Rumble

Rumble (pronounced ruhm-buhl)

(1) To make a deep, heavy, somewhat muffled, continuous sound, as thunder.

(2) To move or travel with such a sound:

(3) In slang, a street fight between or among gangs.

(4) As rumble seat (sometimes called dickie seat), a rear part of a carriage or car containing seating accommodation for servants, or space for baggage; known colloquially as the mother-in-law seat (an now also used by pram manufacturers to describe a clip-on seat suitable for lighter infants).

(5) The action of a tumbling box (used to polish stones).

(6) As rumble strip, in road-building, a pattern of variation in a road's surface designed to alert inattentive drivers to potential danger by causing a tactile vibration and audible rumbling if they veer from their lane.

(7) In slang, to find out about (someone or something); to discover the secret plans of another (mostly UK informal).

1325-1375: From Middle English verbs rumblen, romblen & rummelyn, frequentative form of romen (make a deep, heavy, continuous sound (also "move with a rolling, thundering sound" & "create disorder and confusion")), equivalent to rome +‎ -le.  It was cognate with the Dutch rommelen (to rumble), the Low German rummeln (to rumble), the German rumpeln (to be noisy) and the Danish rumle (to rumble) and the Old Norse rymja (to roar or shout), all of imitative origin.  The noun form emerged in the late fourteenth century, description of the rear of a carriage dates from 1808, replacing the earlier rumbler (1801), finally formalized as the rumble seat in 1828, a design extended to automobiles, the last of which was produced in 1949.  The slang noun meaning "gang fight" is from 1946.  Rumbled & rumbling are verbs (used without object), rumbler is a noun, rumbling is an adjective and rumblingly an adverb.

The Velvet Underground and Nico

Link Wray’s (1929-2005) 1958 instrumental recording Rumble is mentioned as a seminal influence by many who were later influential in some of the most notable forks of post-war popular music including punk, heavy-metal, death-metal, glam-rock, art-rock, proto-punk, psychedelic-rock, avant-pop and the various strains of experimental and the gothic.  Wray’s release of Rumble as a single also gained a unique distinction in that it remains the only instrumental piece ever banned from radio in the United States, the authorities apparently finding its power chords just too menacing for youth to resist.

Lou Reed (1942-2013) said he spent days listening to Rumble before joining with John Cale (b 1942) in New York in 1964 to form The Velvet Underground.  Their debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, included German-born model Nico (1938-1988) and was, like their subsequent releases, a critical and commercial failure but within twenty years, the view had changed, their work now regarded among the most important and influential of the era.  The Velvet Underground’s output built on the proto heavy-metal motifs from Rumble with experimental performances and was noted especially for its controversial lyrical content including drug abuse, prostitution, sado-masochism and sexual deviancy.  However, despite this and the often nihilistic tone, in the decade since Rumble, the counter-culture had changed not just pop music but also America; The Velvet Underground was never banned from radio.

Rumble seat in 1937 Packard Twelve Series 1507 2/4-passenger coupé.  The most expensive of Packard's 1937 lineup, the Twelve was powered by a 473 cubic-inch (7.7 litre) 67^o V12 rated at 175 horsepower at 3,200 RPM.  It was best year for the Packard Twelve, sales reaching 1,300 units.

The rumble seat was also known as a dicky (also as dickie & dickey) seat in the UK while the colloquial “mother-in-law seat” was at least trans-Atlantic and probably global.  It was an upholstered bench seat mounted at the rear of a coach, carriage or early motorcar and as the car industry evolved and coachwork became more elaborate, increasingly they folded into the body.  The size varied but generally they were designed to accommodate one or two adults although the photographic evidence suggests they could be used also to seat half-a-dozen or more children.  Why it was called a dicky seat is unknown (the word dates from 1801 and most speculation is in some way related to the English class system) but when fitted on horse-drawn carriages it was always understood to mean "a boot (box or receptacle covered with leather at either end of a coach, the use based on the footwear) with a seat above it for servants".  On European phaetons, a similar fixture was the “spider”, a small single seat or bench for the use of a groom or footman, the name based on the spindly supports which called to mind an arachnid’s legs.  The spider name would later be re-purposed on a similar basis to describe open vehicles and use persists to this day, the Italians and others sometimes preferring spyder.  They were sometimes also called jump-seats, the idea being they were used by servants or slaves who were required to “jump off” at their master’s command and the term “jump seat” was later used for the folding seats in long-wheelbase limousines although many coach-builders preferred “occasional seats”.

Rumble seat in 1949 Triumph 2000 Roadster.  The unusual (and doubtless welcome) split-screen was a post-war innovation, the idea recalling the twin-screen phaetons of the inter-war years. 

The US use of “rumble seat” comes from the horse & buggy age so obviously predates any rumble from an engine’s exhaust system and it’s thought the idea of the rumble was literally the noise and vibration experienced by those compelled to sit above a live axle with 40 inch wooden rims with no suspension.  When such an arrangement is pulled along rough, rutted roads by several galloping horses, even a short journey could be a jarring experience.  The rumble seat actually didn’t appear on many early cars and became a thing again only as the machines grew larger.  Those in a rumble seat were exposed to the elements which could be most pleasant but not always and they enjoyed only the slightest protection afforded by the regular passenger compartment’s top.  Ford actually offered the option of a folding top with side curtains for the rumble seats on the Model A (1927-1931) but few were purchased, a similar fate suffered by those produced by third party suppliers.  US production of cars with rumble seats ended in 1939 and the last made in England was the Triumph 1800/2000 Roadster (1946-1949) but pram manufacturers have of late adopted the name to describe a seat which can be clipped onto the frame.  Their distinction between a toddler seat and a rumble seat is that the former comes with the stroller and is slightly bigger, rated to hold 50 lbs (23 KG), while the former can hold up to 35 (16).

