May 21: The Spare Tire

Louis Henry Perlman applied for patent #1,052,270 on this date in 1906 for his invention of a “demountable rim for motor-car tires” — the innovation that made possible the spare tire. Perlman was then bankrolled by William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors, to create the Perlman Rim Corporation, which soon manufactured tire assemblies for more than 1.5 million cars annually. (Perlman would also receive a new GM car every year; he stored his autos in a lengthy barn extension at his home in Montrose, New York.) He was born in Kovno, Russia in 1861; his father was a rabbi who eventually founded congregations in St. Louis, Cincinnati and Charleston, SC. Perlman was a graduate of City College and a co-founder of the Pictorial Associated Press, the first news agency to syndicate images and photos to newspapers. He had to defend his tire patent against infringement for years, and then lost his entire fortune in the 1929 stock market crash. [Wired’s This Day in Tech for May 21 has an enlightening description of Perlman’s invention.]

“My great-grandfather’s invention enabled drivers, for the first-time ever, to take the wheel off the axle by removing a few bolts. How ingenious. How simple. How quickly stolen by several manufacturing companies.” —Jim White, www.napaman.com