is at present uncertain. The steam car has the advantage over the
gas-engine car in ease of starting, the delicate regulation of power,
facility of reversing, absence of vibration, noise and smell, and
freedom from complicated gears. On the other hand the petrol car has
no boiler to get out of order or burst, no troublesome gauges
requiring constant attention, and there is small difficulty about a
supply of fuel. Petrol sufficient to give motive power for hundreds of
miles can be carried if need be; and as long as there is petrol on
board the car is ready for work at a moment’s notice. Judging by the
number of the various types of vehicles actually at work we should
say that while steam is best for heavy traction, the gas-engine is
most often employed on pleasure cars.
[Illustration: _By kind permission of The Liquid Air Co._
_This graceful little motor-car is driven by Liquid Air. It makes
absolutely no smell or noise._]
_D. Liquid Air_ will also have to be reckoned with as a motive power.
At present it is only on its probation; but the writer has good
authority for stating that before these words appear in print there
will be on the roads a car driven by liquid air, and able to turn off
eighty miles in the hour.
_Manufacture._--As the English were the pioneers of the steam car, so
are the Germans and French the chief manufacturers of the petrol car.
While the hands of English manufacturers were tied by shortsighted
legislation, continental nations were inventing and controlling
valuable patents, so that even now our manufacturers are greatly
handicapped. Large numbers of petrol cars are imported annually from
France, Germany, and Belgium. Steam cars come chiefly from America and
France. The former country sent us nearly 2000 vehicles in 1901. There
are signs, however, that English engineers mean to make a determined
effort to recover lost ground; and it is satisfactory to learn that in
heavy steam vehicles, such as are turned out by Thorneycroft and Co.,
this country holds the lead. We will hope that in a few years we shall
be exporters in turn.
Having glanced at the history and nature of the various types of car,
it will be interesting to turn to a consideration of their travelling
capacities. As we have seen, a steam omnibus attained, in 1830, a
speed of no less than thirty-five miles an hour on what we should call
bad roads. It is therefore to be expected that on good modern roads
the latest types of car would be able to eclipse the records of
seventy years ago. That such has indeed been the case is evident when
we examine the performances of cars in races organised as tests of
speed. France, with its straight, beautifully-kept, military roads, is
the country _par excellence_ for the _chauffeur_. One has only to
glance at the map to see how the main highways conform to Euclid’s
dictum that a straight line is the shortest distance between any two
points, _e.g._ between Rouen and Dieppe, where a park of artillery,
well posted, could rake the road either way for miles.
The growth of speed in the French races is remarkable. In 1894 the
winning car ran at a mean velocity of thirteen miles an hour; in 1895,
of fifteen. The year 1898 witnessed a great advance to twenty-three
miles, and the next year to thirty miles. But all these speeds paled
before that of the Paris to Bordeaux race of 1901, in which the
winner, M. Fournier, traversed the distance of 327-1/2 miles at a rate
of 53-3/4 miles per hour! The famous Sud express, running between the
same cities, and considered the fastest long-distance express in the
world, was beaten by a full hour. It is interesting to note that in
the same races a motor bicycle, a Werner, weighing 80 lbs. or less,
successfully accomplished the course at an average rate of nearly
thirty miles an hour. The motor-car, after waiting seventy years, had
had its revenge on the railways.
This was not the only occasion on which an express service showed up
badly against its nimble rival of the roads. In June, 1901, the French
and German authorities forgot old animosities in a common enthusiasm
for the automobile, and organised a race between Paris and Berlin. It
was to be a big affair, in which the cars of all nations should fight
for the speed championship. Every possible precaution was taken to
insure the safety of the competitors and the spectators. Flags of
various colours and placards marked out the course, which lay through
Rheims, Luxembourg, Coblentz, Frankfurt, Eisenach, Leipsic, and
Potsdam to the German capital. About fifty towns and large villages
were “neutralised”--that is to say, the competitors had to consume a
certain time in traversing them. At the entrance to each neutralised
zone a “control” was established. As soon as a competitor arrived, he
must slow down, and a card on which was written the time of his
arrival was handed to a “pilot,” who cycled in front of the car to the
other “control” at the farther end of the zone, from which, when the
proper time had elapsed, the car was dismissed. Among other rules
were: that no car should be pushed or pulled during the race by any
one else than the passengers; that at the end of the day only a
certain time should be allowed for cleaning and repairs; and that a
limited number of persons, varying with the size of the car, should
be permitted to handle it during that period.