Synesthesia

Synesthesia (pronounced sin-uhs-thee-zhuh or sin-uhs-zhee-uh)

(1) In neurology and psychology, a neurological or psychological phenomenon in which a particular sensory stimulus triggers a second kind of sensation.

(2) The association of one sensory perception with, or description of it in terms of, another, unlike, perception that is not experienced at the same time.

(3) In literary theory or practice, an artistic device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another.

(4) In medical diagnostics, where a sensation felt in one part of the body as a result of stimulus that is applied to another, as in referred pain.

1881: From the Modern French or the New Latin and derived from Ancient Greek σύν (sún (with) or syn (together) + αἴσθησις (aísthēsis), (sensation; feeling) from the primitive Indo-European root au (to perceive) + abstract noun suffix -ia.  The word was modelled after existing construction anaesthesia.  Traditional spelling in the British Empire was synæsthesia but the US form synesthesia appears now global.  The meaning in psychology relating to the senses (colors that seem to the perceiver to having odor, etc.) is from 1891.  Synesthesia & synaesthete are nouns, synaesthetic is an adjective and synesthetically is an adverb; the noun plural is synesthesias..

Clinicians have two categories of synesthesia: projective and associative.  Those who project see actual colours or shapes when stimulated whereas associators will feel an involuntary connection between the stimulus and the sense that it triggers.  For example, in the form chromesthesia synesthesia (sound to color) a projector would listen to a piano and see a purple shape whereas an associator might respond to the music by thinking it “sounds” purple.  There are a number of types of synesthesia, the best known of which grapheme-color synesthesia or the association of colours with letters or words.  In auditory-tactile synesthesia, certain sounds can induce sensations in parts of the body and debate continues about whether the near-universal reaction(s) induced by finger nails on a blackboard indicates synesthesia is a spectrum condition or this example is endemic in human physiology.   Lexical-gustatory synesthesia is the phenomenon of certain tastes being experienced upon hearing certain words.  Mirror-touch synesthesia is where someone feels the same sensation another person feels such as when a synesthete sees another touched on the arm; the synesthete involuntarily feeling a touch in the same place.  Logically, every possible combination of experiences which can occur can be a type of synesthesia.  Something need not be wide-spread to be a type of synesthesia, it needs just to be specific.

Winter Landscape (1909), oil on cardboard by Wassily Kandinsky, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

In Russian painter and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky’s (1866–1944) particular synesthesia, color and music inextricably were tangled and so precise was it that he associated each note with an exact hue and it was so intrinsic to his being that he once observed: “…the sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with bass notes or dark lake with treble.”  It meant his experience of music was heightened, indeed defined, by the range of visual perceptions which shifted with every note.  The music of Richard Wagner (1813–1883) has had its consequences, good and bad, and it was his vivid visual response to a performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin (1850) at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre that he abandoned his successful career as a lawyer and devoted himself to the painting which had been his hobby.  Accepted as a student at Munich’s Academy of Fine Arts, he later described the Wagnerian transformation of his life: “I saw all my colors in spirit, before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me.”  Wagner has led a few astray but he took Kandinsky on a good path; the world needs more artists more than it needs more lawyers.

Composition VII (1913), oil on canvas by by Wassily Kandinsky, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

Music remained critical to the development of Kandinsky’s abstract paintings and noting the way the Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) had abandoned tonal and harmonic conventions in his compositions, he rejected the figure or recognizable object in favor of shapes, lines, and discordant colors which he deployed overlaid on texture to create a rhythmic visual experience which as closely as possible emulated in a two-dimensional space the emotional response he’d experienced when hearing the sounds.  Unsurprisingly, Kandinsky gave many of his paintings musical titles, such as Composition or Improvisation and it wasn’t unusual for critics to use phrases like “Kandinsky’s symphony of colors”.

Lindsay Lohan in blue & yellow as Wassily Kandinsky might have imagined her. 

Kandinsky also perceived color also had the ability to touch the feelings of the viewers, yellow able to disturb while blue awakened the highest spiritual aspirations.  That may have been mapping his experience as a synaesthete on to those not able to enjoy the gift but it was certainly an insight into his visions.  In 1911, Kandinsky published Über das Geistige in der Kunst (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) in which he defined the three types of painting: impressions, improvisations and compositions.  Impressions were based on an external reality while improvisations and compositions depicted images summoned from the unconscious, compositions the more formal of the two.  The treatise is one of the landmarks in the theoretical foundations of abstraction and remains an important contribution to an explanation of the techniques with which art can be constructed in an attempt to evoke psychological, physical, and emotional responses.

Papilla

Papilla (pronounced puh-pil-uh)

(1) In anatomy, (1) a nipple-like protuberance on a part or organ of the body, (2) a vascular process of connective tissue extending into and nourishing the root of a hair, feather, or developing tooth, (3) any of the vascular protuberances of the dermal layer of the skin extending into the epidermal layer and often containing tactile corpuscles & (4) any of the small protuberances on the upper surface of the tongue often containing taste buds.

