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Vehicles
Vol. 5
CHICAGO, JULY, 1914
No. 1
A HIGH-SPEED BAKER ROADSTER
TECHNICAL MAGAZINES a»! TECHNICAL BOOKS.
INDEX TO VOLUME V
ELECTRIC VEHICLE
July 1 to December 31, 1914
A
Acid in Electrolyte Fatal 200
Advance of Electric Motor Trucks 15
Advantages and Limits of Electric Trucks.
By M. May 199-200
Action Imminent on Bus System 18
Appoints S. A. E. Membership Committee. . 34
Analyzing Chicago's Traffic Problem 39
Applying Motors to Wagons 54
Advantages of the Coastometer, The 55-56
Are Electric Vehicle Men Too Confident?
• By R. W. Hutchinson, Jr 71-72
American-Made Car's Opportunity, The — Ed- itorial 98
An Automatic Fender for Safety First. ... 103-104 Anderson Company Eliminates Garage Serv- ice 222
Ask Mortgage Set Aside 179
B
Baker Electrics for England 236
Boston Electrics Increase 16
Boston to Philadelphia in an Electric Road- ster. By Ralph Seidler 41-42
Boston's Ideal Charging Station 62
Buffalo Electric Demonstrates 1915 Model. 118-1 19
Berlin Adopts Electrics 122
Batteries Need Degree of Care 150
Boston Motor Car Meet 158
Buffalo Asks for Convention 190
C
Car Census at Two Million 236
Central Station Modern Charging Apparatus.
By Fred B. Schafer 223-224
Charging Apparatus for Private Garages.
By J. F. Lincoln 204-206
Chicago's Exclusively Electric Truck Garage.
By Fred B. Schafer 11-12
Chicago Municipal Motor Trucks 222
Controller and Batteries Used on Woods. .. 29-33 ■ Central Station Electric Truck Statistics.... 34
C. T. Truck Makes Record Run 38
Cantilever Spring for Flexibility 58
Controlling Storage Batteries 73-75
Chicago Electric Garage Owners' Association 75
Coming Into Its Own — Editorial 97-98
Central Station's Greatest Opportunity. By
A. L. Dixon and F. N. Carle 99
Cleveland to Have Motor-Bus Lines 214
Cost of Keeping a Horse in Boston 104
Charging the Electric at Home. By J. H.
Dougherty -.■■•■-. 109-110
Chicago's Motograph Electric Sign. By
Arthur Wells 125-126
Charging Plugs and Receptacles for Garages. p
By George Crane 139
Combining Country and City Advantages. . . . 142
Chicago Offers Garage Instruction 154
Chicago Section E. V. A. Announces New
Program ■ • • 157
Central Station Co-operation Committee Re- port 176-179
Convention Benefits 182
Converted by a Taxi 190
Cincinnati Tests Special Electric 190
Constitutional Revision Committee Report. 191-192
D
Deferred Payment Plan, The. By Frank M.
Gregg 220-222
Delivery Operating Costs 235
Development of Car Is Marvelous 78
Determining Operating Cost. By F. Ducasse. 87-89
Discourage Use of Truck Trailers 235
Discourage Use of Truck Trailers 124
Denver Represented in Prize Story Contest. 192 Drastic Laws for Cleveland 53
E
Early History of the Electric Vehicle. By
R. Lloyd 233-234
Edison Outlines Ford Electric 34
Editorial 215-216
A Man's Car 215
Bad Accounts 215
Hiker Service 216
Selling Promises 216
Covering the Entire Field 216
Touring vs. Sales Policy 216
The "Road Hog" 216
Electrics at San Diego Fair 234
Educational, Insurance, Legislation and
Membership 227-230
Electric Automobile Manufacturers Elect.... 203 Electric Commercial Vehicle vs. The Horse.
Electrics for Funerals 236
By Charles A. Ward 13-15
Electrics Scarce in New Orleans 16
Educate the User 18
Economical Battery Charging Outfit, An.
By J. C. McQuiston 19-20
Electric Motor Club Holds Dinner 235
Electric Truck Reduces Time 236
Electric Vehicles in Parcel Post Service. By
James H. McGraw 21-22
Electric Moving Van 26
Electric Vehicle Association Convention.... 34 Electric Vehicle Association Developments Electric Vehicle Association Developments.
By A. Jackson Marshall 217-219
By A. Jackson Marshall. 35-37, 111-114, 140-142
Electric Vehicle Operating Costs 38
Electric Vehicle Developments in England.. 38
Electrics for New Fish Pier 38
Electric Vehicles at Boston 39
Electrics in Providence 39
Electric Touring Book 39
Electrics in New York City 40
Electrics in Vienna 42
Electric Garage Equipment and Management.
By H. M. Martin _ 43-45
Electrics Extend Business Radius 45
Electric Vehicle Movement in England 53
Electrics Haul Mail 54
Effects of the War— Editorial 57-58
Electric Auto Stations 62
Electric Vehicle Operation and Maintenance.
By Walter R. Metz 67-69
Edison Battery Test 75
Electrics for Bakers 80
E. V. A. Convention Committee 85
Electric Vehicle Division, S. A. E. Progress
Report. By Arthur J. Slade 86
Electric Vehicle Salesmanship 90-94
England Offers Big Opportunity 94
Exhibit Vehicle During Convention 94
Electrics for Central Stations 96
Electrics Favored in Germany 102
Electric Car Agency as a Side Line, An. By
H. L. Goodwin 107-108
Electric Truck Distributes Pictures Films.. 108
Electric Taxicabs U0
Electric Car a Liberator 114
Electric Structure for New Departure Com- pany 117
Electric Pleasure Car Growing Popular 117
Electrics in England 119
English Designed Charging Plug and Socket 123
Electrolytes Initiate at Cedar Lake 124
English Storage Battery Driven Fire Appa- ratus 133-136
Electric Floats in Wasatch Pageant 144
Electric Taxicabs for New York 185
Electric Buses to Coney Island 188
Evils of Overloading Motor Trucks. By
H. W. Alden 189-190
Exhibits Electrics at New York Show 200
F
Fifty-two Miles for 10 Cents 40
Fifth Annual E. V. A. Convention Activi- ties. By A. Jackson Marshall 70
Fifth Annual Convention of the E. V. A. By Allen L. Haase 159"i71,
Flanders Represented in Chicago 214
G
G. M. C. Completes Additions 10
Goodyear Announces Price Reduction 20
Greater Electric Vehicle Problems. By
Harold M. Smith 25-26
Goodrich Service Station 3i
G. M. C. Predicts Big Sales 34
German-English Dictionary 54
German Tire Statistics 58
G. V. Central Station Trucks 70
G. V. Truck Displaces Six Horses 114
G. M. C. Sales Increase 114
Garage and Rates Committee Report 172-176
General Vehicle Publication 236
H
Horse Vehicles in Decrease. 50
Hupp Yeats Announces New Worm Gear... 89 Horse Efficiency Decreasing 136
I
Influence of the Efficient Branch Office, The. By Fred B. Schafer 81-82
Incongruity — Editorial 98
Is Initial Price a Hindrance to Greater Sales? By R. B. Daggett 149-150
In the Distant Future — Editorial 182
K
Klingelsmith Multi-Battery System 225-226
L
Lansden Resumes Manufacture 72
Life of Storage Battery 120
Low-Priced Electric Enters Field 127-128
Low-Priced Car Again, The— Editorial 181-182
M
Massachusetts Institute Research 20
Measuring Motor Truck Economies. By
R. W. Hutchinson 231-232
Motor Truck Club Meets 56
Motor Truck Club Forms at Los Angeles. . 58 Motor Truck Association of Philadelphia... 79
Motor Truck Club Entertains 89
Motor Truck Club Establishes Legal Aid
Bureau 95-96
Motor Trucks Advertising Medium — Editorial 98 Model . Commercial Electric Garage, A.... 115-117 Making Your Motor Truck Pay. By Gridley
Adams 145-148
Motz Cushion Tire Traction 157
Milwaukee Has New Baker Management... 190 Motor Trucks Valuable for War Service.... 190
N
New Feature of Buffalo Electric 26
New Electric Tractor, A 49-50
New Model Detroit Roadster 224
New Truck Company Tests First Model.... 224
New York Electrical Exposition 232
New York Exposition, The 56
New York Issues List of Charging Stations 224
New Route for New York 58
Ntaional Electric Vehicle Day 69
New York Reduces Charging Rates 200
New York Revises Charging Rates 72
New Electric Garage for New York 75
New Ohio Agency for Louisville 120
New England Central Stations Discuss Elec- trics. By Edward S. Mansfield 143-144
New Argo Has Motor Under Hood 154
New York Electrical Exposition 192
Novel Electrics for Exposition 234
O
103 Miles on a Charge 6
One Million Electrics in Ten Years — Ed- itorial Jf
Ohio Reports Sales 24
INDEX TO VOLUME V—ELECTRIC VEHICLE.
Ohio Electric Climbs Lookout Mountain.... 28 Operating Records Committee Report. . . .211-214 Organization Purely Electric, An — Editorial 57
Overloading Costly 94
N. A. C. C. a Valuable Factor 96
100-Mile Fritchle Competes in Gas Car Tour. By O. P. Fritchle 105-106
Philadelphia Motor Truck Association Meets 2 Philadelphia to Washington and Return .... 6
Pittsburgh Section Activity 10
Portable Battery Charging Set, A 22
Plans to Reduce Motor Truck Abuse 22
Personal and Business Notes 40, 80, 198
Personal and Business Notes 236
Proposes a Waterfront Terminal 72
Parcel Post and Electric Vehicle Delivery,
The 80
Providence Has New Charging Rate 106
Plans Completed for E. V. A. Convention.
By A. Jackson Marshall 121-122
Plans Lincoln Highway Tours 126
Proper Loading Means Economy 128
Practical Ideals in Electric Vehicle Promo- tion. By Ellis L. Howland 129-132
Publicity— Editorial 138
Plan New Mileage Records 185
Parcel Post Delivery Committee 186-188
R
Rauch and Lang Float Prize Winner 232
Relation of the Automobile to the Central
Station. By Dr. C. P. Steinmetz 7-10
Requests Agency 42
Regulations You Should Know 69
Reviewing the Early History of the Electric. 76-78 Responsibilities of Spring Making, The. By
A. L. Higg 83-85
Report of the Committee on Electric Ve- hicles. By George H. Jones 155-157
Resurrected Waverley, A 188
Registration List of the E. V. A. Conven- tion 196-197
Selling Electric Vehicles. By S. G. Thomp- son 1-2
Salt Lake to Ogden in Rauch & Lang 6
Six Models of Woods Electrics 12
Standardization of Tires 16
Storage Battery Sales Increase 40
Second Annual Outing and Picnic 40, 79
"Safety First at Albany" 40
Stop, Look and Listen 45
Safe Operation of Passenger Electrics, The. 47-49
Special Delivery Trucks for Bakers 207
Spokane Tests Electrics 85
San Francisco Motor Truck Club 104
Statistics on Parcel Post 104
Spokane Still Has First Electric. 106
Satisfy Atlantic Company's Creditors 136
Standardize Commercial Vehicle Cost-Keep- ing 136
Speed Plus Mileage— Editorial 137-138
Standard Electric Features 150
Skillful Drivers Often Reckless 154
Special Applications of the Electric Truck.
By F. Nelson Carle 183-185
Stories in Pictures 208-209
Storms Electric Announces New Product... 234
T
Touring by Electric Automobile. By J. S.
Codman 23-24
Three- Wheel Electric Delivery Wagons 39
Truck Statistics 46
Trucks Crowd Horses 54
Toronto Has Low Charging Rate 54
Trucks for Transporting Cotton 58
To Analyze Charging Costs 70
Toronto Announces New Charging Rates... 85
Team Hauling Wasteful and Expensive 126
Trucks Teach Efficiency — Editorial 138
Trucks Important in War 139
Theory of Storage Battery Operation, The. 151-154
Testing Motors on Electric Trucks 158
Tires Save Soldiers 171
Touring for Pleasure Not Records 180
Traffic Committee Report 193-195
U
Unit Type Battery Charging Switchboard. By C. D. Baird 210
Utility of Passenger and Commercial Elec- trics. By E. J. Bartlett 3-5
Utilization of Kinetic Energy. By T. H. Schoepe 201-203
Use of Compressed Air in Steel Hardening. 230
Uses and Abuses of Service 59-62
V
Vehicle Garaging in London 46
W
Walker Assumes Chicago Electric 234
Washington Holds Sociability Run 16
Waverley Makes Washington-Baltimore Run 222
Waverley Trucks for the Government 207
What is a Trade Paper? (Editorial) ....17-18
Waverley Four-Chair Brougham Specifica- tions. By W. W. Hudson 27-28
Will Leather Solve the Tire Problem? 28
Waverley Trucks for Pittsburgh 37
What the Electric Means to the Central Sta- tion. By Charles K. Chapin 51-53
Waverley Braves Mud Roads 54
Woods Offers New Four-Passenger Model... 219 Workmen's Compensation and Employers'
Liability. By Edson S. Lott 63-66
War and Its Effect on Tires 108
Wagner Charging Converter 110
Walker Sales 119
War- Will Not Affect K. W. Company 128
What the Convention Means to You. (Edi- torial) 138
Published Monthly By
ELECTRICITY MAGAZINE CORPORATION
Monadnock Building CHICAGO
Entered at Chicago Post Office as Second Class Mail Matter
WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED IGNITION
TRADE MARK REGISTERED IN THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE
Domestic - S1.50 Canada - - $1.75 Foreign - - $2.00
FOR SALE AT ALL NEWS STANDS
It Your News Dealer Will Not Supply You — Please Notify Us
Volume V
CHICAGO, JULY, 1914
Number 1
Selling Electric Vehicles
A Motion Picture in Two Reels Performed by an All Star Cast of E. V. A. Members
BY S. G. THOMPSON
THE Alway-On-The-Job Smith Company is in trouble. Big Chief F. W. Smith receives daily reports from his transportation manager (a part taken by Joseph F. Becker on account. of his familiarity with free transportation in the United Co.'s autos), and every day his stock of dead horses increases. Not being in the provision business, President Smith sees bank- ruptcy peeking at him over the nearby skyscrapers until his secretary, Harvey Robinson, in a lucid mo- ment is able to read letters from the E. V. A. signed by the well-known penman A. Jackson Marshall, its expressive secretary. Without stating how far back, the letter calls attention to interests valued at a paltry five hundred million that are back of the movement to take the 'orse out of remorse. Backing with joy, faithful old Harvey rushes to the boss with the lettef and an answer is despatched. David F. Tobias is called to take the dictation, and as it is well known that Tobey learned shorthand in the fo'castle of a tug boat, the camera is gently moved to and fro dur- ing this interesting scene, giving a perfect imitation of his familiar practice of rocking the boat.
In due time the letter arrives at the Engineers Building, accompanied by postman W. C. Andrews and driver F. Nelson Carle, of Uncle Sam's Parcel Post Service. Rumor has it Carle's "driving" in the
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get-a-way was worse than An- drews' attempt to relieve the som- bre dignity of the Marshall film. Through a little slowness in getting up to the curb, some pleasure cars broke the traffic rules in regard to impeding the mails and the action of the picture was delayed by such well-known delayers as T. C. Martin, formerly of London and soon of Philadelphia; George H. Guy, the pianist; S. A. Sewall, who conducts the answers to correspondents column in a popular magazine; and H. G. McConnaughy, the druggist. As Miss Gladys Burkhalter, the popular assistant secretary of the commercial section, N. E. L. A., is in this picture, the public demand for its exhibition has been too great to be ignored and it is shown without apology for the inferior acting of the other characters.
But returning to the letter. After examining a package of the new garage signs which seem to appeal pleasurably to Secretary Marshall, Miss Johnson, his filet of sole mate, calls his attention to the letter from the Smith Company requesting information. From then on the action is fast and furious. It starts off by a ridiculous exaggeration — excused on the ground of dramatic license. Marshall calls up the central station representative, Stephen G. Thompson, and finds him in his office. Strenuous efforts have been made to cut this part out or modify it, but Thompson
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Scene in Secretary Marshall's Office. IV. C. Andrews, Postman, Enters.
Frank W. Smith as President, and liar
Robinson as Secretary.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
says it is his scenario written by himself after a $10 correspondence course, and it stays in. He says one of the rules of scenario writing makes it impossible to call up on a busy wire or not find the phonee at his desk. He promised to show this rule to the commit- tee but reports that the book containing it has been taken on a trip by one of the men to whom he is sub- letting the correspondence course at $6.66 each. So the plan to run in a few regular movies while they were locating S. G. T. was abandoned, and with as- sistance of man Friday Miller the central station rep- resentative collects last week's expense account and starts for prospect Smith. Persons with a tendency to heart failure or who have previously suffered fatal nervous attacks should request that the crank be turned slowly for the rest of the reel. Within the short space of 500 feet of film (at a foot a second) President Smith is interviewed by a consulting traffic and transportation engineer and two gangs of battery salesmen who prove their cases by experiment and demonstration, and then he gives an order for ten electric trucks after having been shown a parade of electrics from his office window. It is a wonderful example of team work, each salesman and engineer doing his part and reminding one of the building of a Ford car or the dressing of a pig in a Chicago pack- ing house.
One with a quick eye will catch the details as follows: Arriving at the prospect's office the central station representative proceeds to unfold his story and a few panoramas and pictures of perfectly good electric fleets. At the psychological moment when
F. W. is about to beg for the telephone number of the manufacturers (knowing that he will catch him in a Thompson scenario) the C. S. R. laughs silently and exits left center leaving his photographs to do their duty. Among the photographs is a sure enough chart prepared by engineer W. P. Kennedy, and in his ex- cited state the prospect reaches for the phone and calls for help. It comes. At this point the somewhat commercial character of the action gives way to art and the beautiful. The plain interior of the Kennedy office, like an old stone crock full of fresh wild flowers, merely accentuates the graceful actions and striking personalities of the next characters. Damon and Pythias, David and Jonathan, St. Paul and Minneap- olis— none can compare with the E. V. A.'s matinee idols, Kennedy and Cushing. H. C. Cushing, Jr., col- laborator, litterateur, clubman, yachtsman and chron- icler of electric vehiclisms, who has so often drawn on his imagination, is discovered drawing on an actual board. This almost perfect mimicry of real work is considered one of the greatest triumphs of the film. Getting the telephone message, engineer Kennedy speeds him to the A. O. J. Smith Company, where it takes him but 15 feet 3^4 inches to convince the president that too many electric trucks are not enough.
And now the dam breaks and the flood descends. , In the next 30 feet Charles Blizard and his fellow quaker, Bruce Ford, take a two hour trip on the Penn- sylvania and get to the president without an appoint- ment. Before they are eradicated from the film, W.
G. Bee and H. H. Smith offer Orange aid in generous measure (30 feet of film). After exit they get an extra ten feet to their credit by the efforts of Mr. Smith to make one of Mr. Bee's cigars go a long way — some fourteen stories.
The efforts of the salesmen have practically de- cided the prospect that he will require a storage bat- tery and as usual the head of the Long Island patrol gets a hunch there's a market for a truck. Enter P. D. Wagoner of the Queensboro Bridge. Business of interfering with routine duties. A "natural" exchange. New method of salesmanship demonstrated. Method consisting of having fifty or a hundred trucks lined up near prospect's office and when prospect is brought to window by salesman start the parade. Result ab- solutely certain as proved by next scene where con- tract is signed and delivered for ten trucks — with battery orders divided 50-50.
A year of prosperity has rolled by. No longer a prospect, President Smith has become a testimonial writer and "ready reference" and will soon enter the ranks of "old user." Arriving in his electric in the early morning he is always beaten to it by his (re- cently) late secretary, who now has an interest in the business (mental, not financial). Together they read the annual report of Master of Transportation Becker, who looks five years younger than in the first scene and whose hearty laugh can be plainly heard by a lip reader. Congratulations all round as virtue triumphs and transportation troubles trail to the past. Smiles on every face and a close scrutiny will even show the ceiling beams. And so the curtain and an after view of the Always-On-The-Job Smith fleet — grown to imposing dimensions and lovingly labeled "This did It."