A small army of automobile club representatives, besides thousands of
police and soldiers, were distributed along the course to restrain the
crowds of spectators. It was absolutely imperative that for vehicles
propelled at a rate of from 50 to 60 miles an hour a clear path should
be kept.
At dawn, on July 27th, 109 racing machines assembled at the Fort de
Champigny, outside Paris, in readiness to start for Berlin. Just
before half-past three, the first competitor received the signal; two
minutes later the second; and then at short intervals for three hours
the remaining 107, among whom was one lady, Mme. de Gast. At least
20,000 persons were present, even at that early hour, to give the
racers a hearty farewell, and demonstrate the interest attaching in
France to all things connected with automobilism.
Great excitement prevailed in Paris during the three days of the race.
Every few minutes telegrams arrived from posts on the route telling
how the competitors fared. The news showed that during the first stage
at least a hard fight for the leading place was in progress. The
French cracks, Fournier, Charron, De Knyff, Farman, and Girardot
pressed hard on Hourgières, No. 2 at the starting-point. Fournier soon
secured the lead, and those who remembered his remarkable driving in
the Paris-Bordeaux race at once selected him as the winner.
Aix-la-Chapelle, 283 miles from Paris and the end of the first
stage, was reached in 6 hours 28 minutes. Fournier first, De Knyff
second by six minutes.
[Illustration: _By kind permission of The Liquid Air Co._
_Diagram of the Liquid Air Motor-Car, showing A, reservoir of liquid
air; B, pipes in which the liquid is transformed into atmospheric air
under great pressure; C, cylinders for driving the rear wheels by
means of chain-gear._]
On the 28th the racing became furious. Several accidents occurred.
Edge, driving the only English car, wrecked his machine on a culvert,
the sharp curve of which flung the car into the air and broke its
springs. Another ruined his chances by running over and killing a boy.
But Fournier, Antony, De Knyff, and Girardot managed to avoid mishaps
for that day, and covered the ground at a tremendous pace. At
Düsseldorf Girardot won the lead from Fournier, to lose it again
shortly. Antony, driving at a reckless speed, gained ground all day,
and arrived a close second at Hanover, the halting-place, after a run
averaging, in spite of bad roads and dangerous corners, no less than
54 miles an hour!
The _chauffeur_ in such a race must indeed be a man of iron nerves.
Through the great black goggles which shelter his face from the
dust-laden hurricane set up by the speed he travels at he must keep a
perpetual, piercingly keen watch. Though travelling at express speed,
there are no signals to help him; he must be his own signalman as well
as driver. He must mark every loose stone on the road, every
inequality, every sudden rise or depression; he must calculate the
curves at the corners and judge whether his mechanician, hanging out
on the inward side, will enable a car to round a turn without
slackening speed. His calculations and decisions must be made in the
fraction of a second, for a moment’s hesitation might be disaster. His
driving must be furious and not reckless; the timid _chauffeur_ will
never win, the careless one will probably lose. His head must be cool
although the car leaps beneath him like a wild thing, and the wind
lashes his face. At least one well-tried driver found the mere mental
strain too great to bear, and retired from the contest; and we may be
sure that few of the competitors slept much during the nights of the
race.
At four o’clock on the 29th Fournier started on the third stage, which
witnessed another bout of fast travelling. It was now a struggle
between him and Antony for first place. The pace rose at times to
eighty miles an hour, a speed at which our fastest expresses seldom
travel. Such a speed means huge risks, for stopping, even with the
powerful brakes fitted to the large cars, would be a matter of a
hundred yards or more. Not far from Hanover Antony met with an
accident--Girardot now held second place; and Fournier finished an
easy first. All along the route crowds had cheered him, and hurled
bouquets into the car, and wished him good speed; but in Berlin the
assembled populace went nearly frantic at his appearance. Fournier was
overwhelmed with flowers, laurel wreaths, and other offerings; dukes,
duchesses, and the great people of the land pressed for presentations;
he was the hero of the hour.
