Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1899-11-02
EDISON'S AUTOMOBILE.
An Electric Motor That a Child Can
Manage.

An Electric Motor mat Chlld Gan
Manage.
Thomas A. Edison is at work on an
automobile which, he says will trans
cend in utility any machine of the sort
that has yet been produced
OF course, being an Edison produc
ton, the new marvel will be run by
electricity.
Though the wizard will not now
make public the full plans of his
latest creation, he gave some of the
details of it to Journal reporter, who
found him in his workshop.
My experiments are practically
completed" said Mr. Edison, and
within a few weeks we will have motor
bicycles and tricycles on the roads
hereabouts. have been working on
the motor for six months, and it now
fulflls all my expectations
The French naphtha machines will
not be in the same class with mine,
and the inventors will hang their
heads with disgust when the one
which is now being completed is
rlaced beside those of French make.
The mechanism of my machine is
far more practical; it is greatly con
densed, the clumsy appearance will be
done away with and the whole affair
will be lighter.
VIII it take person experienced
in electricity to run your machine?"
asked the Journal man.
Not at all, exclaimed the great in
yentor. Anybody can run it with
out the slightest danger. child
will be just as safe on the seat as he
is on the common bicycle or tricycle."
The controversy in regard to the
speed of the French and American
automobiles and the proposed inter
national race had directed ,fe atten-
ton of the great inventor to the pro-
blem of long distance travelling, and
he positively asserts that when com
pleted his machine viii have a running
lcapacity of from twelve to fourteen
miles an hour, and that the motive
power would last to travel $50 miles
! without re-charging.
As the demand increases" he con
tinued, and should my vehicles prove
the success / anticipate, | will either
build factory for their manufacture
or sell out my right to some bicycle
concern"
The very fact that Thomas 4. Edi-
son is getting out a horseless vehicle
| will attract attention to the new
mode of progression and will lay the
spooks of danger and difficulty that
people who have not looked into the
new vehicle worry 50 much about
When Edison says an automobile is
ar non-eXplosiye as a church and so
easy to handle that a 10-year-old child
can manage it as we'll as an engineer,
there is no longer any reason to doubt
that the roads of the future belong to
the horseless vehicle
He promises an electric runabout.
such as a country doctor would use
for from $500 to $4o0-hardly more
than a good single buggy and fair
horse cost at present He has cut
tie weight Of the machine down to
figure the reverse OF alarming. and has
carried the automatic principle So far
that the process OF running the vehicle
is less difficult than driving gentle
horse
To use his own words.
The automobile will displace
horses in few years in every class Of
work, Our roads are now suitable for
I their usage. Horses for families are
only for the rich and when a demand
comes for the automobile they win
! tl cheaper and the expense Of keeping
them in order will be about one-hfth
that Of keeping horse.
As to the cost. Mr. Edison said that
/ when the general demand came, the
price Of a two-seated vehicle would be
brought down to the cost Of a good
team Of horses. and that one-seat
/ buggy. complete, he said. would be
bought for from $500 to $500.
Edison, in discussing the proposed
international race. said to the Jour
nal that Charron could not bring his
/ Freneb-built machine over the road
from Chicago 10 New York.
Why continued Mr.. Edison. the
/ French machine would 20 to pieces on
Ionr roads or at least on the roads
which would have to he travelled over
Ion The course and the Frenchmau
woula find that his machine. which is
I practicable on the nice smooth roads
~ France would get stuck in the mud
before reaching its destination. or
would b shaken To pieces hy coming