Spinner (wheel)

Spinner

A spinner is a type of hubcap that spins independently inside of a wheel itself when the vehicle is in motion, and continues to spin once the vehicle has come to a stop. Being an attachment to the car's wheel, spinners operate by using one or more roller bearings to isolate the spinner from the wheel, allowing it to turn while the wheel is at rest. The spinner's own momentum helps it overcome what little friction is transmitted through the bearing. When the car is in motion, the small amount of friction transmitted through the bearing sets the spinner in motion. Spinners were popular within the hip-hop community of the United States and are gradually fading out of vogue in popular culture.

Invention

In October 1992, a United States wheel spinner patent was filed by American inventor James (J.D.) Gragg from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who conceived and invented the original free-spinning Tru-Spinner in the late 1980s. The American Tru Spinners Wheel Enhancer spinner patent United States Patent #5,290,094 was issued on March 1, 1994, making Tru-Spinners the first free-spinning wheel spinner patent of its kind with foreign patents to follow, Patent #187,015 issued in October 1997. Gragg has over 100 inventions and has built many versions of spinning wheels including one that spun for over 18 minutes and Triple-Spinner with 27 different spinning mode capabilities and Holographic Tru-Spinners. Many imitation versions were made and sold. In 2003, Davin Wheels was issued a U.S. patent #6,554,370 for a non-adaptable spinning wheel only version called the continuous motion wheel.

Popularity

Spinners were popularized by the 2003 Three 6 Mafia single "Ridin' Spinners" featuring Lil' Flip, and other popular songs by T.I., Nelly, Lloyd Banks, Chingy, Jadakiss, G-Unit, 50 Cent, Master P, DJ Quik, Redman, Baby, Twista, Dem Franchize Boyz, and Big Tymers. Multiple music videos have featured the use of spinners. Spinners have also been features in television shows such as MTV's "Cribs," ESPN's "The Life," BET's "How I'm Living," and "NBA Inside Stuff." Spinners have been further popularized by many celebrities who use them including, Latrell Sprewell, Hulk Hogan, Shaquille O'Neal, Busta Rhymes, Donovan McNabb, and Allen Iverson.

The monster truck Escalade and Annihilator use spinners specially designed for their large wheels and to take the large amounts of abuse.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom has anti-spinners — the "RR" logo in the center of the hub is mounted on a spinner with an offset weight designed to ensure that the logo is always the right way up when the car is parked. The hubometers used on large trucks and buses that appear to run stationary as to count their miles, are actually enclosed and float in a liquid with anti-freeze as to be functional in severe low temperatures without freezing.

Historical

1967 AMC wheel cover with spinner

The term spinner hubcaps has been in use since the 1950s, but describes a different item from those used today.

These classic spinner caps feature a rigidly mounted propeller-like center element, usually with two or three projecting "blades", intended to simulate the knock-off hubs that were used on vintage racing vehicles and classic sports cars.

These spinner hubcaps were most often an optional appearance upgrade to the standard equipment hubcaps or full wheel covers that attached to stamped steel wheels.

These hubcaps were the inspiration for a Detroit-area R&B/soul group, The Domingoes, to rename themselves The Spinners in the late 1950s. A second-tier Motown act in the 1960s, the Spinners would go on, in the early 1970s, to score a string of hits in the Philly soul style.

See also

• Custom wheel
• Donk
• Hubcap