Verify out these wire electrical discharge machining images:
Oh the joys of the open road!
Image by brizzle born and bred
History of Motor Automobile / Automobile Inventions and Improvements
To us, these inventions and contributions are no longer essential. We take many of them for granted.
Airbags
In 1971, the Ford vehicle firm constructed an experimental airbag fleet. General Motors tested airbags on the 1973 model Chevrolet automobile that had been only sold for government use. The 1973, Oldsmobile Toronado was the 1st vehicle with a passenger air bag intended for sale to the public. General Motors later provided an choice to the common public of driver side airbags in full-sized Oldsmobile’s and Buick’s in 1975 and 1976 respectively. Cadillacs had been available with driver and passenger airbags alternatives for the duration of those exact same years. Early airbags technique had design and style problems resulting in fatalities triggered solely by the airbags.
Airbags had been offered when once more as an choice on the 1984 Ford Tempo automobile. By 1988, Chrysler became the very first company to provide air bag restraint systems as normal equipment. In 1994, TRW began production of the initial gas-inflated airbag. They are now mandatory in all vehicles because 1998.
Brakes
The drum brake was invented in Germany by Wilhelm Maybach in 1901.
In 1902 Louis Renault (French) invented the version on which the modern drum brake is primarily based.
Self adjusting drum brakes have been invented in the 1950s.
Malcolm Loughead patented a hydraulic braking system in the USA which was very first utilised on the 1920 Duesenberg vehicle.
Disc Brakes
In 1949 Crosley Motors became the initial American car manufacturer to match disc brakes. In the same year Chrysler fitted a variety of disc brake to their fourth generation Imperial models.
Disc brakes were developed by Dunlop in Fantastic Britain in the early 1950s and fitted to a Jaguar C-Variety racing car in 1953.
In 1954 an Austin Healey 100S became the first production auto to be fitted with disc brakes on all four wheels.
Disc brakes started to replace drum brakes in the 1960s.
Automobile Radio
The 1st automobile radio was invented by Paul Gavin (American) in 1929.
The solution was named “Motorola” (a moving radio).
Cruise Manage
The very first cruise controls fitted to cars were based on the centrifugal governor, a strategy invented in 1788 by James Watt and Matthew Boulton (British) for use on locomotives.
They were very first fitted to vehicles sometime amongst 1900 and 1910.
In 1945 Ralph Teetor (American) invented the modern day cruise handle.
In 1958 a Chrysler Imperial became the initial car to be fitted with his cruise handle method.
Door Locks
Which vehicle model had the first doors and an enclosed compartment and in what year? Was an enclosed compartment 1st fitted to safeguard only the passengers but not the driver? – information wanted.
Fuel Injection
In 1955 a mechanical fuel injection system was developed by Bosch in Germany. Two years later, in 1957, Basic Motors in the United States produced a mechanical fuel injection program.
The “Electrojector” developed by Bendix in the United States during the mid 1950s was one particular of the 1st electronic fuel injection systems. From 1957 it was offered as an alternative by Pontiac, De Soto, Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth.
However, it was not reliable and was only fitted to about 35 vehicles.
Note: The Bendix fuel injection technique was initially utilized on aircraft for the duration of the Korean War (1950-53).
Bosch later obtained patent rights to Bendix’s Electrojector program and for the duration of the 1960s Bosch created their own “D-Jetronic” electronic fuel injection method.
This was very first fitted to the VW Kind lll in 1968. Amongst 1970 and 1973 the program was also employed by Volvo, Saab, Renault, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.
The D-Jetronic version was final used in 1976. Bosch introduced improved versions, which includes the L and K-Jetronic systems.
Gauges
By 1922 most vehicles had been fitted with petrol gauges.
Speedometers became compulsory in the UK in 1937.
A speedometer is a device that measures the instantaneous speed of a land vehicle.
Now universally fitted to motor autos, they started to be accessible as choices in the 1900s, and as standard equipment from about 1910 onwards.
Speedometers for other vehicles have distinct names and use other implies of sensing speed. For a boat, this is a pit log. For an aircraft, this is an airspeed indicator.
