Simler Turn Signal for Automobile
date: label: date made
content: ca. 1929
notes: label: Description
content: This turn signal was invented by Oscar J. Simler and patented in 1929. Aside from signaling turns, the device would signal for slowing when the brake was pressed, and signal a stop when the brake and clutch were both pressed. 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.
label: Description
content: 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 successful, some of these early add-ons, became standard features on later cars.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Road
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content: America on the Move
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content: Transportation
label: Exhibition
content: America On The Move
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Eleanor Rhue
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0571.01
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0571.01
label: accession number
content: 1989.0571
objectType: label: Object Name
content: turn signal