THE SUNDAY. OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, JANUARY 21, 1917. OWEN MAGNETIC AGENCY NOW HERE HEADS OF PORTLAND COMPANIES WHICH DEAL EXCLUSIVELY IN MOTOR TRUCKS, WITH NO PLEASURE-CAR LINE. ALL-YEAR ROAD ON OFFICIALS OF THE SEVEN AUTO FIRMS WHICH RETAIL THE FORD CAR LN PORTLAND. COAST ADVOCATED X 4 Gibson Electric Garage and Storage Battery Com pany in Charge. Seattle to San Francisco Win ter Route Considered Ne cessity for Tourists. PRICE OF CAR IS $4200 SITUATION HINGES HERE c s ..... ............ v. . . . t 3C&fY?Z? 1 ' ; -,'r ' '""v 1 - . ,. ''- ' ' ; V ' - f ' " I " ' ) I r f J 111 f - I -'-'W : V I . : if : ' - I"H Two Machines Are Now in Portland. This New Automobile Is Said to ' Be Remarkable Because It lias No Clutch or Gears. The local agency for the Owen Mag netic car. one of the most talked-of new automobiles before the American public, was granted last week to the Olbson Electric Garage and Storage Battery Company, of which A. E. (Dad) Foss and F. H. Hildebrand are officials. The contract was granted through H. V. Clarrage, manager of the Oakland branch of the Magnetic Motor Car Company, makers of the "car with a thousand speeds." Two cars have al ready been delivered to Portland own ers, Bessie Nye Grant, who purchased the first car, and Lloyd Frank, who bought the clever-looking four-passenger vehicle, which arrived last week. The Owen Magnetic Is a high-priced vehicle, which brings $4200. Automobile dealers returning from the Kast have been talking for months about the new car that is traveling the important streets of the big cities at slow and fast speeds, spurting ahead at the signal of the traffic policeman without jerk or grinding of gears, climbing hills as silently as most cars go down grade. Clntcb. and Gears Absent. Most everyone Is now familiar with the way in which power is transmitted from the ordinary automobile's engine to the wheels, viz., the gears. To oper ate the car It is necessary for the driver to shift Into "first," gain mo mentum, then slip the lever into "sec ond' and 'third," which on most makes of autos is "high." There also is a clutch which must be pushed out with the foot each time one changes gear. This means that the person operating the machine must exert effort with the foot and hand many times on each trip. The Owen Magnetic has no clutch and no gears. For a number of years Roy Ralney, brother of Paul Rainey, who Is a famed hunter of wild animals, and has produced some of the most wonderful moving pictures of wild life In the Jungles, has been experimenting with an invention for the elimination of the gears and clutch. Then he and Ralph Owen, one of the early manufacturing associates of R. K. Olds, built a few machines, and demonstrated the feasibility of the Owen Magnetic. They have been build ing two a day for several years and are meeting success. The car that arrived In Portland last week is of the cloverleaf roadster type and of a pigskin brown color. It has a six-cylinder gas engine like other motor cars, and has hood, fenders, steering wheel and other general fea tures of an automobile. The only difference to be seen is an extra lever on the throttle sector. It moves downward from the natural po sition to 1-2-3-4-5 and high notches. Gas is fed with the throttle or foot ac celerator by a simple push downward on the lever. Then the car glides away smoothly and silently. There la no clutch pedal, and no gear shift lever. In place of the ordinary fly wheel the gasoline motor of the Owen Mag netic has a magnetic body circular in shape and with a hollow center. At the forward end of the drive shaft is also attached a second magnetic body, circular in shape and fitting within the hollow center of the first magnetic body, which is attached to the engine Instead of the flywheel. These two bodies have absolutely no physical con nection, so there is an air space about the thickness of a dime. Rapture Is Impossible. These two bodies never change their relative position and consequently it Is impossible to rupture the magnetic transmission in any way. When the gasoline engine is set in motion it causes the outer magnetic body to ro tate around the inner one and when the speed radio control lever on the steer ing post is placed in one of the driving positions, both become electrically ex cited, thereby creating a magnetic af finity between the two, which causes the inner one to rotate with the outer one. This gives a connection between