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284 ILLUSTRATED WORLD
is as essential as the oil is in the other.
Without the use of it the car will soon
begin to give very poor results, even as
the gears will give trouble if they are
run dry. These parts requiring attention
are easily accessible and the necessity of
such attention is very easily seen in little
burns and collections of foreign matter
wdiich must be removed by abrasion,
with sandpaper and not with anything
else. The job is done in a very few
minutes and in total absence of the black
muck and grease characteristic of the
gear box.
The magnetic transmission eliminates
gear shifting which is often nerve racking
and noisy. It eliminates clutch operation
which is irksome. It eliminates the
auxiliary starting motor and generator,
thus doing away with two complex machines
often out of order and almost
always noisy. It permits an application
of power through a cushion of air, wdiich
absorbs all the shocks of vibration and
acceleration. It permits a steady application
of power, which is obtainable
in the mechanical transmission only by a
multiplicity of cylinders, most nearly approached
in the double six. This, of
course, gives a steady control of the
engine wdiich allows the machine to
mount obstacles very easily, and provides
a magical "pick-up".
To illustrate the foregoing point, the
car may be placed with its front wdieels
against a ten inch curb, and then slowly
and steadily driven up and over it. No
rigid mechanical transmission will permit
that. It may be moved "in high" so
slowly that the movement is barely perceptible
and from that speeded up to the
point where the motorcycle police begin
to take notice, wdthout any seeming effort
at all.
The car may be placed on a forty per
cent incline, and with one of the lozuer
magnetic speeds engaged, stand perfectly
stationary without the use of any brake!
Then, if the motor speed is increased
the car will start and climb the hill, or
if, instead, the motor speed is reduced
the car wdll back down the hill slowly.
Another great feature is the magnetic
brake, wdiich is a natural result of this
construction. Descending a hill, this
brake, applied by simply placing the controller
lever in the neutral position, will
check the speed of the car to about fifteen
miles per hour, regardless of the steepness
of the hill.
Still another is the fact that the engine
exerts its power upon the car only in a
propulsive manner. By that is meant
that the engine is free to slow down
under a closed throttle, without pulling
down the car's speed with it. Removing
one's foot from the throttle pedal instantly
permits the engine to idle, without
regard to the momentum of the car
until the car loses its own headway either
by braking or by being permitted to coast
its speed out. When the car's speed has
diminished to the same relative speed as
the idling motor the two are automatically
reunited and the engine again propels
the car.
There are disadvantages to the magnetic
transmission perhaps, but the
writer, practically experienced on both
types, has not
found the magnetic
transmission a bad
buy.