H. Clifford Brokaw

“ One of the first essentials of an automobile is that it shall go, and that no amount of perversity shall prevent the owner from “driving it back home under its own power.” Anyone may be towed in, if there is a horse or another automobile handy; the wise owner will prepare himself to avoid this. Except for serious breaks of parts, or forgetfulness which permits oil or gas supply to run out, there is seldom reason why the average owner should not “get out and get under” to find out what the trouble is and, having found it, to remove the cause and start the engine. ”

“ The driver of an ordinary wagon is conspicuous by his ignorance of the way to drive and his want of consideration of other traffic. He is the most persistent moving obstruction which exists. The motor-car driver, on the other hand, has to be the best driver on the highway if he is to drive without offense to the public and danger to them and himself, for he has to conduct a vehicle which is more valuable than any other and far and away more speedy though more handy, and, therefore, whose meeting with and overtaking of other vehicles is many times more rapid. ”

“ It takes so little effort and so little loss of time to slow down until one can see the way clear, when there is no traffic man at the crossing.
But if one needs be careful of his own hide, it is quite as important that he be careful of the other fellow’s anatomy. It is easy to say of the pedestrian, or the man in another vehicle, let him keep out of the way, or keep to his own side of the road; well, if he don’t, you can keep out of his way and you will be a great deal happier at the end of your trip than if you disregard him and there is an accident. ”

“ To sum up, the perfect motorman, though he should possess as much knowledge of mechanics as possible, should, above all, be a considerate driver, well versed in the manners and courtesies of the road and the habits of traffic. And in addition, he should try to be well mannered, as more and more motor-car owners are becoming convinced that, besides knowledge, “Manners maketh the Motorman.” ”

“ When it comes to descending steep hills, the cost does not figure so much as safety. How often one sees cars tearing down a hill with the engine running, gear in high speed, and devil-may-care at the wheel. ”

“ Even though the owner can afford a chauffeur who “knows all about an auto,” it is noticeable that chauffeurs have a way of forgetting, that they loaf on the job shamefully, that they conspire with the supply dealer to run the cost of upkeep to skyline altitudes, and are little more immune from road troubles than the common or garden variety of owner. The owner who knows can detect all these lapses from strict rectitude, to the comfort of his person and the safety of his bank balance. ”

“ Visions of disaster come to the automobile driver at the thought of running without the steering tie rod. One thinks of wheels trying to go in divergent directions and of ultimate destination in the ditch. As a matter of fact, it is possible to run along quite a while at moderate speed with only one wheel connected to the steering apparatus, and experiments have demonstrated that this can be done at quite a lively gait, on a speed track, whether straightaway or oval. ”

“ Yet in this day of automobile schools and service stations there is no need of a single individual being ignorant, nor of his coming under the condemnation of the same wise one: “The careless ease of fools shall destroy them.” ”

“ Better stop the auto at every crossing if the noise of the motor prevents hearing whistle or bell signals from the train.
But there is a worse dereliction than failing to make sure that a train is not at hand, and that is the devil-may-care spirit which prompts driver to spurt up the engine and dash for the crossing to get over ahead of the train that is in plain sight. There are few persons who can estimate the speed of a railway train with any degree of accuracy, even the railway employes having to check the time between known points to estimate the speed, unless there is a speedometer. ”

“ When she has the car ready, supplied with gasoline, lubricating oil, water for the radiator, and all the other things which make for safety and successful operation, and has cranked the engine, unless there is a self-starter, then, with hands and feet engaging the steering wheel, levers, and pedals, the momentous hour has come when the machine is to be under her control. ”

“ In the summer evenings there is time for a long ride before dining; in the cooler evenings of fall and winter, when dark comes before hubby is due, good roads still are inviting and the crisp air rejuvenates one and creates an appetite which is alarming, the high cost of living considered. ”

“ It is no child’s play to which the woman student is ushered when beginning the course. She goes right at a machine and first of all has to learn what the array of bolts and valves and belts and wires is for. The women put on big aprons—or overalls—and gloves, and with sleeves rolled up start to dissect one of the cars as a doctor does a cadaver. From starting crank to differential and from spark plug to oil sump it all has to come down, and, worse yet, has to be put together again. ”