The speedometer was invented by the Croatian Josip Belušić in 1888, and was initially known as a velocimeter.
Rev-Counter – The 1st mechanical tachometers had been based on measuring the centrifugal force, related to the operation of a centrifugal governor. The inventor is assumed to be the German engineer Dietrich Uhlhorn he used it for measuring the speed of machines in 1817. Since 1840, it has been used to measure the speed of locomotives.
Ignition
The disruptive discharge Tesla coil is an early predecessor of the "ignition coil" in the ignition technique as was invented in 1891. Tesla also gained U.S. Patent 609,250, "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on August 16, 1898. The principles of the modern ignition coil employed these days is primarily based on this design and style. A. Atwater Kent, in 1921, patented the contemporary kind of the ignition coil.
A distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes higher voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. The initial reputable battery operated ignition was created by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. (Delco) and introduced in the 1910 Cadillac. This ignition was developed by Charles Kettering and was regarded a wonder in its day.
Magneto ignition was introduced on the 1899 Daimler Phönix. This was followed by Benz, Mors, Turcat-Mery, and Nesseldorf, and quickly was employed on most cars up until about 1918 in each low voltage (voltage for secondary coils to fire the spark plugs) and higher voltage magnetos (to fire the spark plug directly, related to coil ignitions, introduced by Bosch in 1903)
Lights
Reversing lights had been first installed in American cars in 1921.
Paint
In 1920 DuPont in the USA produced a thick pyroxylin lacquer that was quick drying, sturdy and could be coloured. It was originally known as Viscolac®.
In cooperation with General Motors DuPont refined the solution further and renamed it Duco.
Duco was first utilised by Basic Motors as a durable, fast-drying finish on its 1923 Oakland models.
It decreased paint finish time from two weeks to two days and soon became the normal finish on vehicles.
It remained in use until the late 1960s.
Energy Steering
Sometime amongst 1920 and 1926 Francis Davis and George Jessup (Americans) invented a hydraulic energy steering system.
In 1926 it was tested in a Pierce-Arrow car.
The Chrysler Imperial became the first production vehicle to be fitted with a energy steering program in 1951. The program was named “Hydraguide”.
Radiators
The radiator was invented and patented by Karl Benz for use on his first horseless carriage in 1885. It overcame the issue of evaporation cooling, which was boiling away a gallon of water for every hour he operated his single cylinder engine.
The 1st honeycomb radiator was developed by Wilhelm Maybach and fitted to the 1901 Mercedes 35 hp model.
Anti freeze became accessible in the USA in 1905.
The Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation in the USA was the sole producer of ethylene glycol up to 1914. Initially it was utilised as an anti freeze.
The use of ethylene glycol as an engine coolant was first proposed in England in 1916.
A patent was granted in the USA in 1918 for the use of ethylene glycol to reduce the freezing point of water in car cooling systems.
Security
Volvo cars have extended been marketed and stressed their historic reputation for solidity and reliability. Prior to strong government safety regulation Volvo had been in the forefront of security engineering.
In 1944, laminated glass was introduced in the PV model. In 1958, Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin invented and patented the contemporary three-Point Safety Belt, which became common on all Volvo vehicles
in 1959. Volvo was the very first organization to generate vehicles with padded dashboards starting in late 1956 with their Amazon model.[citation needed] Moreover, Volvo created the first rear-facing youngster seat in 1964 and introduced its own booster seat in 1978.
In 1986, Volvo introduced the very first central higher-mounted stoplight[ (a brake light not shared with the rear tail lights), which became federally mandated in the United States in the 1986 model year. Seat belt and youngster seat innovation continued as shown in the 1991 960.
The 960 introduced the initial 3-point seat belt for the middle of the rear seat and a kid safety cushion integrated in the middle armrest. Also in 1991 came the introduction of the Side Impact Protection Program (SIPS) on the 940/960 and 850 models, which channeled the force of a side influence away from the doors and into the security cage.
To add to its SIPS, in 1995 Volvo was the very first to introduce side airbags and installed them as standard equipment in all models in 1996. At the commence of the 1995 model year, side impact protection airbags were normal on high trim-level Volvo 850s, and optional on other 850s. By the middle of the production year, they had been regular on all 850s. In Model Year 1996, SIPS airbags became regular on all Volvo models.