the engine and the drive shaft, .which la controlled by the controlling of the magnetic attraction between the two. eliminating the necessity or eitner clutch or gears. Inasmuch as the car Is driven by the engine magnetically it Is possible to drive the engine magnetically by the transmission, thus eliminating the ad ditional starting and lighting equip ment. While the Owen Magnetic ear Is the onlv one at present using this inven tion, in the course of two years this transmission may be obtained on the other makes as the General Electric Company Is building it at the Fort Wayne, Ind., plant, and has an interest Iji the patent rights. ROADS DRY AND GOOD rORTLASD-SEATTLE ROI TE IS IX GOOD CONDITION NOW. Overland Finds Only Few Miles of Koagh Travel Car Bought for Vse in China. The road from Portland to Seattle Is in good condition with the exception of 25 miles of rough going between Kalama and Kelso, according to R. U. Peterson.- sales manager of the Port land branch of the Overland Pacific " Company, who drove an Overland country club model over the Pacific ' Highway route last Monday In com pany with A. C. Logan, manager of an Knglish insurance company in Ceylon. India. Mr. Logan purchased the car in Port land and had it shipped from Seattle to Hongkong. China, where he will r main for some time. on business before proceeding to Ceylon. "Some of the roads were pretty ; rough, but absolutely dry. reported Mr. Peterson upon his return to Port land. "Our actual running time from Portland to Seattle was 10 hours. "The worst of the road was between Kalama and Kelso, the road surface being particularly, rough where th road skirts the railroad traqks. The road was pretty fair from Vancouver to Kalama, no very good from Kelso to Toledo, but good from the latter point forward. The speedometer registered 211 miles when we pulled up at th Overland store in Seattle. "I used no chains whatever, yet he . car was not spattered with mud. Be cause it was virtually as clean when we arrived as on leaving Portland we didn't even rewash it for shipment. We didn't find a foot of mud between Port land and Seattle." 1 7Va Cr&Zren Molar Car Co, szroreancz; rucMsr. j- t son i Slerlincr Truck. C. TCJVr-Ttt. 8a72ou & Wrfgrhi. Smith 'F&rrh A TrizcZr. BIG CHANGES NOTED Rapid Evolution Takes Place in Automobile Industry. $1000 TYPE IS STABLE Problems Are What Ivlnd of Cars to Bnild, How Many and at What Price Present Situation Dis cussed by Hugh Chalmers. BT HUGH CHALMERS. President Chalmers Motor Car Company. Probably the most Important devel opment of the automobile industry during the past few years has been the gradual defining of price classifi cations among those manufacturers turning out a large volume of cars annually. It has been fairly well set tled, for Instance, that the four-cylinder car is destined to lead in the lowest-priced fields. And the sixes, eights and twelves have their markets almost as sharply defined. Because the $1000 field offers the automobile manufacturer an opportu nity to Incorporate improved features of construction with quantity produo tlon. t believe the future of the car selling near that price to be already assured. When we pay 25 or $30 for a suit of clothes we do not expect to obtain the quality of goods for which we pay CAR WITHOUT CLUTCH asjsnnlWsaWnwq XVBonansaBnssananaBaBnaasBnnBnaJ, H &jjj&j&iiiWK'"mmmmmmt. """"analaBBnnnnaiJi I -- . 1 Ark. W&'2k&.;'--':i:-'-:k i' i t - f - "-:::"F-i-:-gwi???;-tr;::K:s;:i;..v-i it&oa6l&iiw - - ' : ; 11 1 , L-- - Unique Owen Magnetic Car, Which Was Pnrchased Krom Gibson Finn -una" r'omm stands nt tae Ieft, 3 Cslius&II. fniernai.z'ona ffoior Car Co. facte. Sjs it rsr. wiu-j,.,-, RoZrers frfoior Gar Co. $50 or $80. But as our worldly pros pects increase we gladly pay the dlf terence to obtain long-wearing quali ties in our. apparel. For exactly th same reason we know that the buyers of cars in the $1000 field are recruited to a great extent each year from for mer owners of cheap cars. From time to time we hear the pes simists haul out and dust off their little talk on the "point of saturation' in the automobile industry. To the men who have followed the automo bile Industry from Its Inception this viewpoint appears ridiculous. In the first place we must rem em ber that the industry has been passing tnrougn a steady process of evolution for over 10 years. Hundreds of thou sands of automobiles have been turned out in that time, but I will venture to say