Nancy Classics by Ernie Bushmiller for August 11, 2020

Dragging a chain on pavement like that would make for an awesome spark generator….

The natural rubber on those old time vehicles was a better electrical insulator than what we have now and so a static charge would build up in the vehicle; surplus electrons, and like lightning in the sky will take the next convenient path to ground. The driver exiting the vehicle can be a ground link; woe be to that man who does not ground first. The dragging chain maintains continuous electron drain to ground. Modern tire formulations are much better for grounding a charge. Aircraft going through the air pick up electrons and getting out of one that can’t ground through its tires or some add on device can be fatal. As a kid in the sixties I remember seeing the dragging chains but didn’t know their significance until years later.

Sluggo has joined the chain gang!

I saw a propane truck (older one) with a chain dragging like this a couple of years back… and I knew why it was there. I just hadn’t seen one since the early 1970s (when heavy duty trucks from the 50s were still being used by some businesses)… :-)

Hmm. In all the decades I bought lighter fluid for my Zippos that I used to light my pipes, I never thought about putting a chain on the can. Sluggo…. a fellow thinking about public health and safety! Good job!

Deviating slightly from the topic of static, this carton addresses another aspect of growing up in the post-WWII era: getting children to do things to aid your nicotine habit. Both of my parents smoked cigarettes but could only afford “roll-your-own.” They had a contraption that took a large sheet of cigarette paper and, with a large can of tobacco (usually Players), you could roll 3 cigarettes at once. Then, using a razor blade, you would cut them into individual unfiltered cigarettes. That was the job my older sister would do once a week, sitting at the dining room table … helping our parents, or so we thought. I stole one of the cigarettes once, got caught smoking it in my bedroom and received the only spanking that I can recall from my father. The spanking wasn’t because I stole the cigarette, but because cigarettes were bad for my health. Ergo, I never smoked.

Ya learn something new everyday! Dats really AWSOME!

Sluggo’s grounded.

Okay! I just got two old Nancy books by Jerry Scott of Baby Blues and Zits. He did Nancy from 1983-1995 and she is so Calvin-ish. I wonder if current Nancy creator Olivia Jaimes ever read Scott’s version? : )

He should of just used paper clips.