In 1998 Volvo also created and was the initial to set up a head-guarding airbag, which was produced common in all new models as nicely as some existing models. The head-safeguarding airbag was not available on the 1996 C70 due to the initial style deploying the airbag from the roof the C70, getting a convertible, could not accommodate such an airbag.
Later years of the C70 featured a head-guarding airbag deploying upwards from the door, negating the situation of roof position. It has been stated by several testing authorities that side head defending curtain airbags can minimize threat of death in a side effect by up to 40% and brain injury by up to 55%, as nicely as defending in a rollover situation.
In 1998, Volvo introduced its Whiplash Protection Technique (WHIPS), a safety device to stop injury of front seat customers during collisions. In 2004, Volvo introduced the BLIS system, which detects vehicles entering the Volvo’s blind spot with a side view mirror mounted sensor and alerts the driver with a light.
That year also saw Volvos sold in all markets equipped with side-marker lights and daytime-running lights. A lot of Volvo’s safety technologies now also goes into other Ford vehicles. In 2005 Volvo presented the second generation of Volvo C70, it comes with extra stiff door-mounted inflatable side curtains (the 1st of its sort in a convertible).
In 2006 Volvo’s Private Car Communicator (PCC) remote control has been launched as an optional feature with the all new Volvo S80. Before a driver gets to their auto, they are capable to assessment the security level and know no matter whether they have set the alarm and if the car is locked.
Additionally, a heartbeat sensor warns if somebody is hiding inside the car.
The all new Volvo S80 is also the first Volvo model to feature Adaptive cruise handle (ACC) with Collision Warning and Brake Support (CWBS).
Because 2004 all Volvo models except for the C70 and C30 are accessible with an all-wheel drive method created by Haldex Traction of Sweden.
Even although Volvo Automobile Corp is owned by the Ford Motor Organization, the security systems of Volvo are still made standard on all of their automobiles. Volvo has patented all of their security innovations, which includes SIPS, WHIPS, ROPS, DSTC, IC, and physique structures. Some of these systems have shown up in other Ford autos in associated forms to that of Volvo systems only simply because Volvo has licenced the FOMOCO and other PAG members to make use of these functions.
A 2005 FOLKSAM report puts the 740/940 (from 1982 on) in the 15% much better than typical category, the second from the best category. The Volvo 745 was also recalled due to that the front seatbelts mounts could break in a collision.
In 2005, when the American non-profit, non-governmental Insurance coverage Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released its first annual Prime Safety Picks autos list, none of Volvo’s supplied autos in the U.S. have been included on the list. According to Russ Rader, a spokesman for IIHS, Volvo was lagging behind its competitors. Dan Johnston, a Volvo spokesman, denied that the company’s autos are any significantly less secure than the Institute’s top-rated automobiles, adding that
"It’s just a philosophy on security that is various from constructing cars to pass these kinds of tests."
According to IIHS, Volvo’s S80 became 1 of 2009 Prime Safety Picks Award winner, but Volvo’s S40 and S60 (each 2005–09 models with regular side airbags) failed to attain the highest rating in their side impact test. Volvo’s C30 is not tested by IIHS but, but received five star security in EuroNCAP.
Nevertheless, according to the IIHS, in recent years Volvo Vehicles have still managed to maintain their high class security ratings as noticed in test outcomes The Volvo XC90, S80 and C70 all score prime scores in these rated crash tests.
In 2008 a French court found Volvo partially accountable for causing the death of two children and critical injuries of one in Wasselonne on June 17, 1999, when the brakes of a 1996 Volvo 850 failed. The court subjected Volvo to a 200,000 Euro fine.
Security milestones
The Amazon was noted for its safety attributes, with a padded dashboard, front and rear seat belts and a laminated windshield.
