Stop at the red light and go at the green light! What was the first traffic light in the world like?

The red light stops and the green light goes. This famous six-sentence is a traffic term. It means: stop at the red light and start at the green light. My parents have often taught us this sentence in my ear since I was a child, so that whenever I pass the traffic lights, I will follow them in a conditioned way. But do you know that the origin of traffic lights is actually inspired by women's dress customs?

Photo: The first signal light in Europe.

The real traffic lights should start from 1868. Due to the increasing number of vehicles at that time, the traffic situation was not optimistic, and traffic accidents often occurred in front of the Parliament Building in London, England. In order to reduce the accident rate, British mechanical ethics? Hart was inspired by the dress customs of women in Yorktown, central England (women in Yorktown, central England, wearing red means married, please stay away; The first red and green traffic light 1868 12 10 was set up in front of the Parliament Building in London. The lamp post is 7 meters high and has only one light source. The traffic lights are switched by two red and green glasses in front of the gas lampshade, and the red and green switching is controlled by the police on duty pulling the pulley. This is the first traffic light used in the street. Unfortunately, the original signal light only appeared for 23 days and suddenly exploded and died, and the police who controlled the signal light at that time also died.

Figure: Manual traffic lights.

Because its safety can not be guaranteed, the city traffic lights were temporarily cancelled. It was not until 19 14 that the traffic lights were restored in Cleveland, a country on wheels. At that time, the light source had been improved to "electric traffic lights", and then cities followed suit and traffic lights were popularized.

Figure: The original traffic signals in America are "go" and "stop".

How did the traffic lights evolve into red, yellow, green and tricolor lights that are widely used now?

There is a well-known story: the yellow signal lamp was invented by Hu Ruding of China in 1927. It is even said that the invention of the yellow signal lamp originated from a personal experience of Hu Ruding. However, by consulting historical data, it is found that as early as 1920, the first red, yellow, green, three-color and four-way traffic lights have been put into use. This signal light is police William? Potts invented it and installed it at the intersection of Woodward Street and Ford Street in Detroit. The definition of tricolor is basically the same as that of today. The yellow signal stands for "be careful" and is used in the early morning railway system. According to records, in 1899, the railway systems in new york, New Haven and Hadford used red, yellow and green lights to control traffic.

Photo: The first traffic light in Cape Town.

Traffic lights originated in Britain, but actually developed in the United States (Americans applied for 60 invention patents related to traffic lights in three years). Traffic lights gradually evolved from gas to electricity, and the signal control system was gradually improved by Americans. Since 19 17, the interlocking signal system has been used in Salt Lake City of the United States, and the United States is the first country to use the vehicle induction controller. Until the 1930s, they controlled the turn-on time of the green light through traffic flow. By the 1950s, Americans had been completely controlled by computers, and it has continued to this day.

Photo: Early American signal lights.

The earliest traffic lights in China appeared in the British Concession in 1928.

Photo: Spectacular signal tree.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.