The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-20
Automobile News

THE FOUR vs. SIX DISCUSSIONS.
 Never before in the history of the automobile industry has there been so much discussion pro and con over four and six-cylinder cars. The lat est expression on the subject comes from George M Dickson, of Indian apoIis, who has this to say:
 The number of cylinders under the hood is not the most important or efficient thing in the present day ma chine One manufa cturer may De s=--= Is. build four-cy1inder motors bet ter than he might sixes, or reverse It is also true that certain manufactur- CTS are able to build good automobiles with four and six cylinder motors. The real point is the whole car. and not this or that individual feature, be- cause no matter how goGd a, single particular mechanical part may be, 1t is good only in relation to every me ohanica1 feature that combines to pro dnee a whole car Truly the time has arrived when the purchaser of an automobile should buy perfection of mechanical partS- We do not believe a man buying a car should have to go over it with fine tooth comb to make sure there are no mechanical mistakes in it. That responsibility belongs to the manufacturers. If the right ma terial is in the right place, if the prop CT number of cylinders for each par ticuIar car is used; if the manufactur-
 
 as a mechanical thing will be correct and worthy of the public approval.
 ALCOHOL AS MOTOR FUEL.
 AS result of the imperial Motor conference held in London in July 1918, an organization known as the Imperial Motor Transport Council has been formed and the council in turn is forming an alcohol motor fuel com anittee, which will conduct investiga- tions and experiments relating to the use of alcohol as a motor fuel
 In a paper read recently before the Institution of zAutoKno bile Engineers it was stated that the principal objec tion to the use of alcohol is its low heating value It is claim ed, how ever that this can be overcome Dy mixing certain amount of benzol with the alcohol. One of the chief deter <-nfs to the use of alcohol as a motor fuel in the United Kingdom is the ex- else restrictions imposed upon it's manufacture; another is the lack Of q suitable engine It is believed as soon as the use of alcohol is proved to be commercially practicable by automo- bile manufacturers, the restriction may be either considerably modified CT SO far removed as no longer to form a hindrance to it's adoption for icornmerc1al use
 It is reported that a plant for the manufacture of 600 gallons Of alcohol per week is being sent out to Br1t1sh colony: the spirits will be made from corn costing $3.sS to $4.63 a ton, and it is believed that the cost of raw ma terial will not exceed six cents gall Ion And that the total inclusive cost will be less thans18 cents a gallon. In the meantime it is claimed that a fund should be raised to demo onstrate how cheaply alcohol can be manufac- tured on large scale and that de- signers should turn their efforts to the Construction of efficient engines for use with alcohol.
 The author of the paper read be- fore the Institution of Automobile Engineers claims that the modern high speed gasoline engine would run on a half-and-haH mixture of benzol and alcohol with as much power, dexi- biIity, ease of starting, silence, and economy as with it's ordinary gasoline fuel, and with merely slight modifica- tions to existing types or carbur retors. From Daily Consular and Trade RenOTfs.