By C. Kihm Richardson Walking from Strykersville ... - Fulton History

APRIL 1978 .
Memories of Java and Strykersville (continued)
I was born in 1908 but I don't remember even
seeing an automobile until about 1914. Some automobiles
had ventured out to the Java area before
that but roads into Buffalo had only recently been
hard surfaced, side roads were not even good
gravel. Moving of materials such as gravel onto
roads had to be accomplished with horse and wagon.
Such things as auto agencies, gas stations, garages
were practically non-existent in the country. Sears
Roebuck had earlier sold automobiles by catalog;
this was a buggy wheel type delivered by railway
car to the local area. The first gasoline pump I
remember was a one gallon piston and cylinder
type. The garage mechanic had rigged up a rod to
push a ball bearing over into a hopper on each
stroke so there could be no mik up on the amount
pumped. Another early pump had a glass container
of 5 to 10 gallons on top of the pump where the
gas was pumped and measured, then drained into
the automobile tank.
Gasoline was used for stationary gasoline engines
before automobiles madetheirway into this area, so
gasoline and kerosene were delivered by horse
drawn vehicles. The various different shaped one
gallon cans had not yet been produced. Syrup cans
were avilable at any hardware store, in fact, made
at Java Village. This resulted in their being used
for many purposes such as lubricating oil as it was
called then rather that motor oil. This resulted in
some problems, one I know of when syrup was inadvertently
added to the crankcase of the first
small dump truck bought by the town where I lived.
As soon as the syrup and oil mixture was heated,
the syrup candied and after the engine had been
stopped and allowed to cool the pistons were stuck
solid. Only by steaming the disassembled engine
was it possible to use it again. Of course the cause
of the trouble was not known until they had this
engine all torn to pieces and the problem was traced
back to the syrup.
Automobiles were not nearly so dependable as
in later years. Broken axles were not uncommon,
engines were overhauled every 3 or 10 thousand
miles; did they need it? I have always had a question
in my mind. After being overhauled they were
towed because the rings, pistons and bearings were
set up so tight. Bearings were of babbeted type,
scraped to fit.
The automobile manufacturers by 1912 began
experimenting with methods of starting other than
by crank. There were other methods than with an
electric motor, such as compressed air and a
combustible gas stored in a cylinder. The cheap
cars did not go in for this added feature for some
years but for one well known make you could buy
a rachet and a cable that could be pulled from
inside the car to give the engine a quarter turn,
this would have been in the 20's. 1912 saw the
start of enclosed cars, but open cars with their
side curtains continued to predominate for many
years.
PAGE 89
Headlights were probably originally oil but the
first I remember were acetyline supplied from a
cylinder on the running board. The first electric
lights that I remember ran off a magneto, and if
the lights were too dim, you released the clutch
to let the engine speed up to give a burst of light.
Tires were a problem, I mean really a problem,
until they started making what they called cord
tires about the time of the first World War; even
these left some thing to be desired. The cemented
fabric type that woulci heat and fail because the
layers were not vulcanized to each other continued
in use for a time after that. Earlier cars were advertised
as equipped with a tube patching outfit. A
trip of any distance like 50 miles was expected to
include patching tires.
In the early 20's a great achievement with a car
was being able to go up a hill such as the one to
Java Center in high gear. This was what is now
called Pitt Road, at that time the only road to
Java Center. The new road was built in about 1928
following some of the route that had been planned
for the electric railway of about 1900.
Pictured is Mrs. Lena Kihm the maternal
grandmother of the author. '
The four wheel brakes and actuation by hydraulics
came along in the 20's. Of course when they first
came out there were those who argued that having
brakes on the front wheels would never work out.
Automobiles have improved since the 20's with
higher compression, better tires, lower suspension
because of better roads, but the advancement
there has been small compared with the airplane,
television, travel to the moon, electronics,
etc. These have all made greater and greater use
of fossil produced energy in lieu of the sweat of the
human brow or animals to raise the standard of
living. Who knows how long this will last?
(continued on page 90)