The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-24
HONK HONK NEWS
Great Smith Car Is Planned for
Year 1911.
Number of New Improvements
Are Suggested.
THE SELECTIVE GEAR
U. III. l.. Wernicko Has Patent
on Puncture Proof Tires,
Other Items OF Interest in
Motor Car World.
THE SELECTIVE GEAF


peka has decided that to make a
cheaper car than they are making at
the present time would be a loss of
time and money. As a result those
who have been waiting for a $500
motor car from the Topeka concern
will have to save a little more and
purchase q $4,000 or $3.50 model.
For the last two years patrons of
the company and people interested in
It's welfare as well as its machines
nave asked the officers for a cheap
er car. They have wanted something
in the vicinity of the $1,000 mark
and have promised to make purchases
if an automobile of this price was
manufactured.
Not until this fall would the officers
make any definite statement. They
had considered the matter before and
had about decided to make something
less expensive-thus less in value.
The last year in motor car building
and use has taught the manufacturers
of the Great Smith a lesson. They
claim that the cheap car is expensive
in the end.
THE cheaper cars don't stand the
wear and tear said an official the
other day. "They don't last-and the
buyer loses faith. We don't want
Great Smith motor car constantly in
the shops. We don't want our pa
II OAlS ~ nave CONSTANT trouble WITH
their machines. We want car from
this factory that will represent the
reputation and the good workman
ship of the company"
In other words the Great Smith
Automobile company will not make
cheap car next season.
1t costs just as much money to as
semble a cheap car as it does an ex-
pensive machine The actual assem-
bling takes the same amount of time,
labor and expense. The company
would have to cheaper their manufac-
turing materials and they have been
constructing their machines with the
best on the market so long that a
change is not advisable and does not
appeal to the officers of the company.
The Great Smith company manufac-
lures more of its parts than any 9TH
er automobile manufacturing con-
Germ in the country. Practically ev-
cry part with the exception of the
wheels are made in the factory in
Topeka. Every part of the cylinders,
the axles, the shafts, etc, come to this
city lin the rough" and are turned out
by Great Smith machinery in the
plant in this city.
The workmanship, the materials
used, the care taken in construction
and the excellent finish and assem-
bling is of such a character that to
make a cheap car would be lower
ing of the Great Smith standards
and as long as the company is BILE
to sell their cars as fast as they can
make them they are relying on their
merits.
The Great Smith for next year will
be an Improvement over the car this
year-every year an Improvement of
some kind is thought out by the high
class workman and officials. For one
thing the Great Smith will use the
selective type gear instead of the pro-
gressive type now in use. The select
i've gear has many advantages over
the progressive-and each feature will
be included in the new machine for
the coming season.
There is another improvement that
the company has not made public
and viii not make public until it is
perfected to the satisfaction OF the
inventor. It is learned that O. H. L.
Wernicke. president of the Smith Au
tomobile company. has a patent on a
puncture proof tire or wheel and he
intends to incorporate this improve
ment in the 1911 machines. The
scheme embodied in this patent is not
known at this time-but it is known
that it will signify a revolution in the
motor car tire question.
These important technical features
will be the main points in the new. car
for the coming season Such other
change in lines and types and extra
painting and finishing will work them
selves in the new car as it is per
fected.
When the city paves Mulvane street
through Elmhurst a number of the
residents on this street will purchase
motor cars. Because this street is
not paved is the only excuse I have
to offer this year said DR.. Van Horn
this afternoon. But when the paw
ing comes through next spring 1 can't
get along without one"
This will be a signal for the motor
car dealers to pounce upon the doctor
and point out the advantages of their
machines.
Commissioner Tandy head of the
street department of the city has been
pushing the work on the city streets
This is . move commended and ap-
plauded by the motorists of Topeka.
But there are a hundred places in town
where additional improvements can
be made. Crossings over the street
railway tracks and the old fashioned
''hog-back walks are nuisances.
What kind of a new type is that
you are getting out?" said a visitor to
an official of the Smith Automobile
Company While going through the
plant the other day
The official turned around to the di-
rection pointed out by the visitor and
there on the floor standing high in the
air was one of the early machines
made by the Smith company owned by