Tuesday, April 21, 2009

True Fact!

That heavy-duty, roughly car-height bumper-type gadget the at the back of a semi trailer? It's called a Mansfield Bar.

12 comments:

Jeffro said...

I did not know that. In my circle of truckers it's always been known as the "DOT bumper."

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Well, as long as it's true.

Turk Turon said...

Ick!

Anonymous said...

I thought everyone knew that.

Roberta X said...

Turk, it's to prevent Mansfieldization, not cause it.

Anonymous said...

Had a (late) neighour rear end a semi 20 years ago.

Bar needs to be stronger and lower is all I have to say, given the result.

Anonymous said...

Even Ickier: The non-Wobbly version of the 1913 Italian Hall disaster (73 suffocated or trampled) resulted in door panic bars being called "Calumet Bars" for a long time in Michigan.

Turk Turon said...

It says here, 'The death certificate stated that the immediate cause of Mansfield's death was a "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain."'

I don't know what that means, but it rhymes with revulsion.

Mark Alger said...

You come up with the most MARVELOUS trivia!

M

Anonymous said...

Oop, waitaminute, knew it'd come to me (guy walks into a bar, see): the reversing gear on a steam locomotive, that applies full power in reverse. It's a "Johnson Bar." So when a railroader says, "Don't jerk my johnson," see, it's not what you think.

rickn8or said...

And all this time I thought it was called an "I.C.C. Bar".

"Learning all the time."

Stranger said...

Jayne Mansfield was not the first to die when their vehicle ran under the tail end of a semi. The first owner of my first Harley predated her by twenty years and a few weeks. And his farm purchase didn't even bend the handlebars.

But the really sad part is that several trailer manufacturers put similar bars under their trailers as far back as 1927.

Stranger