1944 Security cage
1944 Laminated windscreen
1954 Defroster vents for windscreen
1956 Windscreen washers
1957 Anchor points for 2–point safety belts front
1958 Anchor points for 2–point security belts rear
1959 3–point front security belts standard
1960 Padded instrument panel
1964 Initial rearward–facing child safety seat prototype tested
1966 Crumple zones front and rear
1966 Security door–locks
1967 Safety belt rear seats
1969 Inertia reel safety belts
1971 Reminder safety belt
1972 3–point security belts – rear
1972 Rearward–facing youngster security seat
1972 Childproof locks on rear doors
1974 Multistage effect absorbing steering column
1974 Bulb integrity sensor
1975 Braking method with stepped bore master cylinder
1978 Child safety booster cushion
1982 "Anti–submarining" protection
1986 Three–point security belt centre rear seat
1990 Integrated youngster safety cushion in centre rear seat
1991 SIPS – Side Influence Protection System
1991 Automatic height adjusting security belt
1992 Reinforced rear seats in estate models
1995 Integrated youngster safety cushion outer rear seats
1997 ROPS – Roll More than Protection Program (C70)
1998 WHIPS – Whiplash Protection Technique
1998 IC – Inflatable Curtain
2001 SCC – Volvo Safety Idea Automobile
2002 RSC – Roll Stability Control
2003 New Front Structure known as Volvo Intelligent Car Architecture (VIVA, S40, V50)
2003 Rear seat belt reminders (in S40 and V50)
2003 IDIS – Intelligent Driver Information Technique (in S40 and V50)
2003 Inauguration of Volvo’s Site visitors Accident Analysis Group in Bangkok
2004 BLIS – Blind Spot Information Method (in S40 and V50)
2005 Introduction of DMIC (Door Mounted Inflatable Curtain, new Volvo C70)
2006 PCC – Personal Car Communicator (S80)
2006 CWBS – Collision Warning with Brake Support (S80)
2007 PPB – Energy Park Brake (S80)
2007 DAC – Driver Alert Manage (V70, XC70)
2009 City Security – Automatically cease car at speeds under 19 mph (31 km/h) if obstruction is detected in front of auto (XC60)
2010 Pedestrian Detection with auto brake (New S60)
Steering Wheel
The first cars had been steered with a tiller.
The first car fitted with a steering wheel was a French Panhard & Levassor model in 1898.
The first American car to be fitted with a steering wheel was the second auto constructed by Packard in 1899.
Left hand steering wheels have been very first fitted to American vehicles in about 1908.
Sunroof
Today, most factory sliding sunroof choices function a glass panel and are occasionally marketed as moonroofs, a term introduced in 1973 by John Atkinson, a marketing and advertising manager at Ford for the Lincoln Continental Mark IV. For the initial year, Ford sent out its Mark IVs to American Sunroof Business for offline installation.
Suspension
Independent front suspension was initial fitted to a Lancia automobile in 1922.
Transmission
In 1928 Cadillac/GM introduced a fully-synchronized manual transmission method named Syncro-Mesh.
In 1932 Cadillac/GM began operating on a shiftless transmission system. By 1934 they had developed a step-ratio gearbox that would shift automatically under full torque.
By 1937 they had made a semi-automatic transmission technique called Automatic Security Transmission (AST). It was fitted to Oldsmobile models from 1937 to 1939.
In 1939 GM introduced an automatic transmission technique named Hydra-Matic Drive. It was very first installed in a 1940 Oldsmobile model.
Turn Indicators
Some cars from the 1920s to 1950s employed retractable semaphores referred to as trafficators rather than flashing lights. They were frequently mounted higher up behind the front doors and swung out horizontally. Nonetheless, they had been fragile and could be effortlessly broken off and also had a tendency to stick in the closed position.
Florence Lawrence (Canadian) invented a turn indicator for cars in about 1914.
The device was referred to as an “auto signalling arm” and it was attached to the car’s rear fender. When the driver pressed a button an electrically operated arm raised a sign to indicate the path of the turn.
Florence Lawrence did not, however, properly patent her invention.
In 1929 Oscar J. Simler (American) invented and patented a turn indicator.
In 1935 a organization in the United States invented a flashing turn indicator.
A Buick was the 1st production auto to be fitted with an electrical turn indicator in 1938.
