Richard Spikes

Richard Spikes of San Francisco, California patented or developed the following inventions:

railroad semaphore (1906)
automatic car washer (1913)
automobile directional signals (1913) - manufactured by Pierce Arrow
beer keg tap (1910) - purchased by Milwaukee Brewing Company.
self-locking rack for billiard cues (1910)
continuous contact trolley pole (1919) - used on on the famous San Francisco Key Line.
combination milk bottle opener and cover (1926)
method and apparatus for obtaining average samples and temperature of tank liquids (1931)
improved automatic gear shift (1932) - licensed the patent for $100,000
transmission and shifting thereof (1933)
automatic shoe shine chair (1939)
multiple barrel machine gun (1940)
horizontally swinging barber chair (1950)
automatic safety brake (1962) - year Richard Spikes died.
Note: While Richard Spikes was working on his automatic safety brake in 1962, he lost his vision. As a result, Richard Spikes designed a drafting machine for blind people, in order to assist him in his inventing.

Richard Spikes - Automatic gear shift U.S. Patent 1,889,814 issued 12/6/1932

Richard Spikes patented an improved automatic gear shift in 1932. His object was to develop a gear shift where the gears for the various speeds were in constant mesh. Richard Spikes invented a novel clutch mechanism for his gear shift, he used levers to shift gears.