“ One of the hardest things for the average man to learn is not to do useless things. Over and over folks will do things contrary to all rules and instructions and make extra work for themselves. In a school it is a good thing, perhaps, for it enables the instructor to point out the futility of going at the thing wrong end first. There was one class at the West Side Y.M.C.A. school particularly stupid in this respect. They were set to locating engine troubles, forgot all about the rules and took turns cranking the engine, expecting in that way to find out why the engine would not run. ”

“ With the price of gasoline constantly mounting skyward and tires following when not leading the rise, while everything else needed for automobile upkeep is ascendant, it is timely to assert the need that the owner consider his expense and renewal costs. And when it is considered that labor and repair parts have pirouetted along with the other things, it behooves the owner to devise ways of decreasing his running expenses and to learn how to get as much as possible out of a gallon of gas, and every mile out of his tires they can be coaxed to give. ”

“ It is a liberal education to take a journey, for instance, on the top of a Fifth Avenue motor bus and watch the way in which the driver drives his unwieldly vehicle through the streets of New York. Other bus drivers also are rapidly becoming his equal, and let it be acknowledged that nothing but the hard school of practical, every-day experience in New York City streets, assisted by police supervision and the fear of dismissal for carelessness or accident, could produce such able drivers. ”

“ If we scuff our feet on the bare pavement we wear out our shoes, develop a lot of heat, and notice considerable resistance; but if we step on a banana peel, a piece of ice, or a patch of oil or grease, our passage is facilitated, and our feet are likely to slide out from under us and we sit down with little effort. Now this is just like the auto engine. If the parts were all made perfect and fitted together properly and the engine started without lubrication, there would be so much friction that the parts would very quickly wear out. ”

“ In a rear-wheel skid the worst thing one can do is to apply the brake. It is best to let the car coast, turning the front wheels in the direction in which the rear end of the car is skidding; if it is trying to go to the left, turn the front wheels that way. If there is something in the way, so that it is necessary to stop, the brake may be applied a little as the wheels take hold, leaving the clutch engaged, which prevents locking the wheels, as the engine is pulling against the brake and there is not so much danger of locking the wheels. ”

“ When one considers that a defective brake, a worn-through steering knuckle, or any one of a number of broken parts—broken because neglected—may be the particular weapon selected by the fool-killer, the owner who cares for his bones, or for the lives of his passengers, would better spend a few hours occasionally in looking after his car and in finding out all that is possible about it. ”

“ Formerly, it was thought to be the highest mark of the profession that a motorman should be dirty in every respect, and a greasy cap, black hands and face, oily clothes and, as a rule, a half-smoked dirty cigarette in the side of his mouth, combined with a contemptuous scowl at every passer-by, was not an uncommon sight. ”

“ More tires are damaged by under-inflation than by over-inflation, because the former breaks down the side walls through running flat, in practically every case, while the over-inflation causes a blow-out only when the tire is weak at some point. It would be good practice, however, on hot summer days, to leave the garage with the tire pressure about ten pounds less than that specified by the manufacturer as being correct for his make. Any driver ought to test out his tires after running at a good clip on a hot day and find out just what they do. ”

“ Nowadays serious or even insignificant breakdowns are rare, and there is hardly a first-class make of car in the market which will not run many thousands of miles without anything being necessary in the way of repairs and adjustments. Those which are necessary are, moreover, of the simplest kind. There is no longer, therefore, the same necessity for the motorman to be what is called a really good mechanic, so long as he understands the general principle on which the engine works and the arrangement of the gears. ”

“ In ordinary driving the gear need not be shifted to first speed except when the car is brought to a standstill and on a level road the second-speed gear need not be employed until a speed as low as five to ten miles an hour is reached. The gear should be shifted when the car speed has been decreased to this extent, and the driver should guard against shifting before slowing down simply because his judgment tells him he is going to have to use a lower gear, if he desires to make a silent shift. ”