Until the early 1960s, most front turn signals worldwide emitted white light and most rear turn signals emitted red. Amber front turn signals were voluntarily adopted by the auto market in the USA for most cars starting in the 1963 model year, although front turn signals have been still permitted to emit white light until FMVSS 108 took effect for the 1968 model year, whereupon amber became the only permissible colour for front turn signals.
Presently, practically all countries outside North America need that all front, side and rear turn signals generate amber light. In North America the rear signals could be amber or red. International proponents of amber rear signals say they are much more easily discernible as turn signals. U.S. studies in the early 1990s demonstrated improvements in the speed and accuracy of following drivers’ reaction to stop lamps when the turn signals have been amber rather than red.
American regulators and other proponents of red rear turn signals have historically asserted there is no proven benefit to amber signals. Nevertheless, a 2008 U.S. study by NHTSA (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) suggests autos with amber rear signals rather than red ones are up to 28% less most likely to be involved in specific kinds of collisions, and a 2009 NHTSA study determined there is a considerable overall safety advantage to amber rather than red rear turn signals.
There is some evidence that turn signals with colourless clear lenses and amber bulbs may be significantly less conspicuous in bright sunlight than those with amber lenses and colourless bulbs.
Windows
The 1st shatterproof security glass was invented in France in 1909 by Triplex.
Window winders have been introduced in about 1925.
Power operated automobile windows had been fitted in the USA in 1946.
Windscreen Wipers
Gladstone Adams was granted a patient for windscreen wipers in Fantastic Britain in 1911.
William Folberth was granted a patient in 1922 for the 1st automatic (vacuum powered) windshield wiper mechanism.
Electric windscreen wipers were introduced in 1922.
A Studebaker car was fitted with windscreen washers in 1937.
In 1940 Chrysler provided models with two-speed wipers.
Note: Headlight wipers have been 1st introduced by Saab in 1970.
Vehicle Accessories Timeline
The 1903 Tincher introduced the motoring public to air-enhance (power) brakes. It was not an option either, but standard gear. But then, the Tincher sold for 00 — about ten occasions the value of the typical auto of the day.
The first adjustable driver’s seat was offered in the 1914 Maxwell. The 1921 Hudson had sliding bench seats as normal equipment. Buick, in 1946, gave motorists the first optional two-way energy seat, and the 1953 Lincoln had the very first optional 4-way power seat.
In 1921, an innovator by the name of Wills Sainte Claire mounted a bulb on the rear of his car and wired it to a switch on the car’s transmission, so it glowed when the vehicle was shifted into reverse. Therefore, the backup light was invented and sold as an accessory until federal law made it mandatory in the 1960s.
The 1923 Springfield sedan is credited with getting the very first auto to offer you a radio as an option. Radios did not turn into common until the early ’30s, when they lastly lost their reputation as a driver distraction.
The 1928 Studebaker gave us the very first windshield defroster the 1937 Studebaker, the windshield washer.
The 1939 Packard ushered in air conditioning.
The first automobile with an actual refrigeration program was the 1940 model year Packard.
Bendix Drive or Starter Drive
In 1910, Vincent Bendix patented the Bendix drive for electric starters, an improvement to the hand cranked starters of the time.
In 1901, British inventor Frederick William Lanchester patented disc brakes.
In 1929, American Paul Galvin, the head of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the 1st car radio. The first automobile radios were not offered from carmakers. Consumers had to purchase the radios separately. Galvin coined the name "Motorola" for the company’s new items combining the notion of motion and radio.
The 1st crash test dummy was the Sierra Sam produced in 1949.
Ralph Teetor, a prolific (and blind) inventor, invented cruise manage.
In 1898, Louis Renault invented the 1st driveshaft.
Daimler introduced electric windows in cars in 1948.
In 1901, Frederick Simms invented the 1st car fender (Bumper). Related to the railway engine buffers of the period.
The initial electronic fuel injection system for cars was invented in 1966 in Britain.
The several processes and agents necessary to increase the quality of gasoline (Petrol) making it a greater commodity.
Canadian Thomas Ahearn invented the initial electric automobile heater in 1890.
