Motoring

“ Never again vith the Muggleton Motor! Vhy, it vorse than a hortomatic vheelbarrow, ain't it, Mr. Pickwick?"
"Ah, Sammy," assented Mr. Weller, Senior, hugging his whip, affectionately. "Vorse even than vidders, Sammy, the red-nosed shepherd, or the Mulberry One hisself!"
A bear in a motor-car attracted much attention in the City last week. It had four legs this time.
The Motor Car declares, on high medical authority, that motoring is a cure for insanity. We would therefore recommend several motorists we know to persevere.
[Pg 139]
Gentle Satire—"I say, Bill, look 'ere! ”

“ All these varied and ever-extending uses to which motor-vehicles are being put would seem almost to foreshadow the time when the horse is likely to be found only at the Zoological Gardens, as a curious survival of a bygone age in traction.
Definite statistics as to the extent to which automobilism, in its manifold phases, constitutes an industry in itself are not available; but the activities now employed on or in connection with motors, motoring, and motor transport are manifold and widespread. ”

“ In a life of travel and adventure in out-of-the-way places, in yachting or boating, in hunting or fishing, and even in motoring, to command a number of good knots and splices is to make life safer, easier, and more enjoyable, aside from the real pleasure one may find in learning the interesting art of knot-tying. ”

“ For ten years or so everybody who could afford a motor of some sort has had one. We've all had one. Not to have a motor has been simply ridiculous, if not disreputable. So [Pg 172] everybody has ridden about all day in the fresh air, never had any exercise, and got an enormous appetite. ”

“ On our fears, then, as you gloat
(Ours who neither "bike" nor "mote") ,
Just to tell us where you are—
Tinkle, twinkle, motor-car.
"Motor Body."—"One man can change from a tonneau to a landaulette, shooting brake, or racing car in two minutes, and, when fixed, cannot be told from ANY fixed body."—Advt. in the "Autocar."
The disguise would certainly deceive one's nearest relations, but as likely as not one's dog would come up and give the whole show away by licking the sparking plug.
[Pg 117]
Chauffeur. ”

“ I could imagine that more than half the fun of owning a motor car would lie in understanding the thing inside and out; and I said so.
"It's a little like controlling the elements," Jack answered. "Think of the difference in this machine, when it's asleep—cold and quiet, an engine mounted on a frame, a tank of water, a reservoir of cheap spirit, a pump, a radiator, a magnet, some geared wheels fitting together, a lever or two. My man twists a handle. On the instant the machine leaps into frenzied life. ”

“ Every motor-car owner, whether he can afford to keep a mechanic or not, should make a point of studying and thoroughly understanding his engine. It is not merely that this will save him trouble and emancipate him from the tyranny of the skilled mechanic, but it will very materially increase his pleasure in the pastime, for the study of the engine affords almost as keen enjoyment as the actual driving. ”

“ It's guaranteed to run the car under electric power for nearly a mile, without the motor being operated. All we'll have to do will be to set the starter going—that turns the fly wheel, you know. Then we can put in low gear, slip in the clutch, just as if the motor was in operation, and get the car to the top of the hill. ”

“ In our days, by means of its organs which have become automatic, the mechanism controls the mechanism. A chauffeur is no more than a pilot; once going, his machine keeps up its own energy; once awake, it will only fall asleep again at the word of command. In short, as Lerne bade me note, the modern motor-car enjoys properties that a spinal cord might confer; it enjoys instinct and reflex actions. Spontaneous movements take place in it along with the voluntary movements caused by the intelligence of the driver, who becomes as it were the brain of the vehicle. ”

“ Think of the English roads and lanes, of the pretty girls and decent men one meets on horseback or in smart dogcarts, the dowagers in victorias, the crowds of cyclists, the occasional fine motor-car, knickerbockered men walking for the pleasure of exercise! Here, though one knows there are more motors than at home, one rarely comes across them out of towns; and as for ladies and gentlemen, or, indeed, any sort of people out solely for enjoyment, they're as rare as black opals. ”

“ I never allow the mechanical portion of the motor-car to interfere with the interior of the carriage, a rule which experience has taught me to be very necessary. Your motor-car engineer as a rule gives but little heed to the carriage part of his vehicle; to him the engine is all in all, and he will not hesitate to thrust some of his oily belongings into the interior of one's vehicle unless such a rule as that which I have made is strictly laid down and sternly kept. ”

“ The hotter the sun the more agreeable the fanning of the air through which we pass, and the cold of winter, guarded against in proper fashion, carries with it its own exhilaration. To my mind the greatest pleasures and the greatest advantages derivable from the motor-car are the power of traversing large areas of the beautiful country in which it is our happiness to live. The use of motors in town is increasing and, doubtless, will greatly increase. ”

“ Assuming a vehicle with running gear complete and motors mounted and geared to the driving-wheels, the motors have to be fed with energy in order that the car may be propelled— that is to say, we must in addition to the motors have a source of electric current present. A car with body, running gear, and motors geared in position, is a potentiality only. ”

“ There is not one jarring note—until the 'honk, honk' of a motor is followed by the breathless, panting whirr of the engine, and a big car flashes down the road and past, travelling at the topmost of its top speed. ”

“ But even to those living in towns, the country contributes most to the pleasure of possessing a motor. At one of the dinners of the Automobile Club, when it was suggested that motors had a future in bringing agricultural produce to the large towns, the audience agreed with the observation that, if it was. desirable that the motor should bring cabbages to the workman, it was still more desirable for the motor to take the workman to the cabbages. For myself, after a long day in Court, I often feel that I am a workman who wants to be taken to the cabbages. ”

