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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1919)
TTTE SUTsDAY OITEGONIAN, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 19, 1919. great many owners would be entirely satisfied. But the mere fact that the car consumes less gasoline should be an indication of other pleasing re sults that go with it. It can readily be understood that a light weight started from a rest takes less effort Announcin 1920 THE GOOD OLD DAYS than it would to start a. heavy body. A baby carriage can easily be started and pushed arounJ- If an engine were fitted to it, it would probably give Zoo miles per gallon. Motor Early English Designs Had Wo Carburetor. cycles show 35 to 50 miles per gallon. tne cycle cars of a few years ago showed anywhere from 25 to 40 miles per gallon. The heavier- the vehicle becomes the more gasoline is needed i to get It started and the more it is needed to keep it going. Europe has recognized this long ago and that is GAS NOW LIKE KEROSENE why the - European owner is- very much surprised when he hears of such high fuel consumption figures as 10 and 15 miles per gallon. He believes that 20 to 30 miles is about what should be had and he Is right. Tn Studying now to Vse Fuels or Lower Grade Windows Were Put In Carburetors. INDUSTRY IS BIG GAS TROUBLES It Is perhaps a forunate thing for the automobile industry that in its beginnings, the early builders had for a fuel gasoline of a far different grade than that which we use today. Though we still call our motor fuel "gasoline," it actually much more re sembles kerosene than it does gaso line that the designers of the first automobiles knew. The gasoline of 20 years ago was an extremely high grade, volatile fluid that rqixed with air so readily that the early designers really never knew what a carburetion problem was. In fact the very earliest cars of French and English design actually had no such thing as a carburetor. From the top of the fuel tank under the front seat hung a number of wicks such as were used in kerosene lamps. Drawn up by the wicks, the gasoline evaporated, and mixed with the air and was drawn directly Into the cylinders through a long tuoe. Bat This Couldn't Last. It trmv be imagined that the design ers of those days had their hands full with such problems as ignition and lubrication, and It Is probably lust as well that the problem of car buretion did not give trouble until later years when the other questions had been satisfactorily solvea. By the time fifteen years of mo- toriner had elapsed, the carburetion nroblem had begun to be very seri ous Indeed. The consumption of mo tor fuel -had reached such enormous figures that despite the utmost ef forts of the oil industry it was Im possible to produce anything like an adequate supply of gasoline that ap proached the old standards. Between 1910 and 1917, the produc tion of automobiles increased eight fold, while the production of oil in creased only threefold. There was no other way to supply the demand of the motor users than to give them a lower grade of fuel to make them utilize a greater percentage of the crude oil product. The early-day gasoline was one of the very first products of the process of distillation, one of the lightest oils that rose at the lowest temperature in the still. It became necessary to use more and more of the heavier fuels that were less volatile and required a higher temperature to make them evaporate in the still. The esult Is that the "gasoline" of today is now hardly distinguishable from a very light kerosene. Looking Through Window. It soon became evident to users and to engineers alike that the heav ier fuels were not giving the same degree of satisfaction the lighter fuels did. In the course of their in vestigations to find out what was the trouble, the engineers of one factory actually put glass windows into the side of the carburetors and manifolds of their experimental cars to see what was causing the trouble. This is what they found: Into the stream of air drawn in by the suction of the piston, the carbu retor sprays the gasoline. Little drops of the heavier elements of the gaso line are carried along by the stream of air. If they strike a sharp corner in the intake manifold, they fall, or if the air stream moves too slowly. they also fall. Drop adds to drop, a little puddle of raw gasoline collects and is drawn into the cylinder. It runs down the cylinder wall, past the piston, "cut ting" the essential film of lubricating oil from the cylinder wall and drop ping into the crankcase, dilutes the lubricating oil and ruins Its lubricat ing-properties. Carbon deposits form, All sorts of motor troubles develop. Bearings wear, and "knocks" and all kindred symptoms of motor "grief appear. oxe concern- jukes mhaion TIRE SETTINGS IN YEAR. Increased Demand Cansea Fire- Atone Company to Start $1,000,000 Plant. Ground was broken this month at Akron