that a big majority of cars now on the road are products of the past four years. Each succeeding year sees thousands of cars relegated to the scrap-heap. Which answers concisely the question, "VV hat becomes of the old cars?" We were not familiar in the earlv days with the heat-treating processes or the metal combinations which make tor- long me. it we naa Deen, our first model would still be doing yeo man duty on city streets and country roads. This natural process of elimi nation has made room each season for a fresh crop of better motor cars, and the probabilities of overproduction, it seems to me, are largely confined to the cheap car field. Briefly, the most difficult problems In the automobile Industry are what kind of car or cars to build, at what prices and how many. Due to the rapid development of the engineering end, changes in the automobile indus try have been kaleidoscopic m the past. Severity of competition and caprices of public demand have caused changes of policy not always for the best. There was a time when automobiles had but one cylinder then two, three and four. When "fours" first came out we often heard the remark that a "four" simply multiplied your troubles by four. Yet when "fours" were per fected the old types were thrown away. OR GEAR IS NOW REPRESENTED TT Mr. Hildebrand In the Center and F". locating Engineer Makes Proposal to Follow Oregon, and California Coasts In Order to Avoid Snowfields. A new route along the Coast that would provide an all-year road for the full length of the Pacific Coast Is pro posed by F. W. Harris, a locating engi neer, who mapped out many of the im portant stretches In the famous bno qualmie Pass road from Seattle to Spo kane. In order to avoid the snow which usually checkmates motoring over the Siskiyou Mountain country in the dead of Winter Mr. Harris suggests hugging closer -to the ocean and run through without hitting heavy snow. "From November to May. throughout all the Northern states, from Pennsyl vania to the Pacific Northwest, snow is the great controlling factor. says Mr. Harris, who learned well the char acteristics of snow during his work in the Snoqualmle country. "The motor ist' of means drives to Florida or over the Santa Fe Highway to California. California Well Advertised. "California is probably the best ad vertised state in the Union, attracting Winter tourists by tens of thousands, and it would be one of our objects, by means of proposed advertising, to In duce these tourists to visit the North west country before returning East. Should they desire to make the trip North to Puget Sound would it be possible? The map shows that the snow fields would make it either Im possible or undesirable. "The only connecting road at the present time between Seattle and San Francisco is the Pacific Highway. This road Is blockaded by snow every Winter in the Siskiyou Mountains on the Oregon-California line. -Even if the road were kept open by special ma chinery for fighting snow, few tourists would care to make the trip through the snow fields between Medford, Or., and Delta, Cal. a distance of approxi mately 150 miles. "First and last, the snow fields on the Pacific Coast control the situation. We are Indeed fortunate in having an alternate route free from snow be tween Seattle and San Francisco. This route would be over the Pacific High way to Portland, Or., thence along a road to be built down'the Oregon coast and Northern California to San Fran cisco. About one-half of this road is constructed, but it is in isolated sec tions. Oregon In Control. "Oregon controls the tourist situa tion In Winter, and we can accomplish practically nothing until the most Im portant section of the Coast line road is built, which is the Marshf ield-Eu-reka section. Whatever help we may be able to give towards the construe tion of this road will hasten the day when California autos will be seen on Seattle streets at Christmas time. "It has been proposed that the North western railroads make a special rate and furnish special facilities for han dling the autos of tourists, but this matter has aroused but little interest with railway officials. In the first place it Is not likely that the volume of business would be large enough to call for special facilities for tourists to Puget Sound points only. "If It were possible for tourists to ship their machines to Seattle and tour to California enough would come to justify the expense. This business would work both