(2) In botany, a small fleshy projection on a plant; any minute blunt hair or process occurring in plants.

(3) In engineering and related fields, any small, nipple-like process or projection.

1400-1450: From the late Middle English, from the Latin papilla (a nipple, teat), the construct being papula (a pustule, pimple; a swelling) +‎ -illa (the diminutive nominal suffix).  Source of all was the primitive Indo-European imitative root pap (to swell).  From the anatomical beginnings, the meaning was extended to botany and mechanical engineering, the generalized meaning of a "nipple-like protuberance" attested from 1713, the sense of "a nipple of a mammary gland" documented from the 1690s.  The noun plural is papillae.

The derived forms include the noun papilloma (a tumor resembling a nipple) from 1866, a modern Latin hybrid, the construct being papilla (nipple) + the Ancient Greek oma (tumor), the adjective papillary (of, pertaining to, or resembling a nipple) from the 1660s, the noun papilledema (also papilloedema) (a non-inflammatory swelling of the optic disc) from 1908, from papilla + edema, from the New Latin edema, from Ancient Greek οἴδημα (oídēma) (swelling), from οἰδέω (oidéō) (I swell) and the noun pap (nipple of a woman's breast), a creation of the late twelfth century, a truncation of pappe, first attested in Northern and Midlands writing, probably from a Scandinavian source (not recorded in Old Norse but noted in the dialectal Swedish as pappe), from the primitive Indo-European imitative root pap (to swell), source also of the Latin papilla and the Lithuanian papas (nipple).  It’s speculative but pap is thought to be ultimately of infantile origin.

Variations of grease nipples.

Designed as entry points for lubricating oils, grease nipples are permanently installed by a threaded connection to which a grease gun attaches, the pressure supplied by the gun forcing a small captive bearing ball in the fitting to move back against the force of its retaining spring.  The valve that opens under pressure allows lubricant to pass through a channel and be forced into the voids of a bearing or whatever is to be lubricated and, when pressure ceases, the ball returns to its closed position.  The ball excludes dirt and functions as a check valve to prevent grease escaping back out of the fitting, functioning thus as a one-way, non-return valve.  The ball is almost flush with the surface of the fitting so that it can be wiped clean, reducing the debris which would otherwise be carried with the grease.  The convex shape of the fitting allows the concave tip of the grease gun to seal from many angles, yet with a sufficiently tight seal to force the pressured grease to move the ball and enter the fitting, rather than simply oozing past this temporary annular (ring-shaped) seal.  Grease nipples are commonly made from zinc-plated steel, stainless steel, or brass.

Lindsay Lohan static.

The patent for the first grease nipple was granted in 1929.  Before grease nipples existed, bearings were lubricated in ways that tended to be maintenance-intensive and often provided less effective lubrication.  For example, a typical machinery bearing of the nineteenth and early centuries was a plain bearing with a cross-drilled hole to receive oil or grease, with no fitting at its mouth, or at best a cap or cup.  Often lubricant was delivered under no more pressure than gravity or a finger push might provide; oil flowing into the hole, grease pushed in.  While grease guns existed to feed the grease with higher pressure, fittings were not as good and didn’t seal as well as those used than today, nor were they as widely used.

Lindsay Lohan moving.

Since the 1920s, the ever-growing dissemination of sealed bearings has made the use of grease fittings less common.  Sealed bearings are lubricated for life at the factory, sealed so lubricant is not lost or contaminated by fluids or anything abrasive.  Grease nipples however are far from obsolete; much machinery is built with them because, provided what is usually minimal maintenance is attended to, this type of bearing and lubrication setup is cost-effective, simple, and long-lasting.  However, neglect of maintenance does shorten a lifespan.  Grease fittings are rarely found on today's consumer goods because maintenance-free products have more sales appeal but they still exist on many automobiles and are more common still on industrial, agricultural, and mining equipment where shaft diameters exceed ¾ inch (19 mm) and in electric motors with an output greater than about 5 kw.  Grease nipples are particularly numerous on marine engines because, in addition to providing lubrication, pumping grease into a fitting on a motor or other unit exposed to water expels moisture that would otherwise cause corrosion.  This can be of critical importance in machinery exposed to salt-water.

Tactile

Tactile (pronounced tak-til or tak-tahyl)

(1) Of, pertaining to, endowed with, or affecting the sense of touch.

(2) Perceptible to the touch; tangible.

(3) Capable of being touched; tangible (archaic).

1605–1615: From the Middle French tactile, from the Latin tāctilis (tangible), from tāctus, past participle of tangere (to touch)), from the primitive Indo-European root tag (to touch; to handle).  The construct was tact(us) + ile.  The –ile suffix was from the Latin –īlis (neuter -ile, comparative -ilior, superlative -illimus or -ilissimus; the third-declension two-termination suffix), from the Proto-Italic -elis, from the primitive Indo-European -elis, from -lós.  It was used to form an adjective noun of relation, frequently passive, to the verb or root.  The meaning "of or pertaining to the sense of touch" is attested from the 1650s.  Tactile is an adjective; tactility is a noun.

Work of art: 1992 IBM (Blue Label) Model M keyboard.

