#866 Nils Bohlin – inventor of the three-point seatbelt
Nils Bohlin invented the three-point seat belt in 1959. There is no way of working out how many people his invention has saved, but it must be over a million,…
Nils Bohlin invented the three-point seat belt in 1959. There is no way of working out how many people his invention has saved, but it must be over a million,…
Why do some countries drive on the left? Because of the way carts were built and then not wanting to change. There are 56 countries that drive on the left-hand…
Why do cars only have five gears? They actually don’t. Some cars have 4 and some cars have 6 or 7. Modern cars have an infinite number and electric cars…
How does a speedometer work? By translating the speed of the wheel’s rotation into a magnetic field. These days, electronic speedometers are becoming more common, but mechanical ones are still…
Does ABS reduce fatalities in car accidents? Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) have made cars far safer, but they haven’t reduced fatal accidents because of something called risk compensation. Anti-lock braking…
Could a Formula One car drive upside down? Technically yes, but it might need some modifications. Formula One racing cars are some of the fastest cars in the world. The…
I learned this today. Headlamps were first used on horse drawn carriages and then transitioned to the first horseless carriages. The first gas headlamps were used in the late 1880s.…
I learned this today. There are three different types of run-flat tires. Ones that can self-seal a hole, ones that can still support the weight of the car when flat,…
I learned this today. Steam cars outnumbered internal combustion engine cars and electric cars from 1900 until about 1907. Steam engines are external combustion engines because the fuel is burned…
I learned this today. Spot welding was discovered by accident by Elihu Thomson in 1877 when he was giving a lecture on electricity and accidentally passed a current through two…