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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 1915)
11 THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND. JULY 18, 1013. TRUCK AS TRACTOR 15 MADE EFFICIENT vV3 4 ' ' mt l 1 :-A ft Motor Vehicle Attains Maxi mum of Usefulness Only by Pulling Its Load. Announcing the - 4 TWO METHODS AVAILABLE Four-Wheel Trailer Principle One "Way and Semi-Trailer Plan Is Another to Take Auto Out of Packhorse Class. BY C. H. MARTIN. Read before National Team Owners' Asso ciation in Springfield. Mass.. June 29. 1915. If one will only stop to think that it has taken thousands of years to bring the wagon and horse up to where they are and that the first practical motor-propelled, vehicle for the high way made its appearance a few short years ago. he certainly must realize that wonders have been accomplished in a comparatively short time. When the invention of the differen tial gear made the motor-propelled vehicle for the highway a possibility the pleasure car. took precedence and occupied the minds of engineers, be cause the public demanded it. Pleas ures, after all, receive consideration before business. After the pleasure automobile was well on its way thought was given to the business end and. the development of the motor truck began. The line f least resistance was followed and the design of the pleasure car taken. fn the principle that if a machine would, carry a load of passengers a larger machine of the same type would carry a load, of merchandise. Economy la Reason for Truck. The principal reason for the exist ence of the motor vehicle for business purposes, whether it be delivery wag on, heavy truck or tractor, is economy, It may be of time. It may be of money. But as time is money, it all comes to the same thing. The ma chine that will do the most work for the least money is what the designer is striving to produce. After the motor truck had been in practical use a short time it was brought pretty forcibly to the minds or engineers that its necessarily high first cost, correspondingly high oper ating cost and limited range of action would allow a narrow margin of profit when it was brought in compe tition with the horse. It would show a pre on long hauls, good road con ditions, gouu 'lities for loading and unloading; but where the hauls were short or loading and unloading condi tions bad, ---the horse' could haul cheaper. The motor truck has been brought to a high state of development. But, after all, it comes in the class of weight-carrying, or pack animals. Truck Becomea Tractor. The next step was to make the truck do more work than it had been doing and show a greater profit than it had been showing, and the only way to ao tnis was to make It into a trac tor which would draw its load, instead of carrying it. The efficiency was greatly increased, as in the case of the horse, when he became a tractor in stead or a carrier. In all live factories today the tractor principle is coming in for snecia.1 at tention. Why it delayed so long is hard to understand. It is a self-evident fact that if you have a bunch of merchandise to move and have a sood Toad to move over, you would, not put this merchandise on the back of a horse and carry it. Why has not the same process of reasoning com into play long before with regard to the motor trucKY Why not utilize ail the power that there is in that truok7 There is sufficient power to draw over good feoing- considerable more than the frame, springs, axles and tires will support in carrying the load. In all the standard trucks today the iiannmisaion ana driving mechanism consisting of gears, shafts. Iv r,ri all train-taking parts from the engine back to the wheels, are designed to withstand the power that the engine ni aeveiop. iz a truck, built to carry five tons, be driven un to a brick wall with its full load on its back and the power applied, the wheels will slip on the dry street. This shows that the truck is capable of drawing behinfl it as much as the traction between the roaa ana tne driving wheels will ad nrit of. Two Methods Available. There are two methods of making ine motor trucK into a tractor. One is the four-wheel trailer principle, and the other is the two-wheel or semi trailer principle. Here comes in the traction problem; and it is one of the greatest problems that confront the da signer ana user or the motor vehicl today. w here we must depend en tireiy on rriction. aa is the case on th city streets, where no cleats or spikes are allowed, we must use for a tire a substance that has a hiirh ropf fir-ion of friction. Much experimenting has ueen aone witn wood blocks, combi nation wood and steel and other sub stances. But we have all come back to ruDDer. row, about the only rea son ior tne rueoer on a tire is for th traction that it