Todaynis Mother’s Day in the United States—which is perfect this year,nbecause it is also Odometer Day. Being a mom can be a lot likenrunning a marathon—you have to go on and on and on and on, morningntil night, scooping up this and sweeping up that, lugging loads ofnstuff everywhere you go, driving miles here, walking and climbingnstairs there…It would be great to have a giant gauge to measure allnthe miles (or meters) moms go.
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Well,nan odometer is just such a gauge for cars, bikes, and other vehicles.nWhether it is a mechanical or an electronic device, an odometer tellsnhow far a vehicle has traveled.
Well,nan odometer is just such a gauge for cars, bikes, and other vehicles.nWhether it is a mechanical or an electronic device, an odometer tellsnhow far a vehicle has traveled.n
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nTodaynis NOT Odometer Day because today marks the anniversary of the firstninvention of an odometer. No, that day is lost in the mists of time.nWe know for sure that Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Chinese usednodometers, and apparently the odometer has been invented many times,nindependent of each other. Who knows? Perhaps a crude odometer wasninvented by someone, somewhere, soon after the invention of thenwheel!
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Wenknow that Englishman Thomas Savery invented an odometer that could benused on ships, and we know that Benjamin Franklin fashioned a simplenodometer to measure the mileage of routes he traveled as PostmasternGeneral under the Continental Congress. We know that a Mormon pioneernnamed William Clayton wanted to keep track how far his wagon traveledneach day. He determined that 360 revolutions of his wagon wheels madena mile, so all he had to do was count wheel revolutions. Clayton tiedna red rag to one of his wheels and started counting. It wasn’t toonmany days before Clayton tired of this method of measuring distances.nHe discussed the problem with another pioneer, and they came up withnan idea of fixing wooden cog wheels to the hub of a wagon wheel innsuch a way that they could tell the mileage. A third man built thendevice, which they called a roadometer. (Even though they weren’tntraveling on roads!)
Wenknow that Englishman Thomas Savery invented an odometer that could benused on ships, and we know that Benjamin Franklin fashioned a simplenodometer to measure the mileage of routes he traveled as PostmasternGeneral under the Continental Congress. We know that a Mormon pioneernnamed William Clayton wanted to keep track how far his wagon traveledneach day. He determined that 360 revolutions of his wagon wheels madena mile, so all he had to do was count wheel revolutions. Clayton tiedna red rag to one of his wheels and started counting. It wasn’t toonmany days before Clayton tired of this method of measuring distances.nHe discussed the problem with another pioneer, and they came up withnan idea of fixing wooden cog wheels to the hub of a wagon wheel innsuch a way that they could tell the mileage. A third man built thendevice, which they called a roadometer. (Even though they weren’tntraveling on roads!)n
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ThenMormon-invented roadometer was first used on May 12, 1847. Hey!nThat’s where we got the May 12 date for Odometer Day!
ThenMormon-invented roadometer was first used on May 12, 1847. Hey!nThat’s where we got the May 12 date for Odometer Day!n
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nReadnthe How Stuff Works article to find out how modern odometersnwork.
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nPlannAhead…
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards of Maynholidays, historicalnevents in May,nand Maynbirthdays.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nMother’s Day
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nLimerick Day
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nSt.nAndrea’s Day in the nation of Georgia
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nNursenFlorence Nightingale’s birthday
