IML: more info on blinker fluid

["mike and linda sutton" <mikanlin62@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Since it has became apparent to me that many people take their blinkers for 
granted, and since Dick B was thoughtful enough , along with Hugh and a few 
others, to shed their insight into this I thought Id share what background 
information I was able to come up with, sketchy as it is in some cases.

In the earliest days, nobody had blinkers or lighting of any kind.  This was 
right after the horse and buggy days and nobody in their right mind would 
drive a motorcar after dark.  Being that the average speed was about 4 mph, 
a days drive wasnt much further than the next neighbors house on most 
country roads anyway, so you just turned around and walked back home or had 
dinner at their house if it smelled good as you walked by.

As cars got a little faster, lighting found favor and also a way to tell 
another motorist, or passing pedestrian, or cow, what you intended to do  as 
you traveled.  Initially you just shouted " Hey idiot , Im going to turn 
left here "  but soon the more sophisticated people started using signalling 
devices to tell their intentions.  The earliest were the common arm and hand 
signals like you learn in drivers ed and promptly never use again, like 
hanging your arm out the window and making everyone think youre going to 
slow down or turn , even though youre just hanging your arm out the side.

Then semaphores and lights became popular, and cars finally were able to 
outrun the pedestrians and livestock on most highways and city streets.

Now flash forward to modern automobiles, and in the 30s the early manual 
blinkers.....slow, somewhat awkward but stone axe reliable.  Turn the switch 
on and off for whatever light you want to flash.  Any fluid would work, coal 
oil,  water, alcohol, many early systems used these fluids.

As cars got faster and heavier in the late 40s and 50s, manual blinkers fell 
out of favor and many people complained about using them.  Women in 
particular complained about how heavy and slow to respond manual blinkers 
were, and how easy it was to chip a fingernail.

While undocumented,  there is historical evidence that Chrysler took the 
lead and invented the first semi automatic blinkers,  " Turn-O-Matic " , 
which used a combination of manual pressure and a early , somewhat 
ponderous,  system of levers, pulleys, turnbuckles, bellows and 
counterbalances to activate the blinker system.

Then the breakthrough, " TurnFlite "...the early cast iron as well as the 
later aluminum blinker units were faster, incredibly durable and used the 
DexTurn 1, 2 and 3 fluids.  Some cars also had the Auto-Turn 1, and 
Auto-Turn 2 systems but the signal servos were notoriously cantankerous and 
many people switched back to the more common Turn-Flite blinkers.  Some but 
nobody knows how many cars in the 80s had the Lean-Turn system, where the 
ecm controlled the blinker direction and speed, again many were converted to 
the early system and you can tell by the asterisk next to the blinker 
lights.



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