Thus ended what may be termed a peaceful invasion of Germany by the
French. Among other things it had shown that over an immense stretch
of country, over roads in places bad as only German roads can be, the
automobile was able to maintain an average speed superior to that of
the express trains running between Paris and Berlin; also that, in
spite of the large number of cars employed in the race, the accidents
to the public were a negligible quantity. It should be mentioned that
the actual time occupied by Fournier was 16 hours 5 minutes; that out
of the 109 starters 47 reached Berlin; and that Osmont on a motor
cycle finished only 3 hours and 10 minutes behind the winner.
In England such racing would be undesirable and impossible, owing to
the crookedness of our roads. It would certainly not be permissible so
long as the 12 miles an hour limit is observed. At the present time an
agitation is on foot against this restriction, which, though
reasonable enough among traffic and in towns, appears unjustifiable in
open country. To help to convince the magisterial mind of the ease
with which a car can be stopped, and therefore of its safety even at
comparatively high speeds, trials were held on January 2, 1902, in
Welbeck Park. The results showed that a car travelling at 13 miles an
hour could be stopped dead in 4 yards; at 18 miles in 7 yards; at 20
miles in 13 yards; or in less than half the distance required to pull
up a horse-vehicle driven at similar speeds.
_Uses._--Ninety-five per cent of motors, at least in England, are
attached to pleasure vehicles, cycles, voiturettes, and large cars. On
account of the costliness of cars motorists are far less numerous than
cyclists; but those people whose means enable them to indulge in
automobilism find it extremely fascinating. Caricaturists have
presented to us in plenty the gloomier incidents of motoring--the
broken chain, the burst tyre, the “something gone wrong.” It requires
personal experience to understand how lightly these mishaps weigh
against the exhilaration of movement, the rapid change of scene, the
sensation of control over power which can whirl one along tirelessly
at a pace altogether beyond the capacities of horseflesh. If proof
were wanted of the motor car’s popularity it will be seen in the
unconventional dress of the _chauffeur_. The breeze set up by his
rapid rush is such as would penetrate ordinary clothing; he dons
cumbrous fur cloaks. The dust is all-pervading at times; he swathes
himself in dust-proof overalls, and mounts large goggles edged with
velvet, while a cap of semi-nautical cut tightly drawn down over neck
and ears serves to protect those portions of his anatomy. The
general effect is peculiarly unpicturesque; but even the most
artistically-minded driver is ready to sacrifice appearances to
comfort and the proper enjoyment of his car.
In England the great grievance of motorists arises from the speed
limit imposed by law. To restrict a powerful car to twelve miles an
hour is like confining a thoroughbred to the paces of a broken-down
cab horse. Careless driving is unpardonable, but its occasional
existence scarcely justifies the intolerant attitude of the law
towards motorists in general. It must, however, be granted in justice
to the police that the _chauffeur_, from constant transgression of the
law, becomes a bad judge of speed, and often travels at a far greater
velocity than he is willing to admit.
The convenience of the motor car for many purposes is immense,
especially for cross-country journeys, which may be made from door to
door without the monotony or indirectness of railway travel. It bears
the doctor swiftly on his rounds. It carries the business man from his
country house to his office. It delivers goods for the merchant;
parcels for the post office.
In the warfare of the future, too, it will play its part, whether to
drag heavy ordnance and stores, or to move commanding officers from
point to point, or perform errands of mercy among the wounded. By the
courtesy of the Locomobile Company we are permitted to append the
testimony of Captain R. S. Walker, R.E., to the usefulness of a car
during the great Boer War.
