[Ads-l] "Fail-Safe" (adj.) 1931

[Peter Reitan]

In an advertisement for a General Electric heat regulator.

Time Magazine, Volume 18, September 14, 1931, page 39. HathiTrust.org.

"Fail-Safe Device.  The General Electric Heat Regulator automatically 
closes the furnace dampers, or shuts off other heat source, if the 
electric current supply should at any time fail.  Dangerous overheating 
and burned-out fires (from the inability of the regulator to operate) 
are thus prevented."


A second example from the 1930s in the specification of a patent.

US Patent 2,272,249, filed December 27, 1938, issued December 27, 1938, 
Lawrence M. Persons of St. Louis, Missouri.

“An object of the present invention is to provide a novel hydraulic 
power transmission mechanism. . . . Another object is to provide a novel 
control mechanism for furnaces, and the like, which is adapted to be 
fail-safe.”


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