The age-herald., 1901-01-11
Thinks the Steam Motors the
 Only Perfect Ones
STUDIED THEM TWO YEARS
Out of Fifty Different American Makes Finally Selected the Foster. How They Are Run-WilI
 Soon Come in Use

IT. K Miner, the pioneer automobile owner of Birmingham, was asked yester- day by an Age-Herald reporter if he had any trouble with his machine in the way of hreakdowns. Not a bit" he repl.ed. 'I think my automobile is the only per- fected make on tr3e market. It is a Foster, made at Rochester. N. Y. and runs by steam" Asked to tell something of his ex- perience and observation of automobiles he continued; "I became interested in the subject about two years ago. I subscribed fer every magazine published which was devoted to the manufacture and operation of automobiles and studded them closely. I first became convinced that the steam machines were the only practical ones; that the gasoline and electric motors were more or less in the experimental stage and moreover would not stand rough work. My automobile is intended for rough work over country roads. There is nothing eX permental about a steam engine. It is perfected and well understood by all me chanics. With the steam engine and the carriage built for heavy work l have never had a breakdown. The trouble with nearly all automobiles is that they are built too light There is a craze among manufacturers to build the llghtest ma chine just as there was among bicycle makers several years ago.
 Wheels Too Small.
 Another defect common to nearly all automobiles is that N1e wheels are too small. The average diameter is twenty eight inches, while the diameter of the Foster is 34 inches. You can readily see the advantage of large wheel. The smaller the wheel the greater the jar from every stone or rut there may be in the road. A rut that large wheel would pass with comparative comfort small wheel will sink into, causing a severe jar to the vehicle, and when they are lightly built possibly wrecking it.
 Before making q selection I examined fifty kinds of automobiles that are manu- factured in the United States. and also went to the automobile shop exhibit at the Madison Square Garden, which was held for ten days in November. There were over five hundred kinds of vehicles and about a dozen different makes which used steam as a motive power, and out of the lot finally selected the Foster as the best. The body of the vehicle can be made in any size and shape desired, the chief difference is the character of the motive power, and the size of the wheels. To illustrate the advantage of large wheels, I recently took a thirty mile ride through the northern part of the county during which 1 forded two creeks where the water came over the aXles. If I had had a S-inch wheel the water would have got into the vehicle and extnguished the fire. Another advantage of the large wheel Is that it takes less power to force it over an obstacle. Take an ordinary brick for instance It takes twenty pounds more pressure for every 100 pounds of weight in a vehicle to force a 2S-inch wheel over brick than 34-inch wheel As the average automobile weighs 900 pounds and with three passengers at 150 pounds each, this would make total weight of 1850 pounds, it would therefore take 270 pounds more to force a 2s-inch wheeled vehicle over the brick than if it had 3i-inch wheels"
 Are the tires solid or pneumatic?" Mir Milner was asked.
 "They are pneumatic" he replied, but quite as safe as if they were solid. They are two and a half inches in diameter and five-eighths of an inch thick at the tread Thus an ordinary tack would not pene- trate them, and a nail or spike would be apt to go sideways. It would have to be a nail held firmly in position by board to prevent turning and pointing directly at the tire to penetrate it. It is very inn probable that such a nail would ever be found, and moreover, to do any damage it would have to be at night when it could not be seen"
 How to Run One
 ''Is the machine hard to operate?o
 No; it is all done by one lever. The machine is started and stopped and the fire and steam shut off or turned on by