HARDWOOD RECORD 



Use of Hardwoods in Automobiles, Sleighs 

 and 'Bicycles. 



The construction of automobiles is of in- 

 terest to lumbermen — only with regard to the 

 bodies and wheels, however, as the rest of the 

 gear is of metal in practically every case. 

 From the construction point of view the auto- 

 mobile is a combination of carriage and loco- 

 motive engine, whether the propelling power 

 be gasoline, electricity or steam. At first the 

 automobile was used only for pleasure, and 

 the body and wheels of such vehicles follow 

 the general characteristics of carriage con- 

 struction, but the entry of the autotruck into 

 commerce has necessitated the use of the 

 heavier woods that belong to wagon building. 



As the wagon and the carriage have al- 

 ready been treated in this series of articles 

 it remains only to consider aspects of automo- 

 bile body and wheel building that are more 

 or less peculiar to this form of vehicle. Au- 

 tomobiles have not yet reached the variety 

 in construction and employment of the horse- 

 drawn vehicle, but, as is well known, its manu- 

 facturers and friends look forward to a time 

 when it will have wholly superseded the horse. 

 In the carriage line it has been applied to 

 most forms except the hearse, and it will 

 )>robably be a long time before undertakers 

 \\\\\ adopt it, for the spectacle of a motor 

 lirealving down, or the chassis getting out of 

 {.ear, would not conduce to maintaining the 

 .ertMunnial gravity of proceedings; the "chug, 

 <'hug ■ ■ and the odor of gasoline would be 

 ether disagreeable features of the "auto- 

 liearse;" and long-hallowed custom is always 

 a serious obstacle for the progressive man to 

 buck against, especially when religion stands 

 back of the custom. Yet it is known that 

 some automobile men are figuring upon this 

 very thing, so that the "autohearse" may 

 eventually become a reality. 



The automobile has already been applied to 

 the uses of the retail delivery wagon and the 

 large delivery truck, and in the form of a 

 three-wheeled motorcycle has brought into 

 being a new type in the shape of the little 

 delivery auto, which has proved very useful, 

 but which in its common form contains little 

 or no wood. 



When one hears the word ' ' automobile ' ' 

 the picture that comes into one 's mind is a 

 pleasure car, as it is in this field of .vehicle 

 employment that the horseless wagon has thus 

 far attained its chief development, and even 

 here the auto has by no means ceased to be 

 regarded as a curiosity. In the carriage auto, 

 as in its horse-drawn prototype, lightness is 

 sought, in so far at least as it is consistent 

 with strength. The bodies are usually made 

 with ash framework and poplar panels, as in 

 carriage construction, but pressed steel and 

 aluminum panels are said to be growing in 

 favor. Roofs for limousines and other roofed 

 autos of the pleasure tjrpe are often made of 

 wood in three layers, the under side being 

 mahogany and the two upper poplar. Ma- 



hogany, and sometimes birch, are used for 

 window frames in limousines and for trim- 

 mings. Wooden wheel rims, when used in the 

 steering gear, are generally of a single piece 

 of maple bent to a perfect circle. 



Most carriage autos have wooden wheels 

 with metal hubs. The wood employed is al- 

 most always hickory, though ash is said to be 

 sometimes substituted. Auto wheels must be 

 solid, and therefore the spokes and rims make 

 up in thickness what they lack in other dimen- 

 sions. Oak, the wood universally utilized for 

 spokes and generally for rims in heavy 

 wagons, is never used, as hickory possesses 

 an obvious advantage in standing the heavy 

 jolts which the auto is constantly receiving. 

 The wheels are often ' ' dished, ' ' but the prac- 

 tice is not universal among automobile 

 makers, for reasons which it is not necessary 

 to enter into here. Automobile wheels are of 

 the same size front and back, as the mode of 

 steering is different from that which is uni- 

 versal in wagon and carriage building, and 

 also because the method is thougnt to secure 

 better distribution of load. Racing cars often 

 have solid disks for wheels, which in such 

 cases are of metal. The object of this is to 

 avoid "windage" or the effect of wind upon 

 the spokes, which is said to seriously retard 

 the speed of the car. Wire wheels were for- 

 merly used for autos of all descriptions, but 

 these have been practically abandoned. 



