New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-01-20
TRUCK SHOW NEAR END.
Commercial Vehicle Display at
Garden Winds Up Tonight.
MAKERS WELL SATISFIED
Business Has Been Good During
the Week and Prospective
Sales Are Numerous.

New York will have its last opportunity
TO see the commercial vehicle show in Mad
ison Square Garden to-day. Surprising all
former truck shows in attendance, interest
and actual sales made, the great display
will pass into history at II o'clock tonight.
Heads Of big industrial organizations have
pronounced the exhibit a wonder. The
manufacturers say it is epoch making, and
purchasers are pleased with It because of
the wide range OF models offered.
Charles A. Stewart, general manager OF
the Automobile Dealers Association, Inc
which counts the leading New York dealers
and agents In It's membership, visited the
show yesterday. and spoke with some au-
thority on the opinion of the dealers con-
corning the show.
Il have talked 10 a large number OF our
members during the two weeks of the Gar
den show" said Mr.. Stewart, land they are
unanimous In declaring the present show
the greatest ever held, so far as doing real
dollars-and-cents business is concerned
This applies not only to the pleasure car
week, but to the truck section as we'll The
information | received along the line was
not exaggerated or colored.
81 saw actual cash sales made this week
just as numerous other visitors did. There
has been demand for all sizes Of vehicles,
bun the demand for low priced trucks and
delivery wagons, selling at $500 or less, Is
altogether unprecedented. One had only to
obserye the average visitors actions to
realize that they were there for the pur-
pose OF purchasing, or at least seriously
considering the products offered, with
tri. 10 bu In ba Az
show the public never fegns interest
The difference between idle curiosity and
real business intention Is obvious"
The idea OF many exhibitors In showing
cars with the names OF customers painted
on the bodies is considered an excellent
one inasmuch as IT calls the attention of
visitors to the various lines OF industry In
which trucks can be used. Thus, butcher
or brewer visiting the Garden may look
around and see numerous styles of vehicles
which have been built for his competitors,
and can observe wherein his own business
might profit by his having such equipment.
Not only the trucks themselves. but the
large line OF varied accessories especially
suited to commercial vehicle use. have
proved attractive to many users OF business
wagons New types Of tire treads are most
noticeable on all sides, likewise demounta-
bic rims for the same and various devices
to prevent skdding and increase traction.
In many cases accessories for business We
hlcles have 10 be constructed quite differ
emily and much stronger than those used on
pleasure vehicles Weight and strength are
great factors TO be reckoned with.
A feature more noticeable this season
than ever before Is that makers in nearly
all cases have departed from the touring
car design and are building out-and-out
wagons. IL has been learned
in the hard school Of experience that the
motor truck and the pleasure automobile
are two entirely different propositions.
Where some OF the makers used to try 10
use the same aXles. transmiss!ons. etc, In
their trucks as In pleasure models. they
learned by degrees the falacy Of this and
altered their design 70 meet demands.
Unusual designs OF commercial motor
vehicles continue 10 attract a great deal OF
attention AZ the show. Fire chiefs ana
fire commissioners from more than half
hundred Eastern cities have examined
the many makes Of self-propelled
fire apparatus displayed. These Include
the Knox 60-horsepower pumping engine
which has been sold TO the Weehawken
Fire Department. the Knox three-wheeled
tractor that can be coupled 10 any piece /
OF horse-drawn apparatus in place Of the /
horses. front wheels and tongue; a Loco I
mobile and White combination chemical I.
engine ana hose cart and the Saurer motor |
pumping engine.
Contractors ana builders who have at .
In IA rec.
numbers during the week, have been most .
igreeably surprised by the special vehicles .
adapted particularly FOR their needs. The .
lump trucks shown by several leading /
makers possess a special interest for
hem The Mack power dump trucks are I
Notable examples. one is operated by a
pair OF chains driven by power from the
motor through suitable gearing the other
4 operated by compressed air. which IS
admitted TO a long vertical cylinder back .
II the drivers seat. forcing up plunger.
he rod OF which Is attached at its upper
nd to the top of the iron body. child
can operate the mechanism simply by
opening and closing a valve on the dash.
An air compressor driven by the vehicle
motor. stores the compressed air in tank
Inder the chassis.
Coal dealers and those having sand.
asphalt or other granular material to haul
are finding various bodies suitable for
heir work The Morgan hve-ton truck,
With n heavy metal hopper shaped body
md Archlmedes screw, is a real novelty,
Notwithstanding the antiquity of the
crew. which Is located transyersely at
he lowest part of the body, and is driven
" a chain from the transmission mechan-
SIN of the truck. The screw is about
DOT IN diameter, and rotates at a speed
hat gives o. discharge capacity OF one ton
minute.
A new feature of this years power
lump trucks is the automatic action of
he tailboards In several machines these
re so connected by toggle arms that they
pen to discharge the load as the body
Uses and close and lock when II is again
owered into normal position.
Among the electric vehicles several new
makes are noticeable. The newest OF these
3 tn G. NJ. c. electric. designed by John M.
,andsen, jr designer OF the well known
,ansden wagons. The G.. NJ c. is COM
lete new design. made in several different
apacities up to FIVE tons. II has the motor
unz at the extreme rear OF the chassis,
With its shaft longitudinal Of the vehicle
instead OF transverse, as is the general
ractice. The motor drives the differential
in the middle of the chassis
through a fat spring bar that absorbs the
rst shock OF starting with load, and so
asses the stress on the differential gearing,
and It's bearings and on the
ide chains. II also prevents any binding
n other trouble due to disalignment OF the
motor shaft and differential gear.
Another departure In this truck is the