Between the advent of the car and the formal legislation of the car seat, thousands of inventors spent decades laying the innovative groundwork for the modern products we depend on to protect our children. And though patents expire, these designs' ability to entertain with their sheer WTF-itude is eternal.
So thank you Daniel Berlin of Philadelphia, for your 1959 invention of the stand-up car seat, which allows a child of three or four to hang off the back of the front seats in cherry picker-like comfort.
Patent No. 2888061, CHILD'S SIT OR STAND CAR SEAT, Daniel Berlin, 1959 [google patents]
Too funny. But you have to love the old days when there weren't so many regulations, things were much more fun. I didn't say safe, I said fun.
I own one of these; an additional nice feature was the plastic steering wheel with the little red horn button, mounted on a projecting aluminum stick with flat, sharp edges.
On some versions, when the seat was dropped, the seat strap could be brought up between the toddler's legs and snapped to the ever-so-secure front bar, providing that all-important extra security.
Let's just say that these things weren't truly safety seats, other than the limited usefulness they offered as devices for corralling the little darlings while the adult in the vehicle was otherwise occupied driving the thing.
you never cease to amaze, Curator, with the breadth of your collection.
Photographic evidence that people actually used these things.
http://tinyurl.com/5rrvmr
(That is my husband and I'm glad he survived.)
see? he survived, so it's totally 100% safe!