Huh?, What the heck is old HRP talking about this time? Well guys, I was perusing the internet this morning and ran across this strange autobilia cleaning system for the family car, I believe the following description will explain why this "Wash bowl" was invented. Here’s a photo from 1924 showing a car wash in Chicago. We know of one other auto wash bowl in Chicago, but the concept actually originated in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was patented in 1921 by C.P. Bohland, who opened two locations in St. Paul. He created the bowl as a way to easily clean off the mud from the underside of cars. The often unpaved roads of the early motoring days would see mud being caked onto the underside of cars and wheels. The inventive Auto Wash Bowl was designed to take care of that. The ridged concrete bowl was around 24 meters in width and 40cm at its deepest point in the centre. It cost a whopping 25 cents, and an attendant would cover the radiator with a protective rubber cover. Customers entered the bowl via a ramp before driving around the edge of the bowl at just under 20kph. The ridged edges of the bowl would create a vibration, which would cause the water to splash over the car helping wash away the mud from the chassis and wheels. After about three or four minutes, the car would exit the bowl. If customers wanted a complete car wash, they could then enter a bay where the rest of the car would be cleaned. A busy Saturday would see about 75 cars an hour taking a spin in the wash bowl. After seeing its success in St. Paul, the first Auto Wash Bowl was built in Chicago. Chicagoan named C.G. Burkhartsmeier bought the rights in 1924 and built a bowl and service station, costing $20,000 USD. But, the Auto Wash Bowl ended up as little more than a novelty. Car-washing technology evolved, and just two years later, the North Side wash bowl was bought by a local realtor and the South Side wash bowl was gone by the 1930s.
That probably wasn't a problem, driving around the edge at around 12 MPH didn't drowned the ignition. HRP
What roads? this was in the 20's, most of the so called roads were rutted out horse & buggy roads, remember this old video? HRP
Wouldn't you know it would be a DODGE! But we all know all the cars were built to take just about anything Mother Nature threw at them. HRP
Nice one, Danny. Had an old truck that had good old red clay packed around the a-arms. Thought it was concrete, had to remove it with a hammer and chisel!
T model magneto, Housed in the trans, good for 40 volts AC. One out of every Two cars, then, were Ford, The preferred traction Solution was ash and cinders. There was much Objection to using salt then. As related to by my absentee Father many moons ago. OH and Yeah,,, My first eight years were lived on a dirt road. Called Stump road
Dirt road. Up until I was sixteen, we lived on a two rut dirt road. When the roads got wet, we'd drive down the middle until we met someone coming the other way. The polite thing to do was move over with each car taking one rut until they passed and then you started driving in the two ruts made by the other car. Two rut dirt road.
Hello, That concept is a good one. In our old Westside of Long Beach neighborhood, we were close to the Los Angeles River. The river comes past us from way far inland near Dodger Stadium and beyond, out to the ocean in the Long Beach Harbor, near the Queen Mary. So, what ever gets tossed in the gutter or in the actual river, out it comes in the harbor miles away. The rainy season always brings fast flowing water along our curbs in front of our house. As the rain continues, the L.A. River rises and flows faster towards the ocean. When it gets too high, the street drains have a hard time taking the flowing water in front of our houses and then the chain reaction comes into play. Slow drainage to the river and now our own streets began to flood. So, our neighborhood is well known for massive flooding. 710 Long Beach Freeway at PCH a few blocks from our old house. Caspian Avenue a few blocks up the street to get to PCH Caspian Ave at PCH flooding from the overflow and back wash from the LA River flow The high schools never closed due to rain or flooding. So, we had to slog through our own neighborhood streets to get to PCH, just so we could get to our school, several miles away. The 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery slogged through some deep intersection dips and the cars looked like a bunch of boats moving on the surface of the LB Harbor waters. One girl that I knew said she saw it plowing the water with the brakes on, down the street near the high school and thought it was a red submarine with the red nose leading the way! What an imagination… When the LB Freeway was opened, it was well designed with plenty of drains, but those torrential rains and stuff floating down into them clogged up the flow to the LA River. So, even the freeway was closed at certain spots. 710 Long Beach Freeway at PCH is just 4 blocks from our house. PCH Eastward was the main road to get to our high school, through thick and thin…as well as deep muddy waters. REMEMBER: “WATER ALWAYS WINS…” Note: Before the construction of the flood control walls to keep the LA River in check all of the time, and way before the homes developed on either side of the LA River, the history is interesting. The area adjoining the LA River was called an "Alluvial Flood Plain." As the rushing waters of the river flows out to the Pacific Ocean, it gathers top soil from the areas back along the river, even as far back as in the western areas of the Los Angeles City proper. As it flowed unencumbered toward the ocean, it left plenty of good soil all over the whole area. The spread looked like a fan design, hence the name Alluvial Fan. By the time our homes were built and the flood control channel was designed, the properties had this outstanding soil in their yards. My mom's garden was a miracle. Throw out some seeds and in a week, even without constant care, a plant grows. Put in a small gallon size plant and within a week or so, it is taller than the 7 foot tall fence height. It was a good place, but if the flood control channel were not developed from Los Angeles all the way to the ocean, our house location would have been a forest, not a tract home from the 40s. Jnaki Again, I learned that "water always wins..." even in history books. But, as long as I kept my foot on the brake pedal and powered forward through the deep flooding, the motor purred across like a powered boat. YRMV
Rich, I did also but doing a little research I discovered this: The metric system was first legalized for use in the United States in 1866 by the Metric Act of 1866. This law made it legal to use metric units in trade and commerce, but it did not require mandatory use.
Similar Ford Model T video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?embeds_...g2NjQsMTY0NTAz&v=dUQVfUr-SC8&feature=youtu.be
May have been "legal" for use; but never much came across anything metric except high school science class.
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