At the " Independent " New York Show.
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By Harold Whiting Slauson.
The American Motor Car Manufacturers' Association opened its ninth annual exhibition, at the Grand Central Palace, in New York, on New Year's Eve. At this exhibition were shown over half of the various makes of American cars, nearly all of the foreign cars having agencies in the United States, and the products of some 200 motor and accessory manufacturers. This exhibition is often known as the " Independent Show," in distinction from that held later in the year by the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers which controls the Selden patent covering the application of a petrol motor to a road vehicle.
Commercial vehicles, consisting of vans, delivery wagons, trucks, ambulances, fire apparatus, coal wagons, and omnibuses comprised an important feature of the display, many of these being found in models both new and unique in design and construction. All told, there were 33 commercial vehicles exhibited by ri different manufacturers. Nine of these were products of the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, located at Pontiac, Mich., and consisted of a fire truck, an ambulance, two chassis of different sizes, a small stake truck, one light delivery wagon, a r6-passenger sight-seeing car, a 20-passenger car of the same design, and a delivery wagon of one ton capacity which, carrying 25 per cent_ overload, had traversed the 2,000 miles of the Glidden Tour
route with no adjustment whatever to motor or running gear. This same car also came under its own power from the factory to the exhibition at New York— a distance of over r,000 miles. The power plant of this car consists of a two-cylinder, horizontal, opposed, 24h.p. motor located in about the centre of the frame and connected to the driving shaft by means of a substantial planetary transmission. From here, the power is transferred to the rear wheels by means of the double-chain drive. The other types of the cars of this make employ the same kind of a power plant with the exception of a few of the heavier trucks, which are driven by four-cylinder vertical motors placed under the forward part of the chassis.
For Dock-side Use An exhibit which excited the greatest amount of interest in the commercial vehicle section of the show, was that of the Lansden Company, of Newark, N. J., which is now using the new storage battery as perfected by Mr. Thomas A. Edison as the source of power for all of its cars. The Lansden line this year consists of light delivery wagons for the use of department stores and express companies, trucks of from one to three tons capacity, and a platform or dock truck. This latter is a new product, and consists, as illustrated, of a tow platform mounted on four wheels—two in the centre and one at each end. The platform and frame are hinged in the middle, so that uneven portions of the road may be negotiated easily, notwithstanding the threeline support of the truck. This truck is particularly adapted for the transfer of goods from the steamship wharf to the freight depot, and its low platform with no railing or guard is designed to facilitate the loading and unloading of its cargo. The forward and rear wheek are operated together in the steering of this truck, so that no trouble is encountered when making sharp turns. Tim battery plant consists of 6o cells of tilt new Edison type. These are lighter than any previously used, and give £ mileage of from 20 to 50 per charge— depending on the size of the wagon ant' the weight of the loads carried. A dozen of these cars of the light deliver) type in use by one of the large depart. ment stores in New York average st miles per day each, and are charger but once during the 24 hours.
Accessible Parts.
One of the most important feature: of the product of the Grabowsky Powei Wagon Company, of Detroit, Mich., i! the accessibility of the motor and trans mission. The former is of the hori zontal, double-opposed type, and ie located in the extreme forward end o the car, so that nearly all parts mal he reached from a standing position
Directly behind the motor is the planetary transmission with doublechain drive to the rear wheels. This may be reached easily by removing the forward floor-board. These cars are equipped with steel wheels, and the exhibit of this make consisted of a 12passenger sight-seeing car, one chassis, and a screen-body delivery wagon.
A Five-ton Coal Truck.
