Part 13 (1/2)

BUTLER

About the same time that Daimler and Benz were at work, Butler, an Englishman, was studying to make a hydro-carbon engine. He had drawings in 1884 and got out a patent in 1887. He built a tricycle soon after that date. This had two front wheels as steering wheels and a rear wheel driven by a two-cylinder engine. But Butler did not carry his plans further, for, as he wrote in 1890, ”the authorities do not countenance its use on roads, and I have abandoned in consequence any further development of it.”

LE BLANT

The steam carriage that Le Blant, of France, built carried nine pa.s.sengers, and its weight, fuel and water included, was three and one-half tons. The engine was three-cylinder horizontal, and the boiler, a Serpollet instantaneous generator, was placed behind the carriage, the fireman beside it and the driver in front.

EMILE DELAHAYE

Delahaye, of Tours, a.s.sociated himself with the firm of Cail in 1870, spending some years in Belgium, but in 1890 the automobile so attracted him as to lead him to the construction of his first vehicle. For ten years he practically adhered to the horizontal engine under the seat, which construction we find him using in 1900. It is worthy of note that to Delahaye is given credit for the practical adaptation of the radiator in the arrangement now generally used in the cooling system.

ROGER

Roger, of Paris, was the French licensee for Benz, taking up that motor much in the same manner as Panhard & Leva.s.sor took up the Daimler. In fact he had such close relations with Benz as to guide the further development of both. To this extent he was doubtless largely responsible for converting Benz to the four-cycle instead of the two-cycle construction, and he is also credited with having brought about the change from the vertical crank shaft to the horizontal in the Benz cars. Making good headway in 1894, he had produced fifty or more machines by 1895, and ran one in the Paris-Bordeaux race of that year. He brought a car to New York in 1896, and took part in the Cosmopolitan race, from New York to Ardsley and return.

GEORGES RICHARD

In 1893, Georges Richard began cycle manufacturing in a small shop and two years later turned his business into a limited corporation. In 1897, he began the manufacture of automobiles. His motor is a development of the Benz, with ignition improvement.

POCHAIN

Pochain, in France, built in 1893 a six-seated phaeton with fifty-four cells of battery, which would seem to have been practically the first satisfactory vehicle of its kind.

LOUIS KRIEGER

Early in the nineties of the last century Krieger made an electric vehicle. About 1894, he introduced his four-pa.s.senger hack, converted by subst.i.tuting an electric fore carriage for the front axle of an ordinary vehicle. He has since developed his electric vehicles in the cla.s.s of city carriages. A touring car, built for England, called the Powerful, made in 1901 notable records in that country in a long tour through the Isles. The princ.i.p.al work of Krieger, however, has been in the development of front drive and steer construction.

DEDETRICH

Baron DeDetrich is of the well-known house that claims to have been founded more than one hundred years ago in Luneville, Alsace, and has grown to be one of the greatest works for the manufacture of locomotives and other machinery. In 1880 the concern is said to have employed four thousand men. Its connection with the automobile industry began practically in 1895, when the construction of automobiles on the system of Amedee Bollee & Sons was undertaken. With large resources and ability development was naturally rapid, resulting in the production to-day of one of the first-cla.s.s French makes.

DAVID SALOMONS

Sir David Salomons, Bart., was born in England, in 1851. He was educated for a short period at University College, London, and afterwards at Caius College, Cambridge, where he was graduated with natural science honors. He is a member of the Inst.i.tution of Electrical Engineers, where he took leading part for many years on the Council, and served in the positions of honorary treasurer and vice-president. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, of the Physical Society of London, and of the Royal Microscopical Society, and an a.s.sociate of the Inst.i.tution of Civil Engineers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR DAVID SALOMONS]

Sir David was one of the first in England to adopt the electric light.

This was about the year 1874, when he found it necessary to make the lamps, switches and other apparatus himself, as those were un.o.btainable at the time; much of the apparatus in general use to-day has been copied from his models. About 1874-5, he constructed a small electrical road carriage, which was in use a short time only, owing to the trouble of re-charging batteries, as no acc.u.mulators existed at that period. Devoting himself largely to scientific investigation he is the author of various works on scientific subjects, such as photographic optical formulae, photography and electrical subjects, his chief work being his three-volume Electric Light Installations, now entering its ninth edition. Of this work, the first volume on Acc.u.mulators was for a great many years the only practical work on the subject. He is also the author of many papers read before scientific societies, including the Royal Society and Royal Inst.i.tution.