The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-13
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| my tests, said that the army would still use the army mule for many years to come, he by no means con- demned motor trucks. No one ever expected the motor truck to do all
 that the army mule can do over rough country. Similarly, the mule cannot
 do what the. motor truck can do, un- der some circumstances. h With the object of developing a. low-cost general utility tractor and power plant for farm service a St. Louis mechanic is organizing a conn pany to manufacture and market a gasoline machine of the pedrail type.
 To secure ample traction on soft ground the machine is to be equipped with wheels having protruding feet"
 which are thrust radially outward on coming in contact with the ground. The stroke of the feet can be reguIat- ed to suit the nature of the ground, so that the range of action is not lirn-
 tied to soft ground alone. A 4,000- pound machine, of the type In queS-l
 tion. he thinks, can be marketed prof. itably at $500.
 With the adoption, of uniform size of license tags by the various States throughout the country. there would
 come quite few benefits to both the builders and the owners of automo- piles. 1t would enable the builder to make suitable provisions for carrying the tags in a manner that would com ply with the various state laws and with trunk racks and tire holders. This would obviate, as a matter of course, the necessity for the owner to equip himself with a number of as- sorted license tag holders. At the present time there is a wide variation of sizes existing and the Society of Au-
 tomobile Engineers has determined to look into the matter.
 The manufacture of automobiles re- quires more than a million bales of cotton annually, of which 400, 900 bales
 are used in the manufacture of tires
 and protectors; 50,000 bales are used for the manufacture of Heather" seats and cushions; 10000 for the stuff1ng and upholstering, while the remainder is used up in making motor clothing, slip covers, insulating wires, tool bags, tool srollss waste and nerceriZed rain kclothing. For simply fltrating auto- mobile lubricating oil alone millions annually, to say nothing of the vast number of cotton or canvas covers
 made to put over cars while standing in sales rooms or garages. All this uses up cotton, so that the motor ve- hicle uses more cotton than the rail- roads and other allied industries. It has helped to increase the worlds
 
 than five million bales ine the last five years.
 Every car has some speed at which | it operates most economically. In most cases this is very close tos 25 miles an hour. The reason for this fact is that each unit in the car has some speed at which it reaches its maximum 1 efficiency. The speed of the car which coincides closest to the speed at which a majority of these units are acting at their best efficiency is the most economical speed. The carbureter, for instance, furnishes the motor an ideal mix ture at one particular piston speed. When the motor is running rapidly pthfs condition exists In most carbu- reters because the suction of the mo- | tor is better and the velocity of flow of the gasoline tends toward breaking I it up in a very fine spray which n1a- terially aids vaporization. A limit to the speed is found in practice, how ever, owing to the small amount of | time allowed for the charge to fully yaporize, although it is working un-
 der great advantages at high motor | speed
 | One of the cleverest feats of the
 taxi driver is to cut his steering efforts ! in half by running on car tracks. Un- fortunately street car rails are so spac- | ed in many cities as to provide a
 ready track for automobiles of stand- aru tread, ana With the wheels once
 on the rails, very little work on the part of the chauffeur is required to keep them there. Such treatment ob- viously results in a decrease of tire 1 life If the tires were inflated to 70 or 30 pounds pressure, they would be hard enough to run and remain round in running on the edge of street car
 rail. But since most taxi-caIb drivers keep their tires at an average pres sure of about 65 pounds, if not less, the castings and tubes adjust their 1 shape to the edges of the rails on which they are travelling, and with the full weight of the car pressing down lon the tires, the rail edges act like dull knives, tending to break the por-
 tions Of the casing fabric which bear against them. It may be safely stated