The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-01-12
1878 MACHINES
WELL EQUIPPED
Visitors at National Automo-
bile Show to See Big
improvements.
M ANY SELF STARTERS
Devices for Safety and Care Of
Operator Are Also
Shown.
MANY SELF STARTERS
BY c. Il. PALMER, NJ. T..

Visitors to the thirteenth National Au-
| tomobtle Show. which opened last night
| in Madison Square Garden and Grand
Central Palace. New York. will be liter
| ally amazed at the advance that has
been made during the last season In
pleasure car construction. This does not
mean that many radical changes have
been made In mechanical constitution.
but refers more particularly to the very
complete equipment that Is being Of
fered. Editors of the various automobile
trade journals refer to 1913 as IAN equip
ment year." and the visitor at the show
will find that fully 30 per cent of the car
manufacturers are furnishing their cars
with more essential accessories than ever
before and more than was ever dreamed
Of only four years ago. This equipment
does not include a lot OF superfiuous and
useless parts. but such devices which
make for more efficient operation and
ease of control Of the car with less labor
for the driver.
For instance, where only three years
ago only two manufacturers furnished
seif-starters for their cars. this year
there are scarcely a dozen out of nearly
300 pleasure vehicles that are not
equipped with some form OF motor
starter which does away with the labori-
GUS and dangerous method of starting
divided into five classes. as follows:
Electric, compressed air. acetylene, gaso-
line or other volatile liquid, and spring
starters. The first type to appear as an
integral part of car was the compressed
air starter. TSen came the spring start
er. and then that depending upon the
explosion OF acetylene gas in the cylin-
ders to start the motor. At last years
show 90 per cent OF the cars on exhibit
III, ,,,ftH
ers, Il per cent with compressed air or
gas. and only IS per cent with electric
starters. This year II is estimated that
more than 30 per cent OF the cars will
have electric starting lighting systems.
Electric Starting System.
One prominent manufacturer of aces
series will exhibit an electric starting
and lighting system. which consists Of
a separate generator and motor. The
generator may be driven from any suit
able part Of the engine. while the cleo
trio motor Is designed to be placed either
on the transmission housing or at the
front OF the engine. The small electric
motor. which weighs only twenty-four
pounds. and is rated at one-third horse
power, has a fywheel at one end and
at the other a word which meshes with
W, rm gear driving the motor shaft or
the transmission shaft. Many drivers,
remembering their experience with balky
and back-fr!ng engines. ask the CsIes-
ton. What happens to the starter In
case OF a Blackjack" In the electric
starter mentioned above the Blackjack
is taken care of by an ingenious arrange
ment. The worm gear is slipped in the
shaft and held in position only by fric-
ton under the tension of a spider spring
similar in construction to the shock alb
sorber made by the same company. The
tension Is sufficient to transmit the
power but in case of a violent back-fire
from the engine allows the shaft to ro-
tate backward without doing any dam
age.
Gasoline motor builders have some
thing new TO show in the way Of six
cylinder machines. while several radical
designs in valve construction are
on exhibition. There is one motor
in particular which has been taken up
and extensively discussed by the Ameri-
can Society of Automobile Engineers. 1t
has crescent-shaped sliding valves which
operate in grooves cut into the cylinder
walls. These valves are actuated by
means OF box cams, one set on either side
of the cylinders. This new motor is said
to have extraordinarily high compression
and to develop great power at moderate
speeds. While the older motor COM
panies have not made any startling
changes in essential design. they have
made their motors extremely neat and
clean in appearance. This includes the
complete inclosing of the valves in cages.
covering the electric wires in conduits
and providing better means OF mounting
the intake and exhaust manifolds, the
magnetic. and the pumps.
Devices which make for greater safety
and ease of operation, as well as COM
fort of the passengers, will be more in
evidence than ever before. Electric sig
mailing devices, Speedometers, bumpers
shock absorbers, and numerous other ac-
cessories. all Of the latest design, in
Guiding several new makes seen for the
first time are shown.
This year brings with it the greatest
variety in body designs ever before
brought together for the criticism OF the
noticing public. Almost every car man
ufacturer is prepared to equip each of his
GLASSES with q half-dozen different types
OF bodies, including the touring body of
different passenger capacities, the road
ster, the torpedo, coupe, limousine, Ian
daulet, or berline.
Almost every visitor at the show who
contemplates the purchase of a car has
in mind a certain sum of money which
he cares to spend. This year the prices
Of cars range from 1885 for the smallest
two-passenger runabout to $500 for the
largest limousine or landaulet. One COM
pany shows a vestibuled suburban
car Of the limousine type, handsomely
electric lighted and heated