Evening star., 1914-08-02
IEl0TORING]
Continued From Fourth Page.)

walter NJ. Macnichol. formerly connected
with Miller Bros. in Washington, Is now
a member of the sales staff of the COM
pany, and is located at the main omces
in this city He was looking prosperous.
and is pleased with his new position with
the company, which he Joined 1e"
months ago.
II got an early start in the production OF
its light six, has been greatly nanol-
capped by the delay in securing pooles'
The company Is delighted with the OUT
look for 1915 and is now putting out cars
at the rate of seventy-f1ve day. start
ing today For the past month the pSo-
duction has been about fifty cars day.
The delay has caused the company TO Dc
far behind in the delivery OF its new
model The sales managers once was
being besieged with anxious agents ana
distributors inquiring for information as
to when they would be able to secure
their allotments. About 1000 cars Will
be built this year. which number Is away
above the production Of last year. The
company has recently completed two re-
positories about 300 feet long on Jeffer-
son avenue. During the past year the
company widely expanded Its field OF
sales, embracing many smaller towns
which heretofore were left to the ioW-
priced car. The output for 1914 was
about 1000 cars which was made up OF
large and small skies. This concern had
history.
Paige-Detroit's Big Year.
The Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company
also had one of the best years in its his
tory and predicts another good season for
1915. The business shows a decided in
crease over the previous year. a condi-
tion partly explained by the increased
Ia
new factory which it moved into early IN
the year April last was the largest in
the history of the company from the
standpoint of production, while the month
of May also proved high-water mark.
The plant is working full time. Ohciais
of the company predict that with good
crop this year there will be no limit to
the sale of motor cars next year.
The Hupp Motor Car Company is an
other concern which is having prosper
Gus year. This company has strong
following abroad and as a result business
conditions have been unusually bright in
South America, Africa and Australia.
Domestic trade in cars has increased
perceptibly with the farmers during the
past year, some of the company's largest
dealers being in the agricultural Sec
ton. The Hupp company has been
large exporter of cars. and this year has
been a very profitable one to the COM
pany in this respect.
Nothing has been more interesting, and
instructive to the writer than trip
through the various automobile plants.
watching the production of the new ,131 j.
models. 1t has often been said that the
automobile Is mans most faithful me
chanical servant. Properly cared for, 1t
will give an undetermined amount OF
work. 1t is ready to go when the master
commands and it stops when he orders
1t is interesting to know how the new
models are created annually.
hpUinninp a
an idea All things being equal, it is the
fundamental design-the idea back of the
car: the know how''-which deter
mines the quality of the car. The va
rious automobile manufacturers gener-
ally have staff of engineers,A selected
because Of experience and proved abil-
ity. 1t is the business of these men to
create and develop new ideas; to de-
velop new principles and study old
principles of automobile construction.
From the minds Of the engineers the
design of car is transferred to pa
per. From the sanctum OF the design
ing engineers the first drawings go
to the main drafting room. Here. too,
. men work in secret. From the draft
ing rooms the original drawings so to
the blueprint room, where working
perimental cars.
One Hundred an Hour.
Later. when the final design has been
accepted by the engineering stan. this
room produces the working blue prints
for the entire factory. making an aver
age of over 100 blue prints an hour. But
car on paper Is only paper car after
all. To build the idea of the engineers
into real automobiles and to test these
experimental cars to the breaking point
is also the task of the engineering de-
partment. part OF the general division
Of a concern is the model room. Here
are employed mechanical engineers and
The most expert workmen that can be
secured. Here the dream of the en-
Gineers is realized in the form OF ex-
perimental cars. which are built up only
TO be tested and torn down again. Every
hing new which seems good is tried out
After these cars are ready for the road
they are turned over to the engineers,
who have Instructions to find weak spots,
if possible. Each model is pounded over
all sorts of roads for many thousands
Of miles. Then the cars are brought back
10 the factory. In the model room they
are again torn to pieces. II any part
shows unusual wear. due to wrong design
or weak construction. 1t is Immediately
corrected. With these alterations a new
car is built and it Is again sent out over
the road for a grueling test. And, final
y, after every part has been proved up
10 the standard and has received the y.
Is. of the engineers i'll charge, the ex
perts of the model room build the final
cars of that type
Apart from design the materials which
20 into a car must be proved equal to the
tasks they have to perform. The one
way to prove the endurance of any piece
of material is to wear 1t out. The phys
ical laboratory Of automobile plant
is what might be termed the home of
the destroyer" To the experts in this
laboratory come all of the metals which
are to be used in car. Steels of differ
ent alloy, different kinds OF iron brass.
bronze, aluminium. are here put on the
machine and crushed. twisted. bent or
stretched until they break.
In this laboratory. too. such parts rs
carburetors and magnetos are tested to
the limit Of their efficiency A dozen
makes Of magnetos for instance, are
run on a single shaft each generating
current just as it would In a motor.
Started at the same time, these mag
netos are run at high speed until only
one survives. II Is truly a survival OF
the fittest for 1t is only the fittest that
will be accepted by the careful manu-
facturer for his cars.
In one department of the physical lab
oratory experimental motors are proved
out for power and puietness. as well as
wearing quality. Here they are run for
hours on an electric dynamometer
while every feature of the performances Is
registered. Only motor which Is rfRht
can survive the test of the physical Iab-
oratory. In this laboratory the things
which have been accepted as right by one
group of men. all of them experts in their
respectiye lines, are broken 70 rfacoS fo