gives. The cushioning effect of solid rubber is of little value. Springs are made to take care of all road shocks and do it well. Steel tires have been used for years on drawn neeis. ana It is safe to continu tneir use. If it were not for the nroblem o traction, we would use steel tires on the driving wheels also and get away irom one or tne Heaviest items of ex pense. ror where the wheel simrjlv roll and does no driving, steel is unques nunaoiy tne cneapest tneretore th. best. The railroad locomotive obtain suuicieni traction on steel tires to move from 40 to 50 times its weight, but 2 per cent is the maximum grade on any except the mountain roads, and i-iey rareiy go over tnree. Grade Increases Need of Weight. As we ascend a grade the Dereent age of weight necessary for traction increases by leaps and bounds, and as the grades on our highway are not, as in the case of the railroad, limited to 2 per cent, the motor truck, when usea as a tractor,- must have a per centage of weight on the driving wueeis in proportion to the grade i runs over, and the road surface en countered. A large per cent is neces cttry on a steep, icy nui, or a wet aspnait mil, . and these same drivin wneeis must be shod with rubber until some better and cheaper substance comes along. The bulk of merchandise is loaded ana unloaded at chutes or nlatfnrm or other places where it is necessary to back the vehicle in order to place It properly. Were it not for these two proDiems that of traction and of ne cessity to back to & given position any motor truck could be called on to do duty as a tractor without change uy Bimpiy naving wagons hitched o nemna. inis is done with varvln degrees of success in many places, bu to obtain the highest degree of effi clency the design must be such that th tractor and trailer can be handled by V-.- ::.-A 40-Keeaapowar crBadara caat atraka Hichtc J. W. one man, can have traction sufficient to go any place and be backed easily and quickly to any given position, and the: trailer disconnected and left to be loaded or unloaded. There are some four-wheel trailers made that, with the assistance of an extra man. can be backed to a given position. But no part of the load can be used for trac tion. Vehicles of this class are suc cessfully used over level roads in many sections of the country. But a much higher degree of effi ciency is reached in the semi-trailer Plan, where part of the load is carried by the driving wheels and part drawn behind on two trailing wheels. In this manner the capacity of a truck is dou bled. There is always sufficient weight for traction. It can be backed to any position without the aid of an extra man, and can be jacked up and left standing for loading or unloading wnue tne tractor is alter another load. Granting that the motor truck is a highly developed piece of mechanism. it is limited in its carrying capacity. can nnnaie only tne Kina or merchan dise for which its body is designed. The World's Lowest Priced Knight Motored Car THIS announces the greatest achievement in the history of the automobile business. The Knight is the automobile motor that revolutionized the entire motor car industry of Europe. The Daimler of England, the Panhard of France, the Mercedes of Germany, the Minerva of Belgium in fact practically all of the costly European cars arc equipped with the famous Knight type motor. And these are the motor cars that cost from $4,000 to $8,000 each I Kaicht aaata! mm bloc, 4Vfc" m W 114-tach ulbM FalMloaung rmar axis Undankms; raar nriia 34" s 4" lira mom iWirfi LEAVITT & CO., The Willys-Overland Company, Toledo, Also manufacturers of the famous Overland Automobiles VMado In U. S. A.I and must wait while loads are being put on or taken off; but when it is used as a. tractor its field is widened, in asmuch as its capacity is doubled it acrries its normal load and draws as much more on two wheels trailing be hind. It can handle as many different kinds of loads as there are different kinds of wagons to attach low-bed wagons, end-dump wagons, bottom dump wagons, long or short wagons, or passenger buses. Half the weight is carried on steel tires; the total weight is spread over three axles; the truck and driver are constantly occupied no waiting for loads: loads may be left standing to be unloaded when conve nient. Chelan County Orders Road Signs. "WE NATCH E B, Wash.. July 17. (Special.) For the benefit of tourists and others using the county roads, the Chelan County Commissioners have or dered signboards placed at the inter section of the main thoroughfares. These will give the mileage . nd direc tion to the most important towns on the road. . o. b. Toledo . Practically every royal and titled family in Europe owns one or more Knight motored cars. The Knight type motor is the nearest approach to 100 efficiency. This motor