The equipment race: Ready, set, GO!

In the beginning, cars were sparsely equipped: Two lights, an engine lubrication system and the famous hand-crank were all the driver needed in 1900. They would have to wait until 1908 for Americans Deed and Kettering, founders of what would become DELCO, to perfect electric ignition – available from 1912 on the Cadillac Thirty.

Across the decades, electricity would bring new accessories like window washers and wipers, head lights and the "Brot Mirophar", a lighted, mobile ancestor of the vanity mirror. The earliest inventions were often developed by enthusiastic amateurs like Alfred Faucher, who in 1906 invented the first rear view mirrors dubbed "Warning mirrors for automobiles". Very often races determined the success or failure of these inventions, so rear-view mirrors gained popularity after a mirror equipped Marmon Wasp won the Indianapolis 500 in 1911.

An embarrassment of riches

Accessory fever reached its height between 1925 and 1930 with no fewer that 150 new inventions, but few would stay with the automobile throughout its evolution. Thus an anti-crush device of 1901, placed in front of the wheels to protect pedestrians, fell into disgrace after being proven ineffective at speeds over 9 mph. Another forgotten item was a nail sweeping broom arrangement mounted in front of each tire, and a "people catcher": an elastic basket attached to the front of the car! Some accessories, now defunct, paved the way for future developments: the "Mata Fuego" from the beginning of the 20th century (a silver tube designed to protect a cigar in high winds) became the cigar lighter available from 1927. The coronet, or trumpet was morphed into the Klaxon from 1914.

On the road to Comfort

With closed bodywork generally available during the 20’s, cars were equipped with windowed doors to protect passengers from bad weather and dust. From 1916, manual windshield wipers replaced squeegees. Folberth would make them automatic five years later. The electric version, attached to the top of the windshield, was created by Bosch in 1926, but was reserved only for luxury models. Even the wipers on the Citroën 2 CV were mechanically coupled to the tachometer up until 1962. Cabin heat saw the light of day due to Winter rallying: at first by gasoline stoves up until 1900, then by integrated systems from 1938, notably aboard the Peugeot 402. Fogging problems would lead engineers to re-think heating during the 50’s. As for air-conditioning: It made its debut in a 1940 Packard, followed the next year by Cadillac.

[04/05/2002]