ways as tourists en tering California either by train or to make the trip to Seattle, and from here ship there cars bacjc East. "It would be but a comparatively short time before the volume of travel would be heavy, so that the railways would do their own advertising. "Little can be done and less expected as long as we are snowbound. The most important highway in the state during the Winter months is the Pa cific Highway. This highway should be paved from Tacoma to Vancouver, by far our greatest need. "We are able to compete with Florida and California in offering an attractive playground for the Winter tourist, but we will never be able to reap the bene fits due us until the Coast line Toad is built, which will give us an open road in Winter between Seattle and San Francisco." EARLY DAYS ARE RECALLED Pioneer Designers Had Many Hard Problems to Solve. When we recall that the automobile Industry is only 18 or 20 years old and consider what was called an automo bile back in the early days, it is easy to appreciate the enormous growth of the country's greatest Industry for. its age. Looking at the modern car, the problems of the pioneers seem insig nificant. But there was a vast igno rance with regard to the internal com bustion engine, the characteristics of which differed so widely from those of the steam engine in common use. Many of the features of present-day design were undreamed of then. Among the pioneers of the industry probably no man had more advanced ideas than John Wilkinson. In 1898 he built his first "car," crudely and aim ply, to be sure, but embodying some of the fundamental principles that characterize cars today. IN PORTLAND FIELD. i.atut Week by Lloyd Frank. II. Lowudale ft the Rlsht. I 1 I JHranczls' ttoior Car s4r r Z-c-Zcj. BIG FIELD YET OPEN A. R. Erskine Says Millions Can Afford Cars. ALL ARE EAGER TO BUY Growth of Industry In Spite of Fears of Bankers and of Some or Those Wlio Think Limit Is Reached Is Pointed Out. BT A. R. ERSKINE, President Studebaker Corporation. All great and revolutionary develop ments surprise the world and hence people are slow to acknowledge their advent until it is patent to all. While the automobile industry ranks fourth among American industries, doing a billion and a quarter dollars annually, and has made this record in 13 years, the most remarkable Industrial de velopment in the world's history, many people regard it as an evanescent busi ness and talk about the "saturation point" having been reached. But the evolution of the automobile and the success and prosperity of the principal manufacturers have con verted thousands of skeptics during the past few years, especially among the banking fraternity of the whole coun try, and banking credit and capital are now available wherever needed. Bankers have become firm believers in the commercial stability of the au tomobile, but 10 years ago. and for several years thereafter, banking sup port in a large way was denied the struggling young industry, which was privately financed and further aided by cash deposits received from dealers and prospective buyers before the cars were delivered. Bankers Long- Wary. It is a remarkable fact that this great industry was at first established and financed privately, until it reached safe footing, before bankers gen erally began to recognize its stability. This was because the revolutionary na ture of the industry rendered prudence necessary, until it was possible to de termine the degree of permanency. The talk today or a mysterious "sat uration point." indulged In by unin formed persons or skeptics, is amusing to people behind the scenes, and a few facts concerning the industry will clearly indicate the fallacy of such con clusions. The days of the horse are over. The automobile is an economic necessity in transportation, both for business and pleasure. Its application to individual uses, wide range of action, economy. charm and healthfulness, are uni versally admitted. In the conduct of a farm it is as much of an economic factor rfa any agricultural implement used thereon: It gives the farmer closer contract with markets, facilitates farm supervision and forever dispels the isolation of farm life. It is king on millions of highways and country roads not traversed either by railroads or trolleys, and is making tremendous in roads Into their business. It is in creasing land value all over the world. All Eager to Bay. The appeal of the automobile has grasped the mind and fired the imag ination of more people throughout the civilized world in a shorter time than has perhaps any other manufactured article In the history of the world. The desire for possession Is already created. and the automobile salesman never has to persuade a prospect that he wants or needs an automobile: he admits it- There are about 3, 500. 