Not a saleseman, but thought it is a pretty neat concept!
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Neat Idea if it work’s as advertised.
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Never seen that before. I remember they used to have tubes to apply sand in front of the wheels on some trucks. Assume you are stuck going forward and no back though.
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It looks like they should work in reverse, the chain rotation is based on a friction device on the wheel.
The only negative I can see that I would not want to put it on the steer axle I would not want it that close to the ty-rod’s.
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Hear that!
Many fire trucks have a similar system. I never saw it in operation though, our station is next to public works so we got a snow plow front door when needed.
Was listening to a few stories from a fire bud over thanksgiving. Had to respond to a call during snowmegeddon, the plow had to clear the way for emergency response. This usually mild mannered fireman pulled up on the street saw the lady at the door, and said if you want to go get your ass out here, I don’t recall the exact nature but a hangnail would probably not be far off.
@bing. I remember that Sears offered what you described for cars. These were called “road sanders”. These devices were featured in Sears Fall and Winter catalog. There were two hoppers that mounted in the trunk with tubes that were just ahead of the rear wheels. The driver flipped a switch and the grit (it wasn’t really sand) dropped down in front of them rear wheels. I think this is what you described for trucks. It was available for cars as well.
I actually had a set of tire chains that I used in the winter back in the early 1960s. They were a pain to put on and take off, but they did give good traction. I remember my dad bought a set of recapped snow tires from a local recapper and walnut hulls were in the tread for added traction. I had a pair of studded snow tires back in the early 1970s.
I remember reading about this system probably 10 years ago or so. It was in use on ambulances in… I want to say upstate New York. Be a cool thing to have on a passenger car.
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Doesn’t look like it’s possible right now but they may expand. At least right now on the site it’s mainly for ambulances and semi’s There’s a two page pdf form to fill out before you can order a system. They need to confirm various measurements about the suspension of the truck.
I’m sure on a passenger car you’d have a problem with clearances. You’d end up beating on the underside of the car with the chains.
Seems like a good idea in theory, but any sort of speed I’d worry the chain segments might flip up and damage the brake lines.
Oh no, George is gonna tell another of his stories!! 
Years ago – VW Rabbit – I got caught chainless in an unexpected early snowstorm on I-80, early October, near the Calif/Nevada border. 2 feet piled on the road, no plows in sight, and I was plain stuck. So I made my own makeshift chains using some rope I had in the trunk, and that worked well enough to get me to a place ahead a mile or two that sold real chains. Surprisingly the real chains were quite a good value, only $35, custom cut to fit, and installed.
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Cool if it works.
I can’t imagine occupants of a passenger vehicle would like to hear chains rattling all the time when retracted.
Hear that!
Last time I drove that a late-season storm required us to pull over, put on our chains, follow a plow in a convoy, east to west.
It looks like a good concept for a heavy truck, but I don’t see it as a viable option for low-clearance passenger cars.
Fortunately, there are low cost options for the rest of us.
These are accepted in CO as chains, an easy option.
A grad student that lived across the street from me one semester had some kind of single straps that just went through the wheel. We had about a foot of snow and he had a front wheel drive something-Toro I think. So he just comes out and straps those things on in about ten minutes and off he goes. I guess it wasn’t his first rodeo. I had to wait for the plow or tire tacks even with snow tires on my 59 Wide Track I wasn’t going anywhere.
Even as a kid though, there weren’t many that used chains unless you were out in the country or had work to do. I’d see a few 4 WD Jeeps with plows on and all four wheels chained up. I think most people had a set but not used much unless you were going ice fishing on the lake.