Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1911-08-17
WILL THIS NEW SPRING
sUPPLANT PNEUMATIC TIRES
Westinghouse Claims to Have Per
fected His Method.

In midsummer Of last year there
was published statement that Mr.
Westinghouse had invented an air
spring apparatus which would take
the place Of the pneumatic tire. the
announcement caused something ike
a sensation among automobile manu-
facturers, partly because all manu-
facturers have learned that Mr.. West
|inghouse never let's announcement OF
his inventions be made until he Is
assured Of their success.
This announcement, however, was
prematurely made, somewhat to Mr..
Westinghouse annoyance. In con-
versation with him in July OF last
year he said to the writer that he
was not the inventor of the air
spring; that had been the achieve
ment of a clergyman and a mechanic
whose homes were at Troy, N. Y.
They brought the apparatus to him
in the hope that he could suggest
some manner of perfecting 1t. He
discovered the defect in the appara-
tus, having recognized the CONNER
cial value Of the fundamental prin-
cipal Of It.
In order to satisfy himself Of the
commercial value which an air
spring might have If it could be sue
cessfully applied to the automobile,
Mr.. Westinghouse caused exhaustive
investigation to be made of the up
keep Of automobiles for single year
in the United States. The reports
which were made to him showed that
the aggregate upkeep represented a
payment in the year 1909-10 of about
three hundred million dollars, in
GLIDING chauffeurs' wages. One OF
the largest of the items of the sta
tistics which he received was the
upkeep cost of tires. The figures
were well up in the millions. These
reports satisfied Mr.. Westinghouse
that II an apparatus could be de-
vised which would eliminate the
penumatic tire it could be manufac-
featured at commercial advantage,
provided the cost of the apparatus
were not too great.
A Years Experiments.
During the summer Mr.. Westing-
house perfected, as he thought, the
air spring, although there were
some details, principally respecting
the manner of attaching the springs
to the axles and to the body of the
car, to be worked out. His own
automobiles were equipped with the
air springs. He drove with his
chauffeur over very difficult and
rough roads many miles, he learned
that the air spring could be SO used
as to supplement the pneumatic tire,
or on the other hand, 1t could be
adjusted as to make only solid and
thin rubber band upon the steel tire
necessary. In fact, his own MAJ
chine was run without any rubber
band upon the steel tire and with
perfect ease to himself and to his
chauffeur.
Having the apparatus in perfect
form and having completed the de-
tails which would serve to show the
best manner of adapting OF attach
ing the apparatus to the axle and
the body of the car, the next ques-
ton was the organization Of COM
pany with sufficient capital and with
competent skilled labor to manufac-
ture the apparatus and place it upon
the market.
In the fall of last year Mr.. West
inghouse said to the writer that 1t
was his intention not to begin the
manufacture of the air spring until
late in the year 1911. He desired
to make final and very exhaustive
tests. He certainly would not enter
upon the manufacture of the device
unless he was satisfied of the most
minute detail.
There were also certain computa-
lions or estimates to be worked out,
these were made and they showed
to Mr.. Westinghouse that the air
spring could be manufactured and
marketed at so low cost that the
apparatus would pay for itself in a
single season. In other words, what
it cost would approximately repre-
sent the average cost of maintain
ing tires upon an automobile 10 a
single season. The apparatus, Mr.
WESTINGHOUSE further demonstrated