River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-04-25

see the name plate to know what
car it is. Nothing can be said OF
one that does not practically apply
to the whole of that type.
1t is battle between two types
of cars with 135 manufacturers on
one side and Ford alone on the
other side. The purchasing public
are the judges. Five years ago
Ford started with the Model T, and
has continued with this car ever
since. The trial has been going on
all this time and at the start Ford
had his normal per centage of the
trade, say one in one hundred and
thirty-six and the testimony of this
car has to stand against the testi-
mony of the other one hundred and
thirty-hve together with all the
changes they have made in five
years. The result is now that the
public demand for Ford cars re-
quires Ford to build one-third of
all the cars in the United States.
Light weight is the only thing
said against the Ford car, and no
manufacturer advocates h avy
weight.
Some say the Ford is too light
and are unable to tell you how
heavy car should be.
Ford tells you how heavy his car
is, and no other manufacturer pub
fishes the weight of his car.
Most of those who say the Ford is
too light, do not mention that the
Ford is constructed differently, as
if they assumed that fact on one
recognized principal of construction
or quality of material.
Theo say the Ford is cheap car
without telling you that it costs just
as much, or more per pound, than
their cars cost.
They say it is too light to be
strong and never sight the endur-
ance race from New York to Seattle,
and many of the most noted endur-
ance races where the Ford was the
first winner.
They tell you the horse power of
their car without telling you the
load or weight per horsepower or
how fast the car must run to get it
up to the rated horsepower. Horse
power means fixed expense per
hour and nothing more, unless you
know what each horse power is
loaded at. One horse power with
one-half horsepower load is a good
indication of road efficiency, but one
horsepower with a two horse load
meaDs poor road efficiency.
There is only one manufacturer
that can afford to call attention to
tire expense and that is the Ford.
No car is moved by it's own power
except by the strain of rubber to do
it; draw car with a rubber rope
and note the difference in strain be-
tween drawing a 1900 pound car and
a 5000 pound car. Tires are the
foundation of motor car and no
car is useful beyond the endurance
of the tires.
One of our school problems was
If it costs $1.00 to move 1900 pounds
given distance in a given time
how much will it cost to move 5000
pounds the same distance in the
same time? Another-If the NOV
ing of 1900 pounds with rubber
rope uses one-half of the elasticity
of rubber, what percentage of the
elasticity of that rubber will be
used in moving 5000 pounds? How
much nearer breaking point is the
rubber with the 5000 pound load
than with the 1900 pound load?
A man may say that he will use s.
inch tires on his car to give equal
rubber strain with the Ford car. If
he does he pays three times as much
for the tires and has gained but
little because the wagon track is Sc
inches wide with or inch width
of wheels and your 5 inch tires are
8 inches wider than the road, which
gives great resistance and grinds
the tires out very rapidly. Besides
this, if you strike a stone it is the
size of the corner of the stone and
the weight on the tire that deter
mines the strain-size of tire has
nothing to do with it.
1t is a notable fact that most all
standard machinery becomes obso-
lete in 10 years and most automo-
biles become out of date in one