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N0KFQ > TODAY 28.12.14 15:30l 58 Lines 2723 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 43211_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Dec 28
Path: IZ3LSV<IW8PGT<I3XTY<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 141228/1430Z 43211@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.62
Dec 28, 1938:
Silent-film star and inventor of mechanical turn signal dies
On December 28, 1938, the silent-film star Florence Lawrence
commits suicide in Beverly Hills. She was 52 years old. Though
she was best known for her roles in nearly 250 films, Lawrence
was also an inventor: She designed the first "auto signaling
arm," a mechanical turn signal, along with the first mechanical
brake signal. She did not patent these inventions, however, and
as a result she received no credit for--or profit from--either
one.
Born Florence Bridgewood in 1886 in Hamilton, Ontario, Lawrence
entered show business when she was very young: her mother, a
vaudeville actress named Lotta Lawrence (née Charlotte
Bridgewood), brought baby Florence on the road with her, sending
her onstage as "Baby Flo, The Child Wonder Whistler." Lawrence
got her first movie role in 1907 ("Daniel Boone") and in 1910 she
became the first actress to headline a film by name. (Before
that, she was simply known as "The Biograph Girl," for the name
of her film studio.)
Because she was such a successful actress, Lawrence was able to
buy her own car--a rarity in the early 20th century, when cars
were still luxury items. She adored driving and loved learning
all she could about the way automobiles worked. "A car to me is
something that is almost human," she said, "something that
responds to kindness and understanding and care, just as people
do." In 1914, she developed a mechanical signaling arm that, with
the press of a button, raised or lowered a flag on the car's rear
bumper that told other drivers which way a car was going to turn.
After that, Lawrence devised a rudimentary brake signal that
worked on the same principle: when a driver pressed the brakes, a
"STOP" sign flipped up from the back bumper. These inventions
were enormously important, obviously--today, every car on the
road has electrical turn signals and brake lights--but because
she never bothered to file patents for her work, Lawrence never
got the recognition she deserved. (Not that it would have made
much difference: her mother, also an inventor, patented the first
electrical windshield wipers in 1917 and never got much credit
either.)
After Lawrence was badly burned while rescuing another actor from
a studio fire in 1915, she had a hard time finding work. Her
first and second husbands died tragically, and she was divorced
from her third less than a year after marrying him. She also had
a rare bone-marrow disease that caused her a great deal of pain.
Lawrence's life came to an early end in 1938, when she poisoned
herself in her Beverly Hills home.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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