Philadelphia Motor Truck Association Meets
At a meeting of the Motor Truck Association of Philadelphia held June 17, at the Adelphia Hotel, W. H. Metcalf of The Bartlett Garages, Inc., acted as chairman in the absence of the president, E. B. Jack- son of the Packard Motor Car Company. Representa- tives were present from all of the motor truck sales- rooms in Philadelphia. Each of the tire companies had a representative present. At this meeting motor truck body builders had been invited to attend and there were representatives from all of the larger body building houses in Philadelphia and vicinity.
Lieutenant William D. Mills of the Traffic Squad gave an excellent address on the traffic situation in Philadelphia, which was greatly appreciated by those present.
E. J. Cattell, the city statistician and well known Philadelphia orator, aroused great enthusiasm among the men by his facts and figures of the enormous manufacturing industries in Philadelphia. His address will long be remembered by the members.
Mr. Cattell was followed by E. S. Foljambe, edi- tor of the Commercial Car Journal, who gave a very interesting talk.
A number of new members were taken into the association, E. M. Bartlett of the Stanley Motor Car- riage Company was appointed chairman of the pub- licity committee, and Emlen S. Hare of the Commer- cial Truck Company was appointed chairman of the entertainment committee. W. Ross Walton elected chairman of the admission committee.
The members of the Motor Truck Association are enthusiastic over their progress and the active work that is being done by the association. There were sixty-nine representative men of the motor truck industry at this meeting.
Tulv, 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Utility of Passenger and Commercial Electrics
A Paper Read Before the Electric Vehicle Association
BY E. J. BARTLETT
Baker 2-Ton Open Body. Union Coal Co.
A GREAT deal has been said and written about the electric vehicle and what it is doing-. "Utility of the Electric Vehicle" sounds rather elemen- tary. It is an old topic but it is the liveliest topic of the day, to the user and central station operator as well as the electric vehicle manufacturer. It is doubt- ful if any of us fully realize the work the modern elec- tric vehicle is doing-; its wide scope and the wonderful possibilities it has of revolutionizing our passenger and merchandise road operating systems.
Several years ago, we drove, as an experiment, an electric runabout nearly 250 miles on a single battery charge ; this figure has since been exceeded. For some time a specially designed racing car, the "Baker tor- pedo," held the world's record for motor car speed, making a mile in 42 seconds or at the rate of over 85 miles per hour. You are all familiar with the run from Boston to Chicago that was made late last fall by a Boston built electric roadster.
These accomplishments are of general interest, showing what the electric has done. The electric, however, is not and probably never will be, a high speed mlachine suitable for touring purposes. It will never seriously compete with the gasoline car for such work, although in time, as cross country roads are im- proved and charging facilities become more numerous, the electric will be used to a limited extent in short tours from city to city.
The utility of the electric pleasure car does not depend upon high speed and long mileage, although it has sufficient speed and mileage for ordinary town and suburban driving. The speed of electric vehicles on the market average some 22 miles per hour for the lighter machines and 18 to 20 miles per hour for the heavier five-passenger enclosed cars. The mileage of such machines under ordinary fairly level city and suburban street conditions, is seldom less than 75 miles per battery charge. It is not unusual for people who are careful in the operation of their cars, to obtain 1,000 miles for every 10 battery charges. We frequent- ly obtain such reports from our customers.
The feeling that the electric pleasure car is essen-
tially a woman's car is passing away.- Certain features of the elec- tric pleasure car, such as its beauty, comfort and lack of mechanical complications, appeal to the woman purchaser, not only because she feels she can drive an electric easier than a gasoline car, but rather because she cannot see the value of the complicated mechan- ism necessary to the modern gasoline car which even approaches an electric in ease of operation. She ap- preciates the fact that an electric is simple in con- struction ; that it only has a few parts which could possibly get out of order ; that it is always ready to use; cannot be stalled in traffic; has a short wheel base to facilitate turning, and is light and easy to op- erate.
The same opinion is fast gaining ground among men. Troubles were more numerous in the old days and not so well charted. There was perhaps a feeling of pride in being able to drive a gasoline car and to fix it if it went wrong. The very fact that most men are now amateur automobile repair men, means that the fascination of making minor repairs and getting covered with grease and dirt no longer exists.
There are a great many business and professional men who have been experienced gasoline car drivers for years, who are now turning to the electric as the handy car in which to get about town. In the major- ity of cases where a man buys his wife an electric, he becomes accustomed to using it more and more for his own town driving. Where two cars are owned, the family gasoline touring car stands more and more of the time in the garage. Touring for pleasure has be- come a family pastime to be indulged in now and then ; it is no longer a hobby. The automobile has taken its place with the telephone, electric light and other mechanical appliances, considered essential to the comfort and happiness of the home.
In Cleveland, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Roch- ester and in fact, in a considerable number of our larger cities, there are a great number of electric pleas- ure cars in daily use. Doctors and lawyers are driv- ing them in preference to operating their own gasoline
■ic for
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V. No. 1.
cars or having a chauffeur drive for them. Mother takes the children to school ; daughter takes father to his office, and mother shopping; lunches with friends in one of the suburbs; goes to the matinee, and the whole family goes for an evening drive along the boulevard. The electric has a utilitarian value for the entire family, individually and collectively.
Figuring the life, depreciation and all elements of expense, pleasure and service' obtained, the electric pleasure car may be operated for about one-third the expense and one-tenth the bother of a high grade gaso- line car. Cheapness, convenience, and reliability for all purposes of the family and for all business and social usage, is stamping the electric as the family town car. Its utility may be in part realized by con- sidering the large amount of the family driving that comes within its speed and mileage range, and the really small amount of touring done which would de- mand a gasoline car.
The utility of the electric truck is measured by the work it can do and the expense of doing it.
The work capacity of any trucking system de- pends on the load, speed and time operated. All three factors must be considered in determining what a truck can do under given conditions.
The usual standard sizes in which electric and gasoline trucks are built are, l/2-X.on, 1-ton, 2-ton, 3^4-ton and 5-ton load capacities. The speed of the electric is usually about 13 miles per hour for a yi-ton truck to 7 miles per hour for a 5-ton truck, and the average speed of gasoline trucks of similar sizes is some 25 per cent higher. With normal service con- ditions, electric trucks may be depended upon for about 98 per cent of the working time ; gasoline trucks about 85 per cent and horse about 75 per cent.
If we take as a comparison, the number of ton miles each type of truck would travel during a period of say, 300 working days, we get the following figures :
One electric truck, 300 by 45 at 98 per cent would equal 13,230 ton miles ; one gasoline truck, 300 by 45 at 85 per cent would equal 11, 75 ton miles.
These figures are typical of many service require- ments. The electric truck in the majority of cases will haul the same load as the gasoline truck, and haul it more miles per year in average service, — for the reason that the electric although a little slower, is a great deal more continuous in its operation. This compari- son is true up to about 50 miles per day.
Continuous service is a guaranteed feature in a well built electric truck. It results, because the con- struction is simple, and has very few parts which can possibly get out of order. The storage battery today, is reliable in its performance and its cost is not ex- cessive.
Those of us who have to do with electric trucks, do not always appreciate what the simplicity of con- struction means from a standpoint of continuous serv- ice and reliability. It does us good, now and then, to compare the simple construction of the electric (with which we are all familiar) with the complicated con- struction of the gasoline car. If we place ourselves in the position of the head of a company, using a number of motor trucks, employing drivers at twelve or fifteen dollars per week, we can appreciate there is some satisfaction in knowing that the electric is a simple machine, and that is, speed is predetermined. When the head of such a company thinks of the "wild In- dians" which he has to employ as drivers, it is a com-
fort to think that in the case of his electric trucks he has no engine speed which must be delicately manipu- lated ; no clutch to throw or gears to change. Even with the most careful driving of the gasoline car, there are general periodical overhaulings to be done, carbon to be removed, valves to grind, cooling systems to freeze and many similar cases for intermittent serv- ice which cannot very largely come under the atten- tion of any one man, but must be handled by the in- dividual drivers, regardless of their responsibility. It is a fact — not theory — that at least 15 per cent of the operating time of gasoline truck installations is re- quired to keep them in operation the balance of the time.
This greater repair liability is due not only to the more complicated mechanism, but to the higher speed which such trucks attain. Speed has ruined hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of gasoline trucks by shortening their efficient life, and this loss is causing many potential buyers to hesitate. Normal service re- quirements do not demand a higher speed than given by electric trucks. For unusual conditions higher speeds may be required. If so, they can be obtained by the use of gasoline trucks at an additional cost.
The long life of an electric truck is another import- ant feature. The purchase of an electric truck installa- tion provides for a permanent trucking system for ten. twelve or fifteen years, by renewing batteries and tires. True, one can renew tires, engines, magneto, carburetor, clutch, transmission, countershaft, in gaso- line trucks, but one does not go that far very often, as it is not worth while. In from two to five years, de- pending on the type of car and service, gasoline trucks are sold or traded in. Second-hand gasoline trucks are a drug on the market while it is almost impossible to purchase a second-hand electric truck. The reason is, that the owners of electric trucks purchase new bat- teries and tires and keep them going. This charge for depreciation has a considerable bearing on the operat- ing cost and while it is not the purpose of this article to discuss in detail, operating costs, it may be said in general, that an annual depreciation charge of 10 per cent is liberal in the case of the electric truck and to this depreciation charge could be added, in the case of the y2-ton truck, $1.86 per day; for the 1-ton truck $2.27 ; 2-ton truck, $2.88 and 3>^-ton truck $3.92 ; these charges covering the items of charging current, bat- tery depreciation, tire wear and the replacement of miscellaneous small parts necessary to keep the truck in running condition.
With the yearly expenditure of the above amounts, the efficient life of the well built electric truck chassis is conservatively ten years under normal operating conditions. All other expenses such as painting, body repairs, driver, storage, washing, pol- ishing, etc., depend entirely on local conditions, and may readily be estimated by the purchaser.
I have, in the foregoing, tried to sketch briefly a few of the reasons for the utility of the electric truck. There is much more which could be said along the same general lines as to hill climbing ability of the electric, its freedom from fire risks; that inexpensive drivers may be used to operate it, and other arguments in favor of the electric with which you are all no doubt familiar. It would be possible to enumerate a lot of statistics showing the work done and the cost of doing it in numerous installations, but I believe that brier! v. the following record which was compiled by one of our
July, 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
large customers located in the middle West, will show you plainly, the reliability and the utility of the electric under severe winter operating conditions.
This record covers the winter months just passed, in which as you will recall, occurred some real winter weather accompanied by heavy snow falls. During these months this particular installation worked 4,900 truck days, of which 3,400 were electric and 1,500 gas- oline truck days.
For the 4,900 truck days there were 166 cases of trouble reported; 74 of these applying to electrics and 92 to gasoline trucks. I hope you will get these figures clearly in mind. They mean that for every 100 elec- tric truck days there were two cases of trouble report- ed, while for every 100 gasoline truck days there were six cases of trouble reported ; or three times as much trouble with the gasoline as with the electric trucks, and this result obtained through blizzards and snow storms.
It is interesting to know that 43 of the total 74 electric troubles were cases of exhausted battery, and that the earliest case of exhaustion reported for any truck was 5 :00 o'clock in the evening, or after the truck had been out in the storm and snow at least 11 hours. The other troubles were principally broken chains and loose tires.
The gasoline truck troubles were mostly broken chains, loose tires, trouble with cooling, lubrication and ignition. Several cases of serious trouble were re- ported due to the engines running without lubricant; the driver keeping his engine running continuously to prevent freezing, or to be able to start it, thus using oil faster than he anticipated. The result of course, being burned connecting rod bearings, scored pistons and cylinders.
Nearly all of these trucks had been in service some 18 months at the time this record was compiled. The battery equipment had thus seen considerable wear so that the conditions were not unusually good, but were about the same as might be expected in normal service.
I have arranged these records on a truck day basis, that the percentages might be more readily ap- plied to smaller installations. On a basis of what this installation is doing, one could operate a single electric truck under the same conditions 100 days through the dead of winter and have about one case of exhausted battery, and one broken chain, loose tire or something of the sort. If the truck was operated 100 days through summer conditions, the failure of the battery would be eliminated and there would be about one trouble de- veloped during the entire 100 days' operation.
This is a wonderful record and drives home to those in close touch with such daily performances, the all-around utility of the electric truck.
I do not believe that this installation is doing any more wonderful work than are other installations of electric trucks operating from coast to coast. We are continually making investigations of our trucks used in different parts of the country and under different service conditions and as familiar as we are, with the many good features of the electric truck, we frequently marvel at, not only the amount of work they do, but the small amount of expense and trouble involved in doing it.
One evening last winter in New York, I was talk- ing with a man connected with a company having sev- eral hundred motor trucks, both electric and gasoline, in their service. This man is in close touch with the
work his trucks are doing and the delay and cost in- volved ; his experience covering a period of several years with several makes of electric and gasoline trucks ; some of the electrics being nearly eight years old.
His conversation was substantially as follows :
"If every company having city trucking work to do, could understand the merits of the electric truck when properly applied and cared for, as I do, the gaso- line truck would be used for a comparatively small part of the city work. Neither truck will perform at its best when misapplied, and both types are essential to the most satisfactory operation of almost every large installation."
The design, construction and production of trucks has advanced to a point that our problem is, no longer to make a truck for less money that will run faster and farther at less cost (desirable as such progress is) but rather to drive home to the prospective buyer the util- ity of the modern electric truck as now built.
There are two general methods of rail transporta- tion— express and freight.
Freight is slow but cheap, and handles the bulk of heavy shipping. Express is quick and important for some shipments, and expensive. Each has its field and for the most part, these fields do not overlap.
There are a lot of goods being handled every day by the express method with gasoline trucks, which should be handled on the freight basis with electric trucks. It is taking time to familiarize companies having trucking to do, with the utility of the electric truck and as such realization is brought about, the true fields for the electric and gasoline truck are established.
It takes experience to learn the proper application of motor trucks in any particular business and unfor- tunately, most people who spend their money for such equipment feel it is their privilege to get their experi- ence first hand, as indeed it is. As a result, there w'ere sold during the year 1913, perhaps 20,000 gasoline trucks. As a result of the installation of these 20,000 trucks, there is a market in process of creation, for perhaps two-thirds of this number of electric trucks. The owners of gasoline trucks are turning in increas- ing numbers toward the electric truck and it is among companies who have had direct gasoline truck ex- perience, that we find our readiest market.
The every day usefulness of the electric pleasure car and electric truck is being appreciated more now than ever before. Its performance is not brilliant in the making of speed and mileage records. The inher- ent characteristics of the electric vehicle will not per- mit of its competing with the gasoline machine for such work. Just as truly, these same inherent char- acteristics permit of an economical operation which is being appreciated by the automobile buying public, as the novelty of the gasoline vehicle and its expense is lessened through its wide use.
Utility is the key-note which is entering into the purchase of automobiles, both pleasure cars and trucks, more and more, and utility is the one feature which will influence the purchaser of the electric vehicle more and more as time goes on.
The agency in St. Louis for the Lincoln electric charger, a charging apparatus for electrics, designed es- pecially for home garages, has been taken by the Electric Garagfe and Service Company. The charger is made by the Lincoln Electric Company.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. Y. No. 1.
Salt Lake to Ogden in a Rauch ck Lang
From Salt Lake to Ogden and return at an average speed of fifteen miles an hour without recharging bat- teries, is the record made by a Rauch & Lang electric coupe carrying three passengers. The electric coupe left The Herald-Republican office at 7.17 a. m. and stopped in front of the Examiner office in Ogden at 10.10 a. m.. the trip being made in less than three hours, inclusive of several stops along the way to take pictures of the scenery and car.
Those who made the trip in the machine were A. F. Hughes, factory representative for the Rauch & Lang concern; J. W. Spiker, Salt Lake agent for the electric auto, and W. J. Lewis, Jr.
The electric machine rode as easily as a Pullman car. say those who made the trip, and the absence of dust and noise was the most enjoyable feature of the
ride. It is asserted that this is the first instance on record where an electric machine has run from Salt Lake to Ogden without charging the storage batteries at least once en route.
While the Rauch & Lang electric is especially de- sirable for women's use, says J. W. Spiker, Salt Lake agent for the machine, it is also well adapted for business men who wish a quiet, elegant car for use in the down- town district. The electric automobile is inferior to none for use where it is desired to maneuver quickly and where quick stopping and starting are required.
Philadelphia to Washington and Return
Thomas A. Edison and Dr. Steinmetz, speaking at the recent convention of the National Electric Light Association, in Philadelphia, called attention to the rapid strides being made by the electric vehicle and predicted tremendous developments in the imme- diate future.
To the central station men gathered at the con- vention from all over the country, R. L. Heberling of the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company, and
J. D. Maxwell. Jr., of the Anderson Electric Car Com- pany, made a demonstration on Sunday and Monday of the capabilities of the modern, high-powered elec- tric vehicle for general cross-country work.
Leaving Philadelphia early Sunday morning in a stock electric roadster, with standard battery equip- ment, such as is regularly furnished in cars of this type, they made Wilmington in 1 hour, 3? minutes. While getting breakfast, the car was given a "boost." The next stop was Bel Air, where they had lunch. While eating lunch, the car was "boosted" at the local electric light station, and the trip resumed to Baltimore. Another "boost" was given at Baltimore, and the travelers arrived at Washington in the early evening, the full running time being 8 hours, 47 min- utes over a distance of 167 miles, maintaining an average speed of 19 miles per hour.
Leaving Washington on Monday morning short- ly before noon, they arrived in Baltimore in time for lunch, during which time the batteries were given a "boost," and the journey resumed to Bel Air. They "boosted" the car while supper was being disposed of, and the car was once more on its way to Phila- delphia, but the wrong road was taken, and the trav- elers found themselves 21 miles out of the way on a road deep in mire and clay, thereby greatly delaying the trip. After having once more gotten on a good road. Wilmington was reached without incident, and after a short "boost," the 32 miles between Wilming- ton and Philadelphia were covered in 1 hour, 27 min- utes.
While this run establishes a new record for an electric vehicle between these points, yet it more than demonstrates the capabilities of the modern electric car and the wonderful development which has taken place in battery construction.
103 Miles on a Charge
To demonstrate that the electric car has reached a point in its development where it is feasible to operate over fair, ordinary country roads within a twenty-five- mile radius, H. J. Myer, Jr., and H. E. Woodward drove a standard four-passenger Baker coupe of the Abbott Automobile Company. New Orleans, to Pointe-a-la- Hache and return. The distance is 4S miles and they averaged a little better than thirteen miles per hour throughout the entire trip. For good measure the same machine was driven over the city streets, an aditional nine miles, making a total of 103.4 miles on one charge of batteries.
Leaving the Abbott store at 9:40 the car was driven via Canal, Rampart, Kerlerec. Bergundy, Monte- gut, St. Claude avenue and the shell road to the Pointe without a stop. This is the first electric vehicle to make on its own power so long a trip in this section, and there was much speculation as to the outcome of the trip among automobile owners. Several enthusiasts drove down to the Pointe in their gas cars, carrying two ropes, with the idea that assistance might be needed.
It is not claimed that trips of this kind should be attempted by every owner of an electric car. but with the weather conditions which prevailed, and the car in fine condition, the trip can be made, and it does demon- strate beyond any question of a doubt that within a twenty-five-mile radius under fair road conditions any one can drive an electric car successfullv.
Illy, 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Relation of the Automobile to the Central Station
A Paper Read Before the National Electric Light Association Convention BY DR. C. P. STEINMETZ
In the Good Old Day
sports, their relation leading from the one
THIS subject on which I desire to speak is the relation of the auto- mobile to the present central station industry.
