Renault

“ If the motor-car in the guise of a private carriage has developed at an astonishing rate, its adaptation to the needs of the community, as a public service vehicle, has been even more rapid. The first cabs placed on the streets of London in 1903 were by no means a success, but the cabs constructed by the French house of Renault and first introduced in London in 1906 rapidly effected a revolutionary change in the means of individual transport. ”

“ General View of Renault Voiturette.
gear is used. The plan of the truck, showing the general arrangement of the mechanism, is presented in Fig. 9, and the details of the variable speed gear are shown in Fig. 10. The motor is located at A, and through a friction clutch B, and the variable speed gear C, it rotates the shaft H, which runs lengthwise of the vehicle. Motion is imparted to the hind axle by means of bevel gears contained within the casing D. The large
bevel gear on the axle is of the differential type, so as to drive the wheels R R at the proper velocities. ”

“ Only Mary and John could be depended upon. The pumping engine had been started and the tank was rapidly filling.
“O Ruth,” exclaimed Bab, “how careless of us to have forgotten the cars! The garage is nearest to the forest and the automobiles should be run out right off. We may need them if things get very bad.”
“Of course,” replied Ruth. “Where is the 205 chauffeur? Did you ever know any of these people to be on hand when they were needed?”
Dashing to the garage, they cranked up the two machines and ran them out onto the lawn in an open space. José’s motor cycle came next. ”

“ France is the centre of the motor-car industry in Europe, and up to the year 1906 it undoubtedly led in the production of motor vehicles, but in that year the United States of America, as we shall have occasion to note, took the lead. The number of private cars in use in France had risen from 1438 in 1899 to about 23,000 in the year 1909, whilst industrial vehicles have increased even more rapidly in number. ”

“ The French Government have specialised for many years past in machines of this and somewhat lighter load-carrying capacity, and more recently they have made serious and fairly successful efforts to encourage [Pg 167] the employment of powerful vehicles in which the engine power is arranged to drive all four wheels, and which can be used either as lorries or as tractors, or as a combination of the two. The genius of the French motor engineer, in the opinion of the writer, expresses itself better in the high-speed touring car than in the industrial vehicle. ”

“ I have spoken of the car being in the garage. We cracked the leaf of a spring that day at Chinon, and then our tires, old and worn after five thousand miles of loyal service, required reënforcement. They really required new ones, but our plan was to get home with these if we could. Besides, one cannot buy new tires in American sizes without sending a special order to the factory—a matter of delay. The little man at the hotel, who had more energy than anyone should display in such hot weather, pumped one of our back tires until the shoe burst at the rim. ”

“ Our own thirty-horsepower engine, which we thought rather light at home, is a giant by comparison. Heavy engines are not needed in France. The smooth roads and perfectly graded hills require not half the power that we must expend on some of our rough, tough, rocky, and steep highways. Again, these lighter engines and cars take less gasoline, certainly, and that is a big item, where gasoline costs at least 100 per cent more than in America. I suppose the lightest weight car consistent with strength and comfort would be the thing to take to Europe. ”

“ I couldn't help grinning, and I fancy Miss Randolph hid a smile behind her handkerchief.
Eyelashes was furious. "It is a horror, that German machine!" he cried. "Such a thing has no right to exist. Look at mine!" He darted to his Pieper, gave one twist of the handle, and the motor instantly leaped into life. Everyone murmured approval at this demonstration of the superiority of France, or rather, Belgium, to Germany; but next moment I had got our motor to start. The ladies dubiously took their places, and under the critical dark eyes of Miss Barrow I steered out into the streets of Blois. ”

“ New Orleans Car
Assuming that the purchaser has 500l. to lay out, for that sum he can get a six or seven horse-power carriage with the Daimler type of engine, capable of carrying four people including the driver, with a covered top for wet weather. Nay, if he is satisfied with a light and frail open carriage he could obtain one of much higher horse-power, and a speed up to between thirty and forty miles an hour but this is a mere racing machine for those who desire to travel speedily without any protection against the weather. ”

“ But in reply to this it must be remembered that the workable gas engine had been invented as early as 1860, and that the Otto engine, of which the Daimler is a modification, was patented as early as 1876. These developments, it will be noted, took place at just about the time when the new interest in the automobile had been aroused, as evidenced by the repressive British legislation just referred to. It can be but little in question that had the early interest in the British automobile been maintained, inventive genius would long since have provided a suitable motor. ”

“ But that the electric car is a perfectly balanced piece of mechanism and the one type of the automobile with the least fits and starts, is conceded, and this superiority will doubtless enable the electric type to make up in the future in the motor truck field what it has lost to the gasoline type in the passenger field.
If the passenger automobile has not reached the length of its use and consumption, and it unquestionably has not, what shall be said of the freight automobile, the industry in which is yet in embryo? ”

“ The motor engine and the aeroplane are inseparably connected; one is as necessary to the other as clay is to the potter's wheel, or coal to the blast-furnace. This being the case, it is well that we trace briefly the development of the engine during the last quarter of a century.
The original mechanical genius of the motoring industry was Gottlieb Daimler, the founder of the immense Daimler Motor Works of Coventry. Perhaps nothing in the world of industry has made more rapid strides during the last twenty years than automobilism. ”

“ There is no doubt that the internal-combustion engine driven by 'petrol' is still the most practical of all the various types. Whether you have a Panhard or a Mors made in France, or a Daimler or a Napier made in England, on ninety-nine days out of a hundred the vehicle will perform its work up to time, and, so far as I can speak from my own experience, you ought never to miss your train or your appointment if the car is efficiently superintended. ”