for an additional $1,000,000 plant in the group of Firestone fac tories. The new plant will house the Firestone Steel - Products company, which annually produces approxi mately 1,250,000 demountable rims for pneumatic automobile tires and 65 per cent of the steel bases used in the United States for solid truck tires. That the company has had a phe nomenal growth, equalled by few or ganizations in the automotive and allied industrial fields, Is evidenced from a brief sketch of its history issued by J. G. Swain, its vice presi dent, in announcing the beginning of construction of the new plant. "The Firestone Steel Products com pany," the announcement says, "at present occupies the group of build ings which until 1910 housed the en tire manufacturing facilities of the Firestone company. This group which was then too small to meet the demands for Firestone tires, is now found to be too small to meet the demands for Firestone rims. "It is of interest to note that the Firestone type "C" rim is built today substantially in accordance with its original design, and is the only rim offered to the motor industry which is built to carry all sizes of tires from a 3 -inch to a 10-inch. This rim is recognized as the standard rim of the automotive industry, and has been adopted by practically every high-class automobile and truck manufacturer in the United States. The Firestone company also builds the well-known type "E" split rim which is used on the large majority of the moderate priced passenger cars. H. S. Firestone, president of both the steel products company and the tire and rubber company bearing his name, went into the rim manufac turing business not because he de sired an additional source of income, but because as a tire manufacturer he thought the tire industry needed a more substantial ana practical rim than was being manufactured at that time. Before going into the manu facture of rims, he made an effort to induce rim manufacturers to build a rim such as he thought the industry needed, and being unable to induce the manufacturers to build a more practical type of rim, he started to secure theser rime from other sources. 'The Firestone rims were first manufactured in Cleveland, the rim Columbia Six Gem of the Highway A Gar That Attracts Substantial People You look under the hood and note the big Continental motor then you observe the Harrison radiator with ventilating shutters, the Boyce autometer, the Strom erg carburetor and the Timken-Detroit axles see "quality" in even the most minor details. Then you realize that this is a strictly quality car. Cars Just Arriving Immediate Delivery. Distributed by A. M. Beaver Motor Co. 354 East Broadway Either Phone C 1943 Portland Oregon PRESERVE ROUPS, URGED TRAFFIC SHOtTIiD T7SE ENTIRE SURFACE OF HIGHWAY. A. F. Masury Explains Why DrlTer Should Travel 'on ' Iess Used Farts of Road, When Possible. "Drivers can do as much, almost, for the maintenance of good roads as highway engineers," declares Alfred V. Masury, chief engineer of the In ternational Motor company, manufac turers of Mack trucks. "Did you ever notice," asked Mr. Masury, "in going up a hill, particu larly one paved with asphaltic con crete, that the surface on the right hand side of the road Is wavy and ELIMINATING ANOTHER BAD STREET. f-V ,xtrvv., i MODERN AUTO WASTEFUL TOO HEAVY, SAY STUDEXTS OF CARBURETIOX. : 9 Day Coming When Much Lighter Car Will Go Many Miles Fur ther Per Gallon of Gas. Those who have studied the fuel problem and carburetion agree that the modern car wastes far too much gasoline for the work it does. Car buretor engineers have given us the best designs they possibly can, the refiners of fuel are giving us the best fuel possible under existing condi tions. If one gallon of gasoline now performs only one-third the work of which it is capable, where is the two thirds waste? The answer is the cars of today are too heavy. Lighter cars will bring about so marked a reduction in gaso line consumption and so many other advantages in performance, Increase of tire life and of car and road life, that the entire industry is bound to take up the light weight question and carry ft to its logical end. Cars of the future will be so much lighter that it will be the common occurrence to hear of 30 miles per gallon of fuel, instead of considering it as a phenom enal performance as at -present. That this can be done by reducing the weight of the vehicle is quite easy to see. The greater the load to be started, and carried along on roads and up hill, the greater will be the power required, hence the more fuel the engine will consume. Reduce the weight of the vehicle and even with the same size engine you get a marked reduction of fuel economy. However, with the reduction In the weight of the chassis, there is no further need for the larger engine in order to get the same performance as before. The engineer recognizes this. for he knows the results he will get