The St. Johns herald., 1896-02-15
WITHOUT HORSES.
Carriages That Arc Propelled by
 Motor Power
Road Tests in Trance for the Purpose o8 Infringing Out the Best Type of lIacilire for
 Vehicles.

Vehicles.
 One year ago there was so much fn terest in these h1rscless carriages tha' a race was arranged between t5eu, from Paris to Eoucn, the first prize to be given to ti,e carliage which sl.oul'; excel in speed, safety, managcabilitv and economy. There were one hun Clred ard Two vehicles entered, bE: be fore tEc day of the contest this number was reduced by withdrawals and dis qualifications to twenty-onc. The starters were Of all shapes end sizes. from neat victorias to great coaches for eight and ten passengers. The first to fDiSh was Cc:ate de Dion's steam yc- hicle. heavy traction engine of so;na twentS fro horsepower, drawing a four-scated carriage. The next to fin ish, tbirty-ive minutes later, w2s 9 four-se;..ed phacton. brilt by the Sons of Pcuceoi Brotbcrs, of Paris. and pro- pelled | Daimler petroleum motor. The next four to finish were also pro- pclled by this saElc motor. The prize was girea to the .irso petroleum motor to finish. and this carziaca had covered the distancs. eighty l-ilcs. in five hours and forty minutes, including two stops of fifteen minutes each. This test was a distiac- victory fer petroleum en- gines, a.d a special victory for tho Daimler tyre of engine.
 In these petroleum engines ii must not be understood that pc t.oleu1n is used as Q fuel for the production of steam. The principle is quite different, a, this Daimler motor is the utiiiza- ion of gas explosions pro- ducad at regular intervals. What bothered tAe inventive minds Of those who first cxpecilacntcd with this type of engine was the irreguiarity cf motion, and the fact that when the work to be done was less than the nor mai power of tic engine too many eX- p.osions occurred, arl the machine ran too fast. The first of these defects was corrected by thc introduction of fly wheel heavy enough to take up and carry on all s1rPlus force Of the gas at thc mo neat of its explosion. The pis- ton was tAus brcughs back by thc mo- mentum acquired by the 1y-whecl to | position in the cylinder where q fresh cxplo5.on had the greatest pro- polling elteet upon it. Tho second de- feet mentioned was rcmcdicd by an in- gcnious application of the principle cf the regulation governor, by which the gas-valvc was not opened wien the eoecd of the cnginc exceeded q certain limit. Again, the cylinder in which the explosions took place became so hot after time that the entire engine was likely to be smashed, owing to the expansion of parts made to it acca- rately. A water jacket around the cylinder, and D circulating cistcrn in connection with it, prevented this catastrophe. The heated water flowed out above, while the cold water passed into the cistern in it's turn.
 With such general improvement as indicated, the gas engine became com mercially practicable. But 1t was not until about nine years ago that RIr. Daimler. Q German inventor, found that he could make usc of the ordinary Cas engine, with some notifications. Gs a consumer of liquid hydro cartons, vGri- ously known as petroleum, naphtha, parafine, or gasoline. The chief. change was the addition of Q small heating chamber. into which the liquid fuel passed before 1t entered the cylia- der. Beneath this chaubc~ q pctro- leum burner was lighted, and is metal covering made so hot that the pctl0- leum vaporizcd as soon as it entered the chamber. The freshly prepared gas was then in position to explode il the cylinder as soon as 1t was mixed with the air. A small portion of each an opening near the top of the cylinder, So as to come in contact with the naked light which heated the vaporizicg chamber. These various steps were automatically regulated by puppet valves, which regulated the force and time of the explosions.
 Such. on general lines, is the Daimler motor which has been used so effective ly in these road tests in France. After seemingly perfecting the motor there was much ingenuity repaired in redEc- ing its size. and also l0 preventing bad smells and objectionable noise. Perfect combustion secured an abatcr2ert of odors, and the size was diminished by the stroke Of the piston rod and enlarging tho cross section of thc cylinder. This gave a shorter cc2neet- ing rod between tho piston crCss-ECai and the pin ca the Gy-whccl. Ia order to gain increased power with a shorter stroke, the speed of the engine had to be accelerated from one hundred and twenty to seven hundred revolutions per minute.
 E,f-i:s,l Court Functions.
 The unusual number of coart func- tion3 os one sort and anothcr ia Enn- land and t,.e exceptional number of "drawing-ra2l2s" at Euclzinr,lc.-. nalaee fhiS vco1. h@-N Ior-, 31,,> s,,..,,7-