The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-02-18
SELF STARTERS
are FEATURED
New Model Cars all Carry
the Latest Help to the
Car Drivers.
INVENTION IS
HAILED
Grand Forks Show Exhibits
Give Opportunity to See
This New Addition.

When the motoring public looked
over the announcements Of the 1913
cars which had appeared in ths last
few months there was much amaze
ment expressed, not so much at tho
number of cars which were fitted with
motor starters but at the rapid growth
Of the electric system of motor start
ing and lighting. This is not to be
wondered at when the convenience
and a~daptability Of electric starting
and lighting is considered. Electric
starters have been used for cranking
the big gas engines used in stationary
power plants for a great many years.
but the trouble always has been to
provide an equipment that was light
enough to be carried on the car.
Ever since the gas engine was first
applied to motor cars inventors have
been working at some way Of getting
away from the labor and danger or
hanG cranking, with what success the
records of broken arms in the hospi-
tai will show. The first engine starter
that we know of to be applied to a
motor car Vas in 1899, but 1t was q
crude affair and died an early death.
Wint0n First In Field.
Engine starters for cars practically
were Unknown as regular part Of the
equipment until the self-starting VIM
o appeared four years age. The ar
rangement was viewed askance at
first-not because 1t failed to fulfill its
duties, but because 1t was so much OF
an innovation. The Amplex followed
the s~elf-starting field until eighteen
months ago. when the Chalmers SO
was announced with a pneumatic
starter.
This year the makers who wero
foremost in adopting the acetylene
starter. have come out with electric
starters and practically all Of the old
conservative makers who disdained to
listen to tho popular clamor Inc put
on the acetylene a year ago have ca
pitulated in favor Of the electric type.
How Engine is Started.
Starting an engine is accomplished
by putting gasoline or some other fuel
into the cylinders and igniting 1t by
a spark from the ignition system. This
may be done in either Of two ways,
One Is by introducing a charge int
the cylinders under pressure and ignit-
ing it SO that the consequent explo-
sion will drive the pistons downward
anu TURN TIC engine OVoT until IL SIdEIS
taking in gas from the c%arbureter and
runs under its own power.
The first class. like the familiar
acetylene starters and the gasoline
starters. are really printing devices
and have come to be known as igni-
ton starters because they make the
motor run OH the spark. The second
class. including arrangements intend
ed to cause the motor to take up Its
regular business or cycle Of events by
rotating the c~rankshaft, are called
n~On-ignftion starters.
How Electric Starters Act.
Electric engine starters, which are
the popular type this year. comprise a
combination of ar electric dynamo for
generating electricity, a storage bat
terry for carrying the electricity, a mo-
tor which takes the electricity from
the battery, and an automatic con-
troller for making the proper connec-
tions. In practically every case the
electricity provided by the generator
and stored up in the battery is used to
light the a as we'll as start 1t, and
in many cases the system also takes
the place OF the magnetic and supplies
current for ignition. In many cases
the electric motor and electric gener.