New-York tribune., 1912-01-14
SELE-STARTER IS SAE.
Insurance Reports Show Dangar
of CrankIng a Motor. /
PUBLIC MUCH INTERESTED
Close Attention to Devices al
Garden Show Reveals Big
Demand for Them.

"Cranking of automobiles seems to be q
dangerous form Of exercise. and. though
the resulting injuries are rarely, II ever.
fatal. yet they are serious enough"
THE above is quoted from a recent re-
nort by one Of the largest accident fnsur-
ance companies I'm the United states, ana
II Is a small part OF an extensive paper
an automobile accidents, which shows that
during the last three years more than Al
ner cent OF the total accidents TO motor
is,s have been due to cranking In 1908.
90 all accidents to automobilists. 81 per
; cent were caused by cranks which kicked
, hack. In 1910, when cas- were higner
| ,,oyerea the ratio had increased to more
tban 40 per cent OF accidents due to crank
,no In 191l from January to october
iro,,s,ve the percentage had increased
| to nearly i6.
! The neures are taken from the indemni-
,.s Maid throughout the United states by
this one insurance company. As evidence
| that the condition is not connned TO any
one company, it may be said that the COM
bined report Of all the accident insurance
companies operating In the state Oh
Georgia recently made public the fact tnat
| or aIl automobile accidents In that state
IN 1911 more than I3 per cent were que "
| cranking.
| Here. then. is the best possible expiana-
tim Of the great interest which the pubic
took during the last week in the seit-
starting cars shown in the Garden. Wher-
oye- se,f-stsrter was exhibited in tho
show. or wherever one was demonstrated
1 Ratnere0.
On all sides was heard the remark, Tnis
q. .eIf-starter year" Around the ChaI-
msrs booth. where the only operating SELF
starter inside the Garden was sno"n'
there were constant crowds
| By some It is said that the self-starter Is
4 onlv a fad. Perhaps they are right, but IL
so Il is a fad which will save many oroAen
arms and ribs, as is evident from insurance
reports Others predict that before anotner
show comes cars without self-startins oe-
vices will be practically taboo. fhat
sounds very likely. in view OF the STUDY
given the starters at the Garden snow
I'D to this season, only one passenger
car was regularly equipped with SELF
starter. Then, In July, the Chalmers COM
pany announced for the 1872 season the nlsc
medium priced car with self starter as
regular equipment. since theE thete hd"
been a rush to get self-starters on the
market. Now practically all OF the stan
dard makes, with a few exceptions pro-
vide self-starters, either as regular or OPP
tional equipment. And those who PROVIDE
them as regular equipment are growing IN
number every week. Following the Car
den show, where the public fairly de-
manded self-starters. many more manu-
facturers will undoubtedly get into the
elf-starter fold. From this It looks as
though the prediction regarding next year
may be about right. II,
Certainly, cranking car IS not ohiy
dangerous but also decidedly inconvenieht'
and any purchaser Of car has right 10
demand a reliable, safe and simple starter
as a part OF It's equipment. More tnan
tnat he Is taking a chance II he Decent as
,he insurance reports prove. In addition 10
,ho convenience and freedom from accident
u,h,cb sny reliable self-starter gives. the
",,rchsser OF a car with compressed air
ss,t.starter gets a mechanical tire inf,ater
,ort ot the regular starting device