New-York tribune., 1900-06-24
TRANSPORTATION AT PARIS
yF-ToMoBILEs AND RAILWAY ROLLING
STOCK
WHY THE FORMER ARE SO POPULAR IN FRANCE
-ErDcTRIc AND GASOLINE MoroRs-FREAKs
AND FEATURES IN ENGINES.
Paris. June 10.

Paris, June 16.
A curious contrast between old methods and
new is afforded in the transportation depart
ment of the Champ de Mars Building. Here
may find a large and interesting assortment
OF sedan chairs and coaches. many Of them two
hundred three hundred years old. In form,
size upholstery ard exterior decoration they
reveal great diversity and traces Of consider
able beauty. Besides, some of them possess per-
sonaI and historical associations which enhance
their fascination On the same floor and dis
tant but a few rods from this quaint collection
the visitor encounters upward Of a hundred au-
tomobiles The time VIII come. no doubt, when
these. too. Will have a singularly antiQuated
look and show the technical crudities and limi-
tatlons Of byg0ne age. But to-day they repre-
sent the latest advances in the art of locomotion
1t is probable that the prime use of the horse
less carriage will always be the conveyance Of
passengers and freight. But already, like the
animal which II is beginning TO dsplace from
mans service, It is also employed for sport
sport calling for the exercise of much skill. One
day last month a number OF automobile
tests requiring the dexterity CT Buffalo Bill!
if not the courage of an Ivanhoe. were held at
Vincennes in the presence of a fashionable and
distinguished assembIage.
Large as is the collection Of these vehicles on
the Champ de Mars, a still larger one is TO be
seen in a building especially constructed for
the purpose in the park of Vincennes, within
stones throw Of the United States machinery
annex. 1t is big enough TO accommodate four
hundred carriages, hut considerably less than
that number is on exhibit Close at hand, and
encircling a small lake, fine track has been
laid out for competitive trials. This was the
scene Of the fate just referred to. A few other
automobiles are 10 be seen in the military de-
parIment Of the Exposition, the more notable
specimens being an ambulance, a wagon for
telegraph engineers. and light fast carriages
for commanders and couriers
FRANCE IN THE LEAD.
France exhibits ten or dozen horseless car
riages 10 one from any other country The
United States contributes nearly a score, which
considering the distance they have come and
the fact that American makers can dispose Of
g vehicle the instant it is finished, represents a
good deal Of self-sacriflce. For several months
past, in fact, the Yankee manufacturer has had
orders enough ahead to keep his factory busy
for year. and he hardly needs to seek a for
eign market at present. Germany and Belgium
also make a modest showing But just now
France leads the world both IN the production
and use Of this most modern Of all vehicles
Onp secret of the wonderful development Of
automobilism here during the last five years
Is the existence Of magnificent roads all over
France. These are vastly superior TO those of
a
in Paris need not confine himself to the nicely
paved avenues of the city. He may venture
twenty fifty or a hundred miles out into the
country, and revel in the charms Of rural
scenery without any more fear Of a punctured
tire or the exhaustion of his power supply than
If he were ambling meeky along the fashion
able drives Of the Bois de Bouogne Other
European countries are almost or quite as well
off as France in this respect, and will undoubt-
future.
Good roads have had another conspicuous
effect on the automobile. They largely de-
termine the choice Of motive power for pro-
pelling 1T. Electricity is the favorite in Amer
ica and gasolene in France. The former Is free
from odor. and is utilized by a motor SO simple
in construction that II is not easily disarranged
Hence other things being equal il is preferable
TO gasolene- But other things are not equal
The storage battery which the electric system
requires is delicate affair compared with
one or two gallon tank. and it suffers from the
3ar of hard run over rural roads. Again,
fresh stock Of electricity cannot be secured as
readily away from home a supply Of gaso-
lene. So long as circumstances force the owners
Of automobiles TO operate them only in a city
electricity Is certainly more convenient. But as
soon as these same circumstances will permit
a man TO make long runs in the country. gaso
other trifing drawbacks. At any rate, that
is the verdict of France
GREATER DIVERSITY OF FRENCH FORMS,
a somewhat greater diversity of form is to he
observed among automobiles here than in Aroer-
ica- It would seem as if there were more kinds
of horseless than horse drawn carriages in
France. This variety is chiefly manifest. how
ever, in non-essentias-the coloring Of the We
hicles. and IN ingenious ARRANGEMENTS of the
seats The differences seen here in the placing
OF the steering and power levers also exist in
America And the same is true of the forms Of
brakes employed in France. There are the
usual distinctions between air cooled and water
cooled gas motors with incidental novelties in
the method Of promoting radiation from the for
Her- One French inventor thinks that plates Of
copper VIII prove more efficient than those of
iron for this purpose. Having concentrated
their attention mainly on gasolene motors, the
French may possibly be able to teach the Amer
lean. something III this department of mechanics.
but they show nothing particularly new in the
application Of electricity TO the automobile
Even yet the horseless carriage is in a more or
less experimental stage of development What
are eventually 10 be the standard types are not
fully and sharply defined And America is
likely contribute as literally as any other
country TO the solution OF the remaining prob
lens.
But if, in point OF numbers the horseless car
riages Of the United States do not make an in
posing display. they are certainly unsurpassed
IN grace of design and mechanical construction
In fact. while the automobile craze has given a
marked stimulus 10 the machinists trade here
in France, American tools and methods are al
ready coming into favor in the factories This
hE