In the few decades computing has been a mainstream activity, there has been such a variety of hardware, operating systems, languages and software at various points in the application layers, that there’s little general agreement about what’s best in any particular field but most with any exposure to the IBM Model M keyboard agree it’s probably the finest keyboard ever made.  Even those not attracted to the tactility which is its most obvious feature (and there are those who prefer a “squishy” to a “clicky” keyboard) will usually concede the build quality is exceptional, compared especially to some of the sad devices bundled with systems in recent years.  It shouldn’t be surprising IBM was able to build something like the Model M keyboard at scale given the company’s decades of experience in engineering a construction and there are Model M nerds prepared to believe all those years were but preparation for what was required to make the tactile devices. 

1973 IBM Selectric with three elements (golfballs).

International Business Machines (IBM) began in New York in 1888 (adopting the IBM name in 1924), its early core-business mechanical “tabulating systems” for accounting and time-keeping and by the 1930s, some of the mechanical engineering used in these systems was applied to typewriter technology after it acquired the tools, patents and production facilities of Electromatic Typewriters of Rochester.  The result of the R&D effort was the Model 01 IBM Electric Typewriter which was released in 1935 and became the first really successful electric typewriter in the US, the beginning of a line which, in 1961 produced the IBM Selectric, famous for its “element” which the rest of the world called the “golfball”.  The almost spherical “golfball” (which appears in some IBM documents both also as “typeball”) contained the impressions of the letters which struck the ribbon and was interchangeable with other made with other font sets.  That was not a new idea, other manufacturers using the principle of interchangeability in the late nineteenth century but with “type wheels” which were larger and tended to be fragile, the three-dimensional “golfball” both more robust and, having to travel a smaller distance per key stroke, permitting a faster typing rate.  It was with the Selectric that the evolution of what became the Model M keyboard really began.

1984 IBM Model F keyboard; the IBM mouse of the era was a ghastly to use as it looks.

The first version of the definitively tactile, stand-alone IBM keyboard was the Model 14 which, although most associated with the original IBM PC-1 released in August 1981, had actually debuted with the System/23 Datamaster (1981-1985), a short-lived corporate workstation which proved a dinosaur, unable to compete with the IBM PC, the success of which was also the death knell for the earlier 6580 Displaywriter (1980-1986) which had actually enjoyed some success as a hefty and expensive but capable corporate word-processor.  The Datamaster, introduced just five weeks prior to the PC-1, used the same Model 14 keyboard, initially with an 83 key layout and the nerdiest of nerds note its technical superiority over the Model M in that it uses a buckling spring over a capacitive PCB (printed circuit board) rather than the later membrane.  The Model F remained in general production until 1985, being then built in limited numbers (by both IBM and Lexmark) until 1985 and was notable for innovations such as the revisions to the layout to accommodate the PC-AT protocols and the availability of specialized models with as few as 50 or as many as 127 keys.

Customized IBM Model F keyboard with LED module.

Model F aficionados can be snobby, pointing out even IBM admitted one of the design objectives with the Model M was to reduce manufacturing costs but their attraction is real, the intricacies of the Model F intriguing and their labour-intensive production process does mean nothing like them is likely again to be made.  The internal assembly uses two curved metal back-plates and the PCB is flexible, thus also curved when attached to the back-plate and while just about every other keyboard's curves are simulated by the molding of the keycap profiles, the Model F's curve is integral to the frame, thus allowing all keycaps to be the same shape and size, a great advantage for those who like to tinker and customize.  Freaks customizing keyboards are perhaps less frequently found than once they were but still exist in dark rooms living on pizza and Coca-Cola.  Snobbery or not, the freaks do have a point (up to a point) because the mechanical advantages are real.  The capacitive design is superior, requiring a lighter actuation force and delivering a crisper feel and a slightly sharper feedback; it’s also more robust, IBM guaranteeing each key with a MTBF (mean time between failure) of over 100 million key-presses, a reasonable life even for the most productive trolls.  The switch from PCBs to membranes meant these characteristics were to some degree toned down in order to lower manufacturing costs although the MTBF was still rated an impressive 80 million.

1988 IBM Model M keyboard (122 key version).

Pace the freaks but the Model M is preferable, if for no other reason than simply because it (more-or-less) standardized the core keyboard layout (most others now conform) and in use, the tactility is little different from its predecessor.  Regarding the layout, the case can be made that the Model F’s location of the function keys to the left may actually make more sense but the planet has settled on the Model M layout.  Introduced in 1985 with the 3161 terminal, the PC-compatible version appeared in 1987 when it was included with the PS/2.  In use the Model M is a solid (9 lb (4 kg)) tactile experience which feels little different from the Model F and users have a long time to become accustomed to that feel; the keyboards, the oldest of which are now some forty years old, appearing not to have a life expectancy, many in continuous use for decades and a servicing ecosystem exists should any parts need to be replaced although it’s said rectifying the consequences of spills (of coffee, red wine, G&Ts etc) is a more common request.  The best source for the tactile IBMs is ClickyKeyboards.

