The sun., 1918-08-04

field superintendent for the Indiana Gas
and Oil Company. which company was
about to begin the construction Of a
pipe lire from the Indiana gas field to
Chicago. Litigation and defective pipe
delayed It's construction.
purin. the delay in the work o. con-
structing the pipe line ! had great
deal of driving to do. and 1t occurred
to me that some better means or To-
comotion over the highways than the
horse and buggy might be procured.
The great trouble with the horse was
his lack OF endurance. and this became
more apparent when he was driven day
after day.
I accordingly laid plans for the con-
struction of a mechanically propelled
vehicle for use on the highway. 1 first
considered the use Of steam engine,
but made no attempt to build car OF
this description for the reason that
fire must be kept constantly burning on
board the machine, and with liquid fuel
this would always be a menace In case
Of collision or accident. Moreover. the
necessity of getting water would render
n long Journey In n car Of this descrip-
tion not only troublesome nut very irk-
some. I next considered electricity. but
found that the lightest battery obtain
able would weigh over 1.2o0 pounds Tor
a earacity OF twelve horse hours. As
this showed little promise OF success !
gavv It no further consideration ana
proceeded to consider the gasolene en-
Gina Even the lightest made at that
tlnns were very heavy per unit OF power
and rather crude In construction.
NV work was confined to Greentown.
IND. in 1890 and 1891. In the fall OF
1892 I moved to Kokomo and the fol-
lowing summer (1Ss3) had my plans
sufficiently maturcd to begin the actual
construction Of a machine. I ordered
q ono horsepower marine upright two
cycle gasolene engine from the Sints
Gas Engine Company OF Grand Rapids,
Mich. This motor barely gave one
brake horsepower and weighed $50
mounds. Upon its arrival from Grand
RAPIDS in the fall Of 1898, lacking
suitable place the motor was brought
direct to my home and set UP In the
kitchen.
When the gasolene and battery con-
nections were installed. the motor. after
considerable cranking. was started and
ran with such speed and vibration that
IL pulled itself from It's attachments.
Luckily, however. one OF the battery
wires was wound about the motor shaft
ana thus disconnected the current.
IN order to provide against vibration
7 was OBLIGED to make the frame Of the
machine much heavier than I first In
tended.
The "horseless carriage" was built up
in the form OF a small truck. The frame
work in which the motor was placed
consisted Of a double hollow square OF
steel tubing, Joined at the rear corners
by steel castings and by malleable cast
ings In front The rear axle constituted
the rear member Of the frame and the
front axle was swiveled at Its centre TO
the front end CT the "hollow square
This arrang cement permitted the ends OF
the front axle to move upward and
downward over the Inequalities or the
road without wrenching the Hollow
square" in which the motor and counter
shaft were placed.
At that time there were no figures &C
cessfble for determining the tractive re-
sistance to rubber tires on ordinary
roads. In order to determine this as
nearly as possible in advance a bicycle
bearing a rider was hitched to the rear
end Of a light blackboard by means of
cord and spring scale. An observer
seated on the rear end of the blackboard
recorded as rapidly as possible draw
bar" pull registered by the scale while
the blackboard was moving at the rate Of
about ten or twelve miles an hour on
horse was then driven in the opposite
direction at about the same speed in
order to compensate for the slight in
clica. This experiment indicated that
about 1-75/10O pounds "drawbar" pull
was sufficient to draw a load Of 100
pounds on a vehicle equipped with ball
bearings and pneumatic tires. With this
data at hand 1t was an easy matter to
arrange the gearing OF the automobile
49, - h.rA k<~w
Crude though this method may appear.
II shows a striking agreement with the
results obtained to-day by much more
accurate and refined apparatus.
The total weight Of the machine when
completed was about $50 pounds. July
I. 1894 when ready for test. 1t was
hauled into the country about three
miles behind horse carriage and
started on nearly level turnpike. II
moved of at once at a speed Of about
seven miles an hour and was driven
country. 1t was then turned about and
ran all the way into the city without
making a single stop.
/ was convinced upon this return
trip that there was future for the
'horseless carriage" although I did
not at that time expect it to be 80
brilliant and imposing. The best speed
attained with the little machine in this
condition was about eight miles an hour.
II would hardly seem that the auto
mobile has been In existence q suf-
ficient length OF time to Justify a
"Reminiscences; It seems rather to be n
creation OF yesterday. and the result
Of the development which had Its be-
ginning a quarter century ago
will be pardoned II I write to some
extent of my own experiences in those
early days, since at the time the automo-
bile was unknown in the United States
and was just in its incipient state In
Europe. When my first machine was
taken out into the street on prelimi-
nary trial people living in adjacent
houses. men, women and children
rushed out and surrounded IT, leaving
only an enclosed circle, perhaps twenty
feet in diameter. In which to start
Under these circumstances It was mani.
testify unsafe to make trial. since
not one of the persons intending &c
operate the machine had ever seer
anything OF the sort before, much lest
ever driven one. No attempt was
therefore made to start the machine
but II was taken TO the country behind
horse and carriage. and after being
driven a short distance on Its owr
power further into tho country wa,
turned about and headed toward the
city.
At that time the bicycle was very
popular as a. pastime, especially among
young ladies'. remember as the little
machine made its way along the streets
we were met by bevy OF girl
mounted on wheels I shall never for,
get the expressions on their faces a.
they wheeled aside. separating like 9