To understand this relation, I have first to survey the historical development of the automobile as it takes place before our eyes today. Like all sports, the history of the automobile development comprises three stages or peri- ods : the period of initial de- velopment; then the period of culmination, where it has been picked up and made the popu- lar dominant sport of society, and then the period of decay as sport, and readjustment in a permanent condition as a busi- ness proposition.
Now, the automobile has not yet reached that latter per- manent condition in modern life, and therefore to illustrate the three periods of popular to each other, and the causes
to the other, I may be permitted to illustrate it on an- other popular sport. But I wish to draw attention to it that every word I say about this can immediately be applied to the automobile as modern popular sport, as far therein as the development has progressed.
As an illustration I may dwell upon the popular sport of the bicycle, since this has passed through its history and has reached permanent conditions. Now, there we find the initial period of development, the time of the high wheel, the early days of the safety, those times where it required very great enthusiasm and hardi- hood to stay by it ; all that, you see, you can immediately transfer to the early days of the automobile, where it was doubtful when going out, whether the rider and the wheel would come home whole and together. Where even the legal status of the wheel was in doubt. Where the roads to go on did not yet exist. Still the develop- ment slowly but gradually progressing, the wheel became more reliable, and finally a time came when society picked it up as the popular sport.
Then followed the period of culmination in bicycling as a popular sport where everybody indulged in it, the young and the old, ladies and gentlemen, the busi- ness man and his clerk, the factory owner and his lady stenographer went to work and from work on wheels. In fact, where every Sun- day and holiday thousands of wheels went out for cross country riding for long distances, going out into nature, and enjoying the mild pleasant exercise in pushing the wheel. Where it seemed to be the desire of the rider to see a speedy Bak
how fast he could go and how great a mileage he could roll up. Where century-run riding was a popular sport. The days of the sport when the Wheelmen's Association, when the L. A. W. was a power in the land, making and unmaking laws, where bicycle roads were built all over the country, where bicycle manufacturing companies and repair shops sprang up like mushrooms all over the land.
Then the wheel became cheaper, went down in price, so as to be within the reach of everybody, and it became a universal sport. And then came the time when the head of a business met his clerks and his stenographers on the side paths and at bicycle inns on even terms ; where the so- ciety lady met the lady's maid out with her fiance on the cycle paths and at the bicycle inn, and those people who did not care to meet socially were thrown together. And then came the time when those who desired to be exclusive became dissatisfied with bicycling as a sport and withdrew from it. And first in England and afterwards in this country and else- where, bicycling ceased to be a popular sport of society. Then the middle class, which always follows the lead of the others, however much it may deny it, also ceased bicycling. Ladies are no longer seen on bicycles, the prominent men of industry and the owners of fac- tories and older people who desire to keep some of their dignity are not riding the bicycle any more across the country. The country roads for bicycling are standing idle, and bicycling has ceased to be a sport. But there are probably more bicycles now in existence than ever before. The bicycle is now a business convenience, it is now a convenient means to go to and return from work. In short, it has come to stay, but no more as before, where any conversation between any class of men or women within a few minutes all was turned into discus- sion of bicycling, the question of single tube as against double tube, chain as against the gear ; all that has ceased, and the bicycle is a bicycle just as a carriage is a carriage.
It is merely a convenience and a commodity, and as such it has found a perma- nent place in modern life ; a very useful one, but it is not a sport any more.
This has been the his- tory of every popular sport which has any social utility. This you see now taking place before your eyes with the automobile. The automobile has been and is still the popular sport of the exclusive ; but in the Roadster. last years by mass produc-
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Vol. V, No. 1.
tions cheap and reliable automobiles have come on the market, and the automobile now has become available to the more prosperous middle class. And now we see on our automobile roads not only society people, or very well-to-do people, but we also see people of moderate means, and we see them in increasing numbers. That means that now, in the last year and this year the promi- nent man and the society lady meet at the automobile rest house on the automobile road ; the man meets his foreman and his mechanics in their automobiles there, and the lady meets maid-servants and others of that class ; and that means the exclusiveness of automobiling and all pertaining thereto has ceased today. And when you look around 'you will find this year already there is an appreciable falling off in long distance touring by automobile by the very well-to-do exclusive set.
This is the beginning of the end of automobiling as a popular sport. You will see it more marked still during the next year. It will undoubtedly take well for some years, while the automobile will be frequently met on the highways between cities and on long distance tours when those people of moderate means to whom the automobile has just become available enjoy the auto- mobile as sport. But it will not stay at that, for we must realize that when the glamour of the sport begins to vanish ; as they have realized that it is hard work to drive a bicycle, that it is not a pleasure to take care of it and tone up the chain, etc., they will all realize that maintaining and taking care of an automobile and its engine is not a pleasure. As soon as it ceases to be the desirable sport of all those who desire to amount to any- thing, they will then realize it is hard work to propel a high-powered machine over country roads. When that time comes, then the automobile will find its sphere — not as an appliance of sport, but as a useful commodity, a business and pleasure vehicle.
But with the change which you now begin to see beginning, that naturally will materially affect the char- acter and the structure of the automobile.
In the bicycle, while there are probably more bicycles in use today than ever before, the average riding dis- tance is very greatly decreased. There are very few people any more who care to ride 100 miles a day or so, and the average distance where they are used continu- ously as for purposes of business is much less. It is now a useful means of propulsion ; no longer a sport.
You will see the same with automobiles, that long- distance cross-country riding will decrease as soon as the automobile ceases to be a sport, but it will become much more than now, a utility.
To illustrate and discuss the changes which of neces- sity will occur then, we must look over the. technical development of the automobile. The first attempts were made in three different directions : By the steam engine as motor propulsion ; in the gasoline-driven automobile, and in the electric automobile. The steam engine soon dropped out of competition. It is too much of an engine to get the best efficiency and economy in which it was superior to the gas engine. It required more engineer- ing than the average owner and operator of an auto- mobile is willing and capable to bring to the operation of his car; so the steam car went out of the compe- tition.
The electric battery, though, soon had to drop out as motor propulsion of the sport automobile, because in cross-country riding with the automobile, as sport in touring, the two main considerations where high speed and long distance of operation are concerned, are the
same two which dominated in the day of the bicycle. The electric car was hopelessly outclassed in both of these directions, and therefore had to withdraw from the com- petition. It did not disappear, but found a field of its own, a field of providing a convenient, safe and reliable vehicle for business and pleasure purposes for those who did not use the automobile as sport and for touring across the country, but who kept it for town use, as a business and pleasure vehicle. Indeed, those uses in my opinion will be the permanent applications of the automobile after the period of sport has passed.
But even in this field the electric car has been very seriously handicapped when compared with the gasoline car, because even there the automobile is sport for the purpose of going to work, for the purpose of the physi- cian in making his round of visits, for the purpose of the electric central station in providing its employees with means to get around quickly. There is always this idea in the mind of the owner or employee or user of an automobile, that on holidays and Sundays he would like to use the automobile for sporting purposes, for tour- ing purposes, and therefore he prefers the gasoline car with its wider radius; even though it is less convenient, it can get to and from work and do legitimate business better. But this limitation does exist, and will con- tinue to exist only so long as touring cross-country in automobiles remains a popular sport.
We have gotten out to where the situation changes, and in the sub-period the requirements of the automobile will be, not high speed, because very high speed is of no use in the interior of a city or in the suburbs where traffic conditions limit the speed to what would ten years ago have been considered excessive speed, but which we now consider moderate speed, namely fifteen to twenty miles an hour. Furthermore, there is no fur- ther advantage of high speed in service, because where the car is used to go to and from work, it is generally over a distance of say from one to three miles, and this at the speed of twenty miles per hour, the time con- sumed is from two to three minutes up to ten minutes. That time is so short that a minute or two saved would not be considered an advantage, since the time of getting ready is comparable with the time of taking the car out and putting it away at destination.
When you come to the care of the physician's car, the distance between patient and patient is rarely more than a mile, and that is two or three minutes of time. And this two or three minutes on the road between patients is negligible as compared with the time of seeing the patients. So no saving can be effected with the higher speed ; and the higher speed means a greater dis- advantage of strain in running the car. So the matter of high speed is dropping now into secondary considera- tion with the automobile in which legitimate business and social use is the main factor.
Furthermore, the mileage which can be made by the car is less, for even a busy physician in a day prob- ably averages not more than ten or twenty miles, rarely more than twenty miles, though a mileage of thirty miles on one charge would probably satisfy the require- ment of 90 per cent of all users. That means the two characteristics which gave the gasoline car the domi- nance— high speed and high mileage ceased to be of im- portance when the automobile dropped from a sporting appliance to a business commodity.
But essentially, then, you come to the ease and the simplicity of operation, and the fact that everybody can handle a car, so at the best a gasoline car, however
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES
simple it is from the view of the automobile enthusiasts, we must realize that it means control of the ignition, control of the gear change, and control of the clutch — three controls in addition to the steering. Now, that is too much for the average man who is not an engineer to submit to, except when under the stimulus of the enthusiasm of a popular sport, and that is the disadvan- tage of the steam car ; and there I believe the advantage is very decidedly with the electric, which has simply the starting and stopping, in addition to the steering gear. Then there is the question of reliability. The gasoline car requires to be taken care of. At present it is a sport. It is a recreation for the owner of the automobile that he can spend his holiday or part of it in playing with the engine and fixing and tuning it up, but if it were not a favorite sport, but merely the necessity of taking care of an engine belonging to a vehicle, then it would look very different.
As we saw in the case of the bicycle, the bicycle requires very little attention. Still the users of bicycles consider that it is a nuisance and an inconvenience to have to take care of it. So it means in a vehicle for business that we must have as much reliability as re- quires no attention. Here again the advantage is with the electric. And so with these conditions, where the automobile is ceasing to be the favorite popular sport, and settles into its permanent field as a most useful, a most satisfactory, a most generally used pleasure and business vehicle, the advantage will be most decidedly with the electric. And the gasoline car will practically disapppear from this field.
There will remain a legitimate field for the large high-power gasoline car to travel across the country, to such places where the Pullman car on the railroad track- does not go. To take care of transportation to places not reached by railroads. Then it will be the car owned by people very well-to-do who can afford it, in charge of a skilled, competent mechanic, who takes care of the car and drives it; but not the vehicle operated by the owner.
So you see, in my opinion, the future of the busi- ness and pleasure vehicle undoubtedly belongs to the electric.
Now, the characteristics which the electric car must have necessarily must differ from those of the present electric car. That is due to the limitation of its field by the dominance of the gasoline car, enforced by auto- mobiling as a dominant sport.
Moderate speed — a maximum of say twenty miles an hour, and moderate radius, possibly say thirty miles, which will be practically sufficient for the day — recharg- ing at night. This means a light battery, a correspond- ingly light structure, and a correspondingly light motor. It means a vehicle whose weight, inclusive of battery, is probably materially less than 1,000 pounds. It means a fitting up, not luxurious as the present electric, but plain and simple, of the same character as the present low- priced gasoline car, which is rapidly occupying the mar- ket. It means then a price not exceeding $500.
Now, with such an electric vehicle I believe there will be very little chance in the days of the decadent sport of automobiling for the gasoline car to compete. And I have no doubt that in ten years, more or less — rather less than more — we will see the field of the pleas- ure and business vehicle covered by such an electric car in large numbers. And I believe I underestimate when I say that 1,000,000 or more will be used.
But now coming to our side here, the electric central
station, what would that mean to the station? — 1,000,000 electric vehicles to be taken care of and supplied with power. Estimating 10 kilowatt-hours per charge ; esti- mating that they are recharged every night, but in the average only one-half a charge, because I do not believe the average use is more than one-half the maximum radius. Then with 1,000,000 such electric cars it would mean about 1,500,000,000 kilowatt-hours a year, or, at the 5-cent rate, $75,000,000 of business; and that is a business of an excellent load factor, a steady load from six to eight hours.
More than that, it is a load where the time of power consumption can, with very little difficulty, be chosen by the station. That is, all that power demand can be placed into the off-peak period, into the night period, and it would mean an additional load on the central stations of the country of 1,500,000,000 kilowatt-hours without any practical additional investment, except charging sets. So that you see that, in my opinion, is a most profitable business which the future has in store for the central station.
Now, then, that estimate is based only on the pleas- ure and business vehicles to go to business with, to open up those suburban territories, not on the lines of the trolley cars and therefore preoccupied by the working population, but outside of the territory reached by the trolley, and which are being occupied today increasingly by the better paid middle class who can afford an auto- mobile to go to the city and to work.
Outside of this, and in addition thereto, is the power demand of the electrical truck, the delivery wagon, from the heavy truck to the light electric tricycle, which is an enormous field which can be covered where already today the electric car successfully competes with the gasoline car because the limited radius and the moderate speed fit it to the nature of the delivery business or for the heavy trucking. Now that will naturally become en- tirely the field of the electric car, due to lesser mainte- nance, charge and simpler control. And in addition to those 1,500,000,000 kilowatt-hours it is probably an- other equal amount.
Now, how can this business be taken up by the central stations? One way would be to let the garage take care of the automobile charging. That I believe would be extremely undesirable, first, because it would delay development due to the inherent antagonism of the garage against the electric vehicle. Inherent, because a large part of the income of the garage is naturally and usually from repairs and supplies ; and both are prac- tically eliminated by the electric car. Furthermore, as central station men, we have to realize that the location of this power in the off-peak period is not feasible, or is much more difficult if the charging is done by a private garage, and not under the control of the central station, although with the increasing demand for electric power for charging we must realize that here if the private garages are left to take care of it the central station will meet again the competition of the isolated plant under conditions much more formidable than they met in the business building, because where the demand for power for automobile charging will be sufficiently large for the garage to install its own isolated plant, the main and most formidable objection to the isolated plant, namely that it requires skilled attention, and that the average janitor cannot properly operate it, and therefore it is uneconomical and unsatisfactory, now this objec- tion will not exist, because the men met in the garages are those trained in the care of gasoline engines, and they
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are the best class of attendants to take care of isolated plants. So to avoid again the competition of the isolated plant under this more severe condition than heretofore met, the central station must in the beginning take hold of this new business, and control it from the beginning, by making provision for taking care of this work for charging electric automobiles.
Now, there are various ways proposed. One is the fixed batteries, the central station exchanging the ex- hausted battery to the electric car against the newly charged battery. This is being done in the restricted territory, with a restricted number of automobiles, espe- cially automobile trucks.
Again, I do not think that is feasible where you have to meet all kinds of batteries, and in all stages of perfection or dilapidation. The most promising method then appears to me to be the taking care of electrical maintenance of the automobile by the central station at a fixed monthly charge, say from $5 to $20 a month, whereby the automobile owner runs his car into the garage of the central station in the evening, and over night the charge is being made, or the charge completed, if it is still partly charged, and next morning the machine goes out freshly charged.
That appears to me in many respects the most prom- ising plan. First, the average owner as a rule over- estimates the power consumption. We realize when we have a 5-horsepower motor, running for fifty hours, that the power consumed is not 250 horsepower-hours, it is very much less, and we do not realize that a motor on an average does not carry its rated load except in rare instances, so that where the central station takes care of the charging of the automobile at a fixed rate, the experience will be that it will not be required to com- pletely charge over night, but probably the average may be less than half charged.
Now, you see, assuming they charge every night during the month, this would mean, at the 5-cent rate, $7.50 a month for the charging. On the basis of $2.50, as an average, as interest on the storage shed, I believe it would be a very economical proposition to the central station to undertake the storage and charge the private electric automobile owner at the rate of something like $10 a month for both the storage space and the charging.
You realize what that means. A $10-a-month charge for the entire care of the automobile would make the electric automobile a reasonably cheap car, available to an enormous number of people, who can afford to buy an automobile but cannot afford to have a garage to keep it in, nor would they care to take care of it them- selves, so that in itself would greatly extend the use of the electric automobile, but it would not help the gasoline car, as the latter is handicapped by requiring engineering supervisions, attendance, which is not neces- sary with the electric vehicle.
As regards the central station, you realize that while the average income from charging at such a rate of $10, assuming half charge every evening, would amount to 5 cents a kilowatt-hour probably in the aver- age, the charge required per night is even somewhat less, and the rate for power received from the customer in the average, probably will exceed 5 cents per kilowatt- hour than be below that amount, and still the charge to the customer would be lower than the amount for which a physician could keep a horse, or any man keep a gasoline car, or take care of it in any way, so that it would be a very profitable arrangement for both interests concerned.
Now, the average central station, for off-peak
power, would require no additional investment beyond the charging set, which is very moderate, and the aver- age cost of such power certainly should be, if anything, less than one cent per kilowatt-hour. At the average selling price, figuring at 5 cents or more, you see in this plan $75,000,000 worth of additional business; or rather, $60,000,000 would be available as additional central sta- tion profit, so that I believe it is well worth while for the central station to give that matter careful considera- tion. Put your house in order and keep in view the getting control of this business while it is still in the very beginning.
Pittsburgh Section Activity
To the seven local sections, New England, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati, San Francisco and Los Angeles, already existing, the Pittsburgh section of Electric Vehicle Association was added a few weeks ago. The formation of the latest section of the E. V. A. was the result of splendid co-operation of local elec- trical interests, in which the Pittsburgh Electrical League took the initiative.
The Pittsburgh section has perfected its organiza- tion and has elected the following officers :
W. A. Donkin, chairman, Duquesne Light Company, 435 Sixth avenue, Pittsburgh ; T. H. Schoepf , vice chair- man, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, Box 911, Pittsburgh, Pa.; J. A. Jaques, secretary. West- ern Electric Company, Box 42, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Charles A. Ward of the Ward Motor Car Company of New York, gave an unusually interesting paper, "The Electric Commercial Vehicle versus the Horse," which contains very valuable comparative operating cost data, showing that the electric vehicle, irrespective of mileage is cheaper to use than the horse. (This paper appears in full on other pages of this issue.)
In the discussion following the paper, G. L. McCul- lough of McCreery & Company brought out the point that carefully arrived at figures showed that for equal work the electric vehicle costs about one-half that of the gasoline car. These results were deduced from a mass of data obtained from electric and gasoline car per- formances in actual service in one of the hilliest cities of the country and are therefore particularly gratifying to electric vehicle interests.
G. M. C. Completes Additions.
The General Motors Truck Company of Pontiac, Mich., has recently completed some valuable additions to its equipment. Although the factory is accessible to the city water mains and is equipped with a sprinkler svstem, the company has installed a 100,000-gallon reser- voir as an added protection against fire.
A number of new cement floors have been put in the factory and several thousand dollars have been ex- pended in rearranging storerooms and other equipment to facilitate the handling of business, which the com- pany states is growing rapidly. In addition to improve- ments in the factory itself the company has. at its own expense, paved two blocks of street leading from the main thoroughfare to the factory.
The factory force has been largely increased during the past sixty days and the company officials say that everything indicates that 1914 will be the best year in the company's history.
July. 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
ll
Chicago's Exclusively Electric Truck Garage
A Departure in Garage Service for Improving Charging and Repairing of Electrics
THE steadily increasing adoption of electric commercial vehicles in Chicago has been responsible for the opening of an exclusively commercial electric garage and repair shop equipped with facilities which offer to Chicago truck users an improved service not only in regular garage storage, but more especially in expert charg- ing and immediate repair service of the highest quality.
The new enterprise is the only electric truck garage in Chicago official- ly recognized by the Elec- tric Vehicle Association of America and will be some- what of an innovation to electric truck users espe- cially in view of the fact that since the adoption of electric trucks, it was found necessary formerly to house these vehicles either in garages catering to gas trucks, or else in electric garages equipped to take care of electric passenger cars only. In the first case gas car garages employ assistants who are inexperienced in the proper care of the electric type, and in the latter case the facilities are insufficient to charge and repair electric trucks properly. In the electric passenger garage practi- cally every spare moment is con- sumed in caring for the many details peculiar to the passen- ger type. Consequently the truck is merely a side issue demanding more time and space ; purely an accommodation.