United States Patent # 4,118,611 Buckling Spring torsional snap actuator. Harris, 1978:

It will be appreciated with regard to the figures that depression of the key button 1 moves the key button and its stem 6 into the housing 3, creating longitudinal compression and lateral deflection of the helical compression spring 2. An initial counter-clockwise moment is exerted on the rocker member 4 which is approximately equal to the force F times the distance between the pivot point 8 of the rocking member 4 and the center line of the spring. The upper end of the helical spring 2 is held squarely against the key button 1 by a clockwise moment created by a force equal to approximately F times the diameter of the spring divided by two. The rocker member 4 will initially be held firmly over the contacts 5A and 5B. As the lateral motion of the center of the helical compression spring 2 increases, both the top and bottom reaction moments in spring 2 are decreased because F is transmitted through the center section of spring 2. Shortly after these moments approach 0, the rocker member rocks to a position squarely over contacts 5A and 5C and the top of spring 2 rocks about the right hand edge of its topmost coil. The constraints upon the depression column spring have changed from an initial end clamped condition to an end clamped-pinned condition. This sudden change provides the tactile response of the key and is accompanied by a sudden rocking action of the rocker member 4 which creates an acoustic feedback as well.

The "buckling spring torsional snap actuator" is the core of the Model M’s charm.  Unlike mechanical switches that are depressed straight down like plungers, the Model M has springs under each key that contract, snap flat, or "buckle," and then spring back into place when released.  This provides the audible “click” so associated with the model and which some don’t like but for those who become accustomed to typing on one, it’s hard to go back to anything else; they have the feel of a pre-modern (circa 1980 and earlier) Mercedes-Benz.  Because of the physicality, typing on a Model M is a tangible experience; like a typewriter, the tactility and the feedback of the click gives every letter a physical presence.

IBM Model M user Lindsay Lohan in Life-Size (2000, Walt Disney Television).

NASA's Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility (LSLF) is a repository and laboratory facility at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston.  Since 1979 it's housed geologic samples returned from the Moon by the Apollo program missions to the lunar surface (1969-1972).  The facility preserves in a secure vault most of the 842 lb (382 kg) of lunar material returned to Earth as well as some other material and the associated data records.  The facility also contains clean-environment laboratories so samples can be processed and studied in a contamination-free environment.

The LSLF houses the only eight lunar rocks (some nearly four billion years old) on earth available to be touched by the general public.

The LSLF also includes an IBM Model M keyboard and PS/2 PC (it’s not known if it’s running PC-DOS or OS/2) in an exhibit which is a replica of a room in the Space Centre during the 1980s.

Layout Model F, PC & XT, (1981).

Layout Model F, PC-AT (1984).

Layout Model M, 3161 Terminal (1985) & PS/2 (1987). 

Toggle

Toggle (pronounced tog-uhl)

(1) A pin, bolt or rod placed transversely through a chain, an eye or loop in a rope etc, as to bind it temporarily to another chain or rope similarly treated.

(2) In various types of machinery, a toggle joint, or a device having one.

(3) An ornamental, rod-shaped button for inserting into a large buttonhole, loop or frog, used especially on sports clothes.

(4) In theatre, a wooden batten across the width of a flat, for strengthening the frame (Also called the toggle rail).

(5) In engineering and construction, a metal device for fastening a toggle rail to a frame (also called a toggle iron.); a horizontal piece of wood that is placed on a door, flat, or other wooden structure, but is not on one of the edges of the structure; an appliance for transmitting force at right angles to its direction.

(6) To furnish with a toggle or to bind or fasten with a toggle.

(7) In informal use, to turn, twist, or manipulate a toggle switch; dial or turn the switch of a device (often in the form “to toggle between” alternate states).

(8) A type of switch widely used in motor vehicles until outlawed by safety legislation in the 1960s.

(9) In admiralty jargon, a wooden or metal pin, short rod, crosspiece or similar, fixed transversely in the eye of a rope or chain to be secured to any other loop, ring, or bight.

In computer operating systems and applications, an expression indicating a switch of view, contest, feed, option et al.

(11) In sky-diving, a loop of webbing or a dowel affixed to the end of the steering & brake lines of a parachute providing a means of control.

(12) In whaling, as toggling harpoon, a pre-modern (believed to date from circa 5300 BC) harvesting tool used to impale a whale when thrown.

1769: In the sense of a "pin passed through the eye of a rope, strap, or bolt to hold it in place" it’s of unknown origin but etymologists agree it’s of nautical origin (though not necessarily from the Royal Navy) thus the speculation that it’s a frequentative form of “tug” or “to tug” (in the sense of “to pull”), the evolution influenced by regional (or class-defined) pronunciations similar to tog.  The wall fastener was first sold in 1934 although the toggle bolt had been in use since 1994.  The term “toggle switch” was first used in 1938 although such devices had long been in use in the electrical industry and they were widely used in motor vehicles until outlawed by safety legislation in the 1960s.  In computing, toggle was first documented in 1979 when it referred to a keyboard combination which alternates the function between on & off (in the sense of switching between functions or states as opposed to on & off in the conventional sense).  The verb toggle dated from 1836 in the sense of “make secure with a toggle” and was a direct development from the noun.  In computing, the toggle function (“to toggle back and forth between different actions") was first described in 1982 when documenting the embryonic implementations of multi-tasking (then TSRs (terminate & stay resident programs).  Toggle is a noun, verb & adjective, toggled & toggling are verbs, toggler, toggery and (the rare) togglability are nouns and togglable (the alternative spelling is toggleable) is an adjective; the noun plural is toggles.  Use of the mysterious togglability (the quality of being togglable) seems to be restricted to computer operating systems to distinguish between that which can be switched between and that which is a stand-alone function which must be loaded & terminated.