with a given weight per horsepower and with a given gear ratio. A lew years ago a test car was driven over the roads of Long Island and on one gallon of gasoline this car traveled over 80 miles. While some of this distance was no doubt trav eled by coasting, the greater part of it was done with the engine pulling. This test car was stripped of body fenders and many other parts and was lightened to the greatest degree. This same car, while not giving SO miles per gallon in service, does give phenomenal mileage solely because of the light weight of the vehicle. If the reduction in weight brought Blorrlson street between Nineteenth and "Twentieth at last to be paved. The city took the contract for hard-surf actng It and, as shown In the plctoj. roclc la being spread preparatory to -applying; the "hot staff." Its com pletion should relieve some of the traffic congestion at Nineteenth and Washington by providing an outlet from Nineteenth on Morrison straight through to upper Washington. . produced being of the demountable type and embodying the most Iin Ished thought in rim construction, it was immediately adopted by a large portion of car manufacturers. 'By 1910 the large sizes of solid tires were coming into use. There was a need for steel bases for these tires. As the demand promised to grow steadily, Mr. Firestone Installed a welding plant as part of the Fire stone Tire & Rubber company's plant. where they were fashioned. Shortly after he decided the company should turn out its own rims for pneumatic tires and enlarged the welding plant for the purpose. "In 1916 the demand for rims reached over the 1,000,000 mark, and by May, 1918, the business had grown to Buch proportions that Mr. Fire stone decided to form a separate company to produce rims and steel bases. The Firestone Steel Products company was the outcome. In the new plant the company will have facilities the most modern and efficient obtainable. The main build ing will be 860 feet long and 250 feet wide. Advantage will be taken of every opportunity to give the work ers light and ventilation. The ma chlnery. from large traveling crane to small riveting device, will te of the most Improved type. Immediately in front of the main building will be a 2-story office building, 170 feet long and 40 feet wide. It will be connected with the main building by covered bridges. A cafeteria for the entire factory force will be housed in the basement of the same building. Rims manufactured by the com pany, all of which have been evolved by Firestone engineers, are: Type "A," a quick detachable demountable rim. Type "B," a universal rim, used with either clincher or straight side tires. Type "C for straight side tires only, and type "E," a split rim for straight side tires. Cleaning Spark Plugs. An excellent method of cleaning spark plugs or in fact any mica sur face is to wash them first in a 10 per cent solution of acetio acid, which is an Infallible solvent of grease and carbon deposits. The plugs should then be washed off with gasoline and finally dried by rubbing them with rough, while that on the left-hand side is smooth? - - "Well, the reason is this:' The extra traction required to climb the hill wears and tears the surface, while there is little or no traction down hill. .'. . Another thing, . the right-hand track of the road in either direction Is the one which is worn most. This Is because of the arched surface of the road, which . throws the srreater THE UMIVERSAL CAR The Ford Coupe Is one of the most popular members of the Ford Family.' It Is a permanently enclosed car, with sliding plate glass windows an open car with plenty of shade. Then in inclement weather, enclosed and coxy, dust-proof and rain-proof.- Big deep seat liberally upholstered. Just the car for travel ing salesmen, physicians, architects, contractors, builders, and a regular family car for two. Equipped with electric starting and lighting system. Demountable rims with 3-inch tires all around. Tire carrier. A car of comfort, winter and summer, spring and autumn, with all the Ford economy in operation and main tenance. The demand is big. Leave your order with any of the dealers listed below, weight and strain on the right-hand side of the vehicle and consequently tne ngnt-nana side of the roadway. Truck builders and wagon makers have even adjusted their axles and springs so as to withstand the creator strain on the right-hand side of the vehicle. "The custom of arching roadways was formed in the early days of road making when dirt and Dorous-sur faced roads were the ones mostly in use, and it was necessary to give suf ficient pitch to the surface of the roadway to drain off the water and prevent it from penetrating the sur- iace oi tne road to soften and weak en the roadbed. With modern water tight surfaces, the necessity for arched roads does not exist and en gineers are designing roads with verv aiigni pitcn. urivers can prevent wear to the