August 24, 1919 - on a prairie in Webster, Texas in a little wood frame house my father was born. If he had not gone to the great beyond 10 years ago he would be 93 years old today. He was a great man, a good man, an intelligent man. For most of my life he was my hero. I thought he had super powers and could do anything required of him and more.
William Luther Lindley did not have an easy life and he worked very hard to make it better. When he was very young he killed rabbits and anything else he could to help feed his family. At some point the family moved from Webster to Friendswood, Texas. In Friendswood there was a fig cannery where many of the towns inhabitants worked. There he worked canning figs where he developed contact dermatitis on his hands from the figs. Till the day he died though he loved figs. He could eat them but not pick them. He also made money by saying he could drive a vehicle which was a pretty new item in his neighborhood. This would have been in the late 1920's when he was about 11 years old. There was a wealthy couple who had purchased a vehicle and they needed a driver. He said he could do it although he had never driven before. He knew he needed the money so there was no doubt in his mind that he could or couldn't drive, he just did it! He did a good job of it too! The vehicle might have looked something like this:
He married my mother which was a total disaster except for producing three children. She was a wild spirit and didn't want to be tamed! They divorced when I was very young and eventually after living in many places with many relatives we settled to live with my father and his mother. He was a good father and a good teacher. I had a wild spirit I guess I inherited from my mother. I didn't like being told "no" and he recognized that....so he never did. Well in retrospect he did once. I was only 5 years old and insisted on following my brothers to the "hole". It was a cliff with tall trees hanging over into the creek. The boys had tied ropes to the upper limbs of the trees and would swing off into the water. I was forbidden to go there but I took a chance and ventured out following my brothers like a little puppy dog. When my father arrived home from work and learned of my jaunt he felt he had no choice but to make a lasting impression on my little behind....which he did. I never went back to the hole. However I did almost drown in the lake right next to our home by falling off the pier. My brothers realized I had disappeared and noticed bubbles rising to the surface. They reached under the surface of the water grabbing my hair and pulling me to safety. I wasn't breathing so they performed their version of CPR on me saving my life. As I said before he was not in the habit of telling me I could not do something. He would instead talk to me. He would give me all the reasons why something I wanted to do was not a good idea and then let me make my own decisions. I didn't always make the right decisions but I learned much from the man and am alive and well today!
My father tried hard to make a living working in construction of houses and highways. He was an inventor. He actually invented the first hydraulic jack and the flashing red lights on saw horses indicating road construction. He didn't have the money to patent these items and never received credit for creating them. Another of his inventions was round concrete houses for which he never received credit. This seemed to be a pattern for him until he invented a wheel insert for automobile tires.
At the time it was called "Posi-Trac". I remember when the idea formed in his mind. I was about 9 or 10 years old. It seemed that he formed the idea from making concrete Christmas tree stands. He made a prototype to fit inside an automobile tire. I don't remember the entire story of where and how it progressed from there. Apparently he found backers and was able to actually create a real prototype from steel and rubber. It attached to the wheel base on a vehicle and the tire was installed around it. If a driver had a blowout or flat tire the vehicle could continue to run comfortably with little notice of a flat until a service station could be found. If the vehicle was travelling at high speed such as 80 mph which was the top highway speed in those days and the tire should blow and shred the vehicle would remain under control again with little notice of a problem. It saved lives. I am here to testify to that. I was a teenager at the time and my father had these inserts installed on all his vehicles. I never adhered to the speed limit, even when it was 80 mph. I figured the vehicle had an accelerator, breaks and a steering wheel....what else mattered? I also knew I had my father's invention on the wheels and I trusted anything that man did. I was travelling 90 mph down Interstate 45 South when my tire blew. It sounded like a gun shot. The vehicle did not even swerve but I knew what had happened. I pulled onto the shoulder of the highway to check it out and yes, I had a blowout....my tire was all over the road. I just shrugged my shoulders, got back in my vehicle and easily drove to home! Now that is just pure genius! http://www.google.com/patents/US3394749
In the 1960's these inserts were installed on LBJ's and JFK's limousines. My father was a hero. He never received a heroes credit although he certainly deserved it. He went on to manufacture these inserts in Detroit, Michigan, and contracting with BF Goodrich to market the device through the Goodrich retail outlets. The insert was complicated to install and took expensive equipment to do so. Most service stations could not be equipped with attendants to be able to handle such a thing. As years went on service stations became self help "gas stations" where not much service could be found. The idea was to equip all new vehicles with the insert in order to save lives. Just as a seat belt became mandatory so should have the wheel insert. For lack of funds and greedy people his idea never fully materialized. Actually at some point in time Lee Iaccoca was given credit by a New York Times reporter for having invented this. I sent the reporter a letter setting him straight, however he never did correct his error. Probably because Lee Iaccoca was a famous man and my father was not. This was my father's greatest invention to help mankind in my opinion.