The Reliance Motor Truck Company, of Owosso, Mich., is one of the few commercial vehicle manufacturers using the two-cycle type of motor. Three cylinders are used for the smaller wagons, whilst the truck having a liveton capacity is driven by a four-cylinder motor. A distinctive feature of this truck is found in the transmission, which is of the sliding-gear progressive type with direct drive on high speed, and is made sufficiently heavy and strong to withstand the heaviest loads and hardest usage. This company has placed a five-ton coal truck with steel body on the market, which is exciting considerable comment in commercial vehicle circles. This company has lately adopted the Hele-Shaw clutch for all of its cars, and while none were seen on any of the wagons exhibited at the Palace, it is now the intention of this concern to use them exclusively on all subsequent models. In addition to the coal truck, a stake truck and a chassis were exhibited here.
Typical Electric Vehicles.
The Commercial Truck Company of America, with factory located at Philadelphia, Pa., has two types of electric vehicles on the market which differ from each other in the method of the transmission of power to the wheels. The half-ton and one-ton delivery wagons are equipped with a single motor connected to the rear axle by means of the Morse-Williams driving gear. The motor is placed with its shaft at right angles to the rear axle, and is connected to the differential by means of a worm gear which meshes ss'ith a wheel on the driving shaft. This enables the power plant to occupy but very little space, eliminates the necessity of chain drive, and reduces friction to a minimum—the power being applied as directly as possible. For the heavier trucks for loads of two
to five tons, a separate motor is used for each wheel. The double-reduction spur gears by which power is transmilted from the one to the other are completely enclosed and run in oil.
This makes a four-wheel-drive, quietrunning, powerful truck, especially adapted for heavy work on slippery pavements where a maximum tractive effort is necessary to successful operation.
More Sight-seeing Cars.
One of the largest vehicles on exhibition at the Palace was a 22-passenger bus built by Mack Bros. Motor Car Company, of Allentown, Pa., makers of the " Manhattan " sightseeing cars. The power plant for this chassis consists of a four-cylinder, vertical motor placed under a front hood. The transmission is of the three-speed sliding-gear type, having double-chain drive to the rear wheels. This concern also equips the same chassis with a tilting metal body capable of carrying five tons of .sand, stone, or coal, and which is in use in the street-cleansing departments of several of the American cities. Two illustrations of Mack vehicles are sent herewith.
[The single-deck omnibus is illustrated on pagi:
Other Exhibits.
The American Truck Company, of Lockport, N.Y., exhibited an enclosed delivery wagon and one heavy stake truck. The heavy truck is driven by a 65h.p. engine, and uses a special planetary and disc-clutch type of transmission. The light delivery car employs a 2 ob.p., four-cylinder, vertical motor, and uses a three-speed sliding-gear transmission. The final drive of both sizes of chassis is by side chains.
The Pittsburg Motor Vehicle Com pany exhibited two enclosed delivery wagons, in which the simplicity and minimum of friction loss in the transmission are the noticeable features. The rear axle is driven by a single chain, which runs directly from the motor to a large sprocket wheel keyed to the driving shaft, or axle, of the wagon. The light delivery wagon has a carrying capacity of one-half ton and weighs, with batteries, 2,500lb.
The Gramm-Logan Motor Car Com pany, of Bowling Green, Ohio, exhibited two trucks, the lighter one using an air-cooled motor, and the heavy vehicle being driven by a water-cooled engine. The former is a four-cylinder 25h.p. motor, while the latter has the same number of cylinders and develops double the power of the smaller engine. The transmission of both chassis is combined in a single case with the differential shaft, and is of the slidinggear type, having three speeds forward and one reverse. The double-chain drive to the rear wheels is used.
Three t,000-pound delivery wagons with various types of bodies were exhibited by the Hart-Kraft Motor Company, of York, Pa. The distinctive feature of these vehicles lies in the interchangeable self-contained power unit which has the motor, magneto, planetary transmission, clutch, differential, jack-shaft, intakes, carburetter, exhausts, low-speed and reverse pedals, and direct-drive lever all suspended from three points of the body frame by .five bolts. The motor is of the doubleopposed horizontal type and is placed under a small hood forward of the dash. The double-chain drive serves to transmit the power from the jack-shaft to the rear wheels.