BY FRED B. SCHAFER
Electric Scrz'ice Garage, Chicago. Located in the Center of the H Traffic District.
In this new exclusively elec-
Charging Outlets and Parallel Switches.
ing or repairing it, and placing it
again in satisfactory operation.
Located at Halsted and Fulton streets, in the heart
of a heavy traffic district, the garage is properly situated
to take care of the many electric trucks plying between
the downtown district and the north and west sides of
the city, many of the trucks delivering and re- ceiving at the nearby rail- road freight depots.
Easily accessible from the street, and also the shipping yards of the railroad terminals, the building is so divided that the garage proper extends the extreme length of the building, the machine and repair shops being located on a balcony above, to which trucks, bodies or chassis can be easily re- moved by means of an electric hoist. This modern facility means much in making repairs. In the average garage, removing a body or heavy part is a phase of re- pair work which is often avoided, thereby leaving the damaged part inaccessible. In such instances the vehicle is kept out of service for an indefinite period because of this inability to handle ton weight by ordinary methods.
The balcony platform is equipped with a specially built switchboard, the rheostats and wiring being of extra heavy qual- ity in order to carry a large am- perage. As shown in the illus- tration, the board has six rheo- stats and six meters. Each
trie commercial vehicle garage, where only those are employed who are familiar with electric trucks, every attention will be devoted to receiving the vehicle, charg-
meter is so connected as to indi- cate the kilowatts used for charging, the charging ex- penditure being based absolutely on a fiat rate of five cents per kilowatt hour consumed.
Switchboard Showing Rheostats, Meters and Record Cabinet
Repair Shop.
12
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. Y. No. 1.
In order to assist truck users in avoiding delay while charging. it is possible to connect the charg- ing outlets in pairs ; two outlets in each outlet box, each box provided with a double pole knife switch so that each pair of charging outlets may be connected in parallel to give boosting charges of 160 am- peres. This fast and heavy boost- ing is exceedingly valuable. Truck- drivers can drop in at any time, especially during the noon hour, and place their vehicles on a quick, heavy charge sufficient enough to last them for the rest of the day. The charging plugs are located and extend along the edge of the balcony and are easily accessible to the trucks below.
As soon as the vehicle has received a sufficient charge, a reading is taken from the meter. This read- ing, the former reading, and the kilowatts consumed are recorded together with the mileage, type of truck, tire and battery equipment, on a blank card bearing the owner's name and address. Each card is tacked to a drawer and acts as a separate file when placed in the cabinet, as shown to the left of the switchboard in the illustration. At the end of the month a bill is rendered, the data on the card report showing the exact work done, and the cost of the month's operation. By the use of this unique method, the truck user has a permanent rec- ord from which he can estimate the saving or loss arising from his vehicles.
The remainder of the balcony is reserved for repair work and assembling. The vehicle repair shop is located just adjacent to a modern splendidly equipped machine shop which has facilities to duplicate and replace any part on the shortest possible notice. The interests of the machine shop are in conjunction with those of the garage. Consequently machine work on repairs will be given immediate attention. The average garage when confronted with repairs demanding special equipment to construct, finds it necessary to send the broken parts to similar machine shops or even back to the vehicle fac- tory. The vehicle remains out of service with a loss to its owner. In this new establishment repairs of any na- ture can be made accurately and of the best quality in material. The middleman's profits are eliminated and the total expense is reduced to a minimum ; and loss of time entirely avoided.
All of the machinery in the garage is electrically propelled. The general lighting scheme is excellent and from all aspects the new undertaking promises a real benefit to Chicago electric truck users. During the last few years the truck users and central stations have realized the necessity of such an undertaking. Present garage methods and prices have been detrimental to the progress of the business. Inexperienced charging and repairing has caused the vehicles to depreciate too rap- idly to be a worthy investment.
To overcome this situation, manufacturers have es- tablished their own service stations where the vehicles could be repaired or inspected at reasonable charges.
Yet it is hardly reasonable to expect the average electric garage to carry an equipment aggregating thou- sands of dollars merely to have such facilities on hand should the occasion arise for "fixing up" an electric truck. The present number of electric trucks in use
OFFICIAL
tLECTR/C
VEHICLE
garage
Electric Vehicle \ssno/America
S»j7H Adopted Officially by the Electric Vehicle Association of America.
would not warrant such invest- ment. Their principal revenue arises from storage of passenger electrics and the commercial ve- hicle has always been the "extra," demanding a greater space and usually causing considerable con- gestion. Hence this new garage with its ideal location and equip- ment should be a busy center for the crippled electric or for a quick heavy "boost" by those who under- stand charging and its relation to the battery. It represents a new development and asset in the in- dustry ; an added feature in over- coming delay and keeping the vehicle in service more days in the year. And continuous service is the neces- sary feature in securing both reliability and economy.
Six Models of Woods Electrics
Riding down Main street in an enclosed electric automobile with a smoothness that always brings pleasure to the lover of travel, little thought is given to the many things that go to make up the work in the manufacture of the machine for the market. A mere observer never takes into consideration the work that is behind the building of a modern electric runabout and their attention is not drawn to it until they chance to pick up a story of it.
The Woods Motor Vehicle Company, manufacturers of Wood electrics, which are handled in Houston by Young & Dwire, has issued from their offices a bulletin or catalogue which gives some idea of how an electric is built. Beginning with the car, crude as it was. which was built in 1896. the booklet carries the reader down to the present day when an electric is considered almost a necessity for the lady shopper or the busv woman who has many calls to make and but short time in which to make them.
Six models of the Woods electrics are now on the market. These cover the range from a five-passenger car to the roadster for the busy business man. Different finishes and different equipment makes for this car the variety which is now much sought by Americans.
In 1896 when the first cars were brought before the public, only one model was to be taken. It was a case of take it or be without an automobile. Today there are styles upon styles from which to choose.
The mention of the word "electrics" brings the first thought to the mind that these cars are for the exclusive use of the ladies. An examination, a little research and observation, however, brings a person face to face with the reality that they are for the business or professional man as well as the ladies. Compact, smooth running, easy to manage and other countless details gain favor for the electric car over the gasoline machine.
A Woods electric bulletin gives many facts of in- terest about this industry and brings out many facts and is well worth spending time to study.
The Fashion Auto Station of Chicago has dispensed with gas cars and will again be known as an exclusive electric garage. The business and property of Electric Auto Sales and Rental Company, formerly at Forty- Sixth and Cottage Grove avenue, has been acquired by the Fashion, and 75 used electric cars will be disposed of.
Tl-ly. 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
13
The Electric Commercial Vehicle vs. the Horse
Statistics Proving Economy of the Single Electric Cher the Single Horse Regardless of Mileage
BY CHARLES A. WARD
THERE is doubtless none of you who has not at one time or an- other been visited by that pest — or god-send, as the case may be — the electric vehicle salesman, of whom you have asked after much talk — that final and, to you, all important question — "Why an electric?"
You have been told in reply that electrics are durable, reliable and economical. True! electrics are durable ; no one will dispute the fact for scores of electrics still run in regular service that were in- stalled more than ten years ago, while many, many more could be run were it not for the fact that the more efficient machines of later years make it more profitable to lay aside the earlier type because of the greatly increased earning capacity of the present vehicle. Certainly then you believe them durable and let me add this one word for those whose belief still borders on that of skepticism, that an electric will last as long as the owner will pro- vide it with necessary running re- pairs.
But you say, and rightly so, are electrics reliable?
Before going further, what is reliability ? Reliability, we are told is that element in any piece of ap- paratus that makes it possible to depend upon that ap- paratus for the performing of its various functions a high percentage of the time at which such demands are actually made of it.
Is the electric reliable? Almost without exception owners of electrics will tell you that they are, and the writer has personal knowledge of a reliability factor as high as 98^2 per cent in a very large installation and during the winter period of the year. There are many cases of electrics in commercial service that have oper- ated for months at a time with nothing more than a charge, an occasional oiling and few adjustments. The best answer to such a question is always found with those firms whose very prosperity and life depend upon the regular and prompt delivery of their merchandise, and the express companies, baking companies and de- partment stores are only some of the more important ex- amples.
You have been assured then of the durability and the reliability of the electric. But how about their economy? For you say, and justly so, that even though electrics are both durable and reliable, I cannot afford to buy, much less use them, unless they will enable me to reduce my delivery expense. And let me emphasize for you this last factor by making this broad and com- prehensive statement; namely, that you not only cannot afford to use electrics unless they will reduce your de-
The Wornout "Plug."
Walt Mason.
As I go drilling through the town I see old horses, broken down, poor, friendless and abandoned plugs, still straining feebly in their tugs, to haul big loads beyond their strength, and hoping death will come at length. Ah, what's more pitiful than these, the worn out nags with broken knees — and broken hearts as well, no doubt — their ribs, all fleshless, sticking out, with shoulders sore and tortured eyes, where gather fifty million flies? When they were young and fat and strong they labored blithely all day long, or on the pike like Maud S. raced — they did their best, wherever placed. Then there were hands to stroke the necks of these poor man-forgotten wrecks, and they were groomed and mani- cured, and lives of comfort seemed as- sured. But when the vim of youth was o'er, and they could caracole no more, like outcasts they were chased to die at least six deaths a day. No kindly rifle ends life's storm; no friendly dose of chloroform. They'll bring a few dishonored yen, so send them to the dinky men! Whene'er I see a poor old steed, sad eyed, de- spairing, broken kneed, I think: "The man who wore him down should haul his burden through the town!"
livery expense, but you have no right or business to use them unless that use means a real economy to you and something that can be meas- ured in dollars and cents.
Let us see then whether or not this last acid test can be given with safety to the electric vehicle and whether it will withstand this test under every condition of use, for if it does, you will be obliged to reach this conclusion ; namely, that the best time to sell your horses is now while the market is good, and the best time to buy electrics is now so that you may the sooner reap the saving in delivery expense that is in store for you.
Before passing to the next di- vision of the paper, let me say that the value of the electric vehicle from an advertising standpoint will not be considered as an asset al- though there is undoubtedly a very good advantage in their use in this respect in such lines of business as those of caterers, bakers, butchers, and in fact any business involving the handling or haulage of food- stuffs.
In the cost comparisons which I hope to show later, let me say that in the cases of both the elec- tric vehicle and the horse wagon, every item of expense has been con- sidered except operator's wages. This has been omitted for the reason that in each case here analyzed this item has been considered as a selling and not a delivery ex- pense.
First then, what does it cost to operate electric ve- hicles? Let me answer this question by showing you in table Number 1 the complete costs of two large fleets of electrics ; the average of which has been taken over a period of more than two years and where, as I said be- fore, every item of expense has been considered except operator's wages.
To get quickly to the root of the matter, you will note under plant "A" that the cost per route per year is $913.60 while in plant "B" the cost is $952.21. An average of these two figures shows $932.95 as the cost per route per year covering the electrics in question.
Let me now show you table Number 2 whereon is shown the operating costs for horse vehicle routes in a similar line of business and in cities extending from New England to the Middle West.
If you will note again the cost per route per year you will find these figures varying all the way from $1,- 060.80 to $1,337.65 per route per year for the horse ve- hicle equipment. If again we average the five sets of figures in question here we will obtain $1,210.45 as the cost per route per year covering horse vehicle operation, or an average saving of $277.30 in favor of electrics.
14
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
If for the moment we return to plant "A," table Number 1, where they operate 101 electric routes this means an actual annual saving of 101 times $277.30, or $28,007.30 in delivery expense to say nothing of a cleaner delivery method.
COMPARATIVE COST STATEMENT BETWEEN ELECTRIC MOTOR WAGONS AT PLANTS "A" AND "B."
Plant "A." Plant "P.."
Labor $ 21,776.51 $ 20,710.32
Batteries and supplies 8,734.81 8.369.23
Repairs 14,428.08 19,884.62
Insurance 7,650.00 8,236.16
Taxes 272.53 322.53
6% on investment 14,008.20 14,587.77
Depreciation (buildings 1%), automobiles 18,664.29 18,680.53
Power (estimated), 154c per k. w. h 6,739.20 7,300.80
$ 92,273.62 $ 98,077.96 130 103 1,262 i 952.21 17,209.54 37,287.17 188,632.75
$233,470.08 $243,129.46
Average investment per route per year 2,310.59 2,360.48
The period covered by the above report was over two years.
There must be something wrong you say; such fig- ures are amazing, they cannot be right. Let us see : —
In the first place let me state that the average mile- age for the electrics given in table Number 1 is practically 25 miles per day for each route, while the average length of the horse route in table Number 2 is just about the same.
Average number autos 121
Average number routes 101
Average number autos per route 1,198
Average cost per route per year $ 913.60
Investment — Land 16,736.44
Investment— Buildings 34,017.17
Investment — Automobile 182,716.47
COMPARATIVE COST STATEMENT
PLANTS "C," "D," "E,"
Plant "C" Plant "D"
Horse expense $ 2,668.38
Wagon expense 2,172.07
Harness expense .... 542.54
Stable labor 4,168.63
Feed 8,462.45
Stable sundries 1,049.45
Depreciation (10% on
wagons and harness,
1% on land and
buildings) 919.98
Taxes 717.96
Insurance 102.26
6% interest on inv't. 2,772.71
BETWEEN HORSES AT ■F" AND "G."
Planf'E" Planf'F" Plant "G"
|
$3,608.57 3,861.56 720.91 8,443.94 13,127.41 1,873.81 |
$4,106.60 5,473.40 1.S04.70 5,916.26 15,606.33 1,889.78 |
$3,984.91 501.26 470.20 5,892.42 13,577.72 1,176.13 |
$6,912.88 7,287.27 952.98 9,783.05 17,137.78 2,444. 29 |
|
1,462.38 868.99 117.08 3,926.24 |
1,396.90 1,512.98 120.27 3,661.71 |
1,557.97 1,613.26 237.07 5.76S.02 |
1,405.22 711.00 470.00 1,692.15 |
Total expenses ..$23,576.77 $38,010.89 $41,188.93 $34,778.96 $48,796.62
Av. No. wagons 28 32 44 25i 75
Av. No. horses 47 80 64 63 96
Av. No. horse wagon
routes 20 32 32 26 46
Av. No. horses per
route 2.35 2.5 2. 2.423 2.087
Av. cost per route per
year $ 1,178.83 $ 1,187.84 $ 1,287.15 $ 1,337.65 $ 1,060.80
Av. invest, per route yA
per year 2,310.60 2,044.92 1,907.14 3,697.45 613.10
Investment — Horses,
wagons and harness 25,560.89 24,014.31 17,628.86 21,157.99 27,350.68 Land and buildings
(estimated) 20,651.01 41,423.07 43,409.58 74,975.66 851.82
Total inyestm't ..$46,211.90 $65,437.38 $61,038.44 $96,133.65 $28,202.50 The period covered by the above report was over two years.
Secondly, you will note that the average number of horses per route varies from 2 in plant "E" to 2.5 in plant "D."
A lot of useless spares you will say, eating their heads off and not doing any work. No they are not, for it takes two horses to every single horse wagon, the average daily mileage of which is 25 miles; and more than this where the routes are hilly or the roads bad. Expert horsemen will tell you, and tests I have made have shown, that a single horse in a single horse wagon cannot average more than 17 miles per day without un- due depreciation, either physically or commercially. Two horses in a single horse wagon can average daily not more than 25 miles under similar conditions.
But you say, "My routes are short. I only average a little more than one horse to a single horse wagon and my horses are in the pink of condition. Electrics would be of no value to me. I could not make them pay."
Just here let me make this very important state- ment and one which I will attempt later to prove ; namely, that "a single electric against a single horse wagon can do the same work for less money regardless of the mileage."
"I have shown you beyond contradiction, I believe, that the electric had the horse beaten on routes averag- ing 25 miles or more. Did you ever stop to think what horse expense stopped when the horse did no work but merely stood in the stable? He eats almost as much when idle as when working. He requires nearly as much care. Interest, depreciation, taxes, insurance, shoe and veterinary bills go on just the same. In fact it costs you very nearly as much whether he works or not. Think now what happens when an electric stands idle. Repairs to mechanism disappear at once. No care is needed, no current is necessary for charging and only slight depreciation appears in tires and battery to such an extent that it is actually cheaper to keep a single electric standing than it is a single horse and wagon. This is nicely brought out in the curve shown on sheet No. 3, where the comparison in cost in dol- lars per year is shown between the electric and the horse for various numbers of average miles per day from 0 to 34. You will note that when both electric and horse are idle there is shown a saving per unit of nearly $140.00 per year. This saving gradually decreases when both are used up to a point at which the horse is doing his limit of 17 miles per day when suddenly the curve shoots up to nearly $350.00 per year as a saving as soon as the 17-mile limit is exceeded. From this point on to 34 miles per day where both horses are working their full limit there is then shown a saving of approximately $200.00 per route per year in favor of the electric.
If then, we draw a line between the two extreme points of the horse vehicle curve and a point P bisect- ing line 5, 5' we will have a fairly accurate representa- tion of the horse vehicle cost curve for various average daily mileages.
Also note that there were we to continue both horse vehicle curve and electric vehicle curve to the left and past the zero point they would apparently meet at negative values for both "cost in dollars per route per year" and "average daily mileage," or in other words, the cost for horse delivery and electric vehicle delivery is the same, only under imaginary or impossible conditions.
HORSE VEHICLE AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE COMPARISON. 0 to 34 Miles.
Column No. ... 123456 78910 Extra
Cap., 1,000 lbs. HEHEHE HEHE Horse
Radius 0 0 Syi 8yi 17 17 2554 25yi 34 34
Speed 6 10 — — — — — — — _
Price $650 1,650
Rep. & paint $32 $41 $65 $82 $97 $123 $130 $165
Shoes and vet. . $ 25 35 ... . 45 80 90 25
Tires (4 yrs.) 22 38 54 70 86
Batt'y (6 yrs.) 50 75 100 125 149
Current 12 35 70 105 140 . . . .
Feed & bed'g. . ISO 200 220 420 440 180
Garage 80 90 100 110 120
Stable 180 180 180 270 270 90
Driver 750 750 750 750 750 750 750 750 750 750
Depreciation .. 65 127 65 127 65 127 90 127 90 127 25
Interest 20 50 20 50 20 50 27 50 27 50 8
Insurance (fire and liability)
Total ....1,220 1,091 1,282 1,206 1,345 1,333 1,734 1,460 1,777 1,587. .328
Extra horse 328
Total, 2 horses, 1 wagon, $1,673
"H"— Horse. "E"— Electric.
But, you say, and your question is a fair one, where are the figures from which the above were compiled,
Il'lv. 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
15
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and in answer to this let me show you sheet Number 4 having 10 columns of figures, each column numbered and totaled and corresponding with a similar number on sheet Number 3.
Column Number 1 contains all the horse vehicle costs (and in this partic- ular comparison driv- ers' wages have been included) for a sin- gle horse and wagon when standing idle but ready to do serv- ice. Column Num- ber 2 contains simil- arly all the fixed op- erating and main- tenance charges for the electric vehicle when it is also stand- ing idle. The totals of each column are then used to get the first points respect- ively for the horse vehicle and electric vehicle cost curves and shown on the curve sheet previously referred to. As above stated, the mileage radius in the first case is zero, or in other words both horse and electric are standing idle. Before leaving column Number 2 let me call your attention to this fact ; namely, that I have charged against the electric $22.00 for tires, assuming that these will actually be worthless in four years even though they are not operated a single mile. Similarly, I have charged against the battery item a figure of $50.00 annually for nothing more than gradual depreciation due almost en- tirely to age.
Points 3 and 4 were then taken at 8^> miles on ac- count of their being half way between the zero limit and the maximum limit of 17 miles for the single horse wagon. Obviously the remaining points were taken at 17 miles, 25^ miles and 34 miles per day.
For convenience all the way through, the so-called garage charge and the stable charge have been appor- tioned largely on the basis of a square foot charge, al- though I have actually obtained figures from livery stables in New York based on storing and washing an electric vehicle in service as low as $7.00 per month exclusive of adjustments and current, while the maximum figure quoted was only $10.00 per month for the same service.
