Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-27
AUTOMOBILES.
VII-MOTOR CAR ACCESSORIES.
Bv Frederic ]. Haskin.


The demand that new industry makes
upon the inventive genius has never oeen
better illustrated than in the case OF the
automobile. One may take up the .cata-
lOgues of the leading automobile Access
sories dealers of the country and f1nd
listed in them nearly one thousand differ
ent articles used in equipping an auto
mobile. The catalogues of these dealers
sometimes contain more than three nun
dred pages. 1t is said that strictly new
accessories are becoming rare, and that
the present tendency is toward improve
ment of those already in existence. Inc
higher grade motor car contains some nVe
thousand separate parts, if all the rlVets
and screws are counted. OF course,
large number of these separate parts con-
sists of what is known more particularly
"a accessories, such as lamps, "ihu
shields, horns, speedometers, ct cetera.
The whole automobile world recognizes
the tire as the weakest ana also Tue
costliest part of motor car. HOW ue
terminedly and persstently inventors nave
sought to overcome the expense OF pheu-
matte tire maintenance Is revealed ny Tue
fact that more than fifteen thousand pat.
ents have been issued for spring wheeis OF
one type and another None vi t" 1Il
has as vet proved it's advantage over the
pneumatic tire, although it is sald that
one or two recently brought out promise
well. How important the productIoii "
such a wheel might he TO the user y.
automobiles Is revealed IN the taSt . ,;,
lion rheumatic tires will be needeo ~
supply the demands OF the makers Gnu
users of motor cars duf1nS Tue 1851
wear. So great has this demand oeooi,iS
lnad
now running twenty-fOur hours nay'
using dav and night shifts. in the nope
of meeting te tremendous safes w,
are anticipated for the summer seaso.,
A single tire manufacturing .,;n, al
turned away upward of two million DOL
Jars' worth of business last year pecaust
il was unable to fill the orders IL ia"
been estimated that elght I.lii,.o . n',n
matte tires have been used IN tiIs eoun
Try during the past five years rms re-
n,ariable demand for rubber IS response
hle for the high prices of al sortS ol iuo
her goods now obtaining everywhere
One Of the developments in the produc-
+;on of automobile accessories is the
shock absorb
Shock Absorbers err. Fast run
Protect the Springs. rough roads
is very trying on springs anu
the shock ahsorber has been oroueh'
out to reinforce them. Ihese az
sorbers prevent the BODY OIL 'n.
machine from rebounding too much, and
this serves to protect the springs from
being broken. The shock absorpers are
of many different designs. One OF them
takes something of the (airbrake) 1orm
and may be applied to any stanoaru
automobile. 1t is the belle, Oh the sh ,nS
the time will come when the pneuHialc
tire NAV be succeeded by solid cushon
tire. Another inventor has placed sort
Of pneumatic spring on .ne axe .he+ VI with
this he will be able to overcome the
expense of operating machines WIN pneu.
matte tires. However his Invention mas Ilot
yet been subjected to the ora,nar $500, d.
to which 1t would be put In EVERYDAY
usage. The automobile designers assert
that after all, they do not expect 10
see any sort of easy-riding Invention
which will prove an eHectne ot az
A favorite field for the inventors mas
been that Of producing devices TO pre-
vent ioy riding. One of them has brougnt
out successful anti-spseding st deT ne hand
on a dial at the maximum NUMBER ol
miles per hour it is desired that the
automobile shall make. Another nano'
which indicates the Speeu VI tHo hioN
moves forward toward the statlonar! ,aiu
as the maximum speed is approached. III
is SO arranged that before the maximum
speed is reached bell is rung auto
matically to warn the driver, just as
bell on a typewriter warns the operator
that the carriage is approaching the emo
Of the line If the driver observed
the warning and lowers his Speed AL
goes well: if he does not, the movable
hand comes into contact with the station
arv hand making q close circuit anu
hreaking that of the magnetic or battery
of the ignition system, thus stopping the
car.
Another nti-joy- riding device takes the
shape of a recording instrument. IL
consists of clock in a brass case,
with a flexible shaft attached rms
shaft. running from the wheels, operates
a chart and a recording marker. The
whole mechanism is locked with an un-
pickable'' lock, the key to which Is car
ried by the owner of the car or his rep
resentative The recording pen writes
down the moment when the vehicle
starts. when it stops, how far 1t has
run, at what speed it has run, how long
il stops and how long 1t runs. with
this device it is impossible for the ma
chine to be used with jOy-riding intent,
without the tell-tale chart revealing the
fact to the owner of the car.
Many kinds of horns are used on the
automobile of today. The tendency is
away f m
Many Kinds of Horns the com