bjgreen
Cranking a car could be harmful to your health (Image: New York Public Library)
By Betsy J. Green
Herbert Earlscliffe of Montecito was cranking the starter on his car in 1914 when something went horribly wrong and he ended up with a broken arm.
Dana Newquist, local classic car collector, told me, “Most cars into the mid 30s had ‘crank holes’ at the base of the radiator shell for insertion of the crank. … The danger of the crank happens when a person is turning the engine over using the crank and the car ‘backfires.’ A backfire forces the engine to abruptly reverse direction. If your arm is turning the crank in a clockwise direction when a backfire occurs, the result is often a broken arm.”
Ouch! If only Herbert had waited a year! In 1915, a Dayton, Ohio man named Charles Kettering received a patent for the electrical starter motor. He went on to become the founder of Delco. The name Delco comes from Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company.
Betsy’s Way Back When book — 1919 — is now available in local bookstores and at Amazon.com. This is the sixth book in her series of the history of Santa Barbara, one year at a time. Learn more at betsyjgreen.com