Let me also state that these figures were obtained from livery stables where $30.00 per month was charged for storing a single horse wagon and storing and feed- ing the horse. Please note also the cost figures under the heading of "extra horse" in the last column and the total of which cost figures, $328.00 was used when the horse vehicle curve on sheet Number 3 took the sud- den jump after the 17-mile limit was reached.
It is only fair to say that these costs represent both horse and electric when operated under favorable con- ditions and barring accidents and with fire and liability insurance omitted on account of the great variation in different localities. However, these figures, and the curve on sheet Number 3 representing their relation to each other, prove conclusively along with the actual cost figures given on sheet Number 1 and 2 that a single elec- tric against a single horse wagon can do the same work for less money regardless of the mileage.
Advance of Electric Motor Trucks
On Tuesday, June 23, the Electric Motor Car Club of Boston held its annual field day at the East Braintree Kennel Club. While the afternoon was given up to sports and little thought was given to business, the object of the club and the success of its work was brought home to the club members and its guests by its president, Day Baker, when in the course of his address of welcome he said, "Some idea of the work of the club and of the growth of the use of the Electric Motor Vehicle for business purposes, may be gained by just glancing at two of what might be termed electric vehicle centers.
"One of these is located in the heavy trucking district of Boston, within practically a half-mile ra- dius of the South Terminal Railway Station. Here we find one installation of one 1,000-lb., two one-ton, thirty-five two-ton and four three and one-half ton electric trucks, all used for express service; two five- ton trucks used by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad for conveying broken lots of freight around the freight yards ; three five-ton electrically operated dumping trucks for carting ice on the fish piers ; two great five-ton machines for delivering gaso- line; a 1,000 lb. delivery wagon, a three and one-half and a five-ton truck for the haulage of confectionery; a four-ton pipe hauling truck; five five-ton coal trucks; two trucks for hauling sugar, one a five-ton and one a six-ton ; two two-ton trucks used in the wholesale milk business; a one-ton in the coffee business; a half- ton for the delivery of engravings and electrotypes ; one delivering provisions ; a two-ton truck for the delivery of electrical machinery and two baggage and mail trucks used in the South Terminal. In this same district there also comes almost daily four trucks of the three and one-half ton size loaded with chocolate; and two trucks loaded with stocking sup- porters. This makes a total of seventy-four electric motor trucks in use in the South Terminal district.
"The other particularly noticeable electric motor vehicle point is the Roxbury district. Here gather the great Edison electric fleet consisting of three five- ton trucks, one three and one-half tonner, eight two tons, eight one tons, twenty-two half ton capacity, sixteen light delivery wagons, and twenty-four patrol and department vehicles, a total of eighty-two elec- trics in all.
"But the Edison Company does not monopolize the Roxbury district in the electric motor truck field, for in addition to its fleet will be found seventeen five-ton trucks used by the brewers, two by a stocking supporter manufacturing company, a three and one- half ton truck for transporting piping tools, a hospital ambulance, and a little electric truck for quickly de- livering hot food from the kitchen of the hospital to the patients. This gives a total of one hundred and four in the Roxbury district, or a total of one hundred and seventy-eight in two electric motor vehicle cen- ters of Boston. A record of which this club and its members may well be proud, and one which every thinking business man who has delivery and trans- portation work to be done may well ponder, for these electric trucks have been installed, not on account of any fad or fancy, but because the electric does the work required better and more economically than other forms of transportation."
16
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. Y. No. 1.
Washington Holds Sociability Run Under the auspices of the Washington section of the Electric Vehicle Association of America the first electric automobile sociability run was held May 27 , with fifty-four electric cars entered. The run started in front of the main entrance to the Smithsonian In- stitute and the fourteen-mile course was laid out through the Speedway and Rock Creek Park, the finish being made at the Joaquin Miller Cabin, where a basket luncheon was served. The run was a sealed time af- fair, each contestant endeavoring to cover the fourteen miles, observing all traffic and speed regulations, within a secret time selected by a prominent government of- ficial.
The course was covered in one hour, 15 minutes, and 30 seconds, and the prizes were donated for the event as follows :
Washington section of the E. V. A., silver picture frams ; Emerson & Orme, silver cup; J. J. Bartram,
Enroutc in the Sociability Ru
electric teapot ; Dupont Garage, automobile clock ; United States Tire Company, inner tube ; Potomac Electric Power Company, electric chafing dish.
Standardization of Tires
Endorsing the action of the S. A. E., which urges the limiting of solid tire sizes for motor trucks and motor fire apparatus to diameters of thirty-six and forty inches, E. H. Sawyer, manager of the fire truck tire department, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, ex- plains how such an elimination plan should benefit all concerned. Viewing the matter from an economic stand- point, Mr. Sawyer states that to the manufacturer of motor vehicles this simplification insures a lower cost and more prompt filling of orders, for where the demand is confined to a few sizes the production is more uni- form and orders are filled more promptly and satis- factorily.
The user is assured of a constant tire supply from the local branches or agents of tire companies. At present there is often difficulty in promptly obtaining tires for a car equipped with what may not be a pop- ular size in its locality. With two diameters as standard sizes this trouble will be ended.
To rubber companies it means simpler manufactur- ing processes. Unit costs on a few tire sizes made in large quantities will naturally be lower than unit costs among a large variety of sizes. An elimination of many sizes will finally permit the tire people to sell
their product for less to manufacturer, dealer and user of motor vehicles.
Mr. Sawyer also shows that the necessary engi- neering changes for car manufacturers will be small. By figuring on the maximum charges it is found that the mechanical operation of the car is effected only a small per cent.
Electrics Scarce in New Orleans
"I was greatly surprised," said Mr. de Mange, of the Rauch & Lang Carriage Company of Cleveland, O., now connected with the Fairchild Auto Company, "at the very few electric carriages now in use in New Orleans, as it is undoubtedly the logical town for these cars, the absence of grades giving excess mileage, and the extent of the city seeming to call for a quiet, comfortable, clean car of this type.
"I attribute this scarcity of electric cars greatly to the fault of the electric carriage manufacturers, as on account of New Orleans' rather isolated location and distance from manufacturing centers they have either totally neglected it in their selling campaigns or have only tried to develop it in a haphazard man- ner. The electric car has not had a fair representation in New Orleans, as it is my belief that the local dealers who have handled it have concentrated the bulk of their efforts on the sale of gas cars ; the factory repre- sentatives who have come from the different manu- facturers have been kept here but a short time, no educative advertising campaign has been entered into, and the service for charging has been in many cases most unsatisfactorily attended to. The battery serv- ice is the vital feature of an electric car ; if proper at- tention is given to this an electric carriage will be found to be the most desirable, and in fact the most practicable, economical and trouble-proof town car built.
"I find a great deal of prejudice in New Orleans against electrics, owing to the fact that the people there have formed their opinion of these cars from the few obsolete old model cars which have been sold here from three to four years ago and have never been given the proper service or attention. In the last two years, particularly in the last year, tremendous improvements have been made in both the electric car- riage and storage batteries, and it is now only neces- sary to obtain the consent for a demonstration from any prejudiced party to convert him from a scoffer to an enthusiast."
Boston Electrics Increase
Since the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston began its vehicle campaign three years ago there has been an increase of 250 per cent in the number of electrical commercial vehicles in Boston, while the num- ber of electric passenger cars has increased over 110 per cent. The number of cars and garages in Boston on January 1 was 463. there being 208 commercial cars, 255 passenger cars and 185 garages, as compared with 50. 117 and 57, respectively, on January 1. 1911. The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston oper- ates the largest fleet of cars, the express companies have nearly fifty trucks and the coal companies more than twenty. The breweries also operate more than twenty trucks. In every instance the vehicles are showing economical operation.
JULY. ll>14.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
17
Published Monthly by
ELECTRICITY MAGAZINE CORPORATION
Monadnock Building:, Chicago
Telephones: Harrison 301-1 — Automatic 6102S
New York Office, 1022 Longacre Building, 42nd Street and Broadway.
Ed. J. Mock and Paul H. Woodruff, Editors
Fred B. Schafer, Associate Editor. Allen L. Haase, Advertising Manager
Entered as second-class matter January 22, 1912, at the postoffice at Chicago, Illinois, under act of March 3, 1879.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
United States, Cuba and Mexico Per year, $1.50
Canada Per year, 1.75
Foreign countries within the Postal Union Per year, 2.00
Single copy 15
NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS
Changes of advertising copy should reach the office of publication not less than ten days in advance of date of issue. Regular date of issue, the first day of each month. New advertisements will be accepted up to within five days of date of issue, but proof of such advertisements can not be shown in advance of publication.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS
Remittances — Remittances should be made by check, New York draft or money order, in favor of Electric Vehicles. Foreign subscriptions may be remitted direct by International Postal Money Order.
Change of Address — The old address should be given as well as the new, and notice should be received two weeks in advance of the desired change.
This publication is free and independent of all business or house con- nections or control. No -manufacturer or supply dealer, or their stock- holders or representatives, have any financial interest in Electric Vehicles or any voice in its management or policy.
CHICAGO, JULY, 1914
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Selling Electric Vehicles. By S. G. Thompson 1-2
Philadelphia Motor Truck Association Meet 2
Utility of Passenger and Commercial Electrics. By E. J. Bartlett. . . 3-5
Salt Lake to Ogden in a Rauch and Lang 6
Philadelphia to Washington and Return 6
Relation of the Automobile to the Central Station. By Dr. C. P.
Steinmetz 7-10
Pittsburgh Section Activity 10
Chicago's Exclusively Electric Truck Garage. Ey Fred B. Schofen. . 11-12 The Electric Commercial Vehicle vs. the Horse. By Charles A. Ward. 13-15
Advance of Electric Motor Trucks 15
Washington Holds Sociability Run 16
Electrics Scarce in New Orleans 16
Editorial 17-18
What is a Trade Paper 17-18
One Million Electrics in Ten Years 18
An Economical Battery Charging Outfit. By J. C. McQuiston 19-20
Massachusetts Institute Research 20
Electric Vehicle in Parcel Post Service. By James W. McGraw 21-22
Plans to Reduce Motor Abuse 22
Touring by Electric Automobile. By J. S. Codman 23-24
The Greater Electric Vehicle Problems. By Harold M. Smith 25-26
Waverley Four-Chair Brougham Specifications. By W. W. Hudson, 27-28
Ohio Electric Climbs Lookout Mountain ' 2S
Controller and Batteries Used on Woods Electrics 29-33
Goodrich Service Station 33
Edison Outlines Ford Electric 34
Electric Vehicle Association Developments. By A. Jackson Marshall. 35-37
C. T. Truck Makes Record Run 38
Electrics for New Fish Pier 38
Analyzing Chicago's Traffic Problem 39
Personal and Business Notes 40
WHAT IS A TRADE PAPER?
C VERY industry of any importance whatever has at ■L-' least one trade paper. Very few have less than two. Some industries are so large that their trade papers must subdivide them into specialized subjects. Thus the elec- trical business at large has trade papers which concen- trate their efforts on electric lighting and power, electric railways, telephones and telegraphs, electro-chemistry, and electric vehicles.
These divisions and specializations are quite neces- sary, since the clientele of each field is different. Those who are interested in electric lighting are not particularly concerned with electro-chemistry, or with gas lighting, which has its own trade papers. Telephone people are not interested in electric railways, nor electric railway people in steam railways. And persons who find a knowl- . edge of electric vehicles necessary or desirable care nothing for electric lighting news or for gasoline ve- hicles, which also have their own journalistic exponents. It is obvious that electric lighting and gas lighting could not be handled satisfactorily in the same trade paper, for electric central stations do not make gas and would ob- ject to paying for paper and ink and brains intended for the edification of gas plant men — and vice versa, of course.
Similarly, it is impossible for a paper devoted to gasoline vehicles to serve the electric vehicle business by giving a few pages of each issue to the subject. For there is absolutely no point of similarity between gas cars and electrics except that each has four wheels and carries passengers or freight. The electric vehicle, the gasoline vehicle and the horse-drawn vehicle form an equilateral triangle. Their points of difference are far more im- portant than their points of similarity.
The gas car field has proved its need of a trade paper by supporting several of them in generous style. If the gas car needs a paper, the electric assuredly does. For the gas car has gained public approval in large meas- ure; the electric so far has gained it in very small meas- ure and is still struggling.
The electric vehicle industry, considered by itself is big and prosperous. Considered in comparison with the gas car industry, it is a joke. The gas car census for the United States is over 1,200,000. The electric car census is around 35,000. There are almost as many cars as that in Chicago alone.
The electric vehicle never had a trade paper until this publication entered the field. The industry has been at the editorial mercy of those who represented the rival gas car, who were supported generously by the gas car people and had nothing to gain and every- thing to lose by boosting the electric.
Yet one of the manufactrers of electrics said the other day that the electric vehicle did not need or want a trade paper. We can only characterize that remark as typical of the spirit of non-enterprise that has so retarded the development of the electric.
Fortunately for the industry it is not all of one mind on that subject. For any student of business progress will agree positively that a full-grown, man- size trade that sees no need of a trade journal must be anemic and debilitated, and so inevitably ineffi- cient.
The trade paper is the only possible means by which the various branches of a trade are kept in touch with each other all the time. It is the great agency of cohesion which makes an industry a unit instead of a scattered, heterogeneous mass of fac-
IS
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
tories, dealers, agents and buyers. The advertise- ments of all its manufacturers gathered together un- der one cover do more to establish the solidity, per- manence and importance of the industry than bushels of individual catalogs and circulars could ever accom- plish.
The popular magazine of national circulation of- fers to its advertisers nothing but that circulation, to which it cannot dictate editorially or carry any special message for the advertiser. It cannot even guarantee that a reasonable proportion of its circu- lation is interested in the thing advertised. It may be presenting automobile advertising to hall-room boys, and suspender publicity to ladies.
Trade paper management makes sure that ev- ery copy of the paper goes to some one interested. That is why trade paper advertising is the only 100 per cent advertising. But far more important than the mere concentration of circulation is the service of the trade paper to its advertisers — a feature that many good business men have never even thought about. The unbiased descriptions of new points of advantage in the advertiser's product ; the discovery of casual prospects which are turned over to the manufacturers for development; the general enthusiasm and "hur- rah" for the good of the cause ; all these are worth far more to every advertiser than the cost of his sup- port.
For the publisher of a trade paper is a joint em- ployee of all the trade ; that is his primary function. All his staff spend their time in the service of all his advertisers ; and the payroll for this service, as the manufacturer meets it, is less than the wage of one girl clerk.
If ever an industry needed that kind of service, the electric vehicle industry needs it now.
ONE MILLION ELECTRICS IN TEN YEARS.
ONE million electrics in ten years" is the prediction voiced recently by Dr. Charles Proteus Steinmetz, electrical expert of international renown. So radical and sanguine a forecast has naturally irritated the editorial exponents of the gas car trade into much refutatory argument. Authoritative announcement of the ultimate elimination of all types of vehicle but the electric is well calculated to create consternation among the friends of the 1,200,000 gas cars now in use in this country.
Yet in every use of applied power electricity has already supplanted all other forms of energy. Present installations of other motor types are only awaiting the expiration of a reasonable obsolescence period to substi- tute electric power. The learned doctor has watched the disappearance of various sources of energy and the sur- vival and growth of the electric. And all the forces of industrial history as well as logic say that he is right. Ultimately the electric vehicle must supplant all other vehicles, although the process may take longer than Dr. Steinmetz calculates.
The gasoline vehicle cannot be put aside completely for many years. At present it has a number of distinct and peculiar advantages, which it would be folly to dis- pute. And so long as it keeps itself so effectively in public favor by dint of clever and generous advertising the electric cannot hope to catch up with it, even when batteries and charging facilities have been so improved as to give the gas car no advantage.
But when we consider how much better electric power is than any other form, in simplicity, economy and
reliability, and how few obstacles are in the way of its supremacy ; when we remember that the present re- markable development of the gas car is due more to the aggressive enterprise and extraordinary activity of its representatives than to any great intrinsic superiority; then we are ready to agree with Dr. Steinmetz that the electric will one day be the only vehicle.
ACTION IMMINENT ON BUS SYSTEM.
Some time ago preliminary hearings were held on the application of the People's five cent bus line for franchises covering the operation of an extensive electric bus service in New York City. During the last few months information was obtained from E. P. Hulse con- cerning the status of the -project at the present time. He stated that on November 13 last, the matter was considered by the Board of Estimate and Apportion- ment and by that body referred to its franchise com- mittee. Mayor Kline, owing to his limited tenure of office, made no attempt to push the matter, and the franchise committee of the new administration was not announced until early in February and has not been so far officially convened. Mayor Mitchel, .chairman of this committee, has given notice that the project is re- ceiving his attention, and non-official expressions of in- terest in the plan have been obtained from President McAneny of the Board of Aldermen and from Borough President Mathewson of the Bronx, the other two mem- bers of the franchise committee. Mr. Hulse believes that the committee has an expert investigating the prob- lem and that his findings will have an important bearing on the decision of the committee and of the Board of Estimate as a whole.
EDUCATE THE USER.
One fault that can be accredited to practically every motor vehicle salesman, and in this the responsibility primarily rests upon the manufacturer of wagons and trucks, is the assumption that a purchaser can utilize a machine to its greatest value. As a matter of fact very few men, especially those who purchase one or several units, can grasp the necessity of using their equipment every minute that is possible, and those who do realize this need are generally handicapped by methods that were used with horses.
Many instances have been noted where the owners of machines failed to obtain anything like the sen ice that was practical, if ordinary thought were given to the work. Most men will gratefully accept advice, but rules cannot be generally applied, and for this reason atten- tion must be given to any particular work and principles adapted. Salesmen cannot be expected to have qualifica- tions that fit them for supervision, but it would be pos- sible for a man with broad knowledge to make sugges- tions that would be helpful, and to assist in making such changes as would be desirable or necessary to obtain the fullest benefit of the machines.
Impartiality in regard to motor vehicles and horse vehicles was shown in a law recently passed by the city council of Buffalo requiring, among other things, that all vehicles carry lights at night when within the corporate limits of the city. Another bill is before the aldermen, which proposes taxing horse vehicles for registration in the same manner in which motor trucks are taxed.
Illy. 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
19
An Economical Battery Charging Outfit
A New Westinghouse Sectional Switchboard Which Has Arrangements to Keep Records of Energy Used
DURING the current year the Cur tis Publishing Company, Phila delphia, well-known publishers, built a garage for their electric delivery wagons and trucks, and equipped it throughout in the most modern manner.
One of the most in- teresting features of the equipment is the battery charging outfit and a strik- ing point of advantage of which is the arrangement made to keep exact records of the energy used by the different cars.
Figure 1 shows the complete outfit. Alternat- ing current is received from the lines of the Phil- adelphia Electric Company and is transformed into direct-current by a motor- generator set. The gener- ator of this set is so de- signed that its voltage can be adjusted to approxi- mately that required for the batteries being charged, so that little en- ergy is wasted in the re- sister.
Figure 2 shows the switchboard, the register being mounted on the rear. It will be noted that this board is sectional. On the right is a large panel which controls the motor gener- ator set. This panel is equipped with a generator cir- cuit-breaker switch, ammeter, voltmeter, field rheostat and (at the bottom) a reverse current relay which opens the cir- cuit-breakers should the direct current volt- age fall below the volt- age of the batteries be- ing charged. A line voltmeter and circuit breaker for the al- ternating current cir- cuit are also mounted on this panel.
On the left, are two series of sections which control the charging circuits to the car batteries. Each section controls two circuits and each cir- cuit is assigned to a single car, a small name
BY J. C. MC QUISTON
Fig.
Westinghouse Charging Outfit Complete. The Generator Adjusted to Nearly That Needed for the Batteries.
