https://nationaldaycalendar.co...odometer-day-may-12/



National Odometer Day on May 12th each year provides an opportunity to learn a little bit about the odometer.

An odometer is an instrument that indicates the distance traveled by a vehicle. It may be electronic, mechanical or a combination of both. The word odometer comes from the Greek words hodos meaning path or gateway and metron, meaning measure. In some countries, an odometer is called a mileometer, kilometer, or tripometer.

Odometers were first developed in the 1600s for wagons and other horse-drawn vehicles to measure distances traveled. Arthur P. and Charles H. Warner of Beloit, Wisconsin developed the first odometer for the automobile which appeared in 1903 and was patented as the Auto-Meter.

The brothers would also patent other items including a tachometer, paper making machine, electric brake, and power clutch. At one point their business, Stewart-Warner Speedometer corporation developed a thermometer for the motor. However, they faced a lawsuit for patent infringement which they ultimately lost.

Arthur Warner was one of the earliest pilots in America. His engineering curiosity led him to assemble and eventually fly a Curtiss Pusher airplane.

While technology has changed greatly since 1903, the odometer continues to track how far we have traveled. It also tells us how far we go in a single trip. Other gauges monitor fuel consumption and oil pressure, speed, and RPMs.

Dang, I forgot to send you a card

I remember when I was a kid my parents had a 70s Volvo wagon and the odo would go to 1 million before flipping over. That is on the 1 millionth mile would roll over to zero. American cars back then would roll over on the 100,000th mile. So I’m like 7 or so and I’m talking about it with my grandfather and I said my parents car goes to 1mm. And he’s like no they roll over at 100k so I said want to bet ? $10 was the wager. Which I didn’t have but I knew I was right. So he’s at our house often and next time he’s there he sits in the driver seat and stares at the odometer for what seemed like an hour. And finally he’s convinced it goes to 1mm not 100k. Then he pays up. Went to the bank and got a bunch of rolls of nickels and broke them open and gives me a ziplock bag 10$ worth. Was like 400 nickels. This was 1981-82 or so. Man I miss him.

^^^Yep, my old pickups have 5 digit odos. When you rolled over to 100K, you can list the car as "like new."

My odometer hit a very important milestone a couple of weeks ago.

The odometer on my old Chev. El Camino has already turned over TWICE, and headed for a third time.

Well, hooray for National Odometer Day!





BTW: Jesse's is cooler.