The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-07-29
MACHINE APPROVED
Competent Engineers Are
Sounding Its Praises
H. E. HANCE AFFILIATED
Well-knoWn Gentleman Has
Associated Self With the
Enterprise

leelS more certain imam ever Lnat
T. 1t will be a thoroughly successful
venture. Mr.. Sandt said that sta
tistics disclose the fact that dur
Ing the year 1920, practically one
half Of the tonnage Of the country
was transported on auto trucks.
That Is, there was transported on
auto trucks, 1900, 900, 900 tons of
freight, while the railways during
the same period transported e.
0O4,000,000 tons. Mr.. Sandt said
that most of this traffic was on
he said should indicate the won
derful possibilities in the truck
industry, especially on the four
+ wheel drive trucks, which can be
operated over practically any and
all roads under all conditions.
H. e. Hance. prominent in local
business circles, has affiliated him
self with fiscal agents Fowler & Fow-
Ter in the F. w. Kruse building, who
are arranging for the financing of the
company. He was requested by
partitions interested in the concern
associate himself with this PROPOSE
| ton.
Kato -Four Traction truck has met
with the approval of competent en-
gineers, and like every industrial
/ venture depends for it's success on
| three chief requisites which may be
| called the basic principles Of any In
dustry. They are: A sound under
taking efficient management and
sufficient capital. 1t is on these basic
requirements that the engineers of
nf
Traction truck in this city are now
working. in order to test out the
possibilities and make recomenda-
tons accordingly. In a recent news
story in The Free Press was outlined
many of the favorable reasons why
the engineers felt that the Four
Traction Auto company had a product
which had an economic value, and
with proper management and suf-
ficient capital it could not help but
become successful paying company
in short time. The Kato -Four
Traction truck. according to expert
undertaking, since the particular
design embodies many salient feat
ures not found In other four-wheel
drive trucks. These features readily
tend to make the machine meet con-
ditiOns and requirements In truck
construction. Chief among these is,
the bevel gear construction which
transmits the power through the
steering knuckle in the front axel.
With this feature it Is possible to
turn as short as with an ordinary
two wheel drive. This particular
feature of the machine is covered
very broadly by the inventor, Mr.. A.
Rosenberger Of the city by his pat
pnfa "a Dc 70 fI,a
company. The present four wheel
drives transmits their power to the
front wheels through universal joints,
which work efficiently and satisfac-
torily when the angle at which the
torque or, power is being applied is
not greater than twelve or fifteen de-
grees. The efficiency, however drops
off considerably at the angle, since
the front wheels of a four traction
drive truck must be turned at least
twenty five to thirty degrees, it is
universal joint that will stand up
under this strain. The Four Traction
Kato truck using bevel gears over
comes this difficulty as there Is no
efficiency lost, regardless of the angle
at which the wheels are turned and
the strains remain constant. This
outstanding features in the design
of the Kato front axel makes it pos
sible to produce thoroughly practi-
cal four traction truck. The trans
mission is also covered by another
patent, Mr.. Rosenberger has assigned
to the company. and has been design
manded by the truck users, having
five forward speeds ranging from two
and half to twenty-five miles per
hour and one reverse speed.
The rear axel is of standard de-
sign, however, many of the important
units are interchangeable with the
front axel units which cheapens the
cost Of the manufacture. The other
units in the truck such as the motor,
clutch steering gear, etc.are of stand
ard design. In fabricating the units
in the design Of the Kato's production
model truck there has been embodied
every premier feature obtainable
through the regular sources of in
formation, as well as from past ex-
perience of the engineers of the two
and four wheel truck. These en-
gineers thoroughly believe that they
have prepared plans for the only
practical four traction ever offered to
the public.
Working on Design
They have been working on the
design now Ior ABOUT three months,
and are ready tc build the first
sample model before starting the
production. Regardless of their
opinion on the four wheel drives,
just reasoning will convince anyone
that it is logical. since the truck pro-
ducers tractive effort used to carry
loads on its own chassis or on a trailer
then why not apply the power to all
four wheels, and increase its hauling
capacity. 1t has also been effectively
proven that the four traction trucks
can negotiate roads impossible by two
| wheel truck drives IN any and ali
weather, summer or winter. If the
transportation companies want to
effectively compete with the railroads
on the passenger and freight traffic,
they will have to have four traction
trucks for two drivers can not
operate in deep snow or exceedingly
| muddy roads.
The management of the company
| will be In the hands of a managing
board appointed by the directors and
| the McVicker Engineering company
of Minneapolis, thereby assuring the
stockholders the efficient manage
lment and backed by the local bust
ness talent and firm thoroughly
versed In manufacturing methods to