Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-12
HORsELEss CARRIAGES,
Consul ChancellOr's Report of Recent
French Experiments.

Consul Chance1lOr's Report of Recent
French Experiments.
c. W. Chancellor. United States consul at
Havre. France, says, in a recent report to
the State Department regarding horseless
Carriages in France, that the time seems
approaching when automatic road car
riages, propelled by steam, electricity. or
petroleum, will come into general use and
take away from the patient horse the
worst part Of his daily toll. The Odds at
present, seem to be rather in favor of
petroleum.
"A most interesting competition has re-
Gently taken place in France between
varied specimens Of motor carriages. The
course prescribed was from Paris to Bor-
deaux-a distance of 1853 miles-and back
again, any vehicle to stand disqualified If
1t consumed more than one hundred hours
on the road. The big prize of the day
10000 francs C7, 72O-was for four-seated
carriages, which was wen by Les Fills de
Fengeot freres, while Messrs. Panhard &
Levasson secured second place with a two
seated carriage making the round trip in
twenty-four hours and fifty-three minutes.
Speed of Fifteen Miles an Hour.
1.-The winning conveyances were propelled
by gasoline, and the rate of speed was
about fifteen miles an nour, which Is re-
gsrded as an extremely creditable per-
Torrance. the long lines of hills being
have proved too much for the carriages
propelled by electricity, of which only one
got through, the others having abandoned
the contest. One of the steam carriages
was brought to a standstill at Versailles
early in the race, owing to an accident
and the others lost time by frequent stop
pages of five and ten minutes, made for
the p'-rpose of taking in coal and water
The electrical conveyances had also to
stop, from time to time, to renew their dy-
hfToa
carried enough force for a twenty-four
hours run. and on the return journey the
run was made without a single stop. In
comparing the merits of the different pro-
pelling agents, the palm must. so far, be
awarded to petroleum, which is clean. and
can be easily carried. The ordinary feeder
used for short distances contains less than
four quarts of oil, which will last over
Journey of twenty miles. or two and one
half hours. For long distances, recepta-
Gle capable of holding enough petroleum for
run of at least twenty or twenty-four
hours is provided.
Petroleum-Propelled Bicycles.
1--WE hear also of bicycles propelled by
petroleum, in which great interest has
been exhibited. and half a dozen Of such
machines started in the race to Bordeaux,
one, at least, holding its own among the
larger vehicles. It is believed that light
petroleum bicycles, tricycles, and even
IOuT-WneeleTS, Will soon come INTO SeIleTdl
use, which will tend to relieve lady cy-
clsts from the necessity of wearing short
skirts. Altogether, it seems that petroleum
Is destined to become the popular agent
for solving the problem of traffic and con-
veyanceS without horses in the streets OF
great cities and on smooth country roads"
Enslnnd's Wall.
In commenting on the success of the
horseless vehicles propelled by petroleum,
in the race between Paris and Bordeaux, a
leading English journal says:
Why is it that we are so slow in this
country to take up improvements of such
immense social Importance? Ours is the
land of machines and machinery, Of skill
ed inventors and colossal enterprises, yet
in many respects England lags behind the
whole civilized world in availing herself
of the discoveries of science. There is not
as much use made in the whole of Lon
don of the telephone as in one single quar-
ter of Washington city, and there are
prairie towns in the west of the United
states more magniflcently lighted by cleo
tricity than the best streets of London.
Electric tram cars and tram cables may be
seen in many and many city abroad,
while here they are still novelties. Years
tached electric or petroleum phaeton quick
y threading the thickest crowd of car
rfages in the Place de POpera, at Paris:
and now we have Frenchmen again. in
stead OF the countrymen of Watt and of
stephenson. acting as pioneers to the new
age, which will certainly effect the deliy-
GRANGE Of great cities from horse traffic.
and of the horses themselves from a cruel
and destructive use of their strength.