differs from other motors in that where all others deteri orate with use, this improves; to all others carbon is harmful, here it is beneficial; size for size it has more power. It has no noisy poppet valves; no noisy cams; no uncertain valve springs; no troublesome valves to grind; practically no wearing parts. Specifications: DismaUbU rimai om oatra Colon Royal blua with ivory strtptas? gray whaaka tuckal aad poliahoa alumiauna tnginiaaa Distributors, 529 Washingtqn Street J NEW MODELS INTEREST MAKERS EXPLAIN COSTIXIED EF FORT TO LEXGTHEJI CAR'S LIFE. Demands of Bnyera Crow More Ex acting; aa Yean Go by Mu de baker Report Improvement. It is surprising how much Interest Is. displayed by the general public in the plans of automobile manufac turers relative to new models. This has been very noticeably emphaslxed the past week by the comment the Studebaker announcement for I SIC has created in numerous cities. Word re ceived from Studebaker branch house managers and dealers over the coun try is to one effect, that never .be fore has such interest and enthusiasm been shown over new models. Indica Vtan task s.aaliae mi at flactric atartiaa; aad isktiaa a, Control baKaaa mm ataarias col HaadU.kt New tions are also said to point that the coming year will prove the greatest selling season in the history of the in dustry. More than ever the automobile la being used for business purposes, for pleasure and recreation. Horse de livery is regarded as a luxury to a business of even ordinary size. The day seems to be approaching rapidly when every man with what may be considered a comfortable Income will be the possessor of a motor car. These conditions help toward creating a general public interest in what the manufacturers are doing. The effect of this Interest Is .to develop the new buyers who make It possible for the quantity producer to lower his prices. A goodly portion of these readers of automobile announcements may not be Immediately concerned In the pur chase of a car, but their Interest indi cates that the educational eflect may some time produce results. Kach succeeding year has brought more exacting demands from the buy ers of cars In the way of greater serv iceability. Recognizing the insistence for more pulling power. Studebaker has The Willys-Knight has the same advantages and is just as efficient as those costly European Knight cars. As we build more cars in a single week than most European manufac turers build in a whole year, we are able to utilize every modern manu facturing economy. That is why our price is so much less. The Willys-Knight, in our opin ion, has the least vibration and is the smoothest, quietest and most eco nomical car made. Have your demonstration at once. Immediate deliveries. Oa. a saifcsa- too wiarfihl.la l" Macaatfa aiiJisiln rhonrs: Marshall 3335. A 2444 Location After July 25, Broadway and Ohio enlarged the bore of the motors in the new models, and made other changes that now produce CO horsepower in the six cylinder motors and 40 la the four cylinder. Another effort on the part of manu facturers has been to lengthen the life of cara This is a feature which Studebaker has also given close at tention In the new models. Vibration has been greatly reduced and silence secured by increasing the rigidity of parts, following Kuropean engineering practice. The crankshaft has been made stlffer, for one thing, and made to revolve on larger ball bearing areas, while the motor bearings are bronxe backed babbit. A rotary bal ance devica at the Studebaker plants makes It possible to see that haft are properly balanced at critical speed. All these Improvements have the ef fect of reducing the wesr on a car to the minimum, which naturally means for It greatly prolonged life. A per son of sufficient wisdom to gather enough money to purchase a motorcar may be reckoned upon as casting about for the greatest value when he buys. Si Y VA Davis St. 5 All of which makes the automobile sections of the newspapers t ie more attractive to the average reader. Tlirr on Cjclo Make Time. ASHLAND. Or, July IT. (Special.) A trip from Klamath Falls to Ashland. a distance of 5 miles, covered in four hours, was the record made by three passenger on a motorcycle July 12. This was done by Claude Coon. Charley De Lap and a younger brother of the latter, who rode on a cushion In front of the driver. Some of the distance was over a rouph mountain rond. The machine was a Marl-y-l vidson. 1OnjteM "Drive Away" riunneil. Clarence T. and Sumner K. Johnson, two brothers, purchased r.rw model four and slx-cyllnder Stu.lebaktr tour ing cara at the T'etroit factory recent ly. They will drive the cars hack to their home city. Moscow. Idaho. This will In all probability prove lo le the longest "drive-away" ewr started from the factory incc the idea u Inaugurated.