MODERN MOTOR-CARS.*
IT was a happy thought which led the publishers of the "Bad- minton Library" to extend their admirable series by a volume on automobilism, and a still happier one which made them entrust its preparation to Mr. Alfred Harmsworth, who has an experience of all kinds of motor-ears such as falls to the lot of few amateurs in this country. Mr. Harmsworth has written but a single chapter of the book himself, in which he gives very sensible advice on the choice of a motor-car. "Few undertakings," as he justly observes, "require more care and caution." In the first place, there is the question of the power by which the car is to be driven. At present there is a practical choice between petrol, steam, and electricity. A fourth motor driven by liquid air has just been exhibited at the Automobile Club's Show, but it is at present not an economical or a convenient source of power. Of these three, all of which are used in many trust- worthy cars, each has its own merits. "To-day," says Mr. Harmsworth, "my own experience teaches me that in the year 1902 a good petrol engine is infinitely the best for all-round work." It is the only motor which can be used for a straight- away run of a hundred miles or more without stopping,—for the electric car with which Krieger ran one hundred and sixty miles on a single charge was a very exceptional affair. It is in many respects the simplest to drive and to keep in order • (1.) Motors and Motor-Driving. By Alfred C. Harmsworth. Illustrated. London : Longman's and Co. 198. net. —(2.) The Motor-Car. By Sir Henry 'Thompson. Illustrated. London : F. Warn.. [2s. 6d.] when its essential principles have once been grasped. A mishap to the engine—short of a downright smash—usually has no bad results that cannot be readily repaired by an expert chauffeur, and the novice can hardly succeed in doing such serious damage to his machine as can very easily be done to a steam car in the hands of a "duffer?' Petrol can nowadays be procured everywhere, and a car which is capable of carrying all its own provision for a run of something like two hundred miles can go anywhere in Europe, and to most places out of it where there is any road at al]. Thus the would-be automobilist who intends to keep only one car, and wishes to use it for every kind of work—for
taking people to the station and the moor as well as for an occasional tour through a whole country—will probably do best to buy a petrol motor. But this type of automobile, wonderfully strong and convenient as it is, has serious inherent defects. The greatest of these is the vibration which is inseparable from its construction. No balancing can over- come the fact that the motive force is derived from a rapid series of explosions, each of which is bound to shake the vehicle and its occupants, while the noise and smell of the petrol engine—though both can be reduced to a minimum— add to the discomfort of a long journey. In France a new ailment, the "motor-car headache," has taken its place besides
the old-fashioned migraine. The strongest testimony to the beneficial effects and the health-giving qualities of auto- mobilism is that they have masked the essential unpleasant-
ness of a petrol motor so thoroughly that many owners of such cars are hardly conscious that it exists for the less frequent traveller. Sir Henry Thompson, who contributes a chapter on "Motor-cars and Health" to the "Badminton"
volume, and treats the subject at greater length in his very interesting little book on The Motor-Car built round the framework of the correspondence in the Times which he initiated last autumn on the question of automo- bilism in relation to horses, assures us that the "easy
jolting" which results when a motor-car is driven at a fair speed has the same advantages in "acting on the liver" as a trotting horse. The actual physical benefit of motor-driving, apart from its facilities for seeing the country and making long or short journeys, he thus expresses :—
"The exhilaration which accompanies driving in a motor is particularly helpful to people who are somewhat enervated. I have known instances of ladies suffering from defective nerve- power who have derived great benefit from the invigorating and refreshing effect of meeting a current of air caused by driving in an automobile. Veils of varying thickness, according to the temperature, should, of course, be worn by ladies, but much of the benefit to nervous patients is caused by the air blowing on the face. The facial nerves are acted upon with beneficial results, well known to have a restorative influence on weak and so-called nervous individuals. Furthermore, the action of the air on the face, and the continual inspiration of fresh air, tend to promote sleep, and I should have no hesitation, speaking generally, in re- garding daily exercise in a motor-car as aiding towards the pre- vention of insomnia."
