Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-06-21
Automobile Section
Balance is the Thing to
Watch Out For

In the ideal touring car, one ele-
ment believe is more important than
any other, and that is the element of
balance. Under this heading, great
engineer described balance as follows
Perfect motor car balance is COM
bination of weight properly located
and bearing a given relation to the
other mechanical essentials Of the car.
The rear wheels must bear sufficient
proportion of the weight to enable
them to drive the front wheels under
all reasonable conditions. The center
of gravity of the entire supported
mass must be located sufficiently
ahead Of the rear axle so that it
exerts no lever action to cause skid
ding.
"The center of gravity must be low
enough so that any tendency to roll in
going around corners will be obviated.
The center of gravity must not be so
low that it gives a direct unyielding
blow at the rear wheel center.
"The front axle should be thrown
well ahead of the motor, and, if pos
sible, the radiator, to prevent the
front wheels from offering too much
resistance to the driving of the rear
wheels and to make steering easier.
The weight should be kept as low as
possible on the front wheels. The
manifestation of this balance is ease
of riding and low tire and mainten-
ance expense. All of these points are
Incorporated in the design of the we'll
balanced car"
Analysing his statements, it would
appear there must be close relation
between the weight distribution on the
front wheels and the weight distribu-
ton on the rear wheels. This explains
why a great many manufacturers do
not make unit power plants. That is
why they segregate the transmission
from the motor assembly. 1t is also
why the transmission is not placed on
the rear axle. 1t is to get more
even weight distribution.
Foreigners have paid a great deal
more attention to this point than
Americans with the result that there
is practically no foreign car built with
what is known as a unit power plant.
It is this close attention to the small
details that has given the foreign car
such riding qualities at high speeds.
A few American manufacturers
have done the same, and the prospec-
tive buyer of the finest car might do
well to spend considerable amount of
time in looking into the balance of his
car as a whole.
In the design and construction of
cars where the owner does not expect
the least possible work in road bal
ance and steering, and these two
points are interlinked very closely.
You can design the finest steering
gear in the world and if the car is not
balanced well, it will not handle easily
on the road. The road balance of a
car also affects ease of riding as
much as spring design does.
Just how much importance balance
has in ease of riding has only lately
been thought of and prominent en-
gineers all over the country are CIV
ing more and more attention to this
one feature.
Ncyt to balance. / believe the mat
ter of fiexibility is most important.
By fexibility, l mean that ability of
the motor to pick up its passenger
load from very low speeds with no
effort and in very short
space of time.
In other words, how fast the car
can accelerate from ten to fifty miles
an hour on high gear. Some inter-
esting data has been obtained on that
point on the indianapolis motor
speedway. For instance, car which
was recently tested on the speedway
accelerated from ten to fifty miles
per hour in 17.6 seconds. / should
say any car that can accelerate from
ten to fifty miles an hour in thirty
seconds is making a creditable per-
Torrance.
Take your car out some morning
and try it. You will be surprised to
see how interesting the experiment
is.
Another peculiar condition which
we have discovered on the speedway
is that any car that has rapid acceler-