Motor frames are sometimes of wood with 

 iron armor, but the use of wood in any form 

 is the exception. 



The automobile industry as a market for 

 hardwoods is a product of the last few years, 

 though private vehicles driven by steam and 

 other means are of much older origin. So far 

 as we know they were first thought of by the 

 monk and scholar Soger Bacon, who lived in 

 the thirteenth century, and is not to be con- 

 founded with Sir Francis of the same sur- 

 name, who was a coutemporary of William 

 Shakespeare. Bacon foresaw the time when 

 we would be able to "propel carriages with 

 incredible speed without the assistance of any 

 animal." 



Our English cousins will tell us that vehicles 

 on runners should be called "sleds" or 

 ' ' sledges, ' ' and that ' ' sleigh " is a barbarous 

 Americanism, but we believe it is our privi- 

 lege to modify John Bull's speech as we 

 choose. 



Sleighs and sleds vary in construction and 

 material according to their uses. Sleighs de- 

 rive their construction from the carriage. 

 Hickory is the gear material and the runners 

 should be of bent hickory. Bodies generally 

 have ash framework and poplar panels, ex- 

 cept that dashboards are frequently made of 

 basswood, which is preferred by some high- 

 grade makers because it submits more readily 

 to the bending process than does poplar, and 

 sleigh dashboards are generally handsomely 



bent in graceful curves. Bed gum is also 

 much used for bodies. 



Farm and mountain bob and delivery sleds 

 are made of heavier material. The runners 

 are of oak, bent or sawed, just as in heavy 

 wheeled vehicles the wheels are more likely 

 to be of oak than anything else. Other gear 

 parts are generally of rock elm i nd maple. 

 The box may be a wagon box temporarily 

 shifted from the wagon gear for the season, 

 or a lighter box of the delivery type, and 

 often, as in logging operations, no box what- 

 ever is needed. 



Lumber enters more largely va.\. i the con- 

 struction of the modern bicycle than the aver- 

 age man realizes, although steel and iron 

 are the chief materials in it, as they represent 

 a combination of great lightness and strength 

 that wood does not possess. If the history of 

 cycle-making had followed the lead given by 

 the first maker bicycles would be all-wood 

 vehicles today; for the pioneer bicycle, made 

 early in the nineteenth century, was entirely 

 of wood. It was an extremely crude affair, 

 propelled by the rider pushing his feet against 

 the ground. 



All-wood bicycles have not been manufac- 

 tured much the past few years, but a cycle 

 called the ' ' Hickory, ' ' with framework and 

 wheels of that sturdy timber, was made not 

 so very long ago by the Hickory Bicycle Com- 

 pany, a concern practically owned by the 

 Pope Manufacturing Company, whose posi- 

 tion in the cycle business is well known. Han- 

 dle bars are stiJl made of bent hickory, and 

 of bent maple also, though steel is by far a 

 more common material. Hickory is also some- 

 times used *or the wheel-rims, ^ut the favor 

 ite wood is maple, with elm as second choice. 

 Ninety-five per cent of the cycle wheel rims 

 made are of wood. Until recently the pro- 

 portion was even greater — ninety-nine per 

 cent — but there is now a tendency toward 

 more extensive use of steel. The objection to 

 hickory as a wood for wheel rims is that it 

 warps more readily than maple or rock elm. 

 Handles, or ' ' grips, ' ' to employ the trade 

 name, are usually of maple wood, with steel 

 core and leather covering. Cork grips, once 

 popular, are no longer used. Saddles in high- 

 grade vehicles are of laminated wood covered 

 with hair and leather. 



On ladies' bicycles the guards are as often 

 of wood as of metal. The metal guard has 

 come into wide use during the past year or 

 so, and about fifty per cent of ladies' wheels 

 now being turned out are supplied with these. 



Bamboo tubing is said to have been made, 

 but a well-known bicycle man, whose expe- 

 rience goes back over many years, says he 

 never has seen it, and believes that if such a 

 tubing was ever put upon the market it was 

 some other wood finished in bamboo style for 

 a "talking point." 



Charles K' >• nvR 



