The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-13
AMONG THE AUTOMOBILISTS.
NINE ENTRIES RECEIVED FOR
ECONOMY TEST.
eco Annual Contest VIII BE HeId This
week Over q Course OF ~ Miles
Development of Motor Car Chiefly Due
20 Rrs,4g-nllnOis's had Roads.

n. York Motor Club. which il to he held
OH Wednesday. Thursday and Friday OF
this week. The cars entered are one each of
the following makes Maxwell. simplex,
Doris, Prayer-Miller. Oldsmobile, REQ.
Wayne, Berliet and Premier. The route to
be followed by the competing cars on the
first day will be IRON New York to Albany,
$50 miles: on the second day the run will be
from Albany to Springfield. Mass. 1874 miles,
aud The last day the route will be from spring
field back to New York, Lao miles. the total
distance Of the test being about $50 miles.
The awards are to be made on the basis of
cost per ton mile, and the object of the test
will be 10 prove the economy OF operating
motor cars as compared with charges for
railWa transportation over the same routes.
s. T. Edge of London, who won the James
Gordon Bennett cup for Great Britain in
1909. is OF the opinion that the development
OF the motor car owes more to the experience
OF racing than to any other source. 1t is only
ten years since the motor car was n COM
parstively crude machine. ungainly and inn
perfect in its way as the locomotive OF a
hundred years ago" said Mr.. Edge recently
in the London standard. Yet in those ten
short years it has developed 10 the perfection
OF the modern express engine plus the luxury
OF the Pullman car. For this rapid develop
ment the men who devoted their energies.
tAAhO ahN mtciikcnCe 10 Tue CTcdtlOD OF thc
racing car and risked their lives In its ex-
ploitation in road races have been primarily
responsible. The motorist who enjoys the
luxury OF a modern high powered car is none
the less indebted to the racing pioneers for the
perfection of the machine, even though be
may be strongly opposed to racing in any
form. And so far as racing on public roads
Is concerned, | think in the main he is right.
Motor racing may still be good sport. but only
updar DrONar conditions aa for axapnpla nm
an enclosed track and over a properly pre-
pared roadway. Such a racecourse. for in
stance. as that which Locke King is building
at Weybridge, ought to provide most excellent
sport. safe and interesting. Motor races so
conducted should DO popular. remune rative
and Instructive"
In a report made by State Highway En-
gineer A. N. johnson OF Illinois he states that
$4,000, 900 is the amount Of money appropriated
every year for the roads and bridges in the
State. He calls attention to the waste OF
money in the method OF working the roads in
Illinois. IL IL the plan throughout the State
20 plough up and grade the loose earth in the
fall. though the proper time is the spring,
when the roads are soft and the work can be
better accomplished. He advocates the use
Of the road drag. but as this Is only a make
shift. and is by no means tending to improve
the roads permanently. IL is only a continue
ton Of the wastefulness that has always been
the custom in Illinois. The State Of Illinois
may continue to spend IS. 900. 600 q year or
double that sum without making any more
progress than has been made. There is a
deep rooted prejudice In the minds Of the
rural jewellers IN the state against stone
roads" as they are in the habit OF calling a
macadam road. IL may be set down as a hard
and fast rule that Illinois will never have the
Eood roads that are to be found in Masea-
Jersey until the State appoints a highway
commission and furnishes the money to do the
only one system, and that one is under State
aid. ln this country until pressure enough is
brought TO, bear on Congress 20 provide
national AID. The announcement has been
made by the Government that the acreage
value of Illinois Ia s7a an acre. being $40 higher
leading State IN real estate values. This
value IL without the influence OF good roads
such as New Jersey enjoys. If Illinois pos
highways as New Jersey. the valuation would
be far greater than it is at present.
Every meritorious improvement tending
toward the simplifcation OF the control Of
motor cars and the reduction of the nervous
ton must be OF interest to the future or the
industry, says the HDrssiess Age. Persons
matters, and to whom the functions OF the
various controlling devices have long been
matters Of almost instructive knowledge,
ing n ividual the control mechanlsms of a
car and their use still seem Of quite q com
plicated character, and doubtless there are
mobiles upon this ground. For. instance.
with changing speeds with a sliding pinion
clutch. then to bring the gears into their new
position, and finally to reengag the clutch.
These, three actions become in time almost
entirely automatic, but to the novice the
triple act is Of a Somewhat confusing charac-
ter. and is. for q. time. performed rather
clumsily, and sometimes at the expense OF the
1t is interesting to note that attempts are
being made TO combine the three actions
of gear shifting. which are now separately
performed, so that they may be accomplished
by a single motion OF a lever. Arrangements
are so made that the act OF moving the gear
shifting lever into the position corr espond-
ing with another gear at first automatlcally
throws out the clutch, and after the gear
shift IL complete allows the clutch to engage
again. II would seem that the mechanical
connections necessary TO accomplish this
need not involve any serious degree OF COM
p~licatiOn and should be capable Of reliable
action. The pedal clutch release may well
il Is desired 70 let the motor run free with
the car drifting" With this arrangement
ton should be almost as simple a matter as
changing speeds with a separate clutch
m nota %hetRcr his Il T prop Ss yeTy cant ln.es5 Re H0skt s8
out so as TO satifsy popular requirements.
To keep polished surfaces of iron and steel
from rusting prepare a mixture of FIVE parts
OF turpentine, twenty-five parts of tall0w,
twenty-five parts Of rogue or crohus and
twent y-five parts of animal charcoal. This
should be mixed with alcohol and stirred
until IL il perfectly homogeneous. IL IL then
applied with a brush and after the alcohol
has eyaporated the surface Is rubbed with
a mixture of twenty-five parts OF crokus
and forty-ive parts OF animal charcoal.
Just now the daily press is full Of the preva-
lence Of side slip as exhibited by the motor
omnibuses Of London, says the Field. 10 seems
hardly fair to make the drivers altogether
responsible for the skidding of these vehicles
unless they are driving In a reckless manner,
for the roads have been in such a greasy
state that the driving wheels were unable TO
get a bite" on them until sacks or sand we're
placed underneath. The mud on London
streets, by reason OF the lncessant churninR
TO which II is subjected by an immense vol
ume Of tTafhc every day, acquires slippery
properties of a very high order and Is a source
Of danger TO all vehicles alike, and therefore
should be dealt with az once In order 20 re-
move this evil. IL has been found impossible
to lead a motor bicycle along such a thor
ouGhfare as the EdReware road under these
conditions, for though the handlebar was
held firmly by the rider while walkin q along
side yet the back wheels would slither tow
ard the curb owing 10 the Gambler OF the road
and It's greasy condition. This state OF things
will naturally afrect a heavy vehicle like the
motor omnibus In at least as great n degree,
and any which IRE propelled by the power
being applied at the rear wheels are bound
to be incon venlenced far more than a horse