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steamer. In rear of the seat is a large enclosed space accessible by side door and in which can be carried the largest tourist trunk and a couple of suit cases in addition to taining six compartments for receiving the many necessaries of a motoring tour. The vehicle has seats for two, but on the running board, or step at the left, is a third seat for the mechanicien, that omni-necessary quantity.

But the luxuries and conveniences of the car body are not all to the owner or passengers. The chauffeur has his needs catered to as the lines of the Peerless Berline show. He no longer sits at the wheel, exposed to the biting winds of winter or the drenching fall of torrents, but has surrounding him an extension of the covering of the car. He enters this at the side, and, once seated, is in the midst of his circle of faithfuls-spark, throttle, wheel and brakes-as independent of Neptune or frost as the ocean captain or the express engineer.

Fashion has also produced within the last year what gives promise of being a most popular machine for family touring, a vehicle in which a party of six with bag and baggage can leisurely see the beau

A STEEL-TIRED AUTO-WHEEL WITH ANGULAR RUBBER BLOCKS TO ABSORB THE JAR.

ties of a realm without resorting to trolley lines or steam transit. In this combination wagon, as it has been designated, is supplied a covered compartment for the passengers behind which is suf:

GAS TANK FOR INFLATING TIRES.

ficient space for three or four trunks and suit cases as well as space in which a small tent can be stored, together with a miniature kitchen equipment. A car of this type is admirably suited for a tour in any European land where roads are in perfect condition, but its scope in America is limitel, except in those states where local governments have successfully wrestled with the good roads problems. The vehicle has a possible speed of thirty miles per hour and is dependent only on gasoline or alcohol, a gallon of which is required for every ten miles.

In the quest of speed America, ever in the van, is looking with interest on the new motor cycles, that have within the last two seasons made such progress. Previous to that time makers looked upon this successor of the bicycle balanced on its two wheels in tandem as too fragile and unstable to entrust their lives upon when traveling at a rate of a mile in thirty seconds. But the past summer an eastern inventor brought out an adaptation of the bicycle in which the weight of motor and driver is carried on two wheels but with two other wheels added to give perfect balance, one wheel to the right and the other to the left. The theory pursued in building a machine of this type is that the weight to be transported should be carried on the fewest possible supporting wheels and that these wheels should be placed tan

dem-one behind the other-instead of parallel. This theory is based on the German motor cycle railroad in which one rail is used for supporting the load and the others, one on each side, for balancing only. With this system a speed of one hundred and twenty miles per hour has been attained.

This style of vehicle offers the minimum of surface to wind resistance, has many other advantages notably that of light weight and quick control. It can be turned upon a radius of seven feet and when traveling twenty miles per hour can turn in a circle of thirty feet radius. The balance wheels carry little or no weight and as speed is attained the demands upon them gradually decrease. The axle connecting them with the central part of the autocycle has a link check spring which is so adjustable that, should the rider not sit centrally on the machine the perfect balance of it will be maintained. The linkages in the side wheels allow them to follow any depressions and irregularities in the road without leaving the ground or transmitting the jar to the driver, and in rounding any curve or corner perfect safety is assured. In In a machine of this class with a six horsepower motor a speed of forty-five miles

an hour has been easily made on rural roads and it is expected that with the development of a few years a machine of this style can be made nearly to quadruple this pace.

A small truck converted into a moving theater, with its illuminated screen displaying moving pictures, was a unique sight exhibited this year. On the front of the car is located the moving picture machine with its light-giving equipment, and, carried conspicuously in the rear, is the large canvas screen so located as to be visible from behind. From an advertising view-point it is very ingenious.

In the recent million-dollar fire at Springfield, Mass., a demonstration was given of the superiority of motor firefighting machines over those drawn by horses. During the past summer the fire department of that city added motor-propelled chemical and first-aid wagons to its equipment. A Knox chemical wagon was installed, one capable of a speed of forty miles per hour. When the big fire broke out, this wagon proved its prowess by traveling a mile further than the horse chemical wagon and passing it en route. In two hours it responded to three similar calls, beating the horse wagons and making good records.

The wagon carries two thirty-five gallon chemical tanks and two hundred feet of one and one-quarter inch hose besides a couple of hand chemical extinguishers, axes, lanterns and other fire-fighting requisites. Its range of

usefulness is not limited to the two tanks, as it also carries material for recharging them. When not in use the motor is started every few minutes by the firemen to be sure that everything is right, and each fireman is competent to handle the machine in case of emergency. Fuel expense in running to a fire rarely exceeds twenty-five cents for gasoline and oil. When not in use, there is no expense whatever. Since it was installed in Springfield this wagon has answered many calls, there being not one occasion when it has failed to respond or when it was not much quicker than horses.

