Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-24
DEVELOPING SMALL
CAR MAKERS GOAL
Engineers Much Concerned
Now With European Type"
of Automobile.
BY j. c. ROYLE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

UQ6CId1 OlepdbCu W lhV EAoi
NEW YORK, January 24.--One
thing about the automobile has at
tanned perpetual motion. That is the
efforts of automotive engineers to i'm
prove and revolutionize the motor
vehicle. These will be made thorough
ly plain at the meeting of the Society
of Automotive Engineers, which Will
be held in Detroit Tuesday to Satur'
day.
Small car design and performance
will be given the concentrated atten
ton of several hundred of the most
prominent engineers in this and other
countries, Small cars of supreme
Workmanship and having most of the
luxuries and riding qualities OF the
older and heavier designs held place
of prominence in the automobile
shows which have opened the trade
year. But none realizes better than
the American automotive engineer how
much this country has to learn from
Europe in small car construction
Encourages Small Car Owners.
England is encourag ing the small
car owner by admitting him TO mem
bership in the Royal Automobile Club
at half the annual dues charged mem
hers with high-powered cars. Alan
Fem, formerly manager of Clement
Talbot, Ltd, and now connected with
the Sunbeam-T Talbot Darracq combine
in England, will tell his fellow engi-
neers of the reasons behind the de-
velopment of the small car in Eng
land, its characteristics and adVan-
tageS.
The American viewpoint will be ex-
pressed by F. Sergardi of the REQ Mo-
tor Car Co.
The Constantinesco variable torque
transmission developed in France
will receive wide attention. 1t
is designed to dispense with gear
shifting entirely by automatically
changing the ratio between the en-
CINE and road wheel speed to suit the
engine torque. Engine torque is
simply the twisting force applied to
the engine. The automatic change
also is designed to adjust propulsive
power to the climbing of grade and
traversing heavy roads.
Four Speed Transmissions.
Four speed transmissions with their
various advantages and diSadvan-
tages will be thoroughly discussed,
as will the Weymann method of
building flexible fabric bodies for au-
tomobileS. This latter is European
development which will be explained
by the inventor. These light, quiet
bodies are now being used by about
40 European manufacturers.
The principles of color harmony as
applied both to painting and uphol-
steering of automobiles will come in
for no little attention, since the ''eye
appeal sales of the recent New
York show indicate how important
q sales factor color is. Methods of
chromium plating and it's relative
advantages over other finishes will
be discussed from the point of view
of rust prevention.
X-Ray Use i'm Testing.
The use of the x-ray in testing
automobiles and raw and finished ma
terials will be the subject touched on
by G. L. Clark of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, while Albert
Sobey of the Fine Institute of Tech
nology will explain new methods of
training automotive engineers.
The intensive study which will be
spent on small car designs is at
tributed largely to the attention
American manufacturers now are CIV
ing to foreign markets. The use of
automobiles is expected to grow faster
In other countries from now on than
in the United States, where approx
mately one in each five inhabitants
owns a car. So expert a judge as H.
o. Smith, chief of the automotive di-
vision of the Bureau of Foreign and
Domestic Commerce of the Depart
ment of Commerce, predicts that
world replacement requirements alone
in the next few years will rise to
100000 annually.