforced) in 1966 when I got my driver's license.
Euro carmakers standardized the flip-up semaphore in the early '30s, so Detroit didn't have an excuse for its slowness. Now we see that the idea was even older than the '30s.
= = = = =
Afterthought: Strange that we maintained the preparatory meaning for turns but not for braking. Hand-out-the-window signals included all three intentions, but modern directional signals include only the two turn intentions. There is no modern signal for preparing to stop. It would be easy enough to rig up, using rate-of-change code in the speedometer software. When present speed is less than speed one second earlier, flash the slowdown light. (I've heard that Czech cars in the 1950's had a similar slowdown light using a mechanical sensor, but can't find anything about this online.)
¶ 2:48 AM
