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The Illuminated Artifical Hand-Held Hand Directional for Cars, 1916

JF Ptak Science Books   Daily Dose from Dr. Odd

In general I’m not in favor of left turns for autos in cities of a size where traffic congestion is an issue.  It seems that from a main thoroughfare that three rights should make a left, easy congestion in the center of a busy street, eliminating lines of cars waiting behind a left-turning car waiting for a break in oncoming traffic, and so on.  This semi-crackpot notion was just sparked after seeing this As Seen on TV-style pre-televsion promotional for an artificial hand for a left-turning hand-directional 1916 automobile.  The hand is actually illuminated, which would have made it more effective than a stark hand in the night.  It seems that they were just about <this close> to figuring our a less mechanical-anthropomorphic and more elegant solution than the illuminated artificial hand-held hand.

Left turn629[Source: Illustrated World, 1916, page 257.]

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