“ Now what is happening about New York City is an old story in some parts of the country, but the latest wrinkle in suburban travel about these parts is for friend wife to meet the train two or three stations up the line and take tired hubby for a ride on the way home. ”

“ There already are too many in the city streets to excite even casual notice, but in the suburbs, where there is an almost total absence of men during the daytime, every car you meet has a woman at the wheel. There is no indication, however, that man has been relegated to the care of the nursery. He still is too valuable as a producer for that—producer of gasoline and tires and what not. But the chauffeur who drives for a living must take account of the woman at the wheel, for it means lessened opportunity ”

“ Motoring is not just piling up mileage records or speeding across the country as though the devil were at one’s heels. There are a few things more desirable than miles per hour, even though the American “Get There” spirit be abroad. Generally speaking there is a direct relation between cost per mile and miles per hour, and while some owners may be able to afford twenty cents and upwards per mile, the average owner does not care to indulge regularly in such a cost figure. ”

“ It is a leaf—several in fact—from the book of experience, relating not to the engineering problems of the automobile, but to the things which the engineer overlooked or could not solve, and which the ingenuity of men who lay no claim to the title of engineer, has enabled them to learn so that they may take a bucking auto and make it feed out of their hands and stand without hitching. ”

“ As a matter of fact the foot should instinctively go to the brake pedal each time the hand goes to the horn. But if you are seen by the other person why blow the horn at all?
If one is driving along a country road and desires to pass another car going in the same direction, it is customary to sound the horn once that the driver ahead may not turn his car in front of you, and so that, if needed, he may turn to the right to let you pass on the left. He is the judge as to when and where he will turn, since he can see ahead better and knows what obstructions are to be avoided. ”

“ It takes more than a knowledge of certain small levers and pedals and a deftness in manipulating clutch and brakes and gear shifts and steering wheel, to make an automobile driver. Because of this fact the Automobile School of the West Side Young Men’s Christian Association, in New York City, has formulated a set of instructions to its students for the road lessons, which are about the most complete, yet concise, so far published. ”

“ They do not seem to understand that under such circumstances there is a steady grind of tire upon pavement, and grind means wear.
Another set of drivers will run along for weeks without noticing that the steering gear is out of true. Perhaps the machine has hit something and the equalizing rod is bent just a trifle, making the front wheels far from parallel. It may not be enough to see with the eye, but it is off true and one or both of the tires grinds with every revolution. The speed with which the tread will wear away depends upon the character of the roadway. ”

“ As every car is equipped with two distinct sets of brakes, drivers should learn to use first one and then the other on long grades, and this may be helped out considerably by using the motor as a brake—that is, by cutting off the ignition and allowing the machine to push the engine under compression, and even more by engaging a lower gear before cutting off the ignition, so that there is a greater leverage obtained to retard the car. ”

“ Stalling the motor is the result of feeding too little gas with the accelerator, or of not keeping pressure on the clutch pedal during the time the clutch is engaging. The jerking of the car comes from feeding too much gas and engaging the clutch too suddenly. Both of these faults may be overcome by listening to the speed of the engine and keeping it right through the proper use of the accelerator pedal, and by releasing the pressure of the foot from the clutch pedal very gradually from the time it starts to engage until it is fully engaged. ”

“ At the automobile school, of course, there are many novices learning to steer a car, and they are taken out by experts. Where the wheels are actually aligned perfectly the wobbling effect, especially where the mechanism is a little worn, is very disconcerting to the student. Now, if the wheels toe in there is exactly the same pressure effect working from opposite directions. Each seeks to go slightly out of true and each offsets that tendency in the other. This naturally keeps the car steady and the wheels pass over slight obstructions without turning them in the slightest degree ”

“ A good many manufacturers make the compression figure just as high as they dare, with the result that, when the carbon forms, the size of the combustion chamber is reduced and the pressure is raised to such a degree that it will cause pre-ignition and its resultant knock. When a manufacturer tells the buyer that his engine is proof against carbon and the knocking occasioned thereby, he probably is trying to offset more serious “knocks” the car is receiving from disgruntled users. ”

