Rich’s Safety Water Bumpers

This was digitally transferred from a very old promotional film that had been sent out to their franchise distributors around the country, to be played on a projector to prospective buyers showing these small add-on bumpers. Larger full rubber bumpers were also made to replace the whole metal bumper that was on most cars back then. This film was around 45 years old, so it is a miracle it had survived this long intact. A relative of that distributor found this stored away, did some research, and contacted me to ask if I wanted this box of unsold bumpers and presentation materials as a keep-sake. Back in the late ’60s to early ’70s, when I was just a kid, my Grandfather; John Rich, with my Father; William, and his other Son; Milton had developed the Rich’s Safety Bumpers filled with tap water, for use on cars, buses, and trucks. They had managed to work a deal to sell them here in Portland, Oregon for the benefit of Police vehicles, and the Metro bus line at that time, which netted them some good start-up capital. Insurance companies were offering a 20% discount for those who had this safety bumper installed, since they were going to save a lot more than that. He was the first to develop a molding process to make these large hollow rubber cells. They also made full-width bumpers that replaced your hard chrome-plated steel bumpers. It was to be filled with just common tap water for an inexpensive hydraulic function, which is an important detail to absorb this kinetic energy and reduce the force of recoil from an impact. They had managed to grow this business large enough to garnish the attention of the major US Auto Industry and were starting to cut into their new parts sales. They then sicked their Lawyers on them to get this project shut down quick. To hell with saving lives and serious injury. Profits are all that matter to them. Staunch proof of their heinous corruption and disregard for lives and suffering. The hardest sales issue was how most cars at the time still had shiny chrome-plated metal bumpers, and this was a very different look for cars of that era. If you think about it; the car manufacturers long before this already had the technology to make a far superior bumper with less weight than this after-market add-on bumper. Think about how the wheels on cars need a 3 part system to continually take the weight of the car versus the impacts of the bumpiest roads without any damage occurring. One part is the metal spring to absorb the impact. The second is the shock absorber to resist the recoil effect of the spring, and the third is an inflated rubber cell to resist the smaller bump, which we call a tire, since it also has to rotate for the vehicle to move across land. This sort of system could easily have been implemented within car manufacturing for far less money by the manufacturers. Much easier, since it does not need to rotate like a wheel, but smaller rollers could be added to the outside corners to help redirect the car on impact. This system would be built within the car frame in the front and back of your car, where you are likely to have the highest speed impacts. The rubber cell alone would be able to deflect all of the low-speed contacts you are likely to encounter with no more than a scuff mark, which is over 50% of the impact cars tend to suffer. The spring would then help to handle impacts over 5 mph, with the shock absorber to reduce that recoil force of the spring now charged with this kinetic energy. Imagine what this would do for your insurance costs, as well as landfill issues with the elimination of most car shell repairs. Imagine how many millions of serious injuries could have been and could be avoided each year? Let alone deaths. Without this just making contact with a solid immovable object at over 20 mph is considered fatal. If that impact could have been reduced with this system that could make all the difference. This sort of safety bumper in a high-speed impact may not avoid any damage and injury, but it could mean the difference between injury or death. These high-speed impacts only account for less than 50% of vehicle impacts, but it is a serious issue. So, you must ask yourself: Why after over 50 years since my Grandfather’s work on this project would all the major auto manufacturers still refuse to design this into their vehicles if it would save so much damage, countless injuries, and even the many lives? Especially when they know that 80% of all accidents happen on the city street and parking lots at under 20 mph point of impact. That means perhaps a good 40% or more of accidents would result in pretty much damage or injury-free. It would be more like playing bumper-cars out there with less whiplash you see at those slower speeds. Instead, you so much a scratch another car and it’s near road-rage hostility, stress, and often court battles.