Steering ....

Last Tuesday, when I left work, I got into my car and found out quickly that I had no power steering. As it turned out, a line had fallen off and the fluid had drained out, mostly it seems in my driveway.

It was no big deal in the end and was quickly fixed the next day.

But for one drive home, I was reminded of the "old days". As I remember, my father-in-law had a 1956 Oldsmobile he purchased without power steering. My ride home with a 4400 pound Cadillac with no power steering reminded me of parking that car. Even though I learned to drive with power steering, the gear ratios on the steering units were different than a car built with power steering and losing it.

My first car, a 1950 Ford two door had no power steering but was simple enough to steer. The one thing we never wanted to do with one of those was park without rolling. To turn the wheel sitting still was agony. Only weight lifters could turn those wheels. And on my ride to the garage to make an appointment and check that it was safe to drive, and on to home afterwards, I kept remembering to roll forward and not to try and turn sitting still.

From Wikipedia:

The first power steering system on an automobile was apparently installed in 1876 by a man with the surname of Fitts. Little else is known about him. The next power steering system was put on a Columbia 5-ton truck in 1903.

Robert E. Twyford, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, included a mechanical power steering mechanism as part of his patent (U.S. Patent 646,477) issued on April 3, 1900 for the first four wheel drive system.

Francis W. Davis, an engineer of the truck division of Pierce Arrow began exploring how steering could be made easier, and in 1926 invented and demonstrated the first practical power steering system. Davis moved to General Motors and refined the hydraulic-assisted power steering system, but the automaker calculated it would be too expensive to produce. Davis then signed up with Bendix, a parts manufacturer for automakers. Military needs during World War II for easier steering on heavy vehicles boosted the need for power assistance on armored cars and tank-recovery vehicles for the British and American armies.

Chrysler Corporation introduced the first commercially available passenger car power steering system on the 1951 Chrysler Imperial under the name "Hydraguide".The Chrysler system was based on some of Davis' expired patents. General Motors introduced the 1952 Cadillac with a power steering system using the work Davis had done for the company almost twenty years earlier.

Charles F. Hammond, an American, born in Detroit, filed several patents for improvements of power steering with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in 1958.

Most new vehicles now have power steering, owing to the trends toward front wheel drive, greater vehicle mass, and wider tires, which all increase the required steering effort. Heavier vehicles as common in some countries would be extremely difficult to maneuver at low speeds, while vehicles of lighter weight may not need power assisted steering at all.