The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-03-29
age Devoted to the Automobile industry
FIRST FEW WEEKS
DETERMINE: LIFE

DLlLlslvlliVL- LII /
Rudyard Kipling's story of 'rho
| Ship THAT Found HERSELF Is used a
4 ease in point by Il. Leroy pcllctier,
| advertising counsel Of the Maxwell
| Company, TO prove his assertion that
| the usage given modern motor car
] IN the first few weeks of its existence
often determines the life Of tho car.
II YOU remember kiplinE's story
SAYS Mr. Pelleticr. this particular ship
was built of steel plates that had been
hammered and forced into position,
and then held there hy rivcts which in
turn had been hammered into place.
When she slipped from the ways she
cr"ak"d in every joint, ana when she
went out upon the ocean. her stiff. I'M
Welding form crcal cd still more. |
FINALLY, however, each rivet gave Just
! little. while still holding the plates
firmly to tho braces: gradually each
part OF the ship became flexible. and
III that very feasibility was its strength. |
When each part had yielded just a lit
i" 20 the strain. the captain said: The
snip has found herself Until this had
. happened the old scadoS had not felt
safe nor would he call her :: real ship
Your new automobile should be
treated exactly the sam. as an OK
perionced captain treats his new ship
II should he allowed to find itself
II depends entirely on your treatment
of car during the FIRST few days or
weeks OF use whether IL ever does
find itself If not, its life will he
short.
AN automobile is another thing of
steel. iron and aluminium. When it
leaves the factory ii rs necessarily stiff, |
despite ;hc many tests given during
the various stages OF assembly The
body is rigidly welded together and
each chassis member is ricidly riv- |
eted 70 the frame; and tho frame il |
almost as rigidly attached to the
springs and aXles. If properly han
died each rivct will give n little each
joint take little play. and your auto
mobile will become flexible, Yielding !
sweet running. uoiseless thing. But
drop her quickly into a chuck hole at
full speed. and tho result will be the
same rs when YOU str;kc yielding taTy
a smart blow with a hammer Some
thing must break, since there s no
time for il to give
1T IS not infrcQuent-in fact. Il is a
wonder manufacturers get so few com
plants about body coustruction-and
it is most difficult tn.ng In the world
20 explain 10 an owner that it was
his fault ana that these crcakS never
world have happened. but for his own
treatment Of the car Eut the chassis.
rs we'll rs tho body of tho car, must
hH allowed to find herself as must
tho more sensitive. more complex and
moro finely made motor.
THE man vino races his new moto-
or drives II at specc under full load
is, to speak plainly, fool. and he's
mourning an expense account that Will
De appalling when " comes in OF
course, he Will never blame himself
iie Will talk about the man who made
the car
Take tho matter OF expansion and
contraction IN q notor-and especially /
1 r-.r...
make nowadays-thc one in which the
cylinders are cast an bloc The bis
problem in this type OF motor is the |
matter of contraction and expansion OF I
the metal under the heating and cool
ing conditions.
OF the cylinders, the expansion is
naturally greater there than in the |
base. and il YOU heat the cylinders UP /
rapidly. you Will find that the walls no |
longer stand parrellcl. but that head OF /
;hc engine has elongated pcrccptibly. |
i:ut heat it up more slowly, and the .
expansion is unfCrnI-because that's /
;he problem on which engineers have
labored longest ana have worked out /
most accurately. y boc-cast motor Is .
the most expensive type of motor 10 1
make. There are problcms-serious /
engineering problems-in the design /
ana manufacture OF the bloc-cast !
motor but when she's once made, she's .
wonderful No repair man can mis- ,
place the cylinders after taking them
OIL because they are cast 'cn bloc /
and tho upper part of tho crank case /
Us cast integral with them.
Now, suppose that the new owner !
would consider his car OF steel with /,
us motor of cast iron, a thing OF life |
which ii is. A highly sensitive, beau |
ilfuily made. accurately Inachined (
niece or mechanism that must be
hanHled carefully until it has found F,
Itself And suppose that. instead of
treating his ncighbors TO a ride at fun
speed in the new car, he derives stn ]
more pleasure from nice quiet
jauut. fifteen TO twenty miles an hour
with the silent motor purring just loud
enough TO be heard. and the feeling of
her under tho steering wheel. some
ming TO make every nerve tlngle
suppose that, instead of wikcdly over
heating his motor in the first half hour
Of his drive. he gives her the power
gently, gradually, that She heats
Np slowly, evenly, and every part ex-
paudS uniformly. Then. before driving
her too far. he let's her cool down slow
lE with tho radiator full Of the warm
water, TO which 1t has been unncccs-
sary 20 add any cold.
Why that man will have motor
that YOU can't Kill, whose life will be
ten, iif;ecn. yes, twenty ycars-no one
knows how long u good motor properIy
treated viii last.
And his car-what of the car? In
stead of being a crtaky. second hand
affair in few weeks, the car which
has been carefully driven until il has