“Several months ago I noticed a locomobile car at Cape Town, and being
struck with its simplicity and neatness, bought it and took it up
country with me, with a view to making some tests with it over bad
roads, &c. Its first trip was over a rough course round Pretoria,
especially chosen to find out defects before taking it into regular
use. Naturally, as the machine was not designed for this class of
work, there were several. In about a month these had all been found
out and remedied, and the car was in constant use, taking stores, &c.,
round the towns and forts. It also performed some very useful work in
visiting out-stations, where searchlights were either installed or
wanted, and in this way visited nearly all the bigger towns in the
Transvaal. It was possible to go round all the likely positions for a
searchlight in one day at every station, which frequently meant
considerably over fifty miles of most indifferent roads--more than a
single horse could have been expected to do--and the car generally
carried two persons on these occasions. The car was also used as a
tender to a searchlight plant, on a gun-carriage and limber, being
utilised to fetch gasolene, carbons, water, &c., &c., and also to run
the dynamo for charging the accumulators used for sparking, thus
saving running the gasolene motor for this purpose. To do this the
trail of the carriage, on which was the dynamo, was lowered on to the
ground, the back of the car was pulled up, one wheel being supported
on the dynamo pulley and the other clear of the ground, and two bolts
were passed through the balance-gear to join it. On one occasion the
car ran a 30 c.m. searchlight for an hour, driving a dynamo in this
way. In consequence of this a trailer has been made to carry a dynamo
and projector for searchlighting in the field, but so far this has
not been so used. The trailer hooks into an eye, passing just behind
the balance-gear. A Maxim, Colt, or small ammunition cart, &c., could
be attached to this same eye.
“Undoubtedly the best piece of work done by the car so far was its
trial trip with the trailer, when it blew up the mines at Klein Nek.
These mines were laid some eight months previously, and had never been
looked to in the interval. There had been several bad storms, the
Boers and cattle had been frequently through the Nek, it had been on
fire, and finally it was shelled with lyddite. The mines, eighteen in
number, were found to be intact except two, which presumably had been
fired off by the heat of the veldt fire. All the insulation was burnt
off the wires, and the battery was useless. It had been anticipated
that a dynamo exploder would be inadequate to fire these mines, so a
250 volt two h.p. motor, which happened to be in Pretoria, weighing
about three or four hundredweight, was placed on the trailer; a
quarter of a mile of insulated cable, some testing gear, the kits of
three men and their rations for three days, with a case of gasolene
for the car, were also carried on the car and trailer, and the whole
left Pretoria one morning and trekked to Rietfontein. Two of us were
mounted, the third drove the car. At Rietfontein we halted for the
night, and started next morning with an escort through Commando Nek,
round the north of the Magaliesburg, to near Klein Nek, where the road
had to be left, and the car taken across country through bush veldt.
At the bottom the going was pretty easy; only a few bushes had to be
charged down, and the grass, &c., rather wound itself around the
wheels and chain. As the rise became steeper the stones became very
large, and the car had to be taken along very gingerly to prevent
breaking the wheels. A halt was made about a quarter of a mile from
the top of the Nek, where the mines were. These were reconnoitered,
and the wire, &c., was picked up; that portion which was useless was
placed on top of the charges, and the remainder taken to the car. The
dynamo was slid off the trailer, the car backed against it; one wheel
was raised slightly and placed against the dynamo pulley, which was
held up to it by a man using his rifle as a lever; the other wheel was
on the ground with a stone under it. The balance gear being free, the
dynamo was excited without the other wheel moving, and the load being
on for a very short time (that is, from the time of touching lead on
dynamo terminal to firing of the mine) no harm could come to the car.
When all the leads had been joined to the dynamo the car was started,
and after a short time, when it was judged to have excited, the second
terminal was touched, a bang and clouds of dust resulted, and the
Klein Nek Minefield had ceased to exist. The day was extremely hot,
and the work had not been light, so the tea, made with water drawn
direct from the boiler, which we were able to serve round to the main
body of our escort was much appreciated, and washed down the surplus
rations we dispensed with to accommodate the battery and wire, which
we could not leave behind for the enemy.
“On the return journey we found this extra load too much for the car,
and had great difficulty getting up to Commando Nek, frequently having
to stop to get up steam, so these materials were left at the first
blockhouse, and the journey home continued in comfort.
“A second night at Rietfontein gave us a rest after our labour, and
the third afternoon saw us on our way back to Pretoria. As luck would
have it, a sandstorm overtook the car, which had a lively time of it.
