The automobile tire chain isn’t a common sight in Malaysia but in the US and many other parts of the world where snow falls, they’re almost essential to getting cars moving in the winter. This day in 1904, Harry D. Weed had his patent for “Grip-Tread for Pneumatic Tires” approved, thus ending an era of makeshift solutions to finding traction in the snow.
According to his grandson, the inventor got inspired by the common practice of drivers in the early years who would use ropes and other natural materials on the driven wheels to get more traction out of them.
