Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1913-03-06
Buick Company Gives
Self Starter Facts
Purchased Several Makes Of Cars and Starters and All
Have Refused TO Give Satisfaction Challenges
Anyone to Produce Starter That They win Guar
antee.

y guarantee his whole starter as
d unit to do the work for which
> was intended, and neither have v
. found one manufacturer who woul
a guarantee deliveries or tell as the
Q icould send their entire engineerin
corps into our plant and make q
application that in their opinion
\ would be satisfactory under three Q
: four months.
Insofar as we know. there is no
an automobile manufacturer today
slwho will guarantee even the cleo
trical apparatus that is used in con
Injection with supplying the ignition
shark, such as magnetos. batteries
etc, and we assume, II such manu-
facturers have not already done so
they will apply this same ''No Guar
lantee" clause to all OF the electrical
apparatus used in connection with
the self starters they employ In the
manufacture of their cars.
This starter proposition takes III
back to the old days when we had
carburetor and magnetic trouble.
When purchaser could not get
satisfactory results from his motor
--0n account of lack of electrical
experts throughout the copntry--he
would report his trouble to the fac
tory, and where we were occasionally
successful in getting the magnetic
manufactures to send a man to the
scene of action the magnetic man
would swear that it was carburetor
trouble. and the verdict would be
reversed when We succeeded In get
ting carburetor man on the Job.
We are more than willing to place
the broadest possible Interpretation
on the attitude of the starter man
ufacturers at the present time. For
the sake Of argument we will assume
that each piece and part, employed
In making a complete self starter, is
all made by one manufacturer and
that 1t is the intention of that man
ufacturer to make his apparatus per-
form in a satisfactory way without
cost to the purchaser.
If such was the case---and we all
know it is not--and one of these
manufs cturers should get out In
widely distributed districts 1000 Of
their starters-which would be a
drop in the bucket as compared with.
the number of automobiles that are
being MANUFACTURED and sold--he
could not look after these starters
and keep 25 per cent Of them work
Ing If he hired an army Of men.
The actual conditions are these.
One manufacturer builds an electric
Or generating motor, another the
device or battery--there
ire, Of course. exceptions where one
builds both the generating and start
ng motorbut- there is not manu-
'acturer today who is building q
complete unit, including starter,
battery, switches, ampeter, wiring,
tic.
Hence. even II II Is fact that the
manufacturer does positively guar
Intee that part Of the unit that he
makes to give satisfaction, 1t occurs
o US that by reason Of the fact that
his complete unit comes from so
many different sources, that regard
ess of what the guarantee is, It
mounts to nothing to the purchaser
Or he will be unable to attach the
Of the defect to the one :
articular manufacturer who is I'm :
and even If he did 1t, 1t
-ould be an impossibility for that
to look after him and
I've him the service he naturally =
xpects and to which he is entitled :
hen he purchases an article that
,sts as much as an automobile.
There is evidence on every hand =
lat self starters Of all kinds have q
ot as yet reached state of eff =
ency where they can be considered 9
an economical or satisfactory APP p
lance and an examination by a "
vice or even a casual observer will e
tidence in almost every case faulty 9
,plication and lack Of fabrication b
cilities. Either one Of these fea- b
res will shortly cause annoyance,
pense and in many cases render g
e starter worthless. u
The generator produces the cleo g
Ic current, which is supposed to b.
stored in q 8 to IL volt storage 2
ttery, and the current for operat- OF
: the starting motor is drawn from n
h batterv The infrfcacies Of this u