Odometer Day is observed each year on May 12 by learning a little bit about the odometer. Odometer Day celebrates the invention of the odometer which was invented by William Clayton in 1847. An odometer is an instrument that indicates the distance traveled by a vehicle. It may be electronic, mechanical or a combination of both.
Odometer comes from the Greek words hodos meaning path or gateway and metron, meaning measure. In some countries, an odometer is called a mileometer, milometer or tripometer. Odometers were first developed in the 1600s for wagons and other horse-drawn vehicles to measure distances traveled.
Developed by Arthur P. and Charles H. Warner of Beloit, Wisconsin, the first odometer for automobiles appeared in 1903 and was patented as the Auto-Meter.
