Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1918-02-08
MOTOR CAROF1 1851
Push Button Control and No
Steering Wheel Predicted.
TO ELIMINATE UGLY ANGLES
There Are No WalI-Llke WindshleIds
and No obtrudlna Fenders-6rakes
Are Applied Automatically
No Pedals.

Let me show you the motor car Of
1851, Waldemar Kaempffert writes In
McClure's. First of all you are struck
with its sheer beauty of line. There
are no abrupt, ugly angles. Curve
melts into curve within a grace that
you associate with the form Of a swan.
There is no wall-like windshield there
are no obtruding tenders. BY 1912 the
designer Of airplnnes had discovered
that n large, correctly designed bulk
is more easily moved through the air
than a mass composed of projecting
wires, stays, wheels, arms and legs
that each projection, however slight,
rakes the air and leaves an invisible
wake behind It.
His work was not lost upon the mo-
tor-car designer. The streamlike body,
as 1t is called, made its appearance
about 1915. BY 1851 not only will Il
have been generally adopted, hut It
will be far more refined than anything
which we can now display. 1t will
part the air as gently, as smoothly as
a pike slips through the waters Of II
lake.
What We May Expect.
We may expect in the motor car Of
1851 something akin to push-button
control. The guiding Of a motor car
or truck In these days of the motor
cars infancy is no mean physical per
Torrance. Arms and legs play far
too important a part in motoring. If n
locomotive engineer were thus depend
ent on his muscles there would be no
T0-car freight trains, no 20-hour train
between New York and Chicago. Think
Of the physical demands now made up
on you and then ask yourself If you
have not the right to demand that by
1851 inventors will have tossed gear
shift levers and brake pedals upon the
scrap heap.
The ideal motor car of the future
will have just n controlling lever,
and no more. See, as l pull or push
the lever, l turn the power IN or off.
Did you notice how the engine slowed
down and how the brakes were auto
matically applied rs the car slackons
in speed? There are no pedals to op-
crate. The speed Of the engine de-
tcrmlnes how hard the brakes shall he
a%pplicd--in other words. In what dis
lance the car shall he brought to a full
stop.
Abolish Steering Wheel.
In a country threaded with superb
ly smooth -thoroughfares the steering
wheel win he abolished. With n little
handle You will guide the ear Of 1861
10 the right or to the left. No tense
muscles will he called upon tn avoid
collisions. Steamships have long had
their steering engines to swervc rud-
ders that weigh many tons. The steer
Ing engine Is controlled by the wheel
on the bridge. So in this car of 1851
the little steering handle causes a mo-
tor to turn the front wheels to the
right or to the left.
We do II in 1917, but it is wrong,
c~greglously wrong to drive a vehicle
from the rear. Why2 Because it Is
easier to pull than to push. The tug
heat pulls It's burgcs; the locomotive
pulls its coaches; the freight handler
on our wharves pulls his hand-truck.
Nature seemed 20 have discovered long
Hgo that pulling Is easier than push
ing. Unlike the car Of 1917, the motor
car Of 1861 will therefore be pulled by
It's motor.
And the motor itself-hOw different
r:o:a the engine of 1911 Gasoline
will cease to be motor-car fuel in 1890.
There will not be enough oil In the
world from which enough gasoline can
nc distilled. The alcohol and electric
motor Will take the place Of the gaso-
line engine.