History of Car Alarms Early History of Car Alarms and Car Theft THEFT ALARM SOUNDS LOUDLY WHEN AUTO IS MOVED Popular Mechanics, June 20, 1920 An automobile-theft alarm devised by a Nebraska inventor utilizes the drive-shaft to operate its own bell or horn signal when the car is improperly moved. A friction gear, thrown into or out of engagement with the shaft by a cam, is enclosed with the alarm in a riveted steel case, fixed to the shaft housing and radius rods. The cam also short-circuits the magneto, so that turning the key in the lock stops the engine and sets the alarm. The lock is located in the floor of the driving compartment. Photo Caption: The Alarm, Contained in a Steel Case as Seen at the Left, Has a Signal Horn or Bell Operated by the Shaft of the Car, as Indicated Above. MOTOR CAR SAFETY TESTS DEMAND CONSTANT VIGILANCE By George B. Muldaur, New York Times, April 5, 1925 [...] One of the endurance tests to which the laboratories subjects automobile locks is the insertion of the key, locking, unlocking and removal of the key fifty thousand times by means of an automatic device designed for the purpose. Care is taken to discover any overlooked item such as the possibility of short-circuiting the locking device or the alarm, which frequently is part of it... AUTOMOBILE THIEVING PRACTICALLY STOPPED HERE Last Year 258 Cars Were Stolen While This Year Loss Has Been Reduced To Less Than Five a Month -- How It Was Done New York Times, Dec. 13, 1914 Two important and highly specialized forms of crime, the stealing of automobiles as a profession and its correlated business, that of receiving the stolen cars, practically have been stopped in the City of New York... The law-abiding citizen and the owner of automobiles can sleep peacefully abed o'nights now, it is true, but to your true lover of romance the squashing of the automobile thief means another dream ended, for this was indeed a romantic profession flourishing in the midst of a humdrum life. The swift leap into the tenantless car and the suspense till the start was sure, or, equally exciting, the cautious slipping on of a tow rope and the nonchalant and not too hurried departure till distance made it safe to speed a bit the roundabout course to the far purlieus of the Bronx, Staten Island, Morristown, or Philadelphia, where a convenient workshop made it possible for the modern analogue of the cattle thief to change the brands of his booty, and then the pitiful underpayment for the risks involved by the man higher up -- all these elements went to make up one of the picturesque underworld occupations which have seen their end... The thefts themselves, as has been indicated, were usually committed in the street, not infrequently in broad daylight, when the owner of the car or the chauffeur had left the machine for a few moments. Some of the thieves would not touch a car unless the motor was running or "idling," as automobile men call it. This made the getaway comparatively simple. The more daring workers and those more skillful in the task, however, had no hesitation about taking a car when its motor was not running, and nearly always found a means of starting it. A man named Mike Gilbert and another associated with him preferred quite a different method. They liked to tow the "beat" cars from their moorings, thus acting the role of garage men taking off a machine in need of repairs. This scheme aroused little suspicion and worked well. The two men stole three cars in this way within an hour and a half... POLICE TO STOP AND INSPECT ALL MOTOR CARS IN CAMPAIGN TO LESSEN AUTOMOBILE THEFTS New York Times, May 5, 1924, pp. 1 It was announced at Police Headquarters last night that, beginning today, the uniformed and detective police forces will conduct an inspection campaign of all automobiles on the highways for two weeks. Vehicles will be stopped and policemen will take the motor numbers and turn them in at the stations. If the motor number of any car appears to have been altered the car is not to be moved from the spot until a detective has investigated... A pamphlet issued in anticipation of the campaign instructs the police thus: "Impress upon the operator that the Police Department finds that defective brakes and steering gears are responsible for a great many accidents, and that it is imperative that the motor vehicles be maintained in perfect mechanical condition. Also advise him that the department is continually in receipt of complaints regarding unnecessary noises made by automobiles and automobilists, the unnecessary blowing of horns and whistles, open and defective mufflers and mechanical machinery." AUTO THEFTS INCREASE, SO DO RECOVERIES New York Leads Twenty-eight Cities With 10,064 Motor Cars Stolen in Year. New York Times, Feb. 15, 1925, pp. 5 ST. LOUIS, Feb. 14 -- Automobile thieves were nearly 50 per cent. more active in twenty-eight large cities in 1924 than in 1923 and more than 100 per cent. more active than in 1918, C. A. Vane, General Manager of the National Automobile Dealers' Association, announced here tonight...In the twenty-eight cities 57,771 motor vehicles were stolen and 47,484 recovered last year...New York City led in stolen cars with 10,064, of which 7,101 were recovered. Los Angeles was second with 7,326 thefts and 5,100 recoveries and Detroit was third with 7,187 cars stolen and 6,029 recovered. In Chicago 4,946 were stolen and 4,038 recovered. No headline, New York Times, Dec. 5, 1926, pp. xx14 Thefts of motor vehicles are steadily increasing in the metropolitan district, announces the Automobile Merchants' Association. At a recent meeting resolutions were adopted advising all distributors and dealers to conduct a vigorous campaign of education among car owners urging the importance of using the locking devices provided to prevent the theft of cars... "If the association can stimulate the cooperation of the car owner," said Mr. Stowe [president of the association], "in exercising greater care in locking his machine and placing the number of the switch and door lock where it cannot be seen, and real action taken on the part of the insurance companies to prosecute, motor thefts will undoubtedly be greatly decreased." He also calls attention to the fact that, beginning Jan. 1, the insurance companies will make no allowances or credit for locking devices of any kind. Their policy will be that the only way to reduce the theft rate on cars is to educate the public.