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Homemade turn signal
Catalog #: 1989.0571.01,
Accession #: 1989.0571
Currently on display
From the Smithsonian Collection
This turn signal was a one-off invention of Oscar J. Simler, who invented and patented a similar turn signal in 1929. Turn signals were not offered to consumers purchasing cars until 1939, and they were more widespread in the late 1940s, when large numbers of car manufacturers offered them to consumers. |
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Physical Description |
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artifact.
7 1/2" H x 9 1/4" W x 2 1/4" D, plus wiring; metal box in partial quatrefoil shap with five glass lenses for electric lights signalling stop, slow, left turn, right turn. Two mechanisms that drove the signals and a lever shift.
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Details |
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Credit: | Gift of Eleanor M. Rhue |
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History |
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As more and more Americans took to the wheel, they often tinkered with their cars so that they more effectively suited their needs, or to overcome early automobiles' very obvious limitations. A users could buy kits that converted Model T's into a stationary engine, lights, turn signals, anti-theft devices, and a host of other products that the makers of auto accessories touted as essential and useful. Although not all of them worked, or were succesful, some of these early add-ons, became standard features on later cars.
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Related People, Places, and Events |
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Inventor
Oscar J. Simler
Donor
Eleanor Rhue
Donor gave her father's invention to the museum in 1989
User
Oscar J. Simler
Place of Invention
Sebring, Ohio
Location of Donor
Largo, Florida
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