Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-31
AMERICA AHEAD
OF OLD COUNTRY
FADDISHNESS ONLY EXCUSE
FOR FOREIGN CARS
AMERICAN GENIUS HAS PASSED
AcRoSs-SEAS ENGINEERS
Seating Comparison of Homemade
Automobiles with Inferior Prod
ucts of European Manu-
facturers

industry in the United States little or
nothing was known of the properties
required in the materials Of construc-
ton, says E. T. Birdsall, M. E., of the
A. L. A. M For example: Aluminium
was a novelty, castiron and bronze
were used for the gear wheels of the
speed-change mechanism; roller bear
ings having unhardened rolls operated
in soft axle tubes as bearing for soft
steel solid axleS; bronze and maIleaDle
iron were used for connecting rods; the
hardening and grinding of crankshafts
and many other parts were unknown;
~U7se4es were lined with wood blocks;
any yellow metal for bearings was
"bronze,' regardless of it's composition;
hardening meant ease hardening
sometimes .O01 degrees deep, sometimes
more, but always an indefinite amount.
Heat treatment, alloy steels and har-
dening as we know them TO-DAY were
practically unknown. Structural steel;
bar plate and red stock; woods OF
various kinds, castiron, 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
requirements 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 other competitions
that developed in few hours weak
nesses and shortcomings of design In
materials that would have taken
months of ordinary use.
Finding that increasing the size alone
of a week part to make it strong
enough was not always the remedy, or
even always feasible, the manufac-
turers naturally turned to the steel
makers for better materials
Right here another difference between
the United States and Europe should
be noted. In the United States the
steelmakers wanted tonnage. That
is, they would not get out a special
grade of metal and set up the rolls to
shape it unless an order for many
thousands Of tons was placed. Whereas,
in Europe, the steel mills would take
an order for a few hundred pounds OF
a steel of special composition.
The net result was that the French
automobile builders by races that tested
the materials and design Of construc-
ton, by the facility and possibility of
procuring proper materials, by clever
ness in design and by keen competition,
soon distanced all other nations In the
production of cars that were reliable,
fast and dependable.
A concrete example of the above is
1Q1nlSn6u ny InS ACTUAL OApCI1C1lO VI
one of the early American manufactur-
ers who conceived the idea of building
in this country an exact copy of We'll
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 or 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 careful
investigation showed that the difference
was solely due to the quality of the
materials used.
AS at that time practically no one
here who was available knew the diff
ference between the materials in the
model and the copy, and there were
not procurable in this country ma
terialS, from a constructive and COM
mercial point of view, that would an
Swer the purpose, the manufacture of
the car was discontinued.
Conditions in the American engineer
ing talent and material market have
in the last three or four years COM
pletely 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.
1t is, moreover, a fact that the re-
verse Of the above mentioned case has
happened. An American manufacturer
in 1899 and 1900 produced number of
eight-horse power cars, with single
cylinder, vertical in front engine. The
owner of one of these cars appeared
within the past two months at a New
York salesroom and stated that he still
used his little eight-horse power orig
inal American car and that the bear
ings and all of the parts had stood up
Ja,. This must ha
had excellent material and admirable
design. AS a matter Of fact one Of the
largest manufacturers in Germany &C
Quired in 1898 exclusive rights to manu-
facture this same car of American de-
sign and on American specifications for
material. All the detailed drawings
were converted into the metric system
and sent to Europe with model and
some parts. The car, though well known
and successful in the United States,
was not satisfactory when made by the
German maker with European material.
The American industry has grown to
such proportions that steel and other
material manufacturers seek and cater
to the wants of the automobile builder.
At the present time there is not, and in
fact for some time past there has not
been the difference between the foreign
and the domestic car that formerly
existed. If the American engineer is
not satisfied With American materials
all kinds and grades Of foreign ma
terials can now be procured in stock in
the American market and at prices
commercially practicable.
The only possible reason for the pur-
chase of a foreign car in this country
today is the same one that leads many
people to buy English clothes and
French hair dyes.
There is an idea very prevalent in
some quarters that practically all the
cars made in France, England, Italy,
Germany and Belgium are as good or
better than the better grades of cars
made in this country, whereas the re-
verse is really the truth.
Some of the foreign cars that have
had a large sale and vogue in this
country and been accepted without
question as being of the highest grade
were classed as second grade at home.
Taking the good and the bad together
the average quality is higher in this
country today than in Europe.
1t is true that there are more builders
of high grade finely finished cars in
Europe than in this country. But their
combined output is not as great as the
combined output Of the relatively few
similar makers here. On the other hand
there are practically no cars built here
as rotten" as some of the foreign ones
~S~
Signal Corps Asks for 100000