“ MOTOR-CARS THE MOTOR OMNIBUS — RAILWAY MOTOR-CARS
The development of the motor-car has been phenomenal. Early in 1896 the only mechanically moved vehicles to be seen on our roads were the traction-engine, preceded by a man bearing a red flag, the steam-roller, and, in the towns, a few trams. To-day the motor is apparent everywhere, dodging through street traffic, or raising the dust of the country roads and lanes, or lumbering along with its load of merchandise at a steady gait.
As a purely speed machine the motor-car has practically reached its limit. With 100 h.p. ”

“ The motor, which the frenzied cupidity of manufacturers hurls like a juggernaut’s car upon the bewildered people and of which the idle and fashionable make a foolish though fatal elegance, will soon begin to perform its true function, and putting its strength at the service of the entire people, will behave like a docile, toiling monster. But in order that the motor may cease to be injurious and become beneficent we must build roads suited to its speed, roads which it cannot tear up with its ferocious tyres, and from which it will send no clouds of poisonous dust into human lungs. ”

“ The motor-cycle of to-day is fast taking the place of the ordinary bicycle, and the automobile, or auto, as it is commonly called, is taking the place of our horses. This being so, it has occurred to the writer to prepare a line of stories, telling of the doings of a number of lively, up-to-date lads who at first own motor-cycles and later on become the proud possessors of a touring car.
This tale before you, “The Motor Boys,” is the first volume of the series, telling of the doings of Ned, Bob, Jerry and their chums in and around their home town. ”

“ A gain in speed means a loss in power, and vice versâ. By gearing-up a cycle we are able to make the driving-wheel revolve faster than the pedals, but at the expense of control over the driving-wheel. A high-geared cycle is fast on the level, but a bad hill-climber. The low-geared machine shows to disadvantage on the flat, but is a good hill-climber. Similarly, the express engine must have large driving-wheels, the goods engine small driving-wheels, to perform their special functions properly. ”

“ An electric vehicle may be regarded as consisting of a body, a running gear, with one or two motors mounted on it and arranged to operate the driving wheels of the vehicle through speed reduction gearing, of a battery of accumulators carried on the car itself, of connections between this battery and the motors, and of a controller, the functions of which will be explained. ”

“ The next day, if possible, more driving should be undertaken, but this time on the second speed, first directing the steering with one hand and then with the other, so that perfect control can be exercised with either hand, the hand that is more or less at liberty being engaged in taking articles out of the pocket, &c., adjusting the lubricators, pumping oil into the cylinders, and other small details of this sort, which at times it is expedient to do when actually on a journey. ”

“ With its four-change speed-gear a motor cycle seems better adapted for easy and economical travelling than the human machine. If, however, the human machine has no change of gear, it has one very marvellous mechanism—which we may call a compensatory mechanism, for want of a short, easy name. The more we walk, the more we go hill-climbing, the more powerful do the muscular engines of the heel become. It is quite different with the engine of a motor cycle ”

“ In the scope of a few pages it is impossible to cover even a tithe of the field occupied by the ubiquitous motor-car, and we must, therefore, restrict ourselves to a glance at the manufacture of its mechanism, and a few short excursions into those developments which promise most to alter our modes of life. ”

“ First, the ordinary individual who buys a motor cycle will not make a careful study of the manner in which the machine is built and how it works, but prefers to tackle it on the 'hit and miss' plan and learn by hard knocks and experience. Second, carelessness and the disinclination many persons have to take proper care of a piece of machinery. A motor cycle, however, cannot be expected to run properly unless it receives regular attention. ”

“ For station work in the country I would rather recommend—and I am supposing myself writing for those who have now a stable of some half a dozen horses—a covered as well as an open motor, or perhaps a motor which can have a top fitted on to it when the weather is bad. Ladies do not like arriving at tea-time with their fringes out of curl, or the feathers in their hats drooping or facing the wrong way ”

“ There were many intricate and difficult problems, however, that attended taking a motor aloft to drive an aeroplane. The motor had to run at top speed every second, for it could not rest on a low gear as an automobile engine could. First one part and then another would give out and the motors were constantly overheating. Experience taught the makers how to make their machines light enough and yet strong enough to do the required work. ”

“ But a car is not a motor-cycle. I meditated. A car on four wheels could not only hold its own better in the middle of the torrent, but could also get up the opposite bank easier. One thing was quite certain—even if I got through the river all right, it would require a superhuman effort to push the machine up the steep, greasy incline on the opposite side. ”

“ The above seems incredible, now that we have passed through the various stages of motor car improvements and motor clothes creations. The rapid development of the automobile, with its windshields, limousine tops, shock absorbers, perfected engines and springs, has brought us to the point where no more preparation is needed for a thousand-mile run across country with an average speed of thirty miles an hour, than if we were boarding a train. ”

“ Her four little cylinders, gaily murmuring as the engine joyfully sprang into life, seemed to hide a world of romance as if they were whispering to each other of the days that were to come, the adventures and experiences they were to encounter, and the strange lands they were to see. The purr of her exhaust, healthy though muffled, smooth and even in its rhythm, was music in my ears. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, and to those who know the call of the open road and who love to feel the rush of the wind and the glamour of speed, such was this machine. ”

“ The judgment of a man who is looking at the machine while he is giving information is biased by the impressions as to what the machine can do; make allowances for this and get, if possible, an accurate description of the condition of any road which is pronounced impassable, for you alone know what the machine can do, and many a road others think you cannot cover is made with ease.
To the farmer the automobile is a traction engine, and he advises the route accordingly; he will even speculate whether a given bridge will support the extraordinary load. ”