However he had another invention that he and my stepmother felt was far greater and altruistic. With her by his side as his ever faithful partner he invented a device to strengthen the back and virtually eliminate back pain. He tried for years to market this item but he needed to have orthopedic studies done. Not only did he not have the funds for this but no one in the medical community wanted him to succeed because it really worked. With this device on the market many surgeries would be eliminated. He left a good legacy for his family though. Many people did not believe in the device known as "The Rocker" but I do, his wife does and my youngest son does. The young man uses it on a regular basis to stretch out his muscles thus relieving his lower back pain. He swears by it and he doesn't have to. He gains nothing from testifying to it's validity except that it keeps him free of lower back pain.
He also invented the "Ortho Spinal Chair", which I have in my exercise room today. This was the prelude to "The Rocker". http://www.patentbuddy.com/Patent/4739749
He invented "The Ledge Bed" http://www.patentbuddy.com/Patent/4435861
William Lindley also invented "The Super Stuffer" http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-92-Super-Stuffer/dp/B000CO018A which he sold the patent for. It is now being sold in retail stores and on the internet. It safely pushes wastes such as peelings and left over food down the garbage disposal protecting fingers and hands. In my opinion this was another genius invention of his.
I always believed his back device, "The Rocker" was pure genius also but humans are very lazy. We don't believe anything cheap or easy can fix our problems. If we have not paid hundreds perhaps thousands of dollars to a medical doctor then we don't believe we have been healed. I always felt that if he marketed "The Rocker" as an exercise gimmick that it would have been more successful. He had his own ideas and he was the genius. He went to the great beyond still trying to market this wonderful device taking it with him.
Today is his birthday...I want to remember him as the genius he was, my hero.
William Luther Lindley did not have an easy life and he worked very hard to make it better. When he was very young he killed rabbits and anything else he could to help feed his family. At some point the family moved from Webster to Friendswood, Texas. In Friendswood there was a fig cannery where many of the towns inhabitants worked. There he worked canning figs where he developed contact dermatitis on his hands from the figs. Till the day he died though he loved figs. He could eat them but not pick them. He also made money by saying he could drive a vehicle which was a pretty new item in his neighborhood. This would have been in the late 1920's when he was about 11 years old. There was a wealthy couple who had purchased a vehicle and they needed a driver. He said he could do it although he had never driven before. He knew he needed the money so there was no doubt in his mind that he could or couldn't drive, he just did it! He did a good job of it too! The vehicle might have looked something like this:
He married my mother which was a total disaster except for producing three children. She was a wild spirit and didn't want to be tamed! They divorced when I was very young and eventually after living in many places with many relatives we settled to live with my father and his mother. He was a good father and a good teacher. I had a wild spirit I guess I inherited from my mother. I didn't like being told "no" and he recognized that....so he never did. Well in retrospect he did once. I was only 5 years old and insisted on following my brothers to the "hole". It was a cliff with tall trees hanging over into the creek. The boys had tied ropes to the upper limbs of the trees and would swing off into the water. I was forbidden to go there but I took a chance and ventured out following my brothers like a little puppy dog. When my father arrived home from work and learned of my jaunt he felt he had no choice but to make a lasting impression on my little behind....which he did. I never went back to the hole. However I did almost drown in the lake right next to our home by falling off the pier. My brothers realized I had disappeared and noticed bubbles rising to the surface. They reached under the surface of the water grabbing my hair and pulling me to safety. I wasn't breathing so they performed their version of CPR on me saving my life. As I said before he was not in the habit of telling me I could not do something. He would instead talk to me. He would give me all the reasons why something I wanted to do was not a good idea and then let me make my own decisions. I didn't always make the right decisions but I learned much from the man and am alive and well today!
