Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-01-29
REVTVING THE
SPEED FETCH
REQ Engineer Says Speed
Points Are Not Essential
For Practical Usage

II am surprised to see speed again
coming back and being used as sales
argument in the favor of a number OF
new models" says II. T. Thomas, chief
engineer and designer of REQ cars.
II thought the day of high speed
talk, save in the case of cars espe-
cially made for racing. had gone never
to return.
1T is illogical-that talk about
speeds of 40 and so miles an hour, in
car made for general utility, touring,
etc.
of course it makes a strong appeal
to the initiated and the unmechan-
ical, and perhaps we engineers are
too prone to look at 1t from a scien-
uhc and practical standpoint.
Our sales manager frequently tells
us that as statesmen, we engineers are
hopeless.
Il suppose that is so, too; yet l am
sure he agrees with me that in the
long run he would rather sell cars that
have n sound engineering basis than
those built with an eye singled to
talking points.
lit is difficult for one who has not
studied the practical engineering prob
lens involved, to understand why
speed possibilities should not be argu-
ments in favor of any automobile. 1t
seems to them that, though they may
never want to use it, still it must be
good thing to have in the car.
Now there is just the point. 1t is
not good thing to have in the car.
1 contend that il is not possible 10
build an automobile that will make 10
to so miles an hour and yet retain
in 1t those qualities the average buyer
needs and should have-long life and
low maintenance cost
| hnnalaSG no
salesmen's standpoint, because now
that | have gotten this far, l find it
dinicult to put in words so that the
average layman will understand, those
technical reasons which have such
tremendous bearing on the case.
Let's see If we can do it.
"A gasoline engine may be made
to develop its maximum efficiency
(no. l didn't say maximum power,
but maximum efficiency at any speed
the designer may predetermine.
There! That sounds pretty good.
Read it again, and you'll understand
IT., as the publicity man says.
This is accomplished in devious
ways; by variation in compression and
valve sizes; periods of opening and
closing; degree of opening and clos
ing; by ignition, etc.
Ratio of stroke to bore, on which
so much stress is laid by some ma
kers, and which so greatly impresses
the tyro, has in fact, very little to do
with the case
Nor is a long stroke motor neces-
sarily a high speed motor, or vice
versa. Nou can get any old speed YOU
want out of either if you know how.
Make the compression high enough
and the valves large enough and you'll
get all the engine speed you want.
But-high compression motors are
or Iny
speeds and the action is very severe on
crankshaft and connecting rod bear
ings in the long-run.
The engineer who knows his busi-
ness can perform all kinds of stunts
with a gasoline engine.
There is a great temptation to do
il. too. We REQ Folk crafty our
curiosity by doing it in our own lab
oratories. We are never tempted.
however, to foist these things on REQ
buyers. We know the ultimate con-
sequences too we'll. Besides, the REQ
policy of producing and selling only
that which our greater experience
teaches us has proven the best after
all.
I'VE engineers, looking through the
periscope from out the laboratory,
have frequently noticed that when
some new and hitherto unproven fea-
ture is to be tried out on the public
the speed argument is resurrected to
conceal the real issue.
You can, as 1 have said, produce
various interesting phenomena by
juggling with the various parts of
gas engine, and among others you
can produce maximum efficiency at
any engine speeds and also by gear
ratios at any desired car speed.
Now If the average speed at which
the average owner wanted to drive
lna l.
and doubtless we would, make our
motors so they would develop their
maximum efficiency and run with the
greatest ease and the least vibration
at that speed. That is easy.
In fact, that is precisely what is
done in racing car. But did you
ever take cross-country trip in a
racing car over roads where you had
to hold the speed down to say % or
80 miles an hour?
If you have, / would not need to
so any further with this argument.
You would appreciate what /
mean, and you would not want in your
car a motor that developed it's maxi
mum efficiency at 40 miles an hour
You would want exactly what the
more conservative engineers. from the
fullness of their experience, have de-
signed for you. That is q motor that
develops its maximum efficiency-that
runs smoothest, most silently and with
the least vibration and wear at those
speeds at which you will want to
travel 80 per cent. of the time-and
that is about % miles an hour.
But suppose the advertising men
and the statesmen need something new
to talk about from time to time. 1t
must get pretty monotonous talking
about the same things all the time.
I'VE engineers can at least SYM
pathiZe with them in that regard.
For if we just kept working away in
the laboratory at the same old thing