The Jaguar E-Type (XKE) and the toggle switches

1964 Jaguar E-Type roadster (Open Two Seater (OTS) as the factory at the time described the body-style).

Jaguar’s E-Type (sometimes informally called XK-E or XKE in the US), launched at the now defunct Geneva Motor Show in 1961, was one of the more seductive shapes ever rendered in metal.  Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988) was at the show and part of E-Type folklore is he called it “the most beautiful car in the world”.  Whether those words ever passed his lips isn’t certain because the sources vary slightly in detail and il Commendatore apparently never confirmed or denied the sentiment but it’s easy to believe and to this day many agree.  If just looking at the thing was something visceral then driving one was more than usually tactile and over sixty years on, the appeal remains, even if some aspects in the early models (such as the seats which looked welcoming but frankly were uncomfortable and the rather agricultural (no synchromesh on first gear) Moss gearbox) were a little too tactile.

1961 Jaguar E-Type OTS (Open Two Seater, now usually called a "roadster") with toggle switches.  Ergonomically, the layout was not wholly successful but was an ascetic delight and the toggle switches are thought more sexy than the later rockers.  There are two different patterns for the aluminium panel and the one used on the very early cars is much prized; it has never been available as a re-production.  In 1963, as a running change (the factory bulletin indicating it was done to reduce glare) the panel changed to use a black vinyl covering.

Another feature of the early (1961-1967) cars admired both for their appearance and pleasure of operation touch was the centrally-located array of toggle switches which controlled functions such as lighting and windscreen wipers.  Even by the slight standards of the 1960s, ergonomically the arrangement wasn’t ideal but, sitting under the gauges, it was an elegant and impressive look the factory would retain across the range for more than a decade, the E-type using the layout until production ended in 1974 (and it endured on the low-volume Daimler DS420 limousine until 1992).  However, while the layout survived, the toggle switches did not, the protruding sharpness judged dangerous by the NHSB (the National Highway Safety Bureau (which in 1970 became the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)) under the newly established US DOT (Department of Transportation), established by an act of Congress on 15 October 1966 and beginning operation on 1 April 1967) which, since the publication of Ralph Nader’s (b 1934) book Unsafe at any Speed (1965) had begun to write legislation which stipulated standards for automobile safety, this in parallel with the growing body of law designed to reduce emissions.

1973 Jaguar E-Type roadster with rocker switches.  On the roadsters, the far-right switch was un-labeled because it was functional only on the coupés where it activated the rear-window demister.  On the XJ sedans (which used the same switch assembly), it swapped the flow between the twin fuel tanks.  When the S2 XJ was released in 1973, the whole dashboard was revised, greatly improving the ergonomics but lacking the visual appeal.  

In 1968, the new wave of legislation came mostly from the US DOT so applied almost exclusively to vehicles sold in the US but such was the importance of that market it made little sense for Jaguar to continue to produce a separate line with toggle switches for sale in the rest of the word (RoW) so the decision was taken to standardize on the flatter, more rounded rocker switches.  At much the same time, other changes were made to ensure the E-Type on sale in 1968 would conform also to other new rules, the most obvious being the banning of the lovely covered headlights which necessitated their replacement with higher-mounted units in a scalloped housing.  In view of the extent of the changes required, it was decided to designate the updated cars as the “Series 2” (S2).  Despite the perceptions of some, now fuelled by internet posts and re-posts, by 1967, Jaguar, while not a mass-production operation along the lines of a computerized Detroit assembly line, had long since ceased to be a cottage industry and as a change was made in a model’s specification, except for specified batches, that was applied to all production after a certain date.  Despite the factory’s records documenting this, urban myths continue to circulate, stimulated by “unicorns” such as the handful of 3.8 litre Mark 2 sedans built after 1967 when the line was rationalized (as the 240 & 340) and restricted to the 2.4 & 3.4 litre XK-Six; those 3.8s were documented  “special orders” and not ad-hoc aberrations.  However, nothing in the era has resulted in as much misinformation as the specification of what came (unofficially) to be called the S1.25 & 1.5 E-Types, the most common myth being that before S2 production proper began, some cars left the factory with a sometimes unpredictable mix of S1 & S2 parts, this haphazardness accounted for by the expedient of “using up stock”.  In the industry, (even in computerized Detroit) the practice was not unknown but there’s now no doubt it never applied to the 1967 E-Types.  What notably attracts speculation is the phenomenon of “overlap”: a Jaguar might be found to include some “later” or “earlier” features than the build date and VIN (vehicle identification number) sugget should be fitted.  It's part of the charm of the breed and is thought to be the result of the recorded “build date” reflecting when a car passed the final quality control checks so one with an earlier chassis number could be returned for rectification, thus picking up what appears to be an “out-of-sequence” date.  

The pure lines of the S1 E-Type (top) were diluted, front and rear, by the need to comply with US safety legislation, the later S2's head & taillights more clunky.  The collector market slang for the later headlight treatment is "sugar scoop".

