The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-07-09
AUTOMOBILES AND WHAT THEY HAVE
 ACCOMPLISHED

Much has been said of late about che automobile being a luxury, but surely the people who are making such statements have not taken the time and trouble to ana1yze the auto mobile industry as whole to see Just what 1t has done for the ad- vancement of the country. A few facts stand out prominently:
 Until the automobile came into being there was little known of the alloy steels, which have been such factors. in the development of the mechanical industry. When the au- tomobile men started out to construct cars they used the material that was on hand, the same that had been used in the construction of the steam engine, agricultural machinery and the like; but they soon found by ex- perience that this material would not stand up under the terrific grind" ordinary country road.
 The first thing they did to get around this difficulty was to make the cars heavier. This made them still worse and In addition it. was not possible to get tires that would stand up under the terrific grind" machine So they naturally went to. the steel makers and demanded material of a different nature.
 The automobile engineers worked out in their own laboratories many of the formulas, etc., that finally brought the steels to the perfection that they are at the present time. As a result of their work and their de- mand on the steel makers. vanadium, nickel, chromium, and other high grade steels have been developed. which are now universally used in the construction of motor cars. With out the development of alloy steels such as just mentioned, 1t would not be possible to have the present mo- tor car.
 not limited to the construction Of automobiles. Since the introduction of vanadium 1t has become the stand ard steel for locomotive side rods, which previous to the development of the alloy metals persisted in break ing and injuring the engine crew. These special steels have also revo- 1utionized the machine tool indus try, resulting in the use of the clash gear idea, which was looked upon previously as being fundamentally
 
 made the new idea possible. Also. the multiple spindle drill press and milling machines originated with the automobile men. Aluminium was al- most unknown until the motor car makers began to use it in large quan- titles. Now 1t Is used in gigantic proportions, not only In motor cars but in cooking utensils, letc.
 Other things which have been de- veloped within recent years and which have been of tremendous inter- est and value are the farm tractor, which was not made practical until the automobile manufacturers got hold of it; the Liberty engine, which made possible the aeroplane in its present form; the farm lighting equipment, which was invented and developed by men in the automobile industry; and the various engines of war which made success possible in the big conflict. These are the tank, submarine chaser, truck, aeroplane and tractor.
 The motor car has done more to develop good roads in the last ten years than anything since roads were thought of. There is a big program on right now to build permanent highways throughout the nation, and it does not seem quite the right thing to curtail an industry that has done so much for humanity in general