Fig. 2. Westinghouse Sectional Switchboard.
plate being provided to designate the circuit. It is evident that if more cars are purchased, additional sections can be added to the board as desired. Each circuit is provided with the
proper resistance to suit its special car and can be used independently. Hence, any or all of the cars can be charged at the same time.
At the top of each ver- tical row of sections is an ammeter and voltmeter which are so connected with the charging line that the operator at the switch- board can tell precisely the condition of charge of the car batteries on any indiv- idual circuit at all times, and does not have to de- pend on the often damaged car instruments. In fact, aside from connecting and removing the charging plugs, which are connected to lines running into the garage, the operator per- forms all operations at the switchboard.
Integrating watthour meters are mounted on the charging sections. They have two scales : one, which is set to zero for each charge showing the amount of each separate charge, and the other show- ing the total amount of energy used by the car from a given date. Thus, an exact record of the current con- sumed by each car can be obtained for any de- sired period, and one of the important ele- ments of cost of oper- ation for each car can be exactly determined. Fuses to protect the battery from over- load and a resistance- adjusting rheostat com- plete the equipment for each circuit.
This outfit, pos- sesses the following ad- vantages : All the charging apparatus is compactly mounted in a very small space. Full protection is afforded to the power and bat- tery circuits, and ac-
20
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
curate meters inform the operator of conditions at all times. Every operation can be performed from the front of the board. Exact information as to the energy con- sumption of each car for various periods can be ob- tained. Extensions can be made to the outfit as the fleet of cars increases in size.
The entire equipment was constructed by the West- inghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pitts- burgh, Pa.
Massachusetts Institute Research The activities in electrical engineering research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have de- veloped very rapidly during the past year and a note- worthy extension of the organization for administer- ing the researches has recently been effected. This has been aided by the co-operative agreement between Harvard University and the Institute of Technology whereby the departments of electrical engineering in the two institutions were practically merged.
By this new organization for the research labora- tory there is created a research committee, to whom reports are made upon the progress of the various re- searches. The committee comprises the following members of the electrical engineering department staff: First, those who are supervising or actively engaged in research work in the research laboratory ; second, those who are personally carrying on research work in any branch of the department ; and third, those who have completed a reorganized piece of re- search work during the preceding year. The research committee, as a whole, will meet once a month during the school term, such meetings being open to all mem- bers of the department staff. The chairman of the research committee is also chairman of the executive committee of three members, who will carry on the executive work of the general committee.
It will be noted that by this arrangement the re- search activities of the department will be brought into close relation with the regular teaching work. Thus, any member of the staff, whether professor, in- structor, or assistant, who desires to carry out any original investigation may become identified with the research work through the research committee. Some of the special resources of the research laboratory which have not been designated for use in a particu- lar investigation may be used in providing such a man with apparatus and other laboratory facilities. Even if a member of the department staff is not able to devote a considerable portion of his time to an ex- perimental investigation, he still has the opportunity of offering suggestions upon the conduct of investi- gations which are being made by others. From the standpoint of the younger members of the staff, the opportunities of entering the enthusiastic atmosphere which accompanies the successful conduct of original research are most unusual.
The staff of the research laboratory at present includes six research associates and assistants who give their whole time to research. This number will be increased to nine on July 1, 1914. In addition to the work of these men, who are appointed by the In- stitute, the theses of four students who are candidates for advanced degrees in electrical engineering have been carried on in the research laboratory during the past year.
The study of a wide variety of problems has al-
ready been undertaken by the laboratory. During the past year, the collection of data upon the study of the relative economic fields for electric, horse, and gasoline trucks, which was begun in 1911, has been completed ; an abstract of the results of the investiga- tion has been presented, and the final report will prob- ably be completed early this summer. The study of the methods of handling miscellaneous freight at the Boston freight terminals, begun late in 1912, has been completed, and a paper covering the methods and re- sults of the study has been prepared for presentation at a fall meeting of the New York Railroad Club. An extended study of the effect of the length .if passenger ride on street cars upon the net return on the invest- ment in street railway properties is being conducted ; it is expected that this study will require about 5 years, during which time the revenues, expenses, and traffic data of the street car systems in a number of the large cities will be analyzed. An analysis is being made of the delivery service of a large department store in New York City, with the object of presenting information upon the factors affecting the operation of the delivery service of such department store ; this investigation will be completed during the present summer.
The special research work of the electrical engi- neering department at the Institute of Technology is now firmly established with a permanent organiza- tion which insures the closest cooperation between the lecture, laboratory, and research branches of the department. An amount of over $20,000 is available for salaries, apparatus and other expenses in connec- tion with the work of the research laboratory and library during the next year. The opportunities thus afforded for the department to assume a leading posi- tion in the development of new knowledge of elec- trica engineering and allied industries are both large and unusual.
Goodyear Annouces Price Reduction
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company has just anonunced a reduction of approximately 5 per cent in the price of Goodyear individual block motor truck tires.
According to advice received from the factory at Akron, this was made possible by the constantly in- creasing demand for this type of tire by motor truck operators. Raising the production volume lowered the cost to an extent sufficient to warrant a 5 per cent decrease in selling price, which puts the block tire on the same basis as the endless tire.
In other words, a truck owner can now buy a block tire at the same price he would have to pay for a demountable or pressed-on tire.
This should be welcome news to many truck op- erators who have heretofore hesitated to equip with block tires because of their higher price, and also to those who have so equipped in spite of the cost.
The immense success that has attended this Goodyear block tire since its introduction on the mar- ket, about two years ago, is explained by the fact that it is a block tire that can truly be called "individual-" Each block is a unit and is held to the wheel by indi- vidual plates and bolts, making it a simple job to re- move or replace any block on the wheel without molesting any of the others. A block can be changed in a very few minutes with practically no loss of run- ning time to the truck.
July, 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
21
Electric Vehicles in Parcel Post Service
A Paper Read Before the Electric Vehicle Association BY JAMES H. McGRAW
THE committee of the Electric Vehicle Association on par- cel-post application has undertaken a compre- hensive campaign of education on electric delivery topics, and in this effort is enlisting the interest and assistance of the post office authorities at Washing- ton, members of Congress, central station executives in all cities having a population of 5,000 or over, of the manufacturers of electric vehicles and accessories, and of the postmasters in cities of 10,000 and over. A very active and comprehensive committee has been appointed by the National Electric Light Associa- tion to' put before its membership our propaganda and to secure co-operation in carrying out the cam- paign which we are instituting to engender a sincere and active interest among all parties concerned in the application of electric vehicles for city service in the collection and distribution of parcel post material.
As you have been advised, we have distributed our preliminary pamphlet to the extent of about 5,000 throughout the entire country, and the numerous as- surances received in response to this distribution is one of the greatest encouragements we have for the ultimate success of the undertaking. Even in Can- ada work in this direction is being extended by the Canadian Electrical Association and we have their assurance of whatever co-operation it may be possible for them to render. A similar project to the one we have started has, as a result, been taken up and prose- cuted by the Electric Vehicle Committee of the In- corporated Municipal Electrical Association of Eng- land.
The principal purpose which we have in mind at the moment is to urge upon every member of the Electric Vehicle Association of America, not only to co-operate in arousing interest on the part of those who may in any way assist in forwarding our purpose, but by bringing to the attention of our committee any suggestions which they believe may be of value to us in the conduct of our work.
Our central station friends can, by keeping in close communication with the postmasters in their respective cities gauge with considerable accuracy what will be their ulti- mate requirements in electric vehicle equip- ment when the existing contracts for transporta- tion service shall expire. Thus, it may be possible to prepare in advance either local to each city or at Washington, the necessary means for forcing as far as we pos- sibly can, the employ- ment of electric vehicles under each new contract going into effect.
The number of elec- tric vehicles which could be used, if there were the
proper disposition and facilities for employing them, may be estimated from the number of parcels now 'being handled in fifty of the principal cities. From the figures available at the moment it seems certain that there will be at least 600,000,000 parcels handled annually in these cities. This means 2,000,000 per day. Assuming that an electric vehicle could handle an average of 200 pack- ages per day, it would require 10,000 vehicles in total, or an average of 200 machines in each of these cities.
This is business worth securing for manufactur- ers, and it would bring to the central stations in each city, an average income of $100 per day, or $1,500,000 in total annually, assuming a power consumption of 121/, kilowatt-hours daily per vehicle.
These figures should not be at all surprising when we consider that the public is buying postage stamps for parcel post service at the rate of about $35,000,000 per annum.
Chicago alone spends $4,000,000, and New York comes next with $3,000,000 annually. Collection and delivery is said to be 90 per cent of the traffic in parcel post transportation, therefore an estimate of 5 per cent of the receipts as the cost of power is not unrea- sonable.
We are assured by those competent to pass judg- ment upon our project that we cannot fail in its ac- complishment if we continue to persevere in the work necessary to keep it constantly before the interested parties. We may not meet with immediate results as there is an inclination to be cautious in every advance being made by the government to insure the success of the great innovation for which it has assumed re- sponsibility. The attainment of our purpose is equally well worth working for, as aside from the commercial motives prompting our energy in the mat- ter, we have the underlying conviction that nothing can contribute more to the success and economy of parcel past operation than the use of electric vehicles. We have encouragement for our patience and per- severance in the following quotation from a state- ment of Postmaster General Burleson :
The system must be developed. This cannot Be done hurriedly. It is our purpose to approach each phase of development not only cautiously but scientifi- cally. We must be reason- ably sure that we are right before making each innova- tion.
For, in a problem so large and so intricate as this, each step forward must be a positive one, without flaws in the way of am- biguity, confusion, or the chance of failure.
This practically in- dicates to us that we must not expect any rapid, immediate, or revo- lutionary change from the present systems em- ployed in city transpor-
Internipting Government Service on Account of Horse Faihire.
22
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
tation to the use of electric machines, but that we must constantly hammer at the proposition and keep driving our arguments home, so that as each of the present contracts expire electric vehicles will be em- ployed, and do all we can to insure that their per- formance in each case will be the greatest aid we could have towards increasing their numbers. The campaign really calls more for initial effort at the beginning than any continuance of the same degree of effort subsequently, because the merits of the elec- tric vehicle in itself, as the most economic, conve- nient and simple means which the government could have in the service, will be brought home so forcibly once a trial is made in each case, that the project will roll along and multiply almost automatically.
We must be eternally vigilant, however, to hold whatever we gain as the result of our collective effort and keep forever before our minds the powerful com- petitive influence of those advocating other types of motive power in the situation. The horse is pretty well entrenched at present and there will be strong effort to keep him there by those who have invest- ment in that direction and what has become a habit is difficult to alter. There will also be persuasion, prompted by business motives, on the part of those who are interested in having the gasoline machines employed, notwithstanding the evident superiority of the electric in its particular field. In this connection we should bear in mind that the public generally is more inclined to use gasoline machines than electrics, because they are seen everywhere and employed for personal transportation by almost everyone of influ- ence. It seems to be a trait of human nature to be attracted by mechanical movement and there are more "visible" works to the gasoline than the electric.
Let us consider our campaign as barely opened ; that we have a good cause ; that we are sure to win ; that we have very powerful allies on every side pledged to join with us ; that the opportunity pre- sented is a splendid one and superior to anything we have ever had before and that we are offering to our government the means, in the electric vehicle, and the conditions, in the co-operation of the central stations in every city in the Union, to absolutely insure the success of its new and vital undertaking. We thus have a patriotic as well as a business incentive to put our shoulder to the electric vehicle wheel.
A Portable Battery-Charging Set
The Commonwealth Edison Company, of Chi- cago, 111., recently tested a small battery-charging rectifier designed to be carried by electric vehicles. The machine was invented by Henry Gandell, and will be manufactured by the Mills Novelty Company, Chicago, 111. The rectifier, a single-phase synchronous converter, weighs ten pounds and is capable of de- livering 70 amperes at 130 volts with a transformation efficiency said to be 99 per cent between the alternat- ing-current and direct-current converter terminals. This device is mounted on a panel 12x20 inches, to- gether with the necessary switches, instruments, and an automatic no-voltage release. The device can hence easily be carried on any electric vehicle and charging can be readily accomplished wherever alter- nating-current of approximately the correct voltage is available. When used on cars the voltage will be varied during charging by means of a resistance in
the alternating-current circuit. This resistance can also be used to reduce an excessive alternating-cur- rent voltage. When this rectifier is used in a garage an autotransformer will be employed in place of the resistance.
The rectifier is self-starting, the field excitation being obtained from the direct-current terminals con- nected to the battery to be charged. This method of obtaining the exciting current, from the battery termi- nals of the machine, assures the correct direction of the charging current. The machine is so designed that the separation of the segments of the four-part commutator is such that the direct-current circuit is opened at the zero points of the alternating-current wave, thus preventing the flow of a discharging cur- rent from the battery during such periods.
The rectifier had previously been given a thorough test by the Commonwealth-Edison Company, the re- cent test being designed to determine its perform- ance when charging a totally discharged battery. A one-ton capacity electric bus of the Walker Vehicle Company, of Chicago, was selected for the test. It contained a 110-volt battery with a normal discharge rate of 40 amperes. The battery was successfully charged during this test.
Plans to Reduce Motor Truck Abuse The Motor Truck Club has lately undertaken a new plan for reducing the abuse of motor trucks, especially among its members, by establishing a mu- tual supervision department through the club office, whereby every member observing a truck being care- lessly or recklessly operated can report the fact to the club office, which in turn notifies the owner. The aim is to persuade the driver to maintain greater pru- dence. If he drives at a reckless speed, or carelessly as to pedestrians, or over obstacles which are likely to damage tires unnecessarily he is likely to hear from it at the hands of his employer.
To further this work, the club has issued several hundred post cards to its members and others desiring to enlist in the volunteer inspection work, to be filled out and sent to the club headquarters whenever one sees any form of truck abuse. This week several cases of driving trucks without suitable tire equip ment have been reported, not only to the owner of trucks, but to the tire companies and the truck makers who are interested in guarantee questions, and appar- ently the service is appreciated.
For the further instruction and improvement of drivers, the club has arranged through its technical committee for a course of five correspondence lec- tures, for drivers, which is offered to drivers employed by members of the club at a nominal fee. The club is also undertaking to standardize shop practice and re- pair charges, with a view to keeping certain few g-aragemen from overcharging truck owners in their charges.
The recent sales of electric trucks by the Gen- eral Motors Truck Company, of Pontiac, Mich., have included ten cars to the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Com- pany, six trucks to the Merchants' Auto Delivery Company^ of Galesburg, 111., and an electric flushing machine to the city of Birmingham, Ala. The latter car consists of a water tank and pressure sprinkler, which has a larger capacity and wider range than the usual form of horse-drawn gravity sprinkling cart.
July, 1c>14.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
23
Touring By Electric Automobile
Urgent Necessity for Charging Facilities in Smaller Outlying Central Stations*
BY J. S. CODMAN
Model of Bailey Electric Which Made tl
HAS the day of the electric tour- ing car arrived? Or if not how far distant is it and what must yet be done to hasten its coming?
We cannot yet say that the day has com?, but on the other hand it is now close at hand and the obstacles still in the way are neither many nor great.
Already the electric has ceased to be merely a town car. In addition, it is now the ideal runabout both for city and country work. It is more convenient, more dependable, more comfortable and cheaper to operate than a gas car, and within the last few years has been so devel- oped that actual road runs of 70 to 100 miles have been made at a speed con- siderably greater than the usual road speed of the gas car. To prove this last point a list of various runs made in New England be- tween different points has been published, and prob- ably all New England men who are familiar with one or more of the roads, know about how fast a
gas car can comfortably make the distances. All of these runs were made with stock cars and each one was on a single charge of battery.
For touring, the electric has sufficient speed, and two notable tours made within the year, show also that rough, muddy, and hilly roads and bad weather are not real obstacles.
Last summer a tour of between 500 and 600 miles was made in an electric through the Green Mountains of Vermont and the White Mountains of New Hamp- shire, and no difficulty was experienced either on the steep hills or on the rough or sandy country roads. The distance from Boston to Burlington, Vt. (258 miles), was made at an average running speed of 19 miles per hour. The route taken was through Fitchburg, Ashby, Jeffrey, Dublin, Marlboro, Keene, Walpole, Bellows Falls, Springfield, Walpole, Rutland, Brandon, Middle- bury, New Haven, and Vergennes, and motorists who have been over this route will recognize that some parts of it present many difficulties. The slowest run was from Keene, N. H., to Springfield, Vt., 42 miles, 16.7 miles per hour and was made almost entirely after dark. The fastest section covered was from Boston to Fitch- burg, 21.3 miles per hour. The 78 miles from Rutland to Burlington (including detours) was made at exactly 20 miles per hour.
An even more notable run was made last October from Boston to Chicago during the most severe weather of the season which- turned many of the roads into
*A Paper Read Before Nezv England Convention E. V. A.
sloughs of almost impassable mud, but again no greater difficulty was experienced than might be expected with any car under such circumstances.
Some of the data of this trip is given here and espe- cial attention is called to the high daily mileage and high average speed obtained whenever fair conditions of road and weather wers encountered.
The car left Boston October 14, arriving in New York the next day, where it was then exhib- ited for three days at the Electrical Show. It started for Chicago October 19 and ran some part of every day with the excep- tion of Sunday, October 26, when a rest was taken at Cleveland.
The minimum daily mileage was 18 between Albany and Schenectady, following the failure of the garage in Albany to properly charge the car ; and the maximum daily mileage was 173.5 between Syracuse and Buffalo, where good roads and good weather were in combination. It will be s;en that an average speed of 20 miles per hour was readily attained under fair con- ditions, while between Springfield and New Haven it was 23.6 and between Rochester and Buffalo, 22.8. The average speed for the whole distance is obtained by dividing the total miles, 1,302.5, by the total hours con- sumed in running between points, viz., 83.5 hours. This gives an average speed of 15.6 miles per hour, which is certainly remarkable considering that no time at all is taken out for road stops.
The latest remarkable trip in an electric automobile was made in the early part of May, 1914, and for the first time on record an electric automobile left Boston and arrived in New York in less than twenty-four hours. If then, the electric automobile is not lacking in speed and is fully capable of meeting all road conditions, what is the obstacle to its use for touring? As is evident everywhere, it is the difficulty in getting charged on the road. This difficulty, however, is not to any great extent a difficulty inherent in the car itself. It is true that a battery cannot be filled as quickly as a gasoline tank, but on the other hand, the delay is not great if proper facilities can be obtained. Boosting a battery at high current rates is perfectly practical today. The Edi- son battery is notable in this respect, and lead batteries, it is now understood,, can be charged without injury at much higher rates than was formerly thought possible if only proper care is taken to reduce the rate before the gassing point is reached.
24
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
I have myself on one occasion out on the road boosted a battery at 200 amperes for one hour. This battery was composed of Edison A-6 cells rated at 45 amperes normal current, and it absorbed in that hour enough charge to have carried me about 50 miles. On this occasion my cable was passed through the window of the electric light station and connected directly on the exciter bus and very little time was lost in getting connected.
In touring, however, an opportunity such as the above is seldom offered. Usually much time is lost in getting connected and the ampere rate obtainable is usually low. It is this inability to get satisfactory charg- ing service which is the one great obstacle to touring in an electric. Public charging stations are few and far be- tween and when found are as a rule equipped with a hopelessly inadequate 30 or 40 ampere rectifier. On the other hand, if you go to the electric plant itself where there is ample power you will nearly always find those in charge totally unprepared, and you can only be accom- modated if someone in authority happens to be on hand; and only then after much time consumed in getting ready. It is not practical to spend an hour getting ready to begin a half-hour's boost.
The overcoming of this great obstacle to touring with an electric is something we must leave largely in the hands of our central station friends. Generally speaking, they are most willing to help when an emer- gency arises, but this does very little real good. What is needed is apparatus all ready for use and someone about the premises who knows what ought to be done.
Now of course there are central stations which pro- vide ample and convenient charging facilities, but they are very exceptional. In most of the small towns and even in many large cities proper facilities for charging are either non-existent or are very inadequate.
