The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-07-04
Ninety--Nine Hun
dred Ess Pee EN- !

When Liberty Motor is giving its
utmost to push forward a Liberty
Plane, the result to the ear at least,
is noise which would hardly be well
come in the reading room of n public
library, or under your window when
you want to sleep.
Such is the voice of gasoline raised
in protest against being introduced to
the little spark of electricity which
jumps across the spark plugs 165
times every second; but the protest
is in vain for the "juice" keeps COM
ing--165 times each second, 5000
sparks per minute, $4,000 times in an
hour, coming from a little innocent
looking box full of lead and acid and
water and rubber, slowed away in the
fuselage, out of sight but never out
of the mind of the man whose life de-
pends upon it.
The storage battery is the soul Of
the Liberty Motor. AS gasoline is
its food, steel and aluminium its cloth
ing, so is electricity its spark of life.
Without that spark it is an inert mass;
with it the Liberty Motor is a source
of magnificent power
The Willard Storage Battery Com
pany in Cleveland had for years been
making storage batteries for starting,
lighting and ignition on automobiles.
When Uncle Sam decided he would
"take no more nonsense" from the
Kaiser, the Willard Organization was
asked to design a storage battery for
ignition in an aircraft motor.
The first difficulties faced were the
necessary limitations on size and
weight, as Uncle Sans specifications
called for battery of a certain ca
pacity weighing not more than ten
pounds. Any motorist who has tried
to lift his storage battery, knows
what it weighs. Lead-the very name
sounds heavy--makes up most of the
storage battery, and ten pounds of
lead is not very much. The Willard
engineers set to work and designed a
battery of the proper capacity, weigh
ing but ten pounds and two onuces,
which was satisfactory to the Govern
ment designers.
But size and weight were not the
only obstacles. An automobile pro-
perly driven stays on its wheels and
there is no danger of the acid con-
tents of the battery spilling out. But
Liberty Plane must operate just as
we'll "head over heels" as any other
way, and the Willard engineers found
that they must design battery which,
while open at the top, did not spill its
contents when inverted. This sounds
rather difficult--and it was-but it
was done just the same. Within ten
days from the receipt of the Govern
ment's specifications, the Willard En-
gineers had designed and perfected a
battery which met the Government S
needs as to capacity, size, weight
and this battery operated upside down.
This battery was adopted and never
since has it been changed in any de-
tail.
Such is the inside story of the ig-
milton on the Liberty Airplane Motor.
Storage batteries have for years been
recognized as the most efficient and
most reliable means of providing ig-
milton for gasoline motors, but other
and less advantageous forms of igni-
tion had to be used until American in
ventive genius was brought to bear on
modern war problems. 81.
The inventions of war are being
rapidly turned to peace use. We are
breaking our swords into plowshares,
and the same little Willard battery
which gave life to the Liberty Air
craft Motor over the Argonne is now
furnishing the $500 sparks per min
ute which help to carry Uncle Sans
mail along the Air Lanes.