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N0KFQ > TODAY 23.08.10 17:28l 52 Lines 2491 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 23
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Aug 23, 1904:
Patent for tire chain issued
On this day in 1904, Harold D. Weed of Canastota, New York, is
issued U.S. Patent No. 768,495 for his "Grip-Tread for Pneumatic
Tires," a non-skid tire chain to be used on automobiles in order
to increase traction on roads slick with mud, snow or ice.
At the time, Weed worked for the Marvin and Casler Company, a
Canastota machine shop that made a range of products including
automobile engines, name plate machines, automatic palm readers
and motion picture equipment. He reportedly drew inspiration for
his tire chain from the habit of some local motorists who
wrapped rope around their tires to increase traction on muddy
country roads. In his patent, Weed said that his invention aimed
to "provide a flexible and collapsible grip or tread composed
entirely of chains linked together and applied to the sides and
periphery of the tire and held in place solely by the inflation
of the tire, and which is reversible." The tire chain was
assembled around a tire when it was partially deflated; after
hooks on either end of the chain were fastened, the tire was
then reinflated. Weed's tire chains were soon found to work just
as well on snow and ice as on mud.
In 1908, in a promotional effort, representatives of the Weed
Chain Tire Grip Company challenged the master magician Harry
Houdini to escape from a prison created by their product.
According to "The Secret Life of Houdini," by William Kalush and
Larry Sloman, Houdini was enmeshed in a series of looped, locked
tire chains, then chained into two steel-rimmed automobile
tires. At one point during the escape, the chains had to be
moved lower, as Houdini was turning blue from one of them
binding his throat; he was then able to release himself. Houdini
performed this famous stunt during a weeklong engagement at
Hammerstein's Theatre in New York.
Harry Weed eventually sold his tire chain patents to the
American Chain and Cable Company, the successor to the Weed
Chain Tire Grip Co. After serving as a lieutenant colonel in the
U.S. Army during World War I, he held patents for devices
related to the tire chain and was honored by the Army Ordnance
Committee for his work in designing bomb-release mechanisms and
machine gun synchronizing devices for use in aircraft. He died
in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1961, at the age of 89.
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