“ Yet most troubles incident to the operation of a motor car may be located very quickly if one will but go after them in a systematic way, and not wander aimlessly about the engine and other parts. The hardest thing a driver has to do when the engine stops or acts up is to divest himself of the idea that he knows just what the trouble is.273 He is sure he can fix it in a minute and he putters around a long time before he makes up his mind that it is something else and it takes a lot of time to prove that to some persons. ”

“ The inference is that the man who would care for his automobile should learn to do it in a systematic way, according to rule, doing everything always the same way and in the same order. Thus the labor becomes a habit and is performed quickly and easily. At the same time habit must not be allowed to become a rut; the owner must preserve originality and initiative, and native ingenuity is invaluable. ”

“ Some of the most unnecessary and expensive repairs to an automobile are those connected with its transmission. It is not only exasperating, but unnecessary to be told that the gears of your car are stripped, or that the teeth are broken so that smooth running is impossible, if indeed the car can be run at all.
It is not in the permanent mesh gears, where shaft motion is turned into axle motion, that the trouble comes. Properly set and packed the rear axle gears never should make trouble. ”

“ No one who observes without prejudice the behavior of motor-car drivers in New York City and elsewhere can help being struck with the careful way in which private motor cars are now driven, the neatness and cleanliness of the men themselves, and the vast improvement which has taken place in their general manners. ”

“ A seat for the driver and sundry pedals and levers are needed to accomplish speed and steering control, and sundry other parts have their place, but the above covers in a general way the necessities of an automobile.
An automobile, as the name suggests, is a car which contains its own propelling force and to which it is not necessary to hitch a horse, or steam engine, or something else to make it go. ”

“ Do not wait until you are half way down the hill before finding out that it is too steep for the brakes to hold the car. Make up your mind before starting to descend and shift to first gear if necessary. Do not allow the brakes to get in such condition that they will not hold to the best of their ability. Never descend the hill at a high rate of speed no matter how safe it looks. Brakes do not hold as well when the car is going fast as they do when it is moving slowly, nor will they stop a car as quickly going down a grade as they will going up. ”

“ It is true that the gasoline now sold has a greater heat-producing quality, if only we can get it properly mixed and volatilized. It may be that the gasoline producers, by putting heavier gasoline on the market, have been of a real service to auto men, once we have learned to utilize it economically and efficiently. They may have had in mind the higher power, but they have given us a gas which is very hard to vaporize on a frosty morning. Sometime soon, probably the carburetor man will catch up and give us a vaporizer which will handle it. ”

“ One of the worst things with which the autoist has to contend mechanically is the accumulation of carbon in the cylinders, clogging the piston rings, filling and short-circuiting the spark plugs and causing a knock which is not only annoying, but productive of trouble sooner or later. There are various reasons for the accumulation of carbon, such as poor gas, defective ignition, insufficient pressure, but few have assigned as a cause of carbon trouble and knocking a too high cylinder compression. ”

“ In New York City, traffic traveling north and south has the right of way, therefore when crossing an avenue go slowly and make sure you will not cut off vehicles on the avenue.
When starting the car, allow the clutch pedal to come back until the clutch begins to engage, then keep enough pressure on the pedal to allow it to become fully engaged very gradually. Letting the clutch engage all at once makes the car jump or the engine stall, and observers smile knowingly. ”

“ Alertness is an attribute of most women, also intuition, and these are qualities needed by an auto driver.
The era of low-priced cars undoubtedly has had something to do with the influx of women into auto driving. Thousands to whom a high-priced car with liveried chauffeur must ever be a dream, are able to have a moderate or low-priced car for the whole family. Mother will not let her sons and daughters distance her in anything, so she learns too. ”

“ While there are conditions of engine which would make hill climbing hard, if not impossible, they are due to neglect or poor adjustment, so that the engine has not power enough to negotiate stiff grades. The owner who keeps the motor in proper condition, in practically any make of car on the market today, should have no trouble in making the worst hills. Yet how often we find cars stalled on mountain roads and even on steep city streets, and see owner and guests walking or pushing the car. ”