Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-20

Wv the automobile industry
on his toes, it is easy to
understand why there should be SO
great an effort to display cars and
their specific features to the best adj
vantage. A number of very ingenious
and provocative methods of exhibit
ing cars already have been revealed.
Many more are in the process of de-
velopment.
The busy motoring public that will
not take the time to listen to argu-
mentS or to read the instruction
books and specification charts has
demanded something more graphic,
and it seems that this demand is
being met by the manufacturer in a
way that not only catches the fancy
of the public. but proves helpful to
it in the buying process.
Thousands must have seen the car
with SO low center of gravity that
it can be tilted to approximately 48
degrees without tipping over. This
IS most convincing demonstration
OF safety, and it is quick to capture
popular fancy wherever it is dis
played. For the sake of those who
navy llol SCClt WIS NClIlOHSlI di1Oll,
let it be said that the car is tipped
until one side is so high in the air
that one wonders indeed why the car
does not topple over. 1t appears to
be rigidly held by metal bars, but
the demonstrators insist that the car
is free TO turn the rest of the way.
With apparent confidence in the fact
that 1t cannot even be pushed over,
the salesman offers to give the
spectator the car if he can accom-
plsh the feat
Several interesting visual demon
STATIONS of brakes have been staged
recently in an effort to reveal GER
tain features which otherwise. are
difficult to describe. In one of these,
the spectator is told to spin a rear
wheel and, picking up bulb, is in
structed to squeeze it when desiring
to stop the wheel. No better argu-
ment could be advanced to prove the
ease in operating such brakes.
* y x
1t is planned to put into every
salesroom throughout the country
where a certain new type of car is
sold machines which will demon
strate the brakes that operate on an
internal expanding hydraulic system.
This Immediately enables automobile
statesmen and dealers to get around
the difficulty of trying to describe
virtue of the car which is not readily
apparent to person interested in it.
Many motorists will recall the de-
vice used in many salesrooms to
demonstrate the action of a double
sleeve valve engine. Prospective
purchasers are asked to turn over
the crank and watch the pistons and
the sleeves move up and down in the
cylinders, opening the intake and ex-
haust ports as the piston goes
through its four distinct cycles. Not
only has this device sold many cars
but it also has sold numerous car
buyers on the principle embodied in
this type of engine. Such demon
strations mean more satisfied GUS
toners and, in the long run, much
better informed type of car owner
ship.
One of the most amazing demon
STATIONS of the year was that of
keeping an unprotected chassis under
constant shower of water Cars
were placed in the show window, un-
der a shower, minus body, tenders,
hood and other protectors. So eff
fectively sealed were the vital parts
of the car that no apparent damage
was done. The cars were just as
good after their long siege of bath
ing as they were before.
Not all of these brilliant ideas in
demonstration emanate from the au-
tomobile factories. The automobile
dealer, alive to the problem of re-
failing the motor car, quickly OBJ
serves the public's perplexity and
racks his brain to find ways and
means of explaining certain features
of the product he sells If he can
do it in some way that will command
attention and advertise the product
in addition to explaining it to those
who are vitality interested, so much
the better. The idea of demonstrat-
ing low center of gravity by giving
the car az degree tilt is understood
to have originated in New England
city and in the salesroom of COM
paratively small automobile dealer.
The original set-up was on wooden
slabs, but the main idea was there.
Later the manufacturer carried the
idea to its logical limit by building a
steel frame in which to cradle the
car for this purpose.
A demonstration Of an engineering
principle which never fails to attract
attention is that OF hanging a care
fully balanced crankshaft in the show
window Of an automobile establish
rnent. There is a fan at the end of
this shaft, instead of a fywheel. A
few inches away an electric fan
faces it. When the electric fan is
turned on the crankshaft, SO per-
tectly balanced, begins TO spin. Less
carefully made crank shafts would be
inherently out OF balance. and could
not be started into motion by air cir
culation i'll this fashion.
X X 4
This is a pictorial age and the pub
lie likes to see things demonstrated
in graphic way. No longer do the
manufacturers of spring control de-
vices rely upon the printed or spoken
B word to get across the message OF
their products. The latest idea is to
place an open car on four rollers
driven by electric motors. These
rollers are not exactly round, hav-
ing humps on them to correspond
with inequalities in the highway.