The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-01-19
THE AUTO SHOW.
Big Cars the Center Of At
traction I'm New York.
Six and Eight Cylinder Cars Are
Pleasing Feature.
LARGE CROWDS OUT.
The Number of Sales Are Grow
ing With Every Day.
Interesting Notes OF Some of
the Machines on Exhibit.

New York, Jan. 19.-The rain of last
night and today had little or TO effect
upon the attendance at the Automobile
st1oAv in the Garden. From the hour
of Spening yesterday there was a
steady stream of visitors. and at night
the crowd was so great that visitors
moved with difficulty through the
aiSles. The addition of the Vanderbilt
cup to the exhibit of the Darracc reo-
PIC Inade that section of the Garden
particularly attractive, and the throngs
around 1t showed how popular the au-
tomohile has become.
One of the developn'e ats along the
line of high power are the six and
eight cylinder and two-cycle cars i'll
the show, and the collections are larg
err than was expected. All told, there
hibited. The six-cylin1er cars are
shown by the Franklin, Pierce, Str
ens-Duryca, Hotchkiss and Darracq
companies. The Darraca car was rot
received until last night, and was
paced on exhibition this morning.
The Hewitt Motor Car company is
showing massive eight-cylinder
car, and the Gilmore Manufacturing
car. Each of these cars is as hand
somely built as modern ingenuity and
cunning can make it.
According to these companies, with
the possible exception of the Pierce.
whose Great Arrow was only built a
short time ago for the Glidden tour
thkre is an undoubted demand for
plultiple-cylinder cars, preferably, as
is shown by the comparative numbers,
for six-cylinder cars. That this is true
Is fully shown by the number of sales
the different companies are making.
EVer the Pierce people have sold their
whole stock of six cars of this type,
ard only refrain from calling their
make a certain popular success be-
cause it has not yet been in service
long enough to warrant the assertion
In the first place, word should be
said concerning the places assigned to
the various types mentioned. The six
cylinder car was a natural evolution
from the four cylinder, just as the lat
ter grew out of the two-cylinder, and
the eight-cylinder car, in its turn, is
further effort at evolving a more sue
cessful type from the six-cylinder car
1t must be admitted, though, that as
yet the making of eight-cylinder mo-
tors is in its infancy. On the other
hand, the three-cylinder two-cycle car
is an alternative from the four cylin-
der car, for the benefit of the man
who does not wish to go to the expense
of purchasing a six or eight-cylinder
machine. Incidentally, the engine is
simpler,
Naturally. the six-cylinder car is
more expensive than the four-cylinder
car, for it has to be built somewhat
larger. to have longer wheel bases anS
larger individual parts. Still, the diff
ference is not much. only a couple of
hundred dollars, and the returns re-
ceived from the extra expenditure are
declared to be well worth it. A six
cylinder car is much easier and
smoother in its motion than is a four
cylinder machine. 1t glides along
where the other car bumps. 1t has
much more horsepower hence much
more reserve power, the asset which
automobilists are beginning to realize
IS the most important requisite in a
motor car. The Pierce Great Arrow
IS rated at 60 horsepower; the OAR
race. a runabout, at 30-40, which in a
foreign car always means more than
face value; the Hotchkiss at so horse
power and the others in the neighbor-
hood of $40.
No matter what the rated horse
power, 1t Is possible to get much more
energy, ergo more speed, out of a six
cylinder motor than out of a four-cyl-
Under motor. The reason for this is
simple. To employ a technical term,
"the power strokes overlap" In or
der to drive a car, force is required,
and this force is gained by means of
q series of explosions in the cylinders
which exercise an influence on the
driving rods and conversely on the
crank shafts. These explosions do not