Oscar Ulysses Zerk, he had a whole bunch of patents but that one made him some real money. It wasn't the first greasable fitting but it was an improved design and worked good, and is still used even today.
Huh? that sounds backwards to my experience....I'd never heard of a Presta valve until I was stuck with 2 on my mountain bike, and it takes a special adapter if you want to air up with an air hose for Schrader valves....
Yep, hate those Presta valves, drilled out a few rims for Schraders. I thought maybe Elle MacPherson invented the MacPherson strut but turns out it was Earle MacPherson, an American engineer. Although I'm sure Elle is responsible for a few stiff ones. Pretty intetesting: Earle S. MacPherson was appointed the chief engineer of Chevrolet's Light Car project in 1945, to develop new smaller cars for the immediate post-war market. This gave rise to the Chevrolet Cadet. By 1946 three prototypes of the Cadet design had been produced. These incorporated the first MacPherson strut independent suspension both in front and rear.[1] The Cadet project was cancelled in 1947 and the disgruntled MacPherson was enticed to join Ford. Patents were filed in 1947 (U.S. Patent 2,624,592 for GM)[2] and in 1949 (U.S. Patent 2,660,449 for Ford),[3] the 1949 patent[4] citing designs by Guido Fornaca of FIAT in the mid-1920s.[5][6] The strut suspension of the pre-war Stout Scarabcould have been an influence and long-travel struts in aircraft landing gear were well-known by this time.[citation needed] French Cottin-Desgouttes utilized a similar design, albeit with less sophisticated leaf springs,[7][8]however the Cottin-Desgouttes front suspension was in turn inspired by American engineer J. Walter Christie's 1904 design.[9][10] MacPherson designed the strut for all four wheels, but it is normally used for the front suspension only, where it provides a steeringpivot as well as a suspension mounting for the wheel. The first production car to use MacPherson struts is often listed incorrectly as the French 1949 Ford Vedette,[11][12] but it was developed before MacPherson with an independent front suspension based on wishbones and an upper coil spring.[13] Only in 1954, after the Vedette factory had been purchased by Simca, did the revised Simca Vedette switch to using front struts.[13] Following MacPherson's arrival at Ford, the first production car to feature MacPherson struts was the British-built 1950 Ford Consuland later Zephyr.
Steering wheel spinner knobs are also known as "suicide", "necker" and "Brodie" knobs (often misspelled as Brody). This post gets into the 'slang name' rather than the 'official name'. So "Brodie Knob" because............ “ ... well, Brodie came from a guy name of Steve Brodie, who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1880s and lived. He became a New York local hero complete with a manager, sold pix of himself, etc. Never paid for another drink, they say, because of his fame. Brodie became a catchphrase for any kind of slide, skid, fall, train wreck, etc. that had an element of danger. Like Johnny said in The Wild One when he got hit with a thrown wrench, "I did a big Brodie and everything went black", or something like that. Brodie was a tail end out, power turn of at least 180° or more when I was a kid in the 50’s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Brodie_(bridge_jumper)
I had heard of "Long" and "Borg & beck" type clutches. Just recently I discovered that the "Long" was a brand name, built by the "Long Manufacturing Co."
In 1898, Henry Timken obtained a patent for the tapered roller bearing, and in 1899 incorporated as The Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company in St. Louis. In 1901, the company moved to Canton, Ohio, as the automobile industry began to overtake the carriage industry.
DeDion - Bouton used it on their steam remorquers (trucks) . The firm was a partnership of DeDion, Bouton and Trepardoux. M. Trepardoux did not agree with changing from steam to gasoline vehicles, so he took the steam part of the business and DeDion-Bouton went on making gasoline vehicles. They were one of the oldest car companies, founded in Paris in the 1880s and mass producing vehicles in the 1890s when Ford, Olds, etc were still trying to figure out how to make a car that ran.
Auto air conditioning was invented by 3 guys named Hy, Norm and Max which is why their names were on all air conditioners for years.
Holley Carburetor Brothers George (1878-1963) and Earl Holley Quoted..."Their first original carburetor, called the iron pot, appeared on the curved-dash Oldsmobile in 1904." In April 1905 Holley Brothers Company was established with an address at 661-75 Beaubien St., Detroit, Michigan. The brothers then concentrated on the manufacturing of carburetors and ignition systems. As a result of the Motorette Henry Ford commissioned the brothers to produce a carburetor for his Model T. "The carburetor they built for Ford was an immediate success and the brothers founded Holley Carburetor Co., which became one of Ford's biggest suppliers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holley_Performance_Products
Rago Speed Equipment https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hot...ns-overhead-cam-banger-12-forward-speeds/amp/ Quoted; "Joe Jagersberger (Rajo Joe). The company was named by combining the "RA" from Racine and the "JO" from Joe Jagersberger's first name." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajo_Motor_and_Manufacturing
Quoted; "The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Tire_and_Rubber_Company
Actually Champion spark plugs came first. Albert Champion sold the company. William C. Durant hired Champion to develope spark plugs for GM. Albert wanted to use his name on the plugs but couldn't because it was trademarked and no longer available. Thus he and Durant used his initials instead to denote the new GM spark plug. Durant also hired Charles Kettering for his electrical knowledge. Durant had to buy Kettering's company also. The Dayton Electric Company. They then shortened it to DELCO and had AC/Delco division of GM.
This is interesting as I believe that despite descriptions of autos as "she" and "It has sexy lines and cuvres" it is very rare to have a part named in reference to a Womans Attributes while using her name as a clever cover. I Hung around with a few fellas with 57 Chevs and there was a more direct Lady part reference to the Rubber Bullets on the Front Bumpers and it wasn't Dagmars... http://www.curbsideclassic.com/desi...ok-at-their-origins-development-and-namesake/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagmar_bumpers
I call parts of my heap by female anatomy quite often, nothing to do with the inventor however. Been wondering about Appletons and Barden bumpers, haven't found anything.
There is Appleton spotlamps from the 20's but I believe these being a 1949 design fit the Custom Period better. Quoted; "June 2, 1953 N, A, TORNBLOM 2,640,912 DOUBLE BEAM AUTOMOTIVE SPOTLIGHT Filed July 8l 1949 Patented June 2, 1953 DOUBLE BEAM AUTOMOTIVE SPOTLIGHT Nils A. Tornblom, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Appleton Electric Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application July 8, 1949, Serial No. 103,706" https://patents.google.com/patent/U...9550101&after=priority:19470101&patents=false
The Jalopy Journal
