Turntable (motor vehicle)
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A car turntable or driveway turntable is a rotating platform designed for use by a
car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...
; they can be motorized or manually rotated and are usually installed in a driveway or in a garage floor. They rotate a motor vehicle to facilitate its easier or safer egress. Sometimes a local
zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
prohibition of vehicles backing onto busy roadways prompts the installation of car turntables. The residential car turntable traces its history to the steam locomotives turntable engine shed, or roundhouse. The first turntable engine shed was the North Midland Railway roundhouse, built in 1839 at Derby, England. The turntable allowed
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s, which could not safety be run in reverse owing to their design, to be rotated to a forward position. The car turntable has existed nearly as long as the mass-produced automotive.
Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...
was the first
mass production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
automobile built on
assembly lines An assembly line is a manufacturing process (often called a ''progressive assembly'') in which parts (usually interchangeable parts) are added as the semi-finished assembly moves from workstation to workstation where the parts are added in sequ ...
in 1902.
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
greatly expanded his production line manufacture with affordable automobiles beginning in 1913, most notably with his
Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
. Henry Ford’s
Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...
Fair Lane Fair Lane was the estate of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. It was named after an area in Cork in Ireland where Ford's adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born. ...
Estate garage (Estate construction began in 1914 and was completed in 1916) included an automobile turntable. The architect
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
designed and implemented several residential vehicle turntables including the 1922 Doheny Ranch Estate in
Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, designed but never built for
Edward L. Doheny Edward Laurence Doheny (; August 10, 1856 – September 8, 1935) was an American oil tycoon who, in 1892, drilled the first successful oil well in the Los Angeles City Oil Field. His success set off a petroleum boom in Southern California, a ...
, a
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
oil tycoon and the Westcott House built in 1908 in
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,
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, for Burton J. Westcott, designer of the
Westcott automobile The Westcott was an automobile produced in Richmond, Indiana and Springfield, Ohio in the United States between 1909 and 1925 by the Westcott Motor Car Company. The car company was named for its founder, John Westcott. Westcott Motor Car Compan ...
and founder of the Westcott Motor Car Company. Car turntables were first prevalent in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, as seen in the August 1930 issue of '' Modern Mechanics'', which displays a turntable used in Paris’ narrow streets “so that cars and autos don’t have to go miles out of their way to find turning places”. Possibly due to the dense
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
in Europe,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
,
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, and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
(among others) an earnest adoption of turntables began in the 1950s. Escalating
urban density Urban density is a term used in urban planning and urban design to refer to the number of people inhabiting a given urbanized area. As such it is to be distinguished from other measures of population density. Urban density is considered an importan ...
in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and increased awareness of back-over and reversing accidents primarily involving children has helped in popularity of vehicle turntables. Two primary types of vehicle turntables are available: the above-ground version and the in-ground version. The two versions are analogous to an above-ground and an in-ground
swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
. The above-ground version is not flush with the driveway or garage pad and does not require
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. The in-ground version is flush with the driveway or garage pad and does require excavation. The non-American turntables tend to be more utilitarian; the operator often spins their vehicle around by hand, and these manufacturers offer few options other than motorized versions. The newer developed U.S. turntables tend to cater to the
consumer behavior Consumer behavior is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services. Consumer behaviour consists of how the consumer's emotions, attitudes, and pr ...
of the American
marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...
– some of these models offer
microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...
controls,
safety engineering Safety engineering is an engineering discipline which assures that engineered systems provide acceptable levels of safety. It is strongly related to industrial engineering/systems engineering, and the subset system safety engineering. Safety en ...
features, high vehicle weight capacities, lighting accessories and heated platters.


Bus turntables

Turntables have also been built for use by buses or
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es in a few places. Examples of trolleybus turntables include the
Christchurch trolleybus turntable The Christchurch trolleybus turntable formed part of the Bournemouth trolleybus system, which served the town of Bournemouth and its environs, on the south coast of England. It is still in existence, and is now a Grade II listed building. Hi ...
, in
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
Joyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 31–32. London: Ian Allan Publishing. . (long disused but still extant); the Longwood trolleybus turntable, in
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
, EnglandJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', p. 69. Ian Allan Publishing. (dismantled); one at the LT Isleworth trolleybus depot; one used on the Guadalajara trolleybus system in
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in the 1980s; and the
Unterburg trolleybus turntable The Unterburg trolleybus turntable (german: Drehscheibe Unterburg) is a disused turntable for trolleybuses in the Solingen district Burg an der Wupper. The facility was regularly used by trolleybus line 683, operated by the Stadtwerke Solingen ( ...
, at Burg, Germany, near
Solingen Solingen (; li, Solich) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located some 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and, with a 2009 population of 161,366, ...
, which was used by trolleybuses of the Solingen trolleybus system in regular service until November 2009 and remains in place for occasional use by heritage vehicles. A bus turntable existed at Snow Hill in
St Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...
,
Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
, when it was used as a bus station between 1932 and 1964. A bus platform, currently in use in
Elantxobe , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
,
Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...
, has a turntable.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Car Turntable Parking