000 cars In use today throughout the world, of which 3.000,000 are in the United States. Sta tistics indicate that 5,000,000 of our people have incomes ranging from $1000 to $3500. and deducting 200.000 cars from the .2,700,000 to cover cars in use by business organizations it would seem that of these S. 000, 000 peo pie. 2,500.000 own cars, and the same number are yet without cars. Similar deductions are not possible for foreign countries, but If we have 2.500,000 people left who can afford to buy cars, it seems reasonable to as sume that at least there are an addi tional 2.500.000 in foreign countries, which would make 6,000.000 possible new owners: that is, people who have never owned an automobile. Speed Canses Accidents. Courteous driving provides a definite insurance protection which otherwise cannot be bought. - Accidents - - and -....-.T'vyV.W,-.aWvT,IWW . . ... ... . . . WL-.V.V-V.. y... ...... .. v I j v r 1 - . ; ' ' U: - f & . 1 I .ssX . I i nnajnassnssnsninso 7. J?Lic?h It'ghi, 2?u s-i Zz'grh . ?s n sorrt CU -'e3 77e'y. wrecks will not descend upon the ordinarily-driven automobile. Statistics show that a huge majority of mishaps result from speeding or from various other forms of carelessness or traffic rule violations. No record exists so far as a railway train having left Its track to hit a motor car. The fact that automobiles must first get in front of trains to be hit adds emphasis to the deduction that the more careful and mannerly the motorist is the more certain is the atmosphere of protection and safety with which he surrounds himself. Auto Plays Hero. SAN GABHIEU Cal.. Jan. 20. Wilbur Hall, of this place, well-known fiction writer, who has created a great name as a writer of automobile stories, paid a compliment to the Chevrolet in his lead story In the annual automobile number of Colliers'. Mr. Hall has a little "Four-Ninety" roadster arrive on the scene in time to save the beauti ful and rich heroine, who drives away and leaves the villain In the road. It Is said that Mr. Hall cast the "Four Ninety" in the hero role out of re spect. He drives a Chevrolet himself. TIRES TRIED IN RACES BIG AUTOMOBILE EVENTS PUT EN DURANCE TO TEST. Amazlns; Strength of Cars and Sklllfml Driving; Are Affected Much by Con dition of Equipment. The remarkable success of tires In the big automobile racing events of the last three months has caused much speculation as to the factors which af fect tire durability in these terrific grinds of speed and endurance. The tire performances in the sport of au tomobile racing are scarcely less inter esting than the wonderful skill of the drivers and the amazing endurance 01 the cars. The car. the driver, the track and the weather all these are variables which have an important bearing on the lire behavior In a big race. or tnesa me driver's influence Is perhaps the great est. He may be the making or the un making of his tire equipment. No wc men handle car In the same manner and ire performances vary according to the methods of the man at the wheel. The men who play the daring game of the speedways have accumulated by experience a great fund of information about tires. You wouian t expect to find anything but brand new tires on the cars entered in a big race. But you do. In fact drivers insist on uslnj; tires that have been slightly used. Tney feel safer if they know that a new tire has turned several fast laps without developing trouble. A splinter from the track may be all that Is needed to start trouble, for the centrifugal force in a tire going better than 100 miles per hour is tremendous and the infinitesimal cut caused by the splinter may soon work the destruction of the tire. So racing men never uss a tire that has been punctured or in jured in any way, no matter how small the injury. Racing men have discovered that tires, like machinery, have a critical speed. Up to a certain speed they may cause no trouble, but beyond that point deterioration progresses at a rate out of all proportion to the Increase in speed. 