Taking New England for example, Massachusetts is, as compared with the other states, well-equipped with charging facilities and yet what are the figures? Mc- Graw's Central Station Directory reports 114 electric light companies operating in over 300 of the 333 towns and cities in Massachusetts. On the other hand the list of charging stations compiled by the Electric Motor Car Club, after a canvass of all the garages and electric light companies, indicates only 53 towns in which the charg- ing stations are supposed to be located, and only 28 towns where more than 50 amperes can be obtained.
It would certainly seem that where there is in a town no public charging station capable of giving an adequate boost, at least 100 amperes at 125 volts, the electric light company itself should have ready for use a service connected with the exciter bus. This service should consist of a switch, fuses and terminals for con- necting to the cable and charging plug which every mo- torist should himself carry. A cheap resistance coil for controlling the current would also be best to have ready, but often even this is unnecessary especially when the Edison battery is used. Measuring instruments are not necessary, as it is the service rather than the amount of current which should be charged for, and further an approximate measurement can usually be made by means of the instruments on the car itself. Such an outfit would be very inexpensive.
Now in the face of records of this kind, it is time for the central station man to do his part, and if he can- not arrange a neat little installation of battery-charging equipment by using his exciter for this service at a cost which is too small to consider he must be indeed lacking
in enterprise. It ought not to be necessary for an elec- tric automobilist to telephone ahead from a point several hours away in order to secure the required charge on arrival. We are inclined to think that most central sta- tion men will go out of their way to accommodate the cross country driver of an electric automobile in the par- ticular rare instances when such a machine comes along ; but what is really needed is a readiness-to-s;rve policy which will make the purchase of a charge as simple a matter as the buying of five or ten gallons of gasoline from the village grocery — a continuous availability of the charging apparatus at all hours and at a fair price. With the increase of day service even among the small- est central stations, the time has passed for indifference or sluggishness in the matter of being ready to charge vehicle batteries at 2 a. m. as well as at 6 p. m. through simple home-made flexible connections and resistance whose cost is nominal. Of course, the electric auto- mobiles will not come until the small central station is prepared to charge them ; the latter must get into line and be ready for the business, and the ultimate profits are already clear to the farsighted student of electric vehicle development.
RUNS MADE ON ONE CHARGE OF BATTERY.
Miles Time Average
Boston to Pawtucket. R. I. and return Speed
(78 miles) remainder of run about
Boston 103.2 5:7l/2 20.14
Boston to Springfield 93.4 4:55 19.00
New Haven to New York 78.4 3:51 20.4
Rochester to Buffalo 77.0 3:45 20.5
Brookline & Groton, Mass., and return. 74.0 4:01 18.4
Springfield. Mass., to New Haven, Ct... 66.1 2:48 23^6
Boston to Wareham, Mass 58.0 2:47 20.8
Worcester, Mass., to Springfield. Mass. 51.7 2:08 24.2
Boston and Fall River 49.9 2:37 19.1
Geneva, N. Y., to Rochester, N. Y 46.0 2:01 22^8
Brookline & Amesbury, Mass., via
Haverhill 45.0 2:12 20.5
Boston & Worcester 42.5 1:46 24.0
Boston to Lowell, Mass 25.9 1:12 2L6
Springfield, Mass., to Hartford, Ct 27.3 1:3 26^0
Brockton, Mass., to Boston 21.8 1:05 20.2
BOSTON TO NEW YORK IN 24 HOURS.
|
<; |
Time n Miles pe |
V c f— Ot |
OJ to (= 0 .- o F-co |
Ampere Ampere Per mil |
||
|
Left Boston.. 4:12 |
a |
m |
||||
|
Arr. Wor'st'r. 5:58 |
a |
m 42.5 |
1:46 24 |
141 3.32 |
||
|
Left Worc'st'r 8:29 |
a |
m |
2:31 |
1-55 |
||
|
Arr. Spring'd. 10:37 |
a |
m 51.7 |
2:8 24.2 |
150 2.9 |
||
|
Left Springf'd 2:10 |
P |
m |
3:33 |
3-10 |
||
|
Arr. Hartford 3:13 |
P |
m 27.3 |
1:3 26 |
87 2.3 |
||
|
Left Hartford 4:00 |
P |
m |
0:47 |
0-33 |
||
|
Arr. N. H'v'n 5:47 |
P |
m 41.2 |
1:47 23.1 |
120 2.91 |
||
|
Left N. H'v'n 9:27 |
P |
m |
3:40 |
3-1 S |
||
|
Arr. Stamf'd. 11:17 |
P |
m 42.0 |
1 :50 22.9 |
117 2.79 |
||
|
Left Stamf'd. 1:03 |
a |
m |
1:46 |
i -in |
||
|
Arr. New Y'k 3:21 |
a |
m 43.1 |
2:18 18.9 |
138 3.2 |
||
|
B'st'n to St'm'd |
204.7 |
8.34 23.9 |
10:31 |
8:53 |
615 3.00 |
|
|
B'st'n to N. Y. |
247.8 |
10:52 22.8 |
12:17 |
10:23 |
753 3.04 |
Ohio Reports Sales
Reports from the sales department of the Ohio Electric Car Company of Toledo, Ohio, state that there has been a nice increase in the volume of or- ders received during the past several weeks.
July; 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
The Greater Electric Vehicle Problems
Paper Read Before the National Electric Light Association Convention
DURING the first technical ses- BY HAROLD sion of the National Electric Light Association convention, held in the ball room of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., June 2, W. P. Kennedy, representing the Electric Vehich Association of America, presented a paper on the elec- tric vehicle. Mr. Kennedy's paper was introductory to an address delivered by Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, which paper appears on other pages of this issue. Mr. Ken- nedy spoke as follows :
"Competent observers must recognize and acknowl- edge the gradual dissipation of the difficulties surround- ing the introduction of electric vehicles. Most of these have in the past been of a mental rather than of a physi- cal character, and time, with its ameliorating influence, has smoothed away one impediment after another until to-day we have in this device an excellent utility as a means of passenger and merchandise transportation, as well as a formidable implement of commercial activity available to the central station industry.
"The potential possibilities of this power consumer as an integrating factor in the building up of off-peak- period load, while admitted by all, have been aggressively developed by comparatively few and, in fact, are just beginning to attract administrative attention, as worthy of consideration and on a par with the larger elemental influences likely to contribute to future big business ex- tension. In view of the predominant progressiveness of this industry in comparison with others, it is remarkable that so important a projection should remain latent for such a lengthy introductory period, or should be rele- gated to the minor executive stratum in central station organizations. Particularly so, when other inferior de- vices have been seized upon and boosted as auxiliary means of stimulating the commercial load factor.
"There can be no denial of the fact that in the past most of the central station companies have assumed
SMITH little beyond a passive attitude in ex- tending their organization facilities, in the belief that these were simply means to the ends of the manufacturers. Fortunately this has been changed. The distorted perspective is corrected. We now have a true sense of relations and recognize the fact that the manufacturer's product is, in reality, a means to the cen- tral station ends. However, it has required persistent and compelling exertion to justify this final conviction, that vehicle load development should be undertaken as the much more substantial and permanent accomplish- ment of implanting upon the commercial circuits of the supply companies a permanent utility for power con- sumption its perpetuity.
"Equally conspicuous in the situation is the survival to date of the handful of courageous manufacturers con- ducting the strenuous campaign enforced upon them, not only in the conversion and education of their present allies, but in defeating the superior competition of the more popular and extensively exploited gasoline vehicle. Some few have succumbed to the severity of the strug- gle, but in numbers so small as to attest the rugged, de- termined character constituting the business fibre back of their project. There is no parallel in any kindred under- taking. Their accomplishments have been monumental and, above all, the tests of the past 15 years, which have proved that the electric vehicle can be relied upon as one of the staple commodities among the electric utilities now necessary to our modern system of life.
"The prospective enterprise of vehicle exploitation, on a large scale needs nothing more urgently than ad- ministrative effort, exerted cohesively and comprehen- sively, to place it upon a plane with the major opera- tions of central station activity and thus give to it the impetus necessary to insure the cumulative return cer- tain to endow its projectors.
"As a business proposition commanding the attert-
Fleet of Walker Electrics in the Service of Case and Martin Pie Company.
26
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. Y. No. 1.
tion of the captains of the industry conditions could not be more attractive ; the grist is on the threshold and the mill has ample power. Evidence of what has been done and can be done is abundant, convincing and conclusive. The indications put forward by the Electric Vehicle Association of America, in its parcel post project and the solution more recently suggested for the relief of freight terminal congestion, are but straws upon the surface of a torrent almost infinitely deep with opportunity.
"Under the directive influence of that creative talent which has fabricated our stupendous urban electrical utilities, the facilities of such a powerful machine as the collective centers of energy radiating from the central stations throughout the country could yield a force com- pdling the almost universal employment of the electric motor wagon in city merchandise transportation and the electric carriage as a domestic convenience and comfort.
"We need the superlative administrative genius which has harnessed our natural resourc:s to perform our industrial and community service ; that breadth of view which can bridge profit for the brief accelerating period, in anticipation of the fullness of ultimate de- velopment; that calibre of judgment which can suppress trivial difficulties and concentrate upon a program of ef- fort against which nothing can prevail. We need the master mind at work."
New Feature of Buffalo Electric The Buffalo Electric Vehicle Company, Buffalo, N. Y., present a 2,000-lb. chassis and running gear with a new feature consisting of a foot control by means of which the brakes cannot be applied without cutting off the supply of energy to the motor. An extra con- troller and resistance for operation by the chauffeur's pedal are provided under the front platform, and the manufacturers claim that a saving of from 15 to 20 per cent in energy consumption for a given ton-mileage results, giving correspondingly increased operating dis- tances per battery charge. The advantage to the driver of being able to retain the hold of both hands on the steering wheel on rough roads is important, and the manufacturers emphasize the tendency toward increased energy consumption in equipments in which it is neces- s-arv to let go with one hand in order to shut off the power. The machine exhibited had another new feature in the shape of a battery box equipped with a folding lid which can be used as a table in withdrawing- the cells, the lid being fastened to the box proper by pull spring hooks instead of the usual troublesome wing nuts. The braking surface total 500 square inches, and the rear tires are 5 inches wide against an average of 4 inches for this size of machine. The motor is sup- ported on trunnions without the use of a universal joint, and the springs are 42 inches long, compared with a common length of 36 inches. The truck is equipped with forty-four cells of Philadelphia WT-15 battery and an 85-volt, 22-ampere General Electric motor.
Electric Moving Van
The Hebard Sheridan Road Storage Warehouse of Chicago claims to have the onlv electric moving: van in that city.
The truck was made by the General Vehicle Company and is equipped with an A-10 Edison storage battery and a Genera! Electric 3.5-hp. motor capable of driving
it from 45 miles to 50 miles on a seven-hour to ten-hour charge. The battery consists of sixty ceils in five trays and the normal charging rate is 80 amperes at 120 volts. it is charged every night; in fact, the aim is to keep the battery charged at all times. The van is capable of carrying a load of 7,000 lbs. The inside measurements of this "room on wheels" are 6 ft. wide, 7 ft. high and 13.5 ft. lung. The tail-gate adds an additional 4 ft. of length when lowered.
In response to a request for information about the actual operation of this interesting electric truck, the Hebard concern reports that it cost's about 10 cents a mile for energy to operate the van. It is said to be almost impossible to make a statement as to the actual cost, as road conditions have so much to do with the mileage obtained. Much depends upon the driver. Some men will get a great deal more out the of the bat- tery than others. The hauls of the Hebard electric mov- ing van average about 30 miles and its longest trip was 58 miles. It is the practice of the Hebard people to use their gas cars for hauls in outlying districts or on country roads. The electric van is used on well-paved city streets, not on the soft country roads.
There are so few moving parts on the electric van
G. J*, iti Storage Warehouse Service.
that its upkeep is reported by its owners as practically nothing compared with that of gas cars. In operation the electric van has several good points. One of these is that the average driver of a gas truck is not apt to stop his engine every time he stops his car, whereas the driver of the electric van has to shut off his energy to stop the car ; in other words, with the electric van the expense stops when the cars stop, while with the gas car the engine may be left running, while the van is standing still. At such times the gas, engine is run- ning slow, of course, but nevertheless there is some ex- pense, some wear and tear, and, most damaging of all, the vibration is going mi all the time.
There are no real "troubles" with electrics when they are properly handled. The}- are the simplest machines to operate in the automobile field and safe for a child to drive.
Electrics will reduce your operating costs.
July. 1914.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
27
Waverley Four-Chair-Brougham Specifications
Improvements in the Latest Models of Electric Passenger Car Construction
IN its latest model of four-chair- brougham the Waverley Company, Indianapolis, Ind., has scored an advance upon any- thing it has previously put out in the field of electric car design ; another step in better construction and design.
The car displaces model 107 of its 1914 year book differing from it by such shades of difference as the rounded rear cor- ners, lower battery boxes of improved design, sash- 1 e s s windows, enlarged window spaces, oval cor- ner windows and decorat- ive window shades.
Developments in these details show a marked im- provement in the appear- ance of the car as a whole.
By W. W. HUDSON
Spring Suspension C( Springs.
It is the perfect balance and harmony of the various details that produce the effect.
The seating arrangement is unique. The rear seat is divided into three separate drawing room chairs, arranged as they might be grouped in a lady's parlor — the middle one slightly behind the other two — for the sake of increased knee, shoulder and elbow room.
The driver sits in the left- hand rear seat with, instead of apart from her guests, and has complete command of the road, no one being seated directly in front.
At the right-hand of the car an upholstered folding seat accommodates the fourth pas- senger, who faces the other guests, completing the group.
The Waverley frame is a trussed, hardwood beam, giving a cushion for the fastening of all fittings that in- sures against crystallization and breaking from vibra- tion. By a graceful curve the frame is fashioned to bring the sill entrance low to the ground, and yet leave space between the frame and axle for ample spring action.
The front axle is made of I-beam section one-piece drop- forged steel with integral spring seats, of special steel. The axle is very tough and substan- tial, giving ample strength horizontally as well as ver- tically. The rear axle is of full-floating type made from 3^4 per cent nickel steel tubing of large diam- eter, heat-treated. The
spindle at the inner end is the full
size of the axle tubing.
The driving shaft is a torsional member only, free
from bending and twisting strains ; is made from special
alloy steel, heat-treated and of large diameter. Power
is transmitted to the rear hub through a clutch, bolted to the hub at the outer end. The other end floats in the differential. The driving system is a straight line shaft drive. The motor shaft is parallel to the in- termediate and driven shafts, thus eliminating the necessity of transmitting power around a corner, and giving the only straight path of power between the
sling of Four Full Elliplii
Front Axle and Parts.
motor and the wheels. Two universal joints are used. The axle has absolute freedom in any direction, making the easy riding qualities of these cars. The motor weight is entirely above the springs. The first reduction is through a silent flexible gear enclosed in a casing at the end of motor. The second reduc- tion is through a herring-bone gear in the axle. The efficiency of this gearing is claimed to be higher than that of any other type. Silence is a striking char- acteristic of this driving sys- tem.
Motor is of medium speed.
light weight per unit of power
developed and is series wound.
The armature rotates on large
ball bearings ; four poles are used and the design and
material employed insure the motor from commutator
troubles and rapid deterioration. It has the desirable
torque characteristics of a high-speed motor, 1,500 r.
p. m., which can not be obtained in any form of low-speed motor.
Controller is of the knife blade type and of large capacity. Contact is made on each side of the brass blade by heavy cop- per blocks riveted to phos- phorus-bronze spring fin- gers. Heating of the blocks will not affect this finger.
For steering, the Wav- erley non-Vibrating lever solves the problem of shocks to the operator on rough streets and has ef- ficient mechanism to elim-
Waverhy Herringbone Gear. inate friction.
28
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
Taper roller adjustable bearings are used in the wheels both front and rear. They are effectively pro- tected from dirt by dust caps at the outer end and large piano felt washers at the inner end. Gear shaft and motor bearings are all of the non-adjustable annular type, enclosed in oil-tight and dust-proof housings.
The Waverley coach body is suspended on 84 spring leaves giving 33 feet main spring strength of special alloy steel of great strength and toughness.
Th; five quarter spring suspension used in this type consists of four full elliptic springs, long, wide and flexible, and four quarter springs additional.
Dual brakes of extra large diameter and surface are equipped on each rear wheel. Brake drums are pressed steel and bolted to the hub flange. The hub brakes are of the internal expanding type. The total motor-braking surface is 394 square inches. The hub brakes are provided with an equalizer to distribute the pressure to each rear wheel and are entirely enclosed with a flange protecting the brakes from dirt. In addi- tion to the hub brakes a motor brake of the band-con- tact type is used.
This model is new chiefly in the body construction and design. It is covered almost entirely with aluminum molding.
Battery is dropped low between the sills allowing of small well-rounded decks.
The side panels of the decks are integral with the body, making a substantial construction. Deck covers are hinged near the body and merely form a cover be- tween the deck panels.
Waverley roofs are made of aluminum, all of one piece, and well padded with felt and canvass to eliminate rumble. Wadding is used under all strainers to elim- inate noise.
Frameless glass is used throughout. A great deal of glass is used, the quarter windows being made larger and in addition there are small oval windows in the rear corners.
Back of the two end chairs space is reserved for golf sticks and packages, a convenient receptacle for use on shopping expeditions or trips to the country club.
Owing to its curved sill the Waverley car hangs lower than other electrics, the step and door sill being very close to the ground, while the motor and driving system have greater road clearance than the usual straight sill car affords.
Ohio Electric Climbs Lookout Mountain
A recent climb up Lookout Mountain by an Ohio electric car, with eleven passengers, has created much interest among electrical engineers, principally for the reason that this car is operated by magnetic control — the same method as is used in the cable cars which have carried thousands of people up and down this mountain.
It is claimed that this was the first electric automo- bile, operated by magnetic control, that was ever driven to Lookout Point.
The winding road leading to the top of Lookout Mountain covers a distance of about three miles, and while it is kept in good condition, it requires consider- able power to negotiate the constant upward grades.
The Ohio electric which ascended Lookout Moun- tain is the same one that climbed Stone Mountain twice,
Will Leather Solve the Tire Problem?
A leather tire specially suited to use of motor wagons and trucks has been patented by D. H. Deery of Bridge- port, Conn., which is claimed by the maker to have un- usual qualities for endurance. The tires are made to fit any size of standard wheel rim and an average shoe is made of about 600 sections of chrome tanned leather pressed by hydraulic pressure of 5,000 pounds to the square inch, which effectually consolidates it. The tire is retained in its form by a pair of half-inch steel rods that in turn are bolted to the rim.
The inventor claims that his tire is nearly as resilient as a solid rubber shoe and that it will yield about five times the mileage that will rubber. The leather is chem- ically treated and will resist water, while it is not sus- septible to the usual influences that make for the deterio- ration of rubber. The maker maintains that the tires wil give from 15,000 to 25,000 miles, according to the conditions in which they are worked.
An Ohio Ready to Climb Lookout Mountain.
and also made a trip overland to Chattanooga from At- lanta— a distance of 167 miles.
The South-Eastern states, with the possible excep- tion of one or two cities, have not previously recognized the possibilities of the electric car to any appreciable ex- tent, but have recently displayed a keener interest in this modern carriage. The three feats accomplished by the Ohio electric recently — climbing Stone Mountain twice, the overland trip from Atlanta to Chattanooga, and ascent of Lookout Mountain — have certainly proven to them the efficiency of the present day electric.
Long distance tours have been made in electric cars frequently during the past few years, which have demon- strated that this method of propulsion for pleasure cars is becoming more efficient and popular every day, as a result of the constant development of storage batteries and electrical equipment and many other refinements.
