Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-03-21
BY GEORGE w. DUNHAM
Consulting Engineer, Chalmers Mote

4
Consulting Engineer, Chalmers Motor
/ Company
The sensation of the 1914 season
has been the overwhelming tide in
favor of six-cylinder cars. The buy
ing public has viewed with no small
amount of interest the steadily in
creasing trend toward "Sixes." Five
years ago there were only eight COM
panies in the entire country building
eight built six-cylinder cars exclu-
sively. Since that time the demand
has grown so rapidly that this season
81 or the 4S leading manufacturers in
the United States are building
Skies" And this does not include
any but the best known cars. There
are in addition probably eighteen or
twenty other makes of "Sixes."
OF these 81 leading companies, Ii
are building "Sixes" exclusively.
Eleven manufacturers who last season
built only "Fours" are this year build
ing both "Sixes'' and "Fours"
! This rapid increase in siX-cylinder
production is due to no mere whim.
These leading manufacturers have not
made the great investments necessi-
/ tated by an entire change of produc-
ton plans to satisfy persnal fancy
or fleeting public vogue. There are
the growing dominance of siX-cylinder
cars. 1t has been said truthfully that
no man who has ever driven -Four
can ride a hundred miles in a good
Six without acknowledging the su-
periority of the more modern con-
struction.
For he will find the "Six" more ST.
lent, smoother running, infinitely
more flexible. He will find that it does
N-ha NIL In M a
snails pace through traffic, climbing
steep grades or plowing through sand.
with less fuss. The "Six" has been
called the "effortless car" 1 think
that this is q very descriptive phrase,
for the most impressive thing about
q well-built six" is the ease with
which 1t does everything required OF
q motor car.
These qualities of silence, smooth
ness fieXibility. are possible only in
Il six" Actual experience has proved
that no -Four" can possess them in a
like degree. The very principle back
of four-cylinder construction pre-
cludes the possibility of the steady
flow of power which makes a good
six-cylinder car as flexible and con-
stant in its pull as steam engine.
The four-cylinder motor theoreti-
cally applies power constantly to the
lCidIlh LII ACTUAL pEdCllCc tIltEt
is a gap between the power impulses
in every four cylinder motor. This
gap Is caused by the waste in power
necessary to overcome friction and
the weight of moving parts.
In the six there Is no interval In
the power stream. The working
strokes of the six cylinders overlap
In a complete revolution of the six
motor, one piston begins it's working
stroke before the preceding piston has
finished work. This means that power
is delivered constantly to the crank
shaft. And constant, steady power ano
proper balance of parts which make:
it possible means the elimination o1
vibration.
The result is that the six-cylindel
motor works easier than any -Four
What is more, 1t wears longer because
the vibration in -Four is destruc.
tive. 1t causes unusual wear on bear
ings and moving parts.
I don't mean to say that there is NJ
field for the four-cylinder car
"Fours" are Just as good to-day
probably better than they have beer
n the past. In certain very ligh
types of cars 1t would be inadvisabl,