Car Turntable

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A Car Turntable or Driveway Turntable is a rotating platform adapted for use by a car, they can be motorized or manually rotated and are usually installed in a driveway or on a garage floor. They rotate a motor vehicle to facilitate an easier or safer egress of the vehicle and are often installed to satisfy a local Planning Department.

The residential Turntable (motor vehicle) trace its history to the steam locomotives turntable engine shed, or roundhouse . The first turntable engine shed was the North Midland Railway roundhouse, built in 1839 at Derby, England. The turntable allowed train engines, which could not safety be run in reverse owing to their design, to be rotated to a forward position.

The motor vehicle turntable has existed nearly as long as the mass-produced automotive. Oldsmobile was the first Mass production automobile assembled on a production lines in 1902. Henry Ford greatly expanded production line manufacture with affordable automobiles beginning in 1914, most notably with his Ford Model T. Henry Ford’s Dearborn, Michigan Fair Lane Estate garage included an automobile turntable. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed and implemented several residential vehicle turntables included the 1922 Doheny Ranch Estate in Beverly Hills, California, designed but never built for Edward L. Doheny, a Los Angeles oil tycoon and the Westcott House built in 1908 in Springfield, Ohio, for Burton J. Westcott the founder of the Westcott Motor Car Company.

Vehicle turntables were first prevalent in Europe. As seen in the August 1938 Popular Mechanics issue, which displays a turntable used in Paris’ narrow streets “so that cars and autos don’t have to go miles out of their way to find turning places”. Possibly due to the dense urban cityscapes in Europe, Japan, Germany, South Korea, and Australia (among others) an earnest adoption of turntables began in the 1950s.

With current escalating urban densities in the United States, and the increased awareness of back-over accidents primarily involving children, the utilization of vehicle turntables have likewise increased.

Two primary types of vehicle turntables are available: the above-ground version and the in-ground version. The two version are analogous to above-ground and in-ground swimming pools. The above-ground version is not flush with the driveway or garage pad and does not require excavation. The above-ground version is flush with the driveway or garage pad and does require excavation.

The non-American turntables tend to be more utilitarian; the operator spins their vehicle around by hand, and these manufacturers offer few options other than motorized versions. The newer developed U.S. turntables tend to cater to the needs of American market – some of these models offer microprocessor controls, safety features, high vehicle weight capacities, lighting accessories and heated platters.