Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1915-05-07

main transmission shaft bearings.
We all know unless oil is continu
I ally supplied to bearing it vii
soon run dry, owing to the laws O
centrifugal force. A bearing canno
, retain the oil while it is running be
cause centrifugal force throws the OF
out of the bearing, also some OF tn
lubricant is used up in performin!
!. it's duty of lubricating.
In transmissions we depend en-
tirely upon the movements of tn
countershaft gears and the counter
shaft to raise the oil or grease II
the level OF the main transmission
shaft bearings.
With a Maxwell it is not uncommon
to run many, many miles in higf
gear, and in comparatively rougt
country at that, so therefore what ii
beargins If the gears which are In
the bottom of the transmission case
do not revolve? If you will ponder
over this and give it little thought
you will readily realize why all the
manufacturers who once used this
type of transmission discarded j,
long ago.
Fourth-It was found that if tho
transmission and countershaft were
allowed to idle when the car was in
high speed that it was almost i'm
possible to make a quick shift from
direct drive to second speed or in
termediate, owing tc the fact tina,
the gears which you were attempting
to enmesh were not revolving and
grinding, clashing noise was The
result. In short, this so-called i'm
proved type of transmission gave sc
much trouble that it had been almost
forgotten. We cannot help but feel
that the manufacturer who is now
using this realizes that inasmuch as
his car is almost featureless, it was
necessary to introduce some inno-
vation or some novelty into the
mechanism of his machine with which
to furnish his statesmen talking
points.
The transmission which We are
using on the Maxwell is of the three-
speed selective sliding gear type, al
lowing three speeds forward and
one speed reverse. BY using the
three-speed transmission, we are en-
I than we could otherwise. The rear
axle is now geared almost 31a to
which is much higher than any
size, type and price.
With the high gear ratio which We
have in the rear axle, we are enabled
to get greater mileage out of our gas
oline. 1t produces less. wear and
tear on the engine, causing less VI
bration in the car. Also weobtain
more speed through the use of this
gear ratio than practically any other
competitive car. This Is due purely
| to the fact that we have the happy
continuation OF employing power high
| gear ratio in the rear axle and 4
low weight.
THE REAR AXLE.
There is probably no automobile
man in the United States but what
has some time in his experience been
involved in an argument as to what
really constitutes a full-floating or a
| three-quarter or a semi-floating
axle. This seems to be favorite
point of argument amongst all au-
tomobile men. We hope to be able
to put you right on this one subject.
To begin with there is no such
! thing as a semi floating axle. There
are only two types of axles-live
aXles and floating axles.
A live axle is one in which the
axle shaft which propels the wheels
carries all the weight of the car.
Not only does it force the car over
the road but it carries the entire load
of the car and it's occupants. This Is
the old, obsolete type of axle con-
struction. This was given up long
ago by practically all the manu-
facturers because it was almost i'm
possible to produce shaft that would
CT in Nf
the load and propelling the car with
out bending or breaking off entirely.
A semi-fioating axle, or what was
called semi-floating axle, was moth
ing more or less than a live axle, but
at the time the public were begin
ming to demand floating axles under
their automobiles certain we'll
known company manufacturing cars
was not equipped to produce a
floating axle so their advertising
man coined the name seml-foatins,
lust as the name vanadium steel was
coined by a certain shrewd advert;s-
ing writer to delude the public. Van
adium is a name that rolls well OFT
the tongue, looks we'll in print and
has a good ring to it and something
you will remember, but SO far as the
so-called vanadium steel containing
actual vanadium, it is more or less or
a joke.
The word semi floating. so coined
in order that the public would think
they were getting something they
were not, but inasmuch as no
one knew exactly just what a semi
floating axle was, and as the manu-
facturer OF that type did not choose
to enlighten them, they managed to
get by with that sort of thing sew
eral years: however, semi-tioatine
axle is nothing more or less than the
old type of live axle.
The floating axle is made in two
types-the full-floating axle and the
three-Quarter floating.
The three-quarter floating axle, or
the Maxwell type axle, embodies al
the principles which determine
whether an axle is floating or not
floating. There is only one thing to
Judge this by. If the shaft which