We occasionally provide excerpts from The Great American Car Wash Story. Former ICA Executive Director Gus Trantham and veteran commercial writer John Beck wrote this book in 1994. It represents the most complete history we have found of the industry in North America. Enjoy.
It didn’t happen all at once, but when it finally did one could only exclaim: What a revolution!
There was a time when the mitters were the real kings of the tunnel — even the power wash — but their crowns were about to be lifted from their heads. Who was the one responsible, what was the name of this crown-lifter?
The crown-lifter, if one can be named, was Carl Beer, a Sherman Engineer whose name appeared as the inventor of many car wash equipment patents, including U.S. Patent 3,310,824, which was described in one of the patent papers as “Vehicle Washer.” It didn’t even have a name yet, although on the Canadian, Australian, British, Italian and Japanese patents it became called the “Wrap around Brush” because this was so descriptive of its action, and this name stuck.
In a sense, this was a quiet revolution. Under “New Products” in the November 1966 issue of Western Carwash Review the news was carried as simply as this:
Oddly enough, there wasn’t any big hullabaloo made about this new system at first, perhaps because of the reluctance to replace the “old reliable” mitting bays. But once this wrap-around system had been tried by enough operators, it became as important a part of the tunnel wash as the beating heart in a living organism. And so the critical labor shortage problem was on its way to being solved by a completely automated system.
For veteran operators, it was quite an experience when they were first able to watch a wrap-around in action with no need for human attention. This was a beautiful, robot-like action that made even the most hard-boiled operators explode with applause. This was it at last! Right where the hard work was needed the most!
Original patent drawings from c. C. Beer’s u.s. Patent 3,310,824, which was originally filed April 21, 1966. This particular example is an elevation view of the vehicle washer of the present invention.