Hidden beneath the new motor car's bodies are many evidences of engineering progress. Chrome nickel steel, a new composition in which a percentage of chromium together with nickel, carbon, sulphur and phosphorus in proper proportions is used, has made it possible to increase strength of many parts and yet lighten the weight. With this latest product of the steel workers' art a tensile strength of 150,000 pounds to the square inch is possible, which is more than double that possible in older makes of steel. For the motor car built for rough and smooth roads this is a wonderful discovery. It lightens load, reduces wear on tires and reduces the size of many machine parts. We owe the origin of this to the Germans; to be precise, credit must be given the Krupp works. But while these international colossals in the steel industry were the pioneers, other makers have been quick imitators and now American steel companies are manufacturing in large quantities chrome nickel steel according to approved formulae.

With the advent of new steel has come the introduction of ball-bearings for cars. In bicycle days the ball-bearing was in its infancy and riders will recall the difference at the end of a day's ride if the trip was made on a ball or plain bearing machine. After the popularity of this little machine had reached its zenith and waned, ball-bearings dropped out of the public eye for some time, manufacturers

The leading bearing of this class, also a German importation and known in America as the Hess-Bright, consists of two concentric steel rings, or races, separated by a circle of balls. These balls are in turn separated by springs within which are felt pieces for containing oil. A peculiarity about them is that the balls require nothing but the springs to retain them between the two rings. To accomplish this the adjacent surfaces of the rings are concaved, forming races or traveling tracks for the balls. Enough balls are put in to fill half of the circular space and they are then separated and the springs positioned, the later binding the whole firmly together, so that when taking a bearing out the old problem of lost balls is eliminated. In fact so ac

curate is the construction and so perfect the fitting of these balls, that they are measured by micrometer to one tenthousandth of an inch and balls varying even so much as this infinitesimal amount are not used in the same bearing. When a set of balls exact in diameter is secured, the two containing-rings are ground to fit them and should a ball break the company insists on the race being returned so that a new ball of the same size as that broken can be put in.

done is to couple a hose from the tank to the tire and turn a valve, one minute being the time required for the tire. The gas within this tank is a combination of hydrogen and carbonic acid gas carried in a liquid state. The tank is filled under a pressure of nine hundred pounds to the square inch, sufficient to reduce these gases to a liquid state. The exact weight of liquid in each tank is five pounds. Opening the tap in the end of the tank is sufficient to cause the liquid adjacent to

These bearings have been used on German railroad trains and have a record of one hundred thousand miles without a rupture. They vastly enhance the running qualities of a car, and, of course, increase its cost. They are made in over one hundred sizes to carry loads from two hundred to fourteen thousand pounds.

No greater labor-saving invention during the year has been brought out and no greater welcome extended to anything than that accorded a little cylindrical tank, twenty-two inches long and six inches in diameter, which contains gas for inflating the pneumatic tires. This wonder, for it is nothing short of that, does the work previously performed by the hand pump and at the expense of the driver's patience and muscle. In this tank is enough gas to inflate thirty medium sized tires. All that has to be

Shown this year for the first time.

the tap to become gas which can be controlled in its exit to give any desired pressure within the tire. When the tank is empty it can be returned to the factory, where it is refilled at a nominal outlay, and, to obviate any additional trouble in this replenishing, the maker has established over six hundred agencies throughout the country where exhausted tanks can be exchanged for full

ones.

Many other interesting inventions of the season are little in themselves but mighty in their results. The improved speed-measuring instruments will doubtless play a leading part. These little watch-like devices carried on the dash in full view of the driver not only tell how fast the car is traveling each second but register the total miles in each trip and the number of miles traveled. each season. To go still further, the

maker of one has added a safeguard against the police stop watch. On the face of the instrument besides the pointer telling the speed in miles per hour there is another pointer which shows the fastest speed at which the car travels, and when the machine comes to a full stop this hand or pointer still indicates the highest speed of the day. It is in short positive proof in cases where disputes ensue between country constables and drivers.

Also of importance is the pneumatic hub, designed to take the place of the pneumatic tire. The wheel fitted with this device carries within the hub casing a large space in which is a vertical cylindrical tube and within this is a piston on which the vehicle axle is carried. Above and below the piston in the cylinder is an air cushion, so that as the wheel strikes obstructions and rises and

falls, this jar is taken up by the air cushion above and below the axle and the jar absorbed at the wheel hub instead of at the rim, in the pneumatic tire. To give a uniform action to the piston within the cylinder, a connection is established between the air cushions at the opposite ends of the piston and an oiling system is also installed. Other makers have