Archibald Montgomery Low 149 



One more prediction — a forecast for to-morrow rather 

 than the remote future — is Professor Low's idea as to 

 how the motor-car will develop during the next few years. 

 It should be remembered, by the way, that he is a Vice- 

 President of the Junior Car Club and the Auto-Cycle 

 Union, and that he was awarded the degree of Doctor of 

 Science by an American university for research carried 

 out in connexion with the internal combustion engine 

 and for original investigation into acoustical problems. 

 The Professor believes that we differ from savages only 

 in that we speed up our life and obtain more comfort in 

 order to allow our brains to be less enthralled bv our 

 bodies. For that reason he welcomes the prospect of 

 motor-car development outstripping all present ideas 

 on that subject: 



The changes in the bodywork of cars will be great ; the pre- 

 vailing model will be stream-lined, flexible, totally enclosed, 

 with its four or six disc wheels shrouded. The engine of the 

 present, with its dirt, noise, smell, and constant need of atten- 

 tion, wastes over 80 per cent, of the money expended on it; 

 this state of affairs will not be tolerated by the engineer of the 

 future. The heat now given to jacket and exhaust will cer- 

 tainly not all be allowed to go to waste. The engine of the 

 future will most probably be of the injection type or the petrol 

 steam turbine, totally enclosed and certainly not requiring 

 attention more than once a year. The largest touring cars, if 

 of reciprocating type as to engine, will not be of more than 

 1000 c.c, and the combination of steel and aluminium will be 

 used to a great extent. 



Eventually, in centuries to come, power for propelling 

 mechanical vehicles may be picked up from cables laid under 

 all the main roads and tapped through a meter as required. 

 This system will perhaps give way to beam- wireless or inductive 

 power tapped from the air at any time or place. This will 

 reduce the engine space required very considerably, all power 

 being broadcast continually from several stations. Even aero- 

 planes might be operated by this means. 