surfaces of the roads and even i prove .their condition, .If. instead of driving in one track or on the edge of the road, they will drive over the middle and other less-used parts of ine roaa wnen trarric permits. The one thing that is fatal above all things to road surfaces, whether dirt or paved, is driving in tracks, which subjects one small part c the road surface to all the traffic and damage uin wuoie roaa accommodates. Traffic should be evenlv dintrlH- uted over the entire surface of the roau ana a little thoughtf ulness and care in this respect on the nar rt drivers will do much to add to the permanence and excellence of on roadways." WHY ENGLISH ARE SKITTISH American Cars Kept Out Because They're Better Value. Premier Lloyd "George's announoo ment of -the suspension of board of iraoe licensing restrictions on .the im portation or American automohlin. was the result of an Increasing pref erence on the part of English motor ists lor tne American cars quite as raucn as tne urgency -of increased mo tor transport to supplement other means oi conveyance. formerly in r.ngiana there mi considerable prejudice against American-made motor cars. This prejudice Is now ascribed either to ignorance of their true worth or to snobbery. One contributor to a British, motor trade Journal declares: "Quite honestly, there is no better value for money in the motor world than the average American car. The point at the moment, however, is not exactly one of sheer value, but whether, in our own best Interests in the long run, we should admit the vehicles freely, ration their import, or bar them altogether." Don't get arrested for violating rules if you do, don't blame the po lice officer. Francis Motor Car Co East 13th and Hawthorne Wm. L. Hughson Co. Broadway and Davis Palace Garage Co. Twelfth and Stark Robinson-Smith Co. Sixth and Madison I I 111 Rushlight & Penny A. East Third and Broadway Av W I Talbot & Casey f W East Ankeny and Grand 11 fa I nn J I LOOK AFTER THE OIL CUPS FAILURE LIKELY TO CATTSE DAMAGE TO CAR. In with the olL Then you bear gear noises and wonder bow it happened so suddenly. Universal Joints at best are hard to lubricate and even if covered with a leather boot are not proof against the ravages of dirt and mud. The more dirt you lt accumulate around these parts the more dirt will get to the working surfaces. It pays to have the car washed un derneath, but it also pays to wipe the surfaces after spraying on water. The wiping is necessary because some of the dirt sticks fast. Look over the mailer parts of your car. the parts that are hard to see and get at; also examine parts that don't give you any trouble. You don't have to do any more than to clean them and lubri cate to make them run for a longer Be careful In applying tub. Plentr of Oil and Grease for All 1 1 arts uannE jjcsi Insurance for Car. Many an automobile owner pays a lot of attention to the outside of his car, keeps it clean and polished, but fails to look underneath. He falls to keep oil and grease in essential places and suffers for it in the end. The underneath parts or the car are admittedly hard to get at, but that should not be an excuse for total i i7nri..n.nth the .car there may be" many places that require oil through small cups, on While some manufacturers are so far behind as to continue to use oil holes In exposed places, the owner of a car using them should not let them become filled with dirt. A car with- exposed oil holes on cross shafts and other parts should have automatic feed oil cups Installed oy a. Sometimes brakes are bard to oper ate after a trip over muddy roads. It is because mud gets into the Joints at the brake bands and other places in the braking system. These parts cannot be properly cleaned merely by wiping. One must dismantle them to get a clean working surface that will operate freely when lubricated. Clean ing of this sort prevents rusting and certainly goes a long way toward making for better handling- and car operation. In filling the transmission and rear axle with oil or other lubricant be sure the filling hoi or opening is clean. Pouring oil into a small open ing with dirt all around the outside Is bad, because the dirt roes right ifv.'"in. tr 11 III! ill mil m Mm a . l tm n mm mm mm i -flUI."-KeDllD ill 1 lie ii rncBs Haul Rrocfoice In Portland A truck is no more efficient than -the, service that goes with it.' Roberts Motor Car Co., Inc. Park and Everett Streets Portland, Oregon .in jjjji 305 Main Street . '. Park and Everett Streets ! j I ! Vancouver, Wash. Portland, Oregon ! Il'l H ., ' ' :"V . . . .- - Mii , liijhjj I MOVE! - Now In Our New Home Broadway at Davis St where we are better prepared to serve our patrons. SEE THE NEW. S i E VMEM SALIENT SIX t Immediate Delivery Our service department is equipped with the best. We carefully attend to your needs. Hamilton-Leatherman Motor Co.1 Broadway at Davis vita it pnlf & saving In gasoline, a a clotli.