“ But now, 60 years later, we find that auto-makers have wiped out all differences and are making all cars alike. No matter which company made the car you are driving today, you have nothing to brag about. Today's cars all have at least four things in common- -they are too big, too powerful, too costly and burn too much gasoline.
But it hasn't always been that way. About the same year we bought our Reo, a neighbor family of ours had a flat tire. They set the emergency brake while they jacked up the car to put the spare on. ”

“ The grocer described the car, a Peugeot limousine, 24 horse-power, with a dark blue body. Inquiries were made, on chance, of Mme. Bob-Walthour, the manageress of the Grand Garage, who used to make a specialty of motor-car elopements. She had, in fact, on Friday morning, hired out a Peugeot limousine for the day to a fair-haired lady, whom she had not seen since. ”

“ In a combined engine and car the weight of the car and passengers is utilized for adhesion of the driving wheels, and this is conveniently effected in Rowan's car, in which there are two four-wheel bogies, the leading one carrying the engine and boiler, and half the body of the car and passengers. The engine can be detached from the car for repair and another engine can be substituted in a few minutes. Economy of rolling stock, and the advantage of being able to use cars intended for horses, are in favour of independent engines. ”

“ So it is to-day with the automobile. Imagine the united labours and financial sacrifices of the engineers and manufacturers that led, step by step, up to the road-racing automobiles of the Paris-Berlin competition in 1901—the year in which the only working dirigible balloon then in existence won the Deutsch prize against a time limit that was thought by many a complete bar to success. ”

“ The car should be powerful enough to draw an extra van or two on occasion, since horses and heavy luggage may sometimes accompany the passengers. Messrs. Dick, Kerr, and Company have built a car, which, when loaded with its complement of passengers, weighs about sixteen tons. The motive power is supplied by two four-cylinder petrol engines of the Daimler type, each giving 36 h.p. These are suspended on a special frame, independent of that which carries the coach body, so that the passengers are not troubled by the vibration of the engines, even when the vehicle is at rest. ”

“ This country of the Loire is exquisite; it has both grandeur and simple beauty, and the road winding above the river is practically level and in splendid condition; ideal for motors and "hay-motors." The distance between the good town of Blois and Amboise is less than twenty miles. Any decent-minded motor would whistle along from the great grey Château to the brilliant cream-white one under the hour, but that isn't the way of our Demon.
Miss Randolph once said that owning a motor-car was like having a half-tamed dragon in the family. ”

“ To motorists Clermont-Ferrand is about the most important city in France. It is the home of tire manufacturers, and among them the great benevolent one that supplies the red road book, and any desired special information, free. We felt properly grateful to this factory and drove out to visit it. They were very good to us; they gave us a brand-new red-book and a green-book for Germany and Switzerland. The factory is a large one, and needs to be. About four-fifths of the cars of Europe go rolling along on its products, while their owners, without exception, use its wonderfully authentic guides. ”

“ The responsibility as the actual "inventor" can probably be no more definitely placed. However, had it not been for two developments, neither of them immediately related to the motor car, we should never have had this efficient method of transportation. The real "fathers" of the automobile are Gottlieb Daimler, the German who made the first successful gasoline engine, and Charles Goodyear, the American who discovered the secret of vulcanized rubber. ”

“ We left early to get a start of the rush of motor cars for the French frontier, but others had done the same thing, so that by the time the Spanish authorities had stamped our sortie definitive, we found the international bridge filled with cars, all impatiently waiting to take their turn at the French douane. Then amid a whirl of dust and a blowing of horns, car after car leaped for the homeward flight. Ahead of us and behind us, cars of every make, motor horns of every variety. ”

“ It is equaled only by the internal combustion gas engine, which is a factor in making it practical and efficient.
Gasoline-propelled vehicles have become one of man’s greatest aids in business efficiency, but nevertheless it is very important that we consider the facts, that the adoption of the automobile by man for business, commerce and pleasure is on a very large scale, and that the production by manufacturers is so great that very little thought is given to proper care, which is an ever-present factor in economical operation and a fair return for the investment. ”

“ Even with the aid of racing, however, the development of the motor-car has been a matter of slow growth, and by many new recruits to the pastime it may be learned with surprise that a competition was held in France so long ago as 1894, from Paris to Rouen, when the cars of Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot Freres shared the leading honours, with motors of 31/2 h.-p. The times are not recorded. It was not until June 1895, however, that the foundation of a series of classic events was laid by a race from Paris to Bordeaux and back, 732 miles, when a 31/2-h.-p. ”

“ The taunt of unreliability once levelled—and with justice—at the motor-car, is fast losing its force, owing to the vast improvements in design and details which manufacturers have been stimulated to make. The motor-car industry has a great future before it, and the prizes therein are such as to tempt both inventor and engineer. Every week scores of patents are granted for devices which aim at the perfection of some part of a car, its tyres, its wheels, or its engines. ”

“ It is no longer each country, but each firm, that has a right to three motor-cars. Thus 25 out of the 34 are of French make. The race will be run over 1,200 kilometres in two heats of 600 kilometres each. The roads in the district in question are among the best in France, admitting of exceptional speed. In the interval between the first and seconds heats the cars will be carefully housed, and no repairs of any kind will be allowed ; moreover, whatever repairs have to be made during the race must be made by the drivers or mechanics themselves. ”

“ Perhaps four years of pretty constant automobile touring in Europe ought to count for something in the way of accumulated pertinent information concerning hotels and highways and by-ways.
Not all automobilists are millionaires. The man of moderate means is the real giver of impetus to the wheels of automobile progress. The manufacturers of motor-cars have not wholly waked up to this fact as yet, but the increasing number of tourists in small cars, both in England and in France, points to the fact that something besides the forty, sixty, or hundred horse-power monsters are being manufactured. ”