The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-09-12
BILLY M'CABE'S MOTOR.
BY LUXE SHARP

Greatly 10 the disappointment OF
everybody interested in rapid road loco,
motion. the house OF commons failed &c
pass the motor car bill. Many com
pan.es had been organized in England
Tor the making OF road locomotives. and
people now wondered what was to be
GENE Of these organizations, which
were, As Z usual thing. largely over cap
italized. 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.
It was at this period hat the eyes OF
the world became gradually turned on
Billy McCabe, who was at first called
the English Edison, hut after awhile
people began TO term Edison Che Amer
lean McCabe. which went 10 show that
Billy was getting on in the world. NJ
body was 50 much disappointed at the
inaction 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 tie
mar 10 sit calmly under this injustice.
and he held. quite truly, that il was
ridiculous hat Il country like England
should have a law compelling a motor
car to go at four miles IN hour. pre-
cedcd by a tired-lookinC man with a red
Gag. Billy had invented a motor car
himself on an entirely Iew principle,
and he had been waiting patiently for
the house of commons 10 pass its motor
car enactment so that he might float
his company and compete with the other
organizations already in the field. for
the patronage of those who wished TO
Il along the country roads as swiftly
as If they were in a railway train. Bill
Tvs car differed from all others then in
the market. 1t was extremely light.
being made of n composition of steel
and aluminium or something OF that
sort. 1t did not depend for its motive
power on either electricity or petro!e-
am. It was simplicity itself. in a
strong reservoir it generated the new
acetylene gas. which is easily made by
droppinga lozenCeof carbine OF calcium
into a little water. Rot being a practical
chemist. l am a little uncertain whether
the substance is carbine of calcium: II
NAV be carbine Of sodium; but anyhow
Il is carbine OF something, and this
substance can he made into little tablets
which. when dissolved in water. pro
duce the ~acetylene gas. There was 4
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 or
smoking while running it, and the
acetylene gas being tremendously eN-
plosive. Billy found himself blown into
the next county OF 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
Danv which would reform smokers. but
finally he hit on an invention which al
lowed a man to smoke in comfort while
he sat on the car. He conCOcted an ar
rangement by which the discharged gas.
having done its work. passed through
a box containing 4 soapy mixture so
that the gas came off in great bubbles
and fioated along by the roadside. This
was the germ of his next marvellous
warlike invention. by mean 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 rs Billy's
ear has changed modern locomotIon.
Edison came out. immediately after
Bfllv's discovery was announced. and
claimed that he had invented the same
thing % years ago. but Billy got his
patents all right. and hat is the main
thing in a commercial and contentious
world.
l was intimately acquainted with
Billy. and beg to state here that il is not
Ii what historians nave said. that Nc
aCabe set out deliberately with his motor
10 defy the great British empire. Moth
sng was farther from Billy's thoughts.
he being a most peaceable citizen. He
merely took out his motor to show the
a,lblic how easily it might be guided
through wen crowded streets: but the
Saw takes 10 account of good intentions.
3nowng perhaps to what purpose they