THE MEANING IN THE MILES: NATIONAL ODOMETER DAY
National Odometer Day – May 12 National Odometer Day is celebrated each year on May 12. Who knew that there’s a day to celebrate the odometer? More than likely, you’re aware...
National Odometer Day – May 12
National Odometer Day is celebrated each year on May 12.
Who knew that there’s a day to celebrate the odometer? More than likely, you’re aware that an odometer is an instrument that indicates the distance traveled by a vehicle, but there is an interesting fact about this little car clock that hints at what we think is most important about it.
Where & when did the odometer come to be?
Odometer comes from the Greek words hodos meaning path or gateway andmetron, meaning measure. You may be surprised to learn that they were actually first developed in the 1600′s for wagons and other horse-drawn vehicles in order to measure distances traveled. Those little gadgets have been around way longer than vehicles we travel in today. As for the modern odometer, the first one for automobiles appeared in 1903, was developed by Arthur P. and Charles H. Warner of Beloit, Wisconsin, and was patented as the “Auto-Meter”.
What do we think is the most interesting odometer tidbit?
In some countries, an odometer is called a mileometer, milometer or tripometer. We’re thinking that maybe we’ll start calling ours a “tripometer” too, because it’s not the distance travelled that matters the most, but the things seen, people met, and memories made with every trip you take.
Happy Odometer Day! Tick off some miles on your trip-ometer today and we’ll see ya on the back roads!