Of course, there could be no higher authority on these subjects than Sir Henry Thompson, and as his own experi-
ence is wholly derived from the use of a petrol motor, we may admit that the ill effects of vibration have been exaggerated. His little book is largely concerned with the establishing of good relations between antomobilists and the other users of the roads, and we strongly commend it to all who are inclined to blame automobilists as a body for the unfortunate vagaries of a few persons who would be equal nuisances and dangers whatever form of locomotion they happened to patronise. Still, nobody can maintain that the
petrol engine is an ideal travelling-companion so long as its noise, smell, and vibration cannot be eliminated—though use soon renders its inconveniences practically unnoticed—and if steam or electric cars could be brought to the same degree of practical convenience they would probably oust the explosion motor. Mr. Harmsworth himself states that "the most com- fortable motor-car, and in many ways the most satisfactory," with which he is acquainted is the Serpollet steam carriage, in which he now does most of his Continental touring.
Steam motors, whether of this or of the handy locomobile type, run with almost perfect silence and smoothness, while such smell as their petrol burners cause is not sensible to their occupants. There is no trouble about starting, and they are less liable to small defects than the petrol car. At the same time they demand much greater skill in the user. A. man wholly ignorant of mechanics can drive a petrol motor without much liability to trouble as soon as he has grasped the different uses of the three or four levers that control the engines and brakes, though only long practice will enable him to get the utmost out of his car. But if the same man aspires to run a steam car, he is likely to find that every excursion for the first month or two will entail a heavy bill for repairs. A steam engine, however • small and simple, requires skilled labour to drive it. At the same time, it is undeniably more interesting to the man who understands and likes machinery. A graver objection to existing steam cars is their limited range. There are not many of them which can, in practice, safely run more than twenty-five or thirty miles without stopping for a fresh supply of water. These limitations at present cause steam cars to be used mostly by those who —like doctors—need to make short runs with frequent stoppages, or who confine their journeys to the neighbour- hood of a town. In traffic the steam car is both quieter and handier than any petrol motor. It is likely that before long the problem of using the same water over and over again will be solved so far as to place the steam car on a level with the petrol motor in its radius of action. But of all motor-cars that have yet been produced, we are inclined to think that the future lies with the electric vehicle. Its smoothness and silentness of running are almost ideal, since the motive power is applied direct to the rotating shaft, and there are no reciprocating parts. Its simplicity is ideal, for all that the driver has to do is to turn a switch. It is "fool-proof," and the novice can hardly get into trouble with it; against that is the fact that if anything does go wrong a roadside repair is seldom possible even for a skilled electrician, and the average amateur is quite helpless. As Mr. Scott-Montagu says : "If it were not that there is yet no really satisfactory form of accumulator for traction work on the market, the electric motor-car would long ago have won a complete victory." At present all accumulators are made of lead or its compounds ; and no practical electric car can run much over forty miles without recharging. We are con- fident that this difficulty will be surmounted before very long, whether by the creation of such a radiating system of charging stations, corresponding to the old posting establish- ments, as the T.C.F. is endeavouring to form in France, or by the invention of a new and light accumulator such as Mr. Edison was lately reported—apparently withoutfoundation—to have hit upon, or by the transmission of power from a central station by ether waves, similar to those of the Marconi tele- graph, as Messrs. Armstrong and Orling hope to do, or even by the adoption of a flexible trolley running on live wires erected on every highway, with supplementary accumulators to allow the car to take a by-road when necessary.
Itonly remains toadd that the "Badminton" volume contains lucid and practical accounts of everything connected with present-day automobilism by the most eminent English authorities. Mr. Harmsworth has harnessed a -very able team and driven it as well as he drives his own motors. No book so instructive to the novice or so interesting to the expert automobilist has yet been written in English, and, like all the "Badminton" books, it may be studied with pleasure even by those who have no practical acquaintance with its subject. Before long not to understand the principles of the motor-car will argue ignorance as gross as that of the rustics who used to watch the early telegraph wires in hopes of seeing a message Blip along them.
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