Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-09-10
BILLY MCABE'S MOTOR.
BY LUKE SHARP.


everybody interested in rapid road loco
motion, the house of commons failed to
pass the motor car bill. Many com
panies had been organized in England
for the making of road locomotives, and
people now wondered what was to be-
come of these organizations, which
were, as a usual thing, largely over cap
ltalized. 1t was said that the commons
would be sure to pass the bill next ses-
sion, but the same remark had been
made the session before.
1t was at this period that the eyes OF
the world became gradually turned on
Billy McCabe, who was at first called
the English Edison, but after awhile
people began to term Edison the Amer
Jean McCabe, which went to show that
Billy was getting on in the world. No
body was so much disappointed at the
fnaction of the house of commons as
Billy, and it is doubtful if anyone used
more reprehensible language on the
subject than he did. Billy was not the
man to sit calmly under this injustice,
and he held, quite truly, that it was
ridiculous that a country like England
should have law compelling motor
car to go at four miles an hour, pre-
coded by tired-loolling man with red
flag. Billy had invented a motor car
himself on an entirely new principle,
and he had been waiting patiently for
the house Of commons to pass its motor
car enactment so that he might float
his company and compete with the other
o1r Iu IN hn al
the patronage of those who wished to
run along the country roads as swiftly
as if they were in railway train. Bill
Tvs car differed from all others then in
the market. 1t was extremely light,
being made of composition of steel
and aluminium or something of that
sort. 1t did not depend for its motive
power on either electricity or petrole-
UNI. 1t was simplicity itself. In
strong reservoir it generated the new
acetylene gas, which is easily made by
dropping lozenge of carbine of calcium
into a little water. Not being practical
chemist, am little uncertain whether
the substance is carbine of calcium; it
NAV be carbine of sodium; but anyhow
it is carbine of something, and this
substance can be made into little tablets
which, when dissolved in water, pro-
duce the acetylene gas. There was a
strong reservoir holding some water,
into which was dropped automatically
lozenge after lozenge as the gas gen
Grated was used in the engine, and so
pumped off into the empty air. Billy
had a good deal of trouble at first with
his motor car, because he insisted on
smoking while running it, and the
acetylene gas being tremendously ex-
plosive, Billy found himself blown into
the next county on frequent occasions.
SO he was compelled to give up the use
of tobacco while riding on his car. He
thought at first of calling it the anti
tobacco motor and floating it as a COM
pany which would reform smokers, but
finally he hit on an invention which al
lowed man to smoke in comfort while
he sat on the car. He concocted an ar
arrangement by which the discharged gas,
having done it's work, passed through
a box containing s0apy mixture so
that the gas came off in great bubbles
and foated along by the roadside. This
was the germ of his next marvellous
warlike invention, by means of which
the gas inclosed itself in little globules
that shot off into the air, floating in
space for awhile, and exploded with
fearful force when the bubble touched
q tree or the earth. This device, as
everybody knows, has changed mod
ern warfare completely, just as Billy's
car has changed modern locomotion
Edison came out, Immediately after
Billy's discovery was announced, and
claimed that he had invented the same
thing 25 years ago, but Billy got his
patents all right, and that is the main
thing in a commercial AMI contentious
world.
/ was intimately acquainted with
Billy, and beg to state here that it is not
true, what historians have said, that Nc,
Cabc set out deliberately with his motoI
80 defy the great British empire. Moth
ing was farther from Billy's thoughts
he being a most peaceable citizen. lie
merely took out his motor to show the
public how easily it might be guided
Through eveu crowded streets; but the
law takes no account of good Intentions
knowing perhaps to what purpose they