Charles Kettering was the inventor of the very first electrical starter motor ignition system.
On April 25, 1901 the state of New York became the 1st state to require auto license plates by law. The quite initial license plates have been called quantity plates – very first issued in 1893 in France by the police.
Oliver Lodge invented the electric spark ignition (the Lodge Igniter) for the internal combustion engine.
The very first U.S. patent for automobile seat beats was issued to Edward J. Claghorn of New York, New York on February 10, 1885.
Ferdinand Porsche invented the first supercharged Mercedes-Benz SS & SSK sports vehicles in Stuttgart, Germany in 1923.
In 1974, psychologist John Voevodsky invented the third brake light, a brake light that is mounted in the base of rear windshields. When drivers press their brakes, a triangle of light will warn following drivers to slow down.
Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1844 that was later used for the 1st tires
In 1832, W. H. James invented a rudimentary 3-speed transmission. Panhard and Levassor are credited with the invention of the contemporary transmission – installed in their 1895 Panhard. On April 28, 1908, Leonard Dyer obtained 1 of the earliest patents for an automobile transmission.
Buick introduced the initial electric turn signals in 1938.
Francis W. Davis invented power steering. In the 1920s, Davis was the chief engineer of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Auto Company, and he saw very first hand how challenging it was to steer heavy vehicles. Davis quit his job and rented a tiny engineering shop in Waltham, MA. He created a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering. Power steering became commercially obtainable by 1951.
Prior to the manufacture of Henry Ford’s Model A, Mary Anderson was granted her 1st patent for a window cleaning device in November of 1903.
Fuel injector flower
Image by Argonne National Laboratory
Fuel Injector Flower
By Nicholaos Demas
The nozzle of the fuel injector in a automobile sprays gasoline by means of tiny holes, made to make as fine a mist as possible so that the fuel burns far better. Researchers at Argonne, attempting to make the engine even a lot more effective, lowered the size of the holes to much less than the size of a single human hair. This is a nozzle with eight holes&mdashpolished from the tip down to reveal a flower-like pattern&mdashseen below a microscope. The yellow location is the iron nozzle, the black areas are epoxy used to hold the nozzle, and the petals are the nickel-phosphorous material employed to decrease the size of the holes.
–a lot more details–
The gas pedal in your automobile is connected to a valve that regulates how considerably air enters the engine. So the gas pedal is really the air pedal.
When you step on the gas pedal, the throttle valve opens up far more, letting in a lot more air. The personal computer that controls all of the electronic components on your automobile engine "sees" the throttle valve open and increases the fuel rate in anticipation of more air entering the engine. It is essential to increase the fuel rate as quickly as the throttle valve opens otherwise, when the gas pedal is very first pressed, there might be a hesitation as some air reaches the cylinders without sufficient fuel in it. Sensors monitor the mass of air entering the engine, as properly as the quantity of oxygen in the exhaust. The laptop utilizes this details to fine-tune the fuel delivery so that the air-to-fuel ratio is just correct.
A fuel injector is essentially an electronically controlled valve. When the injector is supplied with -pressurized fuel it opens, enabling the pressurized fuel to squirt out via a nozzle. The nozzle of the fuel injector is made to atomize the fuel to make as fine a mist as attainable so that it can burn easily. There are various nozzle designs varying from single-hole to multi-hole and are typically produced from a ferrous material. The size of the holes of a nozzle is vital for fuel atomization.
A widespread strategy utilized to make the holes is a method referred to as wire electrical discharge machining for the duration of which a thin metal wire removes material from the nozzle.
Following this procedure, we subjected the nozzle to an electroless Nickel plating procedure in order to lessen the size of the holes produced by wire electrical discharge machining. Due to the size of the holes (significantly less than one hundred micrometers), in order to examine the plated layer’s uniformity and adhesion a microscope is necessary. The nozzle was mounted onto epoxy, mechanically polished and microscope photos at various stages in the course of the polishing method are taken. Due to precise vertical orientation and polishing to the distinct height corresponding to this image a flower-like pattern was developed.
The main location is ferrous, the black locations are epoxy and the petals are the nickel-phosphorus layer of the EN plating procedure.