The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-03-15
TO HONOR RIKER BY USE OF NAME
 ON MOTOR TRUCK
Locomobile Go. s Expert En- gineer Was Pioneer In
 ] Automobile Industry.

1H0TC1al V0h1cl6.
 The Locomobi1e Go. is bringing
 out the latest edition of their Worm Drive Motor Truck, named after their Vice-President and Chief Engineer, Andrew Lawrence Riker.
 The new Rf<er Truck is substan- 1 tia11y the same product that the Lo- comobile company have been produc- ing for nearly two years, only that l in it are incorporated a few refine
 ments, which in the opinion of the l company, practically. standardize the product for years to come.
 MT: J. T. Roche, Jr., secretary of the Locomobile company, tells the story about the new truck, and it's i new name, on request:
 l '"The Locomobi1e Company of
 America have been for four years
 making motor trucks in moderate | numbers; studying the business very
 carefully, studying. truck designs, and 1 truck performances, very thoroughly, both here and abroad.
 1 'When the war broke out we felt that we had developed our Worm Drive Truck to our usual high stan
 dard, and were confident that we had | a high class article, that would prove
 reliable and economical, for. at least 1 10 years in the hands of any owner.
 ITO make a long and interesting
 story short, this truck has been | bought, and used with satisfaction by
 the governments of Great Britain,
 Russia and France.
 "Great Britain, a government which 1 is probably the shrewdest buyer, and l most careful in matters of inspection
 and test, has purchased more Worm
 Drive Trucks from the Locomobile
 Company of America than from any | other American Company.
 | "One reason why we have been able
 to do this was because we pulled 6
 tons on a 5-ton Truck up one of the steepest hills in EngIand,-a test hill that was the graveyard of many a
 truck, normally loaded.
 l "Our truck has stood the test of
 war, and the shock of war, and has
 more than made good, and, as far as
 we know, ali of our war trucks are i in service, which is an important point
 to bring out, as most people have the | idea that trucks last only a week 1 or two in war service. This is not
 so.s American trucks have, done far l better than it was + supposed they would do.
 Further than this, the French
 commercial vehicles of the Schnieder
 make, which were running around Paris in bus service and general de- 1 livery service, were all automatically
 turned into war vehicles when the
 mobilization order went out, and ! went at once to the front. Most of 1 these are still running.
 l Our new truck is the same product
 as that before the war, only that it l incorporates such lessons as we have
 been able to learn from the war. We i have adopted some suggestions from | foreign military engineers that ap- pea1ed to us as proper, and we adopt l ed 8 few suggestions from some of cur men in the field who have been
 reporting to MT. Riker. Thus we feel 1 that we have a truck which is par
 ticularly worth while, and at a price l that is as low, or lower, than the
 price of the average truck.
 i we found it desirable to change the name of the truck from 'Locomo- 1 bile to tRfker' for several reasons In l the first place, the name Locomobile' has come to mean a. very expensive, luxurious motor car, made in limited
 numbers, for the limited number of people who can afford to buy and enjoy it. 'sThus the name LocomobiIe' on a,
 motor truck would imply luxury and 1 high cost, whereas the motor truck l is a business vehicle that has to de- i liver the goods and it has to make good on a, money basis. In a certain
 sense it is an expedient, and although | it must be high class, to be efficient and economical, the whole problem is 1 quite different from that of building | a smart
 s.Furthermore, calling the truck 1 after MT. Riker, is particularly ap- | propriate.
 t.Mr. A. L. Riker is one of the fore l most, if not the foremost, motor car
 designers in Amesica. MT. Riker, as | is quite well known, built one of the
 first road racers in this country. He | built comm mercial vehicles 16 and IS
 years ago, which are still running.
 These vehicles were built for proni-
 nent concerns like Altman's and Cor hams of New York. ssMr Riker had running, as early
 as 1901, four cylinder car, with steel frame, sliding gear-transmission
 gear drive, electric generator, and all the clements of the modern car.
 showing him to have had foresight and ability of a marked and unusual charaoJe- | 'eThe next thing Mr. Rfker did was to design an American car that II 1 years ago demonstrated that an An erican built product could stand up to the destructive effects of racing against the best cars of the Continent, and in the Vanderbilt Race in 1905, | | the Locomobi1e designed by 7Gr. Rik- | CT, and driven by zee Tracy, beat the entire German team and Italian team and 3 out of of the French, fin ishing third. Later MT. Riker won the Vanderbilt race. 'eWhen the Society of Automobile 1 I Engin eers was formed, MT. Riker was 1 it's president and this organization chose MT. Riker to represent it on the U. s. Naval Advisory Board. sWe are very proud of our new truck and very proud to have it bear MT. Riker's name. ''We feel it important and desir- | able to separate these two branches of our business very sharply and the | change in name accomplishes this. |
 The Locomobi1e is a thoroughbred. |
 The LocomobiIe truck is 8, percheron. |
 One is for pleasure; the other for business. ssBoth are backed up and guaran- 1 teed by the Locom mobi1e Company of | America, which is an earnest of thor | ough and accurate work from start to l finish, and fair treatment to the | owner.'
 The races of ,Juarez have been call