0 the mechanician watches the tires closely and indicates when a trip to the pit Is the part of prudence. - A curious Incident Is recalled in con nection with the Kansas City races. Henderson, driving on Goodyear Cords, ran over a tire tread that had been thrown from the wheel of anothrr car. The wheel of Henderson's car tossed the tread into the air and, supposing that his own was the one affected. promptly stopped at the pit for a change. The wheel was actually taken off and replaced before it was discov ered that . the discarded tire was at sound-as when It began the race. CARS ARE ' GIVEN PASTORS Flock Generally Careful' to Choose One That Is Comfort. "It's becoming quite the thing, says R. C. Rueschaw, sales manager of the Reo Motor Car Company, "to present the parson an automobile, and since in such a case the first consideration Is to preserve the gentle dispositir of the father of the flock, the good people in variably select a car that Is sure to give Its owner the least possible amount of trouble. "I know of nothing better calculated to preserve the temper, even of a par eon, than a thoroughly dependable au tomobile. "Imagine, for example, a car whose starter wouldn't begin; one whose nnnannnn I j a'-.m BSnnnnnnnnnnnnnni T-yjJ Jfar Branci IV. 2z chare?, rfjW ace CZarar& domjoazt. 1 X brakes would fail to brake; a steering gear that was 'tipsy, and, above all. a balky motor can you imagine how dif ficult It would be, even for a preacher, to keep from saying bad words or thinking unkind thoughts?" Chalmers Man Urges System. Organization is the keynote of the success attained by E. C. Morse, vice president and general manager of the Chalmers Motor Company. The great success of Mr. Morse in every position he has held, and the number has been few in the lifetime of motoring al ways an excellent indication of the suc cessful man has been due to organi zation, carrying with it successful mer chandising as a matter of course. Mr. Morse believes that organization spells success, lack of it spells failure, and that every successful man spends his time from the cradle to the grave in organizing his forces physical, men tal and In many other ways to produce results for himself. New Car Owners in County ACCORDING to the reports of M. O. Wilkins, publisher of the Automo bile Record, the following temporary police permits were issued in Portland last week to the purchasers of new au tomobiles pending the arrival of the official state license tags from the of fice of Secretary of State Olcott: J. C. Fish. 1033 Arnold street. Eaxon. Harry C. Pettlt. 7U20 Thirtieth aveau Southeast. Overland. S. E Mdht, Sr5 Sixth street. Maxwell. Mm' Ocorg K. Cassldy.- 1035 Division, Ford. George M. Self. 431 Stark, Ford. George W. Herron, Concord buildlnc Chandler. ' A. W. Strahorn. 82H Third. Ford. W. A. Runyan, 4f.:l Kast Forty-first. Crow. F. W Unite, 231 Main. Studebaker. William Woerner. SKJ East Thirty-second street Xorth. Dodge. Albert Bennett. 30 East Twenty-alxtn street. Bulck. Josephine Kilns. 1979 East Gllsan. Ford. Loewenson, 612 Selling; building. Hudson. Mrs. J. Leviski. 731 BTsmark street. Dodge. Dr. 1. H. Cramer, Aliaky building. Over land. John A Falrman, 90 Texas street. Ford. H J. Hammond. 'J East Thirty-eighth North. Maxwell. S. Chrtstenson, Montavllla. Route 1. Ford. Mrs. E. Slnnott, 633 Montana avenue. Dodge. O. K. Laird. 82 East Water street. Ford. H. W. Burr, 210 East Thirty-second. Ford. S. M. Gaddls. 271 Taylor. Ford. Willis Jones. 317 East Forty-third. Ford. Rice & Mercer, Eanqulst Hotel. Ford. R. H. Murhall, 47o East Korty-tourth North. Oakland. Carl Shattuck, 631 East Seventh South. Ford. L. Bogan. 459 Moriran building. MltchalL N. M. Seater. 143 Russell vtreet. Ford. J. A. Scnassen, Grass Valley, Or., Hup mobile. Charles B. Bailey. 1249 East Flanders. Cole. Lewis Leveton, 414 East Forty-fifth street. Ford. R. R. Kerer, TO Schofleld. Ford. Harry Fischer. 245H Stark, Bulck. F. Klrchhoff, S27 Chamber of Commerce. Studebaker. L. S. Menefee. 728 Northwestern Bank building. Studebaker. C. E. Turrey, 3ti East Forty-sixth street. Ford. O. A. Larson, 809 Montana avenue. Ford. Howard Cooper Company, 2SO East Water street. Ford. J. C. Kellogg. 31 Ankeny. Ford. L. B. Conger. 1701 East Eleventh street. Ford. Lloyd Frank, 415 Twelfth street. Owes Magnetic E. R. Hall, BOS East Pine street. Ford. Albert F. Ellis. 810 Union avenue North, Ford. Austin Underdahl. Sixtieth street and Seventy-second avenue Southeast, Ford. F. W. Fletcher, 3U6 Qllsan street. Studs baker. . c BolmanB. JJ". D. 1. Portland, Ford, ,