My father tried hard to make a living working in construction of houses and highways. He was an inventor. He actually invented the first hydraulic jack and the flashing red lights on saw horses indicating road construction. He didn't have the money to patent these items and never received credit for creating them. Another of his inventions was round concrete houses for which he never received credit. This seemed to be a pattern for him until he invented a wheel insert for automobile tires.
At the time it was called "Posi-Trac". I remember when the idea formed in his mind. I was about 9 or 10 years old. It seemed that he formed the idea from making concrete Christmas tree stands. He made a prototype to fit inside an automobile tire. I don't remember the entire story of where and how it progressed from there. Apparently he found backers and was able to actually create a real prototype from steel and rubber. It attached to the wheel base on a vehicle and the tire was installed around it. If a driver had a blowout or flat tire the vehicle could continue to run comfortably with little notice of a flat until a service station could be found. If the vehicle was travelling at high speed such as 80 mph which was the top highway speed in those days and the tire should blow and shred the vehicle would remain under control again with little notice of a problem. It saved lives. I am here to testify to that. I was a teenager at the time and my father had these inserts installed on all his vehicles. I never adhered to the speed limit, even when it was 80 mph. I figured the vehicle had an accelerator, breaks and a steering wheel....what else mattered? I also knew I had my father's invention on the wheels and I trusted anything that man did. I was travelling 90 mph down Interstate 45 South when my tire blew. It sounded like a gun shot. The vehicle did not even swerve but I knew what had happened. I pulled onto the shoulder of the highway to check it out and yes, I had a blowout....my tire was all over the road. I just shrugged my shoulders, got back in my vehicle and easily drove to home! Now that is just pure genius! http://www.google.com/patents/US3394749
In the 1960's these inserts were installed on LBJ's and JFK's limousines. My father was a hero. He never received a heroes credit although he certainly deserved it. He went on to manufacture these inserts in Detroit, Michigan, and contracting with BF Goodrich to market the device through the Goodrich retail outlets. The insert was complicated to install and took expensive equipment to do so. Most service stations could not be equipped with attendants to be able to handle such a thing. As years went on service stations became self help "gas stations" where not much service could be found. The idea was to equip all new vehicles with the insert in order to save lives. Just as a seat belt became mandatory so should have the wheel insert. For lack of funds and greedy people his idea never fully materialized. Actually at some point in time Lee Iaccoca was given credit by a New York Times reporter for having invented this. I sent the reporter a letter setting him straight, however he never did correct his error. Probably because Lee Iaccoca was a famous man and my father was not. This was my father's greatest invention to help mankind in my opinion.
However he had another invention that he and my stepmother felt was far greater and altruistic. With her by his side as his ever faithful partner he invented a device to strengthen the back and virtually eliminate back pain. He tried for years to market this item but he needed to have orthopedic studies done. Not only did he not have the funds for this but no one in the medical community wanted him to succeed because it really worked. With this device on the market many surgeries would be eliminated. He left a good legacy for his family though. Many people did not believe in the device known as "The Rocker" but I do, his wife does and my youngest son does. The young man uses it on a regular basis to stretch out his muscles thus relieving his lower back pain. He swears by it and he doesn't have to. He gains nothing from testifying to it's validity except that it keeps him free of lower back pain.
He also invented the "Ortho Spinal Chair", which I have in my exercise room today. This was the prelude to "The Rocker". http://www.patentbuddy.com/Patent/4739749
He invented "The Ledge Bed" http://www.patentbuddy.com/Patent/4435861
William Lindley also invented "The Super Stuffer" http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-92-Super-Stuffer/dp/B000CO018A which he sold the patent for. It is now being sold in retail stores and on the internet. It safely pushes wastes such as peelings and left over food down the garbage disposal protecting fingers and hands. In my opinion this was another genius invention of his.
I always believed his back device, "The Rocker" was pure genius also but humans are very lazy. We don't believe anything cheap or easy can fix our problems. If we have not paid hundreds perhaps thousands of dollars to a medical doctor then we don't believe we have been healed. I always felt that if he marketed "The Rocker" as an exercise gimmick that it would have been more successful. He had his own ideas and he was the genius. He went to the great beyond still trying to market this wonderful device taking it with him.
Today is his birthday...I want to remember him as the genius he was, my hero.
This is so great Mama Gypsie! Thanks for sharing the story!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed it Jackie. Nick was very close to him and can tell you lots of stories about his life that even I never knew!
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