The storm began by blowing the sole occupant’s hat off, so, the two
mounted men being a long way behind, he shut off steam and chased his
hat. In the meantime the wind increased, and the car sailed off ‘on
its own,’ and was only just caught in time to save a smash. Luckily
the gale was in the right direction, for the fire was blown out, and
it was impossible to light a match in the open. The car sailed into a
poort on the outskirts of Pretoria, got a tow from a friendly cart
through it, and then steamed home after the fire had been relit.
“The load carried on this occasion (without the battery, &c.) must
have been at least five hundredweight besides the driver, which,
considering the car is designed to carry two on ordinary roads, and
that these roads were by no means ordinary, was no mean feat. The car,
as ordinarily equipped for trekking, carries the following: Blankets,
waterproof sheets, &c., for two men; four planks for crossing ditches,
bogs, stones, &c.; all necessary tools and spare parts, a day’s supply
of gasolene, a couple of telephones, and one mile of wire. In
addition, on the trailer, if used for searchlighting: One 30 c.m.
projector, one automatic lamp for projector, one dynamo (100 volts 20
ampères), two short lengths of wire, two pairs of carbons, tools, &c.
This trailer would normally be carried with the baggage, and only
picked up by the car when wanted as a light; that is, as a rule, after
arriving in camp, when a good many other things could be left behind.”
Perhaps the most useful work in store for the motor is to help relieve
the congestion of our large towns and to restore to the country some
of its lost prosperity. There is no stronger inducement to make people
live in the country than rapid and safe means of locomotion, whether
public or private. At present the slow and congested suburban train
services on some sides of London consume as much time as would suffice
a motor car to cover twice or three times the distance. We must
welcome any form of travel which will tend to restore the balance
between country and town by enabling the worker to live far from his
work. The gain to the health of the nation arising from more even
distribution of population would be inestimable.
A world’s tour is among the latest projects in automobilism. On April
29, 1902, Dr. Lehwess and nine friends started from Hyde Park Corner
for a nine months’ tour on three vehicles, the largest of them a
luxuriously appointed 24 horse-power caravan, built to accommodate
four persons. Their route lies through France, Germany, Russia,
Siberia, China, Japan, and the United States.
HIGH-SPEED RAILWAYS.
A century ago a long journey was considered an exploit, and an exploit
to be carried through as quickly as possible on account of the dangers
of the road and the generally uncomfortable conditions of travel.
To-day, though our express speed is many times greater than that of
the lumbering coaches, our carriages comparatively luxurious, the risk
practically nil, the same wish lurks in the breast of ninety-nine out
of a hundred railway passengers--to spend the shortest time in the
train that the time-table permits of. Time differences that to our
grandfathers would have appeared trifling are now matters of
sufficient importance to make rival railway companies anxious to clip
a few minutes off a 100-mile “run” simply because their passengers
appreciate a few minutes’ less confinement to the cars.
During the last fifty years the highest express speeds have not
materially altered. The Great Western Company in its early days ran
trains from Paddington to Slough, 18 miles, in 15-1/2 minutes, or at
an average pace of 69-1/2 miles an hour.
On turning to the present regular express services of the world we
find America heading the list with a 50-mile run between Atlantic City
and Camden, covered at the average speed of 68 miles an hour; Britain
second with a 33-mile run between Forfar and Perth at 59 miles; and
France a good third with an hourly average of rather more than 58
miles between Les Aubrais and S. Pierre des Corps. These runs are
longer than that on the Great Western Railway referred to above (which
now occupies twenty-four minutes), but their average velocity is less.
What is the cause of this decrease of speed? Not want of power in
modern engines; at times our trains attain a rate of 80 miles an hour,
and in America a mile has been turned off in the astonishing time of
thirty-two seconds. We should rather seek it in the need for economy
and in the physical limitations imposed by the present system of
plate-laying and railroad engineering. An average speed of ninety
miles an hour would, as things now stand, be too wasteful of coal and
too injurious to the rolling-stock to yield profit to the proprietors
of a line; and, except in certain districts, would prove perilous for
the passengers. Before our services can be much improved the steam
locomotive must be supplanted by some other application of motive
power, and the metals be laid in a manner which will make special
provision for extreme speed.