The process by which S1 evolved into S2 was transitional which is why the designations S1.25 & 1.5 became accepted; not used by the factory, they’re said to have been “invented” by JCNA (Jaguar Clubs of North America), the S1.25 run beginning on 11 January 1967 after production resumed following the Christmas holiday while the first 1.5s were built that August.  Although much is made in the collector community of the defining differences between the “pure” S1 and the “transitional” S1.25 & S1.5, that “purity” is nuanced because like many others, the E-Type was subject to constant product development with changes appearing from time to time.  Early in the model run, there were some obvious changes such as (1) the modification to the “flat floors” to provide more leg-room, (2) the integration of the bonnet (hood) louvers into the pressing, (3) the external bonnet (really a “clamshell”) release being replaced by an internal mechanism, (4) internal trim changes including the dashboard materials, the console and seats, (5) the replacement of the Moss gearbox with an all-synchromesh unit and (6) the 4.2 litre engine replacing the original 3.8.  Beyond those well-known landmarks, between 1965 and early 1967 there was also a wealth of barely detectable (except to experts of which there are quite a few) cosmetic changes and mechanical updates including: (1) the glass windshield washer bottle replaced with plastic container (March 1965), (2) the addition of an alternator shield (October 1965), (3) an enclosed brake and clutch pedal box (October 1965), (4) a hazard waring (4-way) flasher added to US market cars (November 1965), (5) sun-visors added to roadsters (February 1966), (6) instrument lighting changed from blue to green (March 1966), (7) the rubber boot at the base of the gear lever being replaced by a black Ambla gaiter; there were also detail changes to the gearbox cover and prop shift tunnel finisher (October 1966), (8) the material used for the under-dash panels was changed from Rexine-skinned aluminum to fiberboard (October 1966) and (8) a Girling clutch master cylinder replaced the Dunlop unit (December 1966).

Jaguar E-Type: S1 with covered headlight light (left), S1.25 with early "sugar scoop" (centre) and S2 with later "sugar scoop" (right). 

After the headlight covers were legislated to extinction, the replacement apparatus on the E-Types came to be called “sugar scoops”, a term earlier used for the Volkswagens & Porsches sold in North America (NA) which had to be fitted with sealed-beam headlights because of protectionist rules designed for the benefit of US manufacturers.  The use of “sugar scoop” for the E-Type was appropriate because the visual link with the original utensil (which, in technical terms, is a "specialized spoon") was much more obvious than the more subtle hint seen on Volkswagens & Porsches.

A US market 1977 Porsche 911 (1964-1989), fitted with the front bumper assembly of a later 911 (964 (1989-1994)):  The original “sugar scoops” are seen on the left and the replacement Hella H4 lights are to the right (in RoW cars both H2 & H4 units were fitted).  The sugar scoop (centre) is Japanese, circa 1970s.  Sugar scoops are used to scoop sugar from a “sugar scuttle” whereas if one’s sugar is in a “sugar bowl”, a “sugar spoon” is used.  The difference between a “sugar spoon” and a “tea spoon” is the former has a deeper and usually more rounded bowl and most are supplied as part of a “tea set” or “tea service”, often with the same decorative elements.

Despite that myriad of modifications, all E-Types up to those informally dubbed 1.5 are S1s but the running changes can be of significance to restorers if the object is to emulate exactly the state in which a vehicle rolled off the production line; in events such as a concours d'elegance, judges can deduct points for even minor variations.  Things became more distinct when on 11 January 1967 the first E-Type destined for the US market was built without the covered headlights and this marked the beginning of the run of what would come to be known as the 1.25 although it wouldn’t be until June-July that year the open headlights became a universal fitting on all E-Types.  Unlike some cars where changes can be determined from the sequential VINs, the only way accurately to determine whether a 1967 E-Type built between January and July was fitted with covered or uncovered headlights is to authenticate the market for which it was built, those for NA using the uncovered fittings.  What this meant was an analysis of successive VINs will reveal on a given day there might have been a mix of cars with the the different headlight assemblies going down the production line.  Curiously, there were some 1968 E-Types built for Canada which included the triple SUs and while these included the interior changes mandated by US federal law, the Tex door mirror on the driver’s side wasn't fitted and the tail and side lights were a different specification.  From 1969, Canada aligned its regulations with those of the US so from that point on, the NA specification was standardized.

Between August-October 1967, the 1.5 began to evolve and that included the twin Zenith-Stromberg carburetors replacing the triple SUs (on NA cars), the substitution of ribbed camshaft covers, a higher mounting of the headlights (to meet minimum height requirements) and the adoption of rocker switches.  At this point, the teardrop tail lights remained, the most obvious external marker of the S2 being the chunky light below the rear bumper bar although, in the usual manner, updates continued, such as twin cooling fans (a good idea) and 1000-odd (the so-called "R2" run of cars, almost all of which are registered as 1971 models although some left the factory in 1970) E-Types gained a pair of "leaper" badges on the flanks, just behind the front wheel arches.  Unlike the centrally mounted steel leapers used on the saloons, the badge used on the flanks required two part numbers, one each for the left & right.  It seemed a pointless addition and just more clutter, as they were on the S1 (1968-1973) & S2 (1973-1979) XJs.

1971 S2 Jaguar E-Type (centre) from the "R2" run of 1000-odd with the leaper badges on the flanks.

So much did the clutter created by bigger bumpers, protuberant headlight assemblies, badges and side-marker lights detract from the lovely, sleek lines of the Series 1 cars, bolting a luggage rack to the boot (trunk) probably seemed no longer the disfigurement it would once have been.  The left-hand (left) and right-hand (right) badges, being directional, were different part numbers (BD35865 & BD35866 respectively) and those used on E-Types were silver on black.  There were also variants used on the XJs which were gold on black and some had the leaping feline at a slight slope, both matters of note for those wishing to restore to the challenging "factory original" standard.  

