Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-03-17
ONE HUNDRED MILES
ON LOWEST GEAR
Severe Test That 116 Franklin
Motor Cars Were Subjected
to in One Day

To travel 100 miles on low gear
seems an impossible feat, especially to
anyone who has ever tried very much
This was accomplished, however. by
116 Franklin Six-Thirty cars last Fall.
1t was planned that all Franklin
| dealers would make the demonstra-
ton on this date regardless of weather
or road conditions, and in every case
they were to pick out the route which
would furnish the most severe test to
the engine. Two official observers
were required-one from the automo-
bile club and one from the press
and the car was to travel on low gear
all the time. 1t was a nonstop motor
test, and the real test, of course, came
| on the cooling system and on the
motor.
Franklin dealers responded to the
request for this national demonstra-
ton in every case except where some
had not been able TO get their demon
strators as yet.
Various routes were picked out,
some which are famous all over the
country, as for instance, the SPRING
field, Mass, dealer finished at the top
of Mt. Tom; the Colorado Springs
dealer finished at the top of Tender
foot Hill: the Wilkes-Barre dealer at
the top of Giants Despair, and so on
all over the country, the well-known
mountains were used as the finishing
point for this hard grind.
The run was made not to show that
Franklin direct cooling cools, as prac-
tically everyone knows to-day that
this is true. 1t would have been i'm
possible to build the Franklin car so
successfully for thirteen years unless
Franklin direct cooling was sue
cess. The real merit of this cooling
system, however, has never been well
understood by the public. How much
it would stand and what the result
to the motor would be on a real hard
grind has been an unsettled point in
the minds of a great many people.
1t is not that 100 miles on low gear
is thing that an automobile owner
attempts every day or even once a
year, but 100 miles on low gear is q
demonstration so severe that it might
be called the maximum test to which
motor can be subjected. That is
why the demonstration was made in
this manner, and it certainly showed
that Franklin direct cooling not only
cools successfully, but it cools under
the most severe woork a motor can
be given.
Franklin direct cooling is so called
because the medium which cools the
motor (air) is used directly. In the
average cOOllnB SySetem using water,
the water cools the motor and then
air cools the water. Air cooling, or
direct cooling, has been in use from
the time automobiles were first made,
and has developed gradually by new
inventions and improvements until
to-day it represents one of the valu-
able developments of the day for au-
tomobile users, not because 1T is diff
ferent than water cooling, but be-
cause it accomplishes something use
full, and this 100 mile low gear run
is a national demonstration that it ac-
complishes this something of use to
automobile owners; it accomplishes
greater serviceability. 1t requires less
attention, for there is no radiator to
fill, no pumps to look after, no fan
to take care of. There are fewer
parts, there is nothing to get out of
order, as the only thing that moves
is the flywheel, and of course that is
part of all motors. 1t is of maxi
, mum simplicity.
Franklin direct cooling made it
possible to run this distance on low
gear because the cooling system is in
dependent of car speed. The air that
is used for cooling is circulated in
proportion to the engine speed, and
regardless of whetheh the car is NOV
ing or not the engine is cooled in
proportion to the work it does, and
the air is used but once.