Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-09
SEES EVOLUTION OF GASOLINE
FROM MENACE TO MOTOR FUEL
Writer Describes Stages of Development
and Cites Methods of Inducing Engine
Action" Cold Mornings

tomatoes were called love apples
People considered them dangerous t.
human health and risky to young
peoples morals and the succulen
vegetable was thrown away. wher
1t insisted on growing. says Ernes
Coler in an article in the current
issue of Motor Life.
To-day. rural citizens. who. for al
] know, may be straight-line de-
scendants of those straight laced Pill
ErmS. hurry to the city, buy all the
tomatoes they can lay their hands
on. and sell them in the country to
passing motorists eager to buy their
vegetables and things right off the
farm thus cheating the middleman
out of his p1e:it. as it were.
\ similar transmogrificatio n has
taken place with gasoline Years be-
fSre Mr.. Rockefeller began to call it
pet names. such as ''socony," the tiulc
it had been distilled out of kerosene
and other oils. in which it was a
danger on account of its infiamma
bility. few people found much use for
it: anybody who had 6 or cents
could buy a whole gallon of it. and
ferryboa captains stood in such awe
of its explosive terror that the early
motorist had to drain the fuel tank
of his one or two cylinder speed
wagon before the intrepid navigators
would consent to paddle him across
the creek.
luscious as they were in the days OF
prim Priscilla. gasoline, once so anx-
ious to explode on the slightest
provocation. has had it's fangs pulled
until it bears to it's formidable an
cestor about the relation that near
l. DO
the fire water that goes into your
fuel tank nowadays has grown Cir
cumspect and hesitant about deliv-
erihg it's kick. and on cold December
mornings it has to he coaxed and
wheedled and bulldozed and talked to
"Openin< Chapter" of Story.
And thereby hangs our tale, with
an opening chapter like this: A bit
Is below. A railroad train bearing
an important personage-such as a
sharp-tongued Observation-Disclosures due
at Sis. The trusted chauffeur. alias
pater familias. digs his way to the
reformed COW barn, now called garage,
oughly chilled. acutely dissatisfied
and mulish automobile engine.
The self-starter emits a growing,
grinding or scraping Notwithstanding
to what kind of a self-starter it hap
pens to be. BY and by the garage be-
gins to smell keroseny and the gyra-
lions of the starter become more
feeble. Then they quit and by the
time father has spent ten minutes or
so belaboriag the engine from in
front. via the starting crank handle.
the whiffs of gasoline as well as pa
language have grown noticeably
stronger.
What ails the pesky thing?
Nothing very wonderful. Tempera-
ture. She's cold.
Even in the balmy days when gaso-
line was gasoline OF - degrees spe-
cif1c gravity winter starting had its
difficulties. In the year of grace 1871.
when gasoline is exactly what people
call it, first-aid and sundry restora-
tiveS often are needed before the pa
tient will even breathe.
Later the Sis arrives. as it always
does. and a thoroughly chilled. acute
Nv dissatisfied mother-in-iaw appears
on the scene and the breakfast con-
yersation. Instead of busying itself
with the latest scandal of the old
home town. turns about the aversion
of the modern automobile to low tenn
peratures.
ST can't see any reason for it. says
the wife. Il remember distinctly the
agent was most emphatic about that
-that-what did he call it?-oh. yes
hot spot and goats horn that purhs
even the poorest gasoline
Has Faith in Dealers Word.
"Ram's horn" corrects the lord OF
the household-"hot spot and rams
horn, The agent didn't lie 10 me
either. No automobile agent ever lies
The trouble with these devices is
and I wish some people would get II
into their non mechanical heads-thai
they're very much like savings banks
or fireless cookers: You can't get
ANYTHING out of them until long after
voy.ye put something in. Right now
that thing out there has abof the
coolest hotspot you ever saw and II
will take more than the hot-air ca
pacity of an automobile salesman &c
make 'er GO"
well" retorted the lady. 'ff you
know SO much about it. why don't
YOU go and heat that thing, what
ever il is? Do you want poor mother
TO spend all her visiting time In tne
house. while that car stands in the
barn-in the garage. 1 mean-Just be-
cause il is cold,'
"Down south. where ] come from
saRi the husband. they have cute
way with balky mules. You see
when a mule has made up his mind
not to start, he is a sort OF favored
first cousin to a very cold carburetor
So they build a little fire under his
muleship: that always does the trick
Want me to try that on our automo-
bile? Are you trying to kid me:
You know that before we put
that machine into it all you could say
Of our garage was that IL was nrst'
class self-respecting barn. There
H1
In these parts, and there isn't enough
heating apparatus out there to warn
brick
Well. there YOU are" This triumph
antly from the wife. why don't yot
put a hot brick on that-whatever go,
call the thing that needs heating
"Rrick?'
YES. hot brick Why not? Wher
YOU were a little bow on the farm
where they probably didn't have JAM
tor service and steam heat, how die
your mother manage to warm your
it a hot rock or brick? And IL YOU
mother could keep you alive with {
hot brick, why wouldn't a hot bricl
put the breath Of life into that engine
of yours-provided that's what all!
#? The fact that you will have Il
the barn. mean the garage-eacl
lime loaded with couple of no
bricks might be a good thing for you
IT might even improve the poor opin
ion Doc Smith has of your liver"
Sees ..OId Girl" Ii Right.
Thus primed with feminine logic
Mr.. Man betook himself to the cellar
ostensibly to have look at the fur
mace, but in reality to conceal hi
discontinue.
burned il the old girl isn't right
Ter ALL" he unused. Mental lazi
y that's what IL is. Now that
Home ~ mink of it. there are al
Kinds of things with which a fellow
A>uld warm up his cold engine. Fol
no. L. Lff tor L.