So it can be hard to follow without a flow chart but, because of some overlaps in the production process, the S1-to-S1.25-to-S1.5 transition wasn’t entirely lineal but none of this is mysterious because Jaguar’s Factory Service Bulletins (JFSB) have documented these “inconsistencies” (which were standard industrial practice).  For example, there were a certain 32 specific NA market vehicles fitted with the headlight covers which were built with serial numbers later than the first of the open headlight cars.  Not all E-Types built for NA in 1967 thus had the open headlights and a not insignificant number of those 1.25 spec vehicles have been retro-fitted with the covers.  Such is the appeal of the covered headlights that although the E-Type market is monitored by the originality police (the “matching numbers” crowd which have an extraordinary knowledge of things like “correct” hose clamps or screw heads), there seems to be much untypical forgiveness for “back-dating” headlights to the sleeker look and they're not unknown even on the later, and much different, S3 cars.

The lure of the headlight covers: 1973 E-Type with headlight covers subsequently added (left) and with the original "sugar scoops" (left).  These are US market cars with the additional "dagmars" appended to the bumperettes.  Even by 1973, thin whitewall tyres were still a popular option on US Jaguars and they remained available until the last were sold in 1975 but the wide whitewalls often supplied in the early 1960s had long fallen from favor.  Although the judges in the JCNA confederation are usually uncompromising members of the originality police, they make a rare exception in not deducting points from late-build E-Types (the so-called 1.25 & 1.5) which have been fitted with the headlight covers.  Although the covers never appeared on the S3 E-Types, their presence clearly doesn't dissuade buyers because the S3 pictured above (left), in February, 2021 sold at auction for US$230,000.  It was an exceptionally low-mileage example (8000-odd miles (13,000 km)) but even given that it represented an impressive premium. 

While the loss of the toggle switches, teardrop taillights and headlight covers was a cause of some lament, some other changes also induce pangs of regret.  The switch from three to two carburetors was necessitated by the emission control regulations; the claimed horsepower dropped from 265 to 246 and while not many took the original rating too seriously, there was a drop in performance, especially in the upper speed ranges.  One often less noticed change mandated by the DOT was the replacement of the “eared” knock-off hubs for the wire wheels (the E-Types only ever using a two-eared version although third-party items with three ears are available) with a more “pedestrian friendly” type which, bewilderingly, are now referred to as the “non-eared”, “curly”, “octagonal”, “smooth”, “federal” “safety” and “continental” knock offs.  Take your pick.  Buyers could also take their pick of whether their “improved” wire wheels (now incorporating a forged centre hub) were painted in matte silver or chromed although the JFSB did caution that because of the altered configuration of the spokes, the wheels were not interchangeable with the earlier type except as a complete set (ie five per car).  Available from 1 January 1968 (the effective date for many of DOT’s new rules), this was Jaguar’s last update of the wire wheels which, in a variety of forms, the company had been using since being founded in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company.  Never offered on the biggest and heaviest of the post-war cars (the Mark VII, VIII, IX and X/420G) or the new XJ range, they were last used on the “overlap” Daimler saloons (250 & Sovereign) in 1969 although they remained an option for the E-Type until the last was built in 1974.  Although a handful of small-scale producers continued to offer wire wheels, their final appearance on the option lists of the UK industry’s volume models came in 1980 when the last MGB was built.

Norway’s Motorhistorisk Klubb Drammen (Historic Car Club of Drammen) from Buskerud county reported on an exhibition hosted on 2 July 2014 by the Norsk motorhistorisk museu (Norwegian Motor Historic Museum) in the village of Brund, the event honoring Lindsay Lohan’s (b 1986) 28^th birthday.  The S2 Jaguar E-Type was recently restored but it would require a detailed examination to determine the degree to which (note the triple carburetors) it remains in its original specification.  Given the location this may have been a RoW car but there’s a lively two-way trans-Atlantic trade in E-Types (many now restored in Poland) so it may originally have been sold in the US or Canada.

The “Shaguar” used in the three Austin Powers movies (1997, 1999 & 2002).

The Shaguar was a 1967 S1.5 E-Type which thus featured the combination of teardrop taillights, sugar scoop headlights and rocker switches and, being right-hand drive (RHD), it wasn't built for NA.  When the auction house published the photographs, the vibrant on-line Jaguar community did their analysis and concluded it was built in December 1967 as a 1968 model but was in far from original condition (beyond the obvious paint and Shaguar badge).  The dashboard included the earlier manual choke and the heater and vent controls appeared to be missing and while the side & turn lights were NA specification, the taillights were those used on RoW cars.  The tachometer was the one one fitted to S2 models and it was suspected this may have been swapped when the later, non-original engine with the twin Zenith-Stromberg carburetors was installed.  Over the decades, many E-Types have for one reason and another drifted far from their original build and usually this limits their appeal to collectors but at Mecum Auctions in January 2025, the Shaguar achieved US$880,000 (including 10% buyers premium), several times the typical sale price of a non-original S1.5 E-Type in the same condition, its history as a cinema prop clearly an attraction.