The sun., 1900-11-22
AUTOMOBILES ALL FAIL
~ Az OBSTACLE RACE ~ WHICH TOO
MTCH WAS REQt IRED.
A New and worthy STYLE Of Contest That VA
Interesting but Did Not Furnish . victor
A Novel Liquid Air Cooling and Refr1s-
Grating Plant Introduc ced General N0tes.

An obstacle race on new lines was witnessed
last nli,ht by the largest crowd that has ret
attended the automobile thUw at the Grsnd
Central Palace The scheme for the raoo was
. good one, and the carving ont OF II held tho
interest of the spectators for halt an hour. The
trouble was II was new idea and was put @
without rehearsal. The plan of former obstacle
races or automobiles has been To award the race
TO the machine making the best time between
'hc distractions with the least touching Of them.
III" scheme last night did away with tho speed
quality No time was taken. and this made
IL possible for machines of the different powers.
steam. gasolene and electricity, to compete
without being divided into classes So the contest
was a. announced. a free-ior-all Chairs were
placed in pars ~ intervals about the track and
on tho inlold with their backs toward each
other and lust room enough between them for
the machines to have four inches OF clearance
on each side The intervals were spaces Of
eleven feet from one lar of chairs to another
ana tic pairs We're set Zg-2ag fashion. The
conditions REQUIRED tie contestants to run be-
tpccr all the chairs lorv ard and then hack up To
III" starting pCiut
The winner was TO be decided by q process
of elimination. The first man to touch an
obstacle was ont and then the rest had to re-
peat the trick after the chairs had been moved
one inch closer together with the same prin-
cipIe of touch and out appiyinH untai only
machincs, three electric and two steam. en-
tered and all but one made the forward pas
sage in safety. Not one OF the remaining
four. however, could make the back ward
trip without touch and II was seen that the
spacing was such as to present an impossible
proposition. In consequence no decision was
made though McDuilee and Fisher did splen-
didy and Won loud applause. The liquid
air machine carried away railing last night.
...,N l.YnN
i new feature was added 10 the show yester:
day by tho pittins into operation Of a model
relrigeratlng and cooling plant that has been
in pas sive evidence all the week. II is operated
by n small dynamo and liquid air l. used which
pnss's through complexity OF pipes and finally
after serving as substitute for ice In re:
friEarat0r of the common household size and
in drinking water tank IL liberated to cool
the room, It was only a model, but It seemed
to be itisfaCtory 70 the spectators, as II did
what was promised for It.
Fire Chief Croker visited the exhibit in tho
r,, use in hi the department lie said that he had
experienced considerable trouble with tho
machines he has had and optned that they
had not yet been built up 10 the requirements
OF the hard work Of the Fire Department ser
vice, but he added that he had discovered
number OF improvements among the new th,
nj the show which he thought very proml
and lac was far from being discouraged v" -
a number OF those earnestly seeking for 'l.it
sion-, besides the Usual popular attendance
Of the curious who wish 10 be entertained by
watching the track pNblutlonr ana rides.
this i particularly true Of the out-of-town con-
tingsnt. some Of whom have made the trip to
the city especially TO inspect some new device
Yesterday were 4 II Drummond. an English
engineer of distinction, who accompanied
A + Emo oil this city: Capt Hu-
Der, Won Rebeur Pa-chwitz. German naval
attache al Washington and party
of friends. the Rev. Scott Melville Smith Of
Richneld Springs. DR.. J. {. McEvitt and n party
Of physicians 81 the upper Hudson who were
inve ri eating liqrid air col. John Jacob
Astor who already has an electric and steam
auto. was in during the afternoon examining
and pricing gasoleuc motors.
For purpose Of instruction Eothing better
in laboratory could hc had than some of
section of n machine is offered, the engine
iust as IL sets in the carriage being shown
separ arately and explained as II could not pos-
sibly be when built w in the vehicle. Naturally
this kind Of exhibit attracts two classes. the
uninitinted who want 10 know" and the newly
fcired chaTeurs who are not vet versed in
all the mysteries. The second class walk
up and complain of having this or that trouble
and the evrert goes over the details until the
visitor cyclams' All, yes Now ] see where
] mode. my mistake. understand now.
Th1uks
The ever varying hurlc.nue on hand shaking,
has had n new addition through the wit Of
some ~ the fnoetious exhibitors, who have
II consists in participants stretching their
arms forward with the palms turned outward
then the RIGHT hand ~ each Rrasps the elbow
of the other and the arms thus locked are
worked backward and forward like a piston
rod