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES
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Controller and Batteries Used on Woods Electrics
Discussion by Chief Engineer R. S. Fend Explaining Advantages of Design and Arrangement
THE monthly meeting of the salesmen for Woods electrics is always an interesting and helpful event in the work of the salesmen and is recognized by them as being one of the greatest aids to efficient work on their part. It has long been the policy of the Woods Motor Vehicle Company to spend considerable time and pains in thoroughly educating its salesmen on the in- numerable points, large and small, technical and other- wise. These salesmen's meetings accomplish the desired purpose in a manner which arouses the enthusiasm of the salesman — a vitally essential factor in successful silling.
The discussion is led by R. S. Fend, chief engineer of the Woods Vehicle Company. Mr. Fend has kindly consented to allow Electric Vehicles to publish in full the discussion which covers the subject of controller and batteries in their relation to efficiency and general good service on Woods electrics. The discussion follows :
Mr. Fend : In designing a controller, like all other parts of a car, the engineer naturally first decides the question as to what the controller must do ; what he wants to do with the controller. After he has thus decided he determines which is the best way to accomplish that which it has to do.
I will try to explain to you why we use our method of con- trol, and why we think it is better, and if I am unsuccessful in explaining it, you can draw your own conclusions as to whether it is better. Our controller is simply an arrangement of contacts, controller fingers, for making contacts for connect- ing up the batteries and the motor in different combinations.
In determining what a controller should do you have to take into consideration, first, that you must regulate the speed of a car from standing still to twenty miles an hour, the maximum speed. Secondly, you must have certain definite speeds at which the car can be operated. And the third point is that you must obtain those speeds by a gradual starting of the car, and with the least loss of power. That is the point, the strong point, about our controller ; that we get all of these speeds with the least loss of power, and at the same time the speeds are far enough apart to give a good range of speed and at the same time give gradual starting.
In order to get the different range of speed, it is necessary to study what causes a different speed. That takes you to the motor, because the speed of a motor is determined by a number of different things, just the same as all other functions of the car are determined by different things. One of the things that determines the speed of the motor is the voltage of the batteries. The second point is the strength of the magnetic field. And the third one is in the design of the motor itself. That is, in the number of wires that are on the armature.
We will only consider the first two causes I have men- tioned, because they are the only two that are varied ; that really can be varied. The number of wires on the armature cannot be varied, because that is determined by the builder of the motor when the motor is made. The only two things t!hat you can vary on the motor are the strength of the field and the amount of voltage that is applied to the motor, therefore those are the two things tlhat you have got to control and change with your con- troller, and those are the two things that we do change.
Let us take the case of batteries which govern the voltage, and in turn govern the speed of the motor. The speed of the motor is directly proportional to the voltage tihat is applied to the motor. If we have eighty volts we will have twice the speed that we have from forty volts, etc. Therefore, to change the speed, one way of doing it is just simply to change the voltage, and that is what we do. In changing the voltage to the motor there are two ways in which it can be accomplished ; one is by changing the voltage of the battery itself, and the other is by not changing the voltage of the battery, but changing the voltage after it leaves the battery. The first of these two methods is the one we use ; the second is the one that a number of other manufacturers adopt, those who use a resistance with the control.
I will explain to you why we think our way is the better. The voltage of a battery is determined by the number of cells
that you have, connected in series ; the volume or the power of the current that you get out of the battery is determined by the number of batteries tihat you have connected in parallel. By halving our batteries and connecting the two halves in parallel we halve our voltage, but we double our volume. In the case of the car that has the resistance in the controller, they at all times have their full voltage and their one unit of volume; they do not change the battery connection at all.
The point that I want to make in this discussion is, that all of our batteries are used on any speed of car, and that we com- mute our batteries or place them in the position in which they are best adapted to give the amount of current that is required on the particular speed at which the car is operated. I will explain that by saying this : When a car is started from a standing start you have a given weight, the car has no momen- tum, and it naturally requires considerable energy to get the car moving and get it under speed. In order to produce the energy you have got to have the power, you have got to have volume of current. The batteries are connected in series and you have the maximum voltage, the voltage would be too high to give you the slow start that you require, and naturally you have to take some external means of reducing it. In the case of the other cars it is a resistance.
In our case the voltage is also too high, but we take a different means of reducing it. We cut our batteries in two, which in turn gives us forty volts. Forty volts in one half and forty volts in the other half. Now, forty volts are just twice as good for starting as eighty volts are, and when you connect the two halves together in parallel you have it four times as good, because you not only have half the voltage, but you have two times the volume of current, which is just what you need, as I have explained, to get your start; to give you that power when starting.
Mr. Burr : But why are forty volts better than eighty volts to start?
Mr. Fend : For the reason that I explained earlier, that the speed of a motor is determrined by its voltage. The higher the voltage the higher the speed. What you want when you start is a slow speed.
Mr. Sands: But you require the volume just the same?
Mr. Fend : You require the greater horse power, which is represented by the current.
Mr. Sands : Mr. Robinson does not understand fully what you mean by the difference in the wiring.
Mr. Robinson : Yes, I understand that, but I don't see why you get twice the volume by putting them in parallel instead of series.
Mr. Fend : I will explain that. We have a battery of eighty cells. Eighty cells, say, for instance, in our last year's car, had a capacity of twenty-eight amperes. Now, each one of those cells will give you twenty-eight amperes for four hours at two volts. Forty cells will give you twenty-eight amperes for four hours, just the same volume, but forty cells would, if they were connected in series, add up the voltage two volts per cell, and forty times two are eighty volts.
If I divide my battery into halves I have only twenty cells. Each one of those sets have twenty-eight amperes at four hours' capacity, and each one of them has two volts, which gives forty volts. You understand I was speaking of twenty cells. If I connect each one of the other twenty cells with these twenty cells I have two times the volume, or two times twenty- eight amperes, which is fifty-six amperes, for four hours.
Mr. Robinson: I see, but you have forty volts.
Mr. Fend : I have forty volts. Now, you can figure that out. As I stated before, you cannot destroy the power; you are only changing the arrangement of it. If you take fifty-six amperes and multiply by forty volts you will have the same answer as though you take eighty volts and multiply by twenty- eight amperes. In other words, it is just a different arrange- ment of the power to suit it to the performance and the work that you want to use it for. You cannot imagine a better per- formance than we have on our controller on the first and second speed, to accomplish that which you want to accomplish. You want a slower speed, and you want a gradual start, and you want more power, and you get it by cutting down the voltage of your battery, which cuts down the speed of your motor. Arid by connecting your batteries in parallel, which increases ■
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Vol. V, No. 1.
the volume of the current, you get that which you require in order to get your car in motion.
Ma. Burr : That is accomplished by other cars through the resistance.
Mr. Fend : Through the resistance. The point I want to make is right here : I made the statement that we made a gain of four times over what many others gain in using the resist- ance controller, for this reason. I explained to you that one reason is that we lower the voltage. The second reason is, we connect up our batteries to give us a greater volume of current. And the third reason is that by connecting our batteries to give us a greater volume, the current demand of the car is so light on the battery that the capacity of the battery is not reduced to the same extent as it would be if you were discharging it at a higher rate, that is, in the all series connection of batteries.
I will explain that by saying that we will assume it takes seventy-five amperes to start the car ; when you put on your controller in first speed it requires seventy-five amperes to start the car, which is not at all unusual. In the case of the resist- ance controller that seventy-five amperes is coming out of each and every one of the cells. In the case of our controller that seventy-five amperes is divided among the cells; thirty-seven and a half amperes come from each one of the cells, and twice thirty-seven and a half from the two volumes of cells, from the front and rear cells together, taken as a unit. That is the third gain.
The fourth gain is in the battery itself. That is. with a battery of one hundred ampere hours' capacity, which would mean when discharging at the four-hour rate that it would give twenty-five amperes — four times twenty-five is one hundred ampere hours. If you would discharge that battery at fifty amperes, fifty into one Ihundred would be two hours, and if the battery was of one hundred ampere hours, at the fifty ampere hour rate it would run two hours, but a battery that is of the twenty-five hour rate, for four hours, will only give you fifty amperes for about an hour and forty minutes. Likewise, that same battery when discharged at a lower rate than twenty-five amperes, say twelve and a half amperes, instead of giving you eight hours, will possibly give you ten hours, or a hundred and twenty-five hours' capacity. In other words, the harder the battery is worked beyond its rate of capacity, the quicker it loses its power; the quicker it gives it off, and the quicker it loses it. In other words, it does not give its rate of capacity unless it is discharged at the rate at which the battery was de- signed to be discharged.
Mr. Eddy : In starting a car, where the resistance is used in conjunction with the controller, and in starting our own car, the one starting on forty and the other on eighty volts, would the amperage be approximately the same?
Mr. Fend: The amperage would be the same if both cars were of the same efficiency and both the cars started with the same speed.
Mr. Eddy : Yes, that is what I mean.
Mr. Fend : To illustrate your point, suppose we consider the same model of our car, one equipped with a resistance con- troller, and one equipped with our controller. In order to get the same starting in each case, we would' have to add resistance enough in the resistance control to reduce the voltage of the batterry down to forty volts.
Mr. Eddy : Yes, but you would still be drawing eighty volts. You would still be using eighty volts and drawing about the same amperage.
Mr. Fend : The battery would show the same number of volts, but if you were to read the voltage at the motor you would find it was only forty volts. In that case the car would start with the same speed with both controls.
Mr. Eddy : You would be exhausting your battery twice as fast.
Mr. Fend : You would be exhausting your battery more than twice as fast, approximately four times as fast, because you are taking that full seventy-five amperes to start your car, out of each one of the cells, where in the other case you are taking thirty-seven and one4ialf amperes out of each one of your cells, and the battery will give you a much greater capacity, a battery that is discharged at thirty-seven and one-half amperes instead of seventy-five amperes, which is the case in the battery in series.
Mr. Eddy : The reason it occurred to me was that last winter we had an experience of that kind where both of us were pulling through a snow drift on second speed, all the way into town, and the man who was drawing on series pointed out the fact that he was drawing no more amperage than I was.
Mr. Fend: On series or third1 speed?
Mr. Eddy : On series.
Mr. Fend: Perhaps he was not, if his car were as efficient ' as vours.
Mr. Eddy : Yes, but at (he same time he was exhausting his battery twice as fast.
Mr. Fend: His battery would not run as far as yours. If his car were as efficient as yours he should be taking the same number of amperes.
Mr. Eddy : Yes, and he was exhausting his battery four times as fast.
Mr. Sands : Mr. Fend, isn't it true that when our ammeter
would show thirty, for example, in first and second speeds,
that that would not indicate as great a current draft of the
batteries as when it was showing thirty amperes in third speed?
Mr. Fend: That is true.
Mr. Sands: It would be approximately the same as giving fifteen amperes on third speed1.
Mr. Fend: Yes, just exactly the same, because the ampere- meter on the car shows the total number of amperes required to drive the car. Your battery is divided, and each half of your battery is giving you one-half of the current.
Mr. Eddy : That was the case of the car that I was speaking of. We both traveled at practically the same speed, and both drawing practically the same amperage, but they were showing eighty volts and I was showing forty volts.
Mr. Fend : That is the point. Now, if you were operating on third speed and1 they were also operating on third speed, and both of your batteries were in series, then you would be operating under the same conditions. Mr. Eddy : Yes, I see that.
Mr. Fend : And if either of you made a greater mileage per charge it would be due to the efficiency of the car and the capacity of the battery.
Mr. Eddy : Yes, I appreciate that. I was speaking merely of where we were in parallel and they were in series on second speed, because that is the speed we were traveling on.
Mr. Fend : We will now take up the change of speed which is due to the motor. We have explained the change of speed which is due to the batteries, and in the case of the motor the change of speed can be accomplished by connecting the fields on the motor to accomplish practically the same result as in the case of a battery. Only, as I explained earlier in the evening, there are two ways which are at our command of changing the speed of the motor: one is by changing the volt- age and1 the otiher by the strength of the field. The battery arrangement, which is the voltage, as I have explained to you, and the commutation of the field, which is the strength of the field of the motor.
Having received all the benefit of changing the voltage of the batteries, we have to resort to changing the fields, and we do that by connecting the fields in parallel and in series just exactly the same way as we connected the batteries in parallel. The comparison of the two is very similar. You connect your fields just like the batteries, if they are connected in series you have the carrying capacity of one wire, that is, the carrying capacity of the one size of wire with which these fields are wound. And if you connect those fields in parallel, you will be cutting it in half.
There are four fields in the motor, and the center is the armature. There are your four poles. Just as I explained to you in the case of the batteries, in this case, it would go around through this field coil, and go to the next one, and so on until the current has traveled through all of the coils. In that arrangement the fields of the motors are in series, and Aat arrangement gives you the strongest field, the strongest magnetic field, and the slowest speed. If we connect the fields in parallel we reduce the strength of our magnetic field, but we permit an arrangement of the field which allows more current to flow through the motor, and that current gives you the greater volume of power.
If this arrangement shows the fields in series, I will show you one that shows it in parallels. In this case again we have to do as we did in the case of the batteries, that is. divide it. We divided the battery into two parts ; let us divide the fields into two parts. Now, if we divide it evenly we can trace out the flow of the current and show that the current takes two paths. In this case suppose we had fifty amperes flowing. When it comes to a certain point it has two paths. So twenty-five amperes will go each way. They will again unite, so that fifty amperes result again. And this current in turn comes out into the motor and from there out to the negative line of the battery. First, let me say that the stronger the magnetic field the slower the speed of the motor. The higher the voltage the faster the speed of the motor. I will explain to you why with these fields and series we get a slower speed, if you will just re- member that the stronger the field the slower the speed. If the car requires fifty amperes to drive it, that fifty amperes has to
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES
31
go through every one of the coils. You will notice here that there are twenty-five amperes going through when t'hey are in parallel. Now. I will only have to go through one coil there to show you that there are twenty-five amperes going through there, and the magnetic field is dependent entirely upon the number of amperes that pass through that wire. In other words, I can tell you exactly the strength of the magnet in which I know the number of turns of wire around the magnet, and the number of amperes that are flowing. I multiply the number of turns by the amperes that gives the number of ampere turns, and the given number of ampere turns on the iron core give you the strength of the mag- netic field, and that strength of magnetic field diminishes the speed of the. motor. Now, in this series position that full fifty amperes have to go through every one of those coils in this way to this point. In this case, when they are in parallel, the fifty amperes divided to twenty-five amperes only go through the coil ; twenty-five through that one ; twenty- five through the other one. Here they united into fifty amperes again. In each case the motor is doing fifty amperes of work, and as the power of the motor is governed by the number of amperes flowing through it, the power that the motor developed in each case would be exactly the same if the speed were the same. But if the fields were in series the speed would only be one-half as great as though they were in parallel.
Mr. Sands: But the power would be equal?
Mr. Fend : No, the power would not be equal. The speed would be half as great.
I know that you are all familiar with the different arrange- ments of the batteries, and the controller on our cars, but for those who may not understand it I will describe it, and then as you read the report of this meeting you can figure out for yourselves why the different arrangement of speeds takes place.
The first speed commutes the batteries in parallel, which gives us one-half the voltage, forty volts, and two times the volume of current, and on this same speed we have the fields in series, which gives us the strong magnetic field and the slow speed. Now, bear in mind on that point that everything is done to get the slowest possible speed and the greatest possible power. That is what is required.
Second speed. On second speed we want a slight increase in speed, so we will change one of the parts only; therefore, the second speed consists of batteries in parallel, the same as they were on first speed, that is. forty volts, and you put the fields of the motor in parallel, which causes a little higher speed.
Third speed. We put the batteries in series, which increases the voltage to eighty volts, and we put the fields back in the series position, because the difference between forty volts and eighty volts would give us too much of an increase in speed, so we correct that to a certain extent by changing the fields back to series, the same as they were in the first speed.
Fourth speed. We leave the batteries in series as they were on the third speed — eighty volts — and we change the fields to parallel position for an additional increase in speed, which is proportional to the increase in speed that we get from first speed to second speed.
Mr. Robinson : Then the idea of the relation of the field's to the motor is that of releasing it rather than pushing it; is that the idea? The less current you have in the fields, the more freely the motor spins, is that the idea?
Mr. Fend : The less current you have in your fields the greater the speed. That is due to this fact. The number of wires that are laid on an armature in the slots bear a certain relation to the voltage that is applied to the motor, and the strength of the field. If one of them is varied it must be made up by one of the others, because the relation that exists between the voltage, speed and the number of wires always exists re- gardless of what speed the motor is running at, and if one of the items is changed it must be counteracted by some other item. In order to bear that same relation, if the field is weak- ened the number of wires remain the same, the voltage remains the same. If the field is weakened the speed has got to increase.
Mr. Robinson : Then the idea is that the magnetic attrac- tion of the fields either retards or releases the motor according to the amount of power that is in the fields.
Mr. Fend : Well, the magnetic attraction is determined again by the number of amperes flowing through these wires. That has no particular bearing on the point that you are making, as I will show you. At this point here the fifty amperes are divided, and twenty-five amperes are going through each part of the fields, but right at the end of the fields the fifty amperes unite again and go through every one of the armature wires.
Mr. Robinson : Why does the armature spin faster at twenty-five amperes through the fields than it does at fifty
amperes through the fields, and fifty amperes still go to the armature ?
Mr. Fend: Because the fifty amperes are flowing through the armature in each case but in one case each field has twenty- five amperes flowing through and the other case fifty amperes, therefore the field is one-half as strong in one case as in the other.
Mr. Sand : Isn't that the thing, Mr. Fend, that you ex- plained the other night about fifth speed? You shoot more into the armature than into the fields, with the result that you get greater speed.
Mr. Fend : Yes. As I explained to you, the characteristic of a motor is such that with a weaker field the speed is in- creased. The characteristic of an armature is such that the greater number of amperes going through the armature the greater the power you get out of it.
Mr. Robinson : It is something like a governor on a motor?
Mr. Fend: The power to drive the car acts as a governor; that is the only governor that comes into action. _ If you are driving the car at a given speed along the road it requires a given amount of power to drive the car. Now, if you are increasing the current in the armature you are increasing the power of the motor, and consequently having the greater power at the motor it is going to drive the car faster. Does that explain your point?
Mr. Robinson : The only thing I had reference to is : the less power there is coming through the fields, the more through the armature, the faster the motor spins.
Mr. Fend: That is true, but the power that goes through the fields is the same as goes through the armature, only it goes through a different arrangement. In other words, there are fifty amperes going through the field, but they are going through in a different way than they went through, which gives the increase in speed. Twenty-five amperes through two fields and twenty-five amperes going through the other two fields gives fifty amperes, because I have got fifty amperes in each case, but I changed the way in which they go through in order to accomplish the result I want to accomplish, and that is to weaken the field, which gives you an increase in speed. That is one of the characteristics of a motor.
Mm. Smith: You are reversing the current, aren't you?
Mr. Fend : No.
Mr. Smith : You are reversing the action when you say, fields in multiple.
Mr. Fend : No.
Mr. Smith: You are driving your current both ways?
Mr. Fend : No. *
Mr. Smith: You are stopping the negative?
Mr. Fend : No. Here is a rule that you learn when you first start in elementary electricity at school. If you look at the second hand of your watch, and figure that there is an "S" on the second hand of your watch, you can determine the direc- tion of the current. If the wire is running around the iron core the same as the second hand is going around, and the currents going through that wire in the same direction, then that magnetic pole that is pointing up there will be a south pole. "S," that means south. I learned a different rule. If the wire is coming around this way and the current coming around that way, your thumb will be pointing to the north pole. Now, if what you said was true you will be very apt to have your fields bucking against each other. Now, if we have a case here where the iron core is in here this way (illustrating), and this current coming around that way, this will be a south pole (indicating), and if we turn it that will be a north pole (indi- cating). These coils are so placed on here that this will be north and this will be south. Regardless of whether this current is divided, or how it is, the coils will be put on in this way, and remember, I just show these wires, for each one of these wires actually goes to the controller, and the controller makes the connection and directs the direction of the current through the field coils.
Mr. Smith : There was perhaps some Confusion