~OVEMBER 4TH, 190: .

THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbet > in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicallr propellet > roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 524. VoL. XV.] SATURDAY, NOVE 1BER 4TH, 1905. [PRICE 3D.

THE AUTOCAR.

(Published Weekly.)

Rer1 stered as a newsoaper for transmission in the United Kingdom.

Entered as second-.:lats matter at the New York (N.Y. ) Post Office.

EDITORIAL OFFICE:

COVENTRY.

PUBLISHING OFFICES :

20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

l'AG >.

NOTES: CHANGE-i-:PEED GEARS-ADVANTAGES OP SPEED GEARS-NEXT

YEAR'S T OURIST TROPHY RACE-DIVISION INTO CLAS~ES

SOUTHAMPTON TO TILBURY BY WATER {illustrated)...

539-540

541-542

REMOVAL OF SCALE FROM RADIATOR~ .. .

.. . 542

SoME Exc-ELLENT DRIVING ADVICE (concluded)-To CONSTANTINOPLE 543 THE SuNBeA >i C,R FOR !906 (illustrated) 544-548 T HE SIZES OF TYRES 549 THE 16 H .P. C tt ENARD-WALCKER CAR dllustratedl . .. SIX-CYLINDER APIER CARS OF 1905 and 1906 (illustrated) ... A NEW 60 H.P. MOTOR BOAT T HE NEW BLERIOT L1Gtt r (illustrated) ...

550-551 552-553

553 554

CONTINENTAL NOTt:.S AND NEWS: AMERICAN MAKERS IN PARIS-THE

INTEREST OF THE SALON-SJ.1ALL CARS-THE NICE MEETING-T HE K AISER AND HIS CARS-LADY AUTOMOBILIST INJ URED . . . 555 UsEFUL HINTS AND T1Ps. By Litut. Windham, R.N. 556 CoRRESPONOENCl!: CHANGF.-SPEED GEARS-THE TOURIST TROPHY

RACE-THE ABUSE OF THE MOTOR HORN- AMATEUR lNVENTORSlNCONSIDERATE DRIVING-BRIGHTON TO EDINBURGH ON TOP G EAR-VALVE SETTING -MOTORISTS AND SHEEP-SOLIDS v. PNEUMATICS-U SING ENGINE AS BRAKE- SYNCHRONISED IGNITIONTHE MoTOR HORN-LUBRICATION OF SPRINGS-PROPOSED SPEED LIMIT JN LLANflUDO-SUMMARY OF OTHER CORRESPONDl:!:NCE 557-560 THE BRITISH MACCLESFIELD MAGNETO (illustrated} 561-562 FLASHES 563-565 THE M OTOR \VORLD-GIRDLER'S NEXT i\Iov £. A Chat with Mr.

C. J. Glidden

.. . 566

NEw TYPES OF 0LDSMOBILES 1illustrated)-T H& AsT-REx 18 H .P.

CAR (illustrated) .. .

567

VANADIUM STEt:L FOR MOTOR CONSTRUCTION. Paper read by Mr. A .

E Tucker, F.! C., before the Members of the Automobile and Cycle Engineers' institute 568-5i 0 CLUB DOINGS .. . .. . 570

" THE AUTOCAR " SUBSCRIPTION RATES : Hnusb lsles, l bs Abroad ( t h in pdpc:r eU1t1011 ), 22s SU. pe r annum.

J Notes. Change Speed Gears.

.-\ good man~- people seem to haYe taken entirely ;;rroneous views of the performance which have been made by different cars during the year. e,·eral Yery fi ne runs ha,·e been accompli hed on cars of different makes and powers 11"ithout ·once changing gear. l'ersonall\'. we arc onh· interested in these runs so far as they ~xhibit the fl exibility and ease of control of an engine. Beyond demon trating the range and power of the engine- most important ,·irtues- we con;;;rl er they possess ve ry little value. This, ho1re1·er. is not the point. Where certain critic have gone so hopelessly wrong is in as uming that because a car can be driven fo r long distance· 11"ithout changing gear. and. further. is capable of running fa. t and slmr upc,n its top peed, four speeds are superfluous; a few extremists go so far as to argue that two speeds only are necessary.

E1·en one 11·ho ha had much dri,·ing experience knml"s that thi. is ,nong. Three speeds at least are necessar). and four are de irable. We al I know that the ideal 1s an infinite !\' variable rrear- one which can be ach anced from zero' to the n~aximum b, almost imperceptible gradations. a gear that can b; put up or dmn1 as one opens or clo ·es a throttle. S umerous attempts have been made to design uch a change-speed apparatus. but up to the pre ent none of them ba,·e ?een successful. and so far the li ding gear has held its virn. Epic~c lic and other gear are used to some extent. b ll t the great majority of machines haYe the slidin u type of gear.

Almost e1·eryone (unles he be the owner of a sixcylinder car) 11-ho has a three-speed gear 11·ish e that he had four speeds ; he either wants a fourth and hi~her gear or he feels the need of ome gear berneen his third and hi s second. What would be rraineu br listening to unsound ad1·ice and fitting cars ~vith t,rn·speecl gears instead of three and four-speed rrears? l\othing. except that the gear box could be "'made ~horter and a littl e lighter. and a pair of gear wheels ~~Yed. The gain is so slight that it is not worth considering, but the sacrifice entail ed by it i great.

Advantages of Speed Gears. It may be asked 1,-hy, as a car can be dri,·en ,·ery long di tance on main roads without changing, should there be a necessity for an) furth er changes except for starting? The reasons are many, but the chief one is tpat the car is pleasanter to drirn if the engine is not run at too high a speed. If a car 11"i!l easily climb one in t1reh·e on its top speed, that top speed is too low for leYel work. because it necessarih mean that Ii hen running upon the le,·el the engine is rernh·ing at a ,·ery high rate of speed. vVe do not ach·ocate a higher gear with the idea that the car should be dri,·en faster on the lel'el, but rather that it should make the same speed with a mailer number of engine re,·olutions. as it easily can do 11·hen there is this resen·e of pm1·er. It is much p leasanter to dri1·e with the engine running :i t a moderate rate than ,rith it being bustled if a fair speed is to he maintained upon the JeyeJ. Not only so, but much needl es wear of the engine is saved.

With the 1·er~ high-pml'('red cars. it is t rue that there is such an immense rese n ·e of power that it is scarce ly en"r possible to let the engine out except when it i hill-climbing. Yet these ca rs are bound to have at least three peeds. becau e the top. e1·en with the engine throttle I right down. is much too fast fo r to1rn work. \ ,\Tith only two speeds the low must be a safe one- that is to sa,·. sufficienth· lm1· to enable a1w hi ll in the country to. lie climbed · 11"ith certaint,. ho~1·e1·er bad it may be. lf it is not low enough. for this. il is no good. and that means if at any time rnnsiderations of gradient. road surface. c,r any other circumstance 1rhich makes it necessan· to come off the top gear are encountered the only · a lternati,·e i a miserable crawl. with the engin running at whol ly L,nnec ssary spee I. A car provided with two speeds is dangerous in the hands of maiw users. beca11se when