Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.

[Page Stephens]

The first time I ever saw a seat belt which eventually replaced the strap
was back in the 1950s when Allan Metcalf and my cousin Ben Stephens had one
installed one in his car after a friend of his had died after being thrown
out of his car in an accident.

Ben as I recall had to go to a military surplus store in order to buy a
military surplus airplane seat belt and having some mechanic put it in for
him by drilling holes into the body of his car.

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> in 1963-64 my father owned a sports car (a Triumph TR-3) which had a grab
> handle on the dashboard for the passenger.  We called it the "chicken
bar".  If
> we were trying to be less informal in speech, we would call it the "panic
bar".
>
> OED2 has "panic bolt"  "a secial bolt for a door designed to unfasten
readily
> in emergencies" from 1930.  I have seen "panic hardware" used in official
US
> Government procurement specs but cannot recall ever having heard the
phrase
> "panic hardware" anywhere else.
>
>         - James A. Landau