The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1915-09-20

} THE BEGINNING or THE I
HOUSE OF sTUDEBAKER-
} e~H u~HHA~ 90
Chapter VIII.
a study In silent Gears.

~ study IN silent Gears.
A Studebaker car starts ciicntly
smoothly. without sound even in
low or intermediate speeds; save for
the soft pnrr of the rubber tires on
the pavement 1t Is quite noiseless.
There is no audible hum Of gears.
II has only been very recently that
even Studebaker has been able to
entirely eliminate the noise from
from gear wheels.
Back OF this triumph there Is a
history Of engineering achievements
Tong OF steel have been used In the
Studebaker laboratories in develop
! ing these experiments. The best
brains of expert steel specialists have
! been concentrated on this study fol-
four years. The manufacturers OF
steel, the engineering representa-
tives OF steel mills, have worked
month after month with the Stude-
baker engineers developing the RICH,
kind of material.
The chrome-niekel steel gears used
in the present Studebager car are
the result.
This steel is almost diamond hard
on the surface. yet in the center il
Is as tough as the proyerbial horse
shoe nail. 1t will not chip, twist OF
break. Tie surface wears like a
diamond.
First it is billet of steel. Then IL
Is placed under drop-forge hammer
| and roughly shaped. Then it is heat
| treated to relieve the forging strains
Then the teeth are cut, one by one
| Then it is packed in carbonizins
pot, which is receptacle containing
various chemicals. This is only on.
of the many heat treatments applied
| it is the process which makes the
surface diamond-hard A book might
be written ON the development OF
this particular heat treatment IT, the
Studebaker laboratories. There il
another heat treatment after this
hich gives toughness and tenaciI,
10 the heart of the gear wheel, and
asain another which gives sword
steel temper to both the core and the
surface. Then there are more true
ing and grinding, finishing and IN
speeding. The ear is now perfect tc
one-thousandtn of an inch. 1t is as
true as the gear of a watch.
Now comes the test of perfect
loundness and balance in the hands
OF the final inspector. He has ;
master gear which is as accurate in
every dimension rs human science
and machinery can make it. The
new gear is put in machine and run
With the master gear. The inspector
has keen ear. II there is a sound
wheel is sent back TO the manCfactur-
ing department, either to be perfect
ed--or junked.
1t took Studebaker, with all its
resources, four years to develop
Strdebaker gears to their present
state of perfection Even Studebaker
did not find it an easy task.
After the gears are made they
must be perfectly placed in relation
oeach other in each ASSEMBLY,.
Each gear wheel in the transmission
bears exactly the right relation to
every other gear; otherwise they
would not run together noiselessly.
Studebaker keeps its enters accurate
to one-thousandth of an inch This
means that no two wheels must vary.
ii at all, more than one-thousandth
part of an inch in their relation to
each other.
1t requires machinery indefinably
accurate to live up to such standards
II takes workmen with long expert
enee and with great personal consci-
ei.tiousness TO produce such results.
Continued Tuesday,