Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-25
MOTOR CARS AND
MEN WHO DRIVE THEM
BY N. v. KELLEY.

y LIN Y IL ! xxIxvx X
KELLEY. o
K x 4 x x
I until your chains and sprockets on the rear
| axle disappeared from sight? You know
the rule in such cases. is to put down some
| pieces of board for the wheel to bite
against But, suppose there is no board
within mile? A friend caught in that sit
uation few days ago had happy thought
That want to pass along. He cut some
small branches from trees on the roadside,
and. after lacking up theocar, packed some
OF them under the rear wheels and placed
others along the track for few feet ahead.
When the wheels were let down they took
admirably, and the trouble was soon left
far behind
cablegram from Auvergne, France, just
received by the Pope Motor Car Company
from Herbert Lyttle says that the two cars
entered by Col. Pope have been accepted,
having met all the requirements in pre-
urinary trial of the automobile clubs of
America and France. 1t will be remember
ed that these cars were shipped to France
without having passed the required test of
the A. c. of y. here, and Clarence Gray
Dlnsmore was delegated to have the cars
| tested IN France.
X X
From time to time you will read news
paper accounts of fires about automobiles,
and in nearly every case the trouble is re-
ferred to in big headlines as an explosion -
1t Is very rare thing when the word will
Mt the case. In nearly every instance the
accident came from very simple cause and
one that might easily have been avoidabIe.
one OF the most prolific sources of ''explo-
| role
run on the ground beneath a car. lighted
match dropped near the wet spot will usual
ly make plenty of trouble. Remember that
IRE over gasoline is as bad as fame under
gunpowder- 1t is up to you to be certain
that no gasoline is dripping from your car
bQreter While your machine Is standing still,
whether the engine is running or not.
A battery of automobile lamps as a sub
stitute for daylight seems to be the latest
| thing. At the Detroit Country Club a few
evenings ago some golfers were engaged in
| a putting contest until long after the sun
| went down number of automobiles were
arranged around the putting green with
their powerful lamps bearing on the svard
and the contest was successfully concluded.
X
While the fact is recognized by every one
that the tool you need is always the one
you have left behind, there is limit to the
| amount of repair junk that any man wants
to carry Yet 1 recently heard some ex-
perts who We're arguing that whatever
should be left at home, an extra starting
handle should invariably be carried Then
the question arose: What is the best thing
to do If you find that you have lost the
starting handle or have forgotten to place
1t IN the car. One suggestion which il was
claimed had been success fully utilized was
10 wrap a cord around the fly wheel OR
clutch, and then, by pulling hard enough
secure enough rotation to overcome the
compression of the engine. This is really
not so>simple it seems and can only be
worked with certain makes of engines with
out great danger of the cord becoming en-
tangled in the shafts. A better plan which
can be nicely worked on a down grade is to
set the transmission on the high gear.
switch on the ignition, and, letting in the
clutch, start the car by the help of as MANY
strong men as happen to be within reach.
The clutch should be withdrawn of course
as soon as an explosion occurs The use of
the high gear i'll cases of this sort Is neces-
sary, because the low gears would drive the
motor too rapidly. and it would require
more beef" to push the car than one is
likely to have handy.
adopted. the borough of the Bronx In New
York will have twenty-mile automobile
roadway, running for the greater part of its
course through the most beautiful parks of
the city. This will be accomplished through
a "hooking-up'' process, linking together ex-
listing boulevards so as to make one con-
tinuous way. The road will begin at the
59th street entrance of Central Park and
end at the northern extremity of City Island
near Barlow station, from which splendid
roads run to points all through Westchester
and to Connecticut.
A gasoline motor car has Just been finish
ed and delivered to the Union Pacific rail-
way, and which is to have an ocean-to-
ocean test.
1t is intended to send the car from Omaha
to Portland, Ore, and thence to San Fran
cisco and Los Angeles over the Shasta
route; from that city to New Orleans
thence to Chicago via st. Louis. At Chicago
1t will make a speed and hauling test run
from that city to Milwaukee and return
After this trial the motor will be taken to
New York over trunk line and then back
to Omaha, thus circuting the continent
Recently the motor car made the run
from Omaha to Grand Island, Neb., 154
miles. in five and one-half hours, an average
speed of twenty-seVen and One-half miles
an muir y MAXIMUM speed OF forty miles
was reached which could have been ex-
ceeded had the car had the full complement
of trucks instead of only four.
An English genius has devised an auto
mobile fender. which 1t is intended to place
on automobiles. 1t is In the form of a pair
of pneumatic cushions curving horizontally
in front of the car from a point foot be-
fore the base of the radiator to the outside
edge of the mud guards. These buffers are
backed by blade springs SO arranged that
when blow Is struck on the pneumatic
buffer the springs are released, thus throw
Ing the object struck clear of the cars
wheels.