The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-01-02

railroad coach. IL Is only by common
consent that chassis has obtained its
present-day significance; originally It
meant the side members and cross
sections, nothing more in fact than
the framework on which the mechan-
ical organs are attached. Little by
little its field OF influence was en-
larged, until now 1t is generally un-
derstood to mean the entire mechani-
cal part OF the automobile. Whether
used In the singular or the plural,
its termination is the same, chasses,
which occasionally finds Its way into
print, being altogether incorrect.
Georges Hullller, one OF the dlrec-
tors Of the Mors factory, In Parts, Is
responsible for 'elevating the tonneau
from humble field of usefulness as
a wooden cylindrical chamber for
containing wine or beer, into a dig
nified position as part Of the automo-
bile. At a time when automobile
carriage work was without form and
void, Huillier produced a new design
OF body with rear entrance and
| rounded ends, to be fitted on the
chassis In the rear of the drivers
seat. Roughly 1t resembled barrel
cut across the middle; as no more
suitable term could be discovered, 1t
was called barrel--for tonneau is
merely the French for barrel--and
has remained tonneau, in the Eng
lish language, despite radical changes
In its design. In French modern side
entrance touring cars have ceased to
be known as tonneaux, the type de-
veloped from the remembrance bar
rel-shaped body being double
phaeton.
Down in the old-world Department
OF Correze, in France, known under
the old regime as Bas-Limousin, the
peasants wear a heavy full footed
wooden sabot, known locally as a
limousine The district has also a
particular type of closed carriage, a
sort OF small stage coach, the design
OF which, in this unchanging country,
has probably not been modified in
ages. A coachbuilder from Limoges
established himself in Paris, produced
a new type OF open vehicle and named
1t limousine in honor of his home
land. From an open vehicle the
name began to mean a completely
closed carriage and with the automo-
bile its importance has grown Until
now 1t designates the most luxurious
type OF touring body; the peasants S
wooden shoe, however, has not re-
nounced its right to the title.
Bavaria appears to have given birth
to the landaulet, with a type of We
hicle fitted with a folding top, and
known as a Landau, after the town
OF Landau, in which 1t originated.
1t was modified, slightly reduced In
size, and few more letters added to
It's title. Taximeter had to be created
to meet a modern need for a handy
term to designate a vehicle that will
doubtless play an important part in
everyday life. Some advertising
agents appear to have assumed that
a taximeter Is special type of auto
mobile, forgetting that the box of
clockwork In itself no more modifies
the vehicle on which 1t is placed
than the gas meter changes the ma
ture OF the gas. 1t is merely a COM
bination Of taxi, tax, and metre,
measure of distance, designating
the instrument which taxes accord
ing to distance. On its introduction
1t occasioned a little trouble, some
users being in favor of taxametre and
others claiming taximetre; after some
discussion etymologists declared the
latter form the only correct one, and
1t has remained.
Jerome Cardan has long laid in his
unknown resting place, and his math-
ematical researches have SO passed
into the sea Of knowledge as to be
almost forgotten as individual efforts.
The universal joint which his fertile
brain created, and which was first
known as Cardan's joint or Joint la
Cardan, was never in danger of dying
out, but It's application was somewhat
limited and its admirers were few
until the automobile came along and
brought 1t into public favor, four cen.
turies after the death of its inventor.
The Automobile.