Power steering

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Did you know that 'power steering' was already applied to an automobile for the first time in 1876? The American Fitts is considered responsible for that. In 1903 - mechanical - power steering was mounted on a truck for the first time. That was on an 5 tons of Columbia. The American Robert E. Twyford received the patent on 3 April 1903 was awarded to him as part of the 4 × 4 that he devised. However, usually Francis W. Davis is seen as the man who invented 'power steering'. As an engineer in the truck department of the American car manufacturer Pierce Arrow, he already developed a simpler and less susceptible to failure system in 1926. Soon afterwards he worked at General Motors where he made 'his' system hydraulic. However, General Motors thought it was all too expensive to apply to their cars. Davis was offered a new job at Bendix, a manufacturer of parts for the automotive industry. And then fortunately - for Bendix - the Second World War broke out. The American, Canadian and British army urgently needed easier, heavier steering equipment, such as armored vehicles and trucks for tank transport. Chrysler was the first to introduce 1951 power steering in accordance with the already expired Davis patents on mass-produced passenger cars. That's what they called there Hydraguide. Cadillac followed in 1952 twenty years after Davis 'invented' it there.

Photo: Although Francis W. Davis is generally regarded as the inventor of power steering, the principle was first applied to an automobile in 1876.

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