The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-05-08
AMERICAN AUTO PROCESS.
Difficulties First Makers Met in This Country
Steel in France More Willing to Make lests OF
Material-Change in Conditions Here in Last Few Years
Foreign Cars No Better than Those Built Here.

-F0relgn Cars NO bett'
In the early days Of the automobile
industry in the United States little or
nothing was known of the properties
required in the materials OF construc'
ton. For example: aluminium was
novelty, cast-iron and bronze were USED
for the gearwheels of the speed change
mechanism; roller-bearings having un'
hardened rolls operated in soft axle
tubes as bearing for soft steel solid
axles; bronze and malleable iron were
used for connecting-rods; the harden
ing and grinding crankshafts and many
other parts were unknown; brakes
were lined with wood blocks; any yell
low metal for bearings was bronze"
regardless of its composition; harden
ing meant "casehardening," sometimes
.0O1 inch deep, sometimes more. but
always an indefinite amount.
Heat treatment, alloy steels, and
hardening as we know them today,
were practically unknown. Structural
steel, bar. plate. and rod stock; woods
OF various kinds, cast iron, brass. and
bronze Of the ordinary merchant"
shapes and qualities were alone avail
able for the automobile builder. In
Europe, on the other hand, the re-
quirements of foreign gunmakers. en-
CINE builders, and others had created
a demand for special steels and
bronzes. From the beginning Of the
automobile industry in France the
machines were entered in races and
osher competitions that developed in a
few hours weaknesses and shortcom-
ings Of design in materials that would
have taken months Of ordinary use.
Finding that increasing the size alone
of a weak part to make it strong
enough was not always the remedy,
o. even always feasible, the manu-
facturers naturally turned to the steel
makers for better materials.
Right here another difference be-
tween the United States and Europe
should be noted In the United States
the steel makers wanted tonnage"
That is, they would not get out spec
lad grade Of metal and set up the rolls
to shape 1t unless an order for many
thousands Of tons was placed. Whereas,
in Europe, the steel mills would take
an order for few hundred pounds
Of steel Of special composition.
The net result was that the French
automobile builders, by races that test
ed the materials and design of con-
struction. by the facility and POSSIBLE
tty Of procuring proper materials, by
cieverness in design and by keen COM
petition, soon distanced all other ma
tions In the production Of cars that
were reliable, fast, and dependable.
! A concrete example Of the above is
furnished by the actual experience OF
one Of the early American manufactur-
ers, who conceived the idea OF building
in this country an exact copy Of
well known and successful French car.
after the first car was built the testing
out proved that the American tubing
used in the frame had only about one
half the strength and stiffness Of the
tubing used in the model. The gears
would not stand up under the work,
and the wearing qualities and general
durability of the entire machine were
far below the French model. A care
full Investigation showed that the diff
ference was solely due to the quality
OF the materials used. As at that time
practically no one here who was avail
able knew the difference between the
materials In the model and the copy
end there were not procurable in this
country materials from constructive
and commercial point Of view that
would answer the purpose. the manu-
facture Of the car was discontinued.
Conditions in the American engineer
ing talent and material market have in
the last three or four years completely
changed. We now know what material
to use In each particular place, how to
use it. where to get It. and why we
use It.
It is, moreover. fact that the re-
verse Of the above mentioned case has
shappened. An American manufacturer
In 1899 and 1900 produced numbes.
OF eight horsepower cars. with single
cylinder, vertical in front engine. The
owner Of one Of these cars appeared
within the past two months at New
York salesroom and stated that he still
used his original little eight horse-pow-
er American car, and that the bearings
and al Of the parts had stood up won
derfully well. This car must have had
excellent materials and admirable de-
aim. Al 8 matter Of fact one Of the