CATALOG OF THE AUTOMOBILE COLLECTION 19 



set at 90° to each other. The normal speed of the engine was about 

 400 revolutions per minute. The cylinders and steam chest are thickly 

 lagged with asbestos. 



About 3 brake horsepower was developed with a cut-off giving a 

 mean pressure of about 50 pounds. With no cut-off, and with maxi- 

 mum steam pressure, about 10 to 12 brake horsepower could be 

 developed for short periods. For its day this was a fairly high horse- 

 power-to-weight ratio, as the car weighs only about 700 pounds. For 

 this reason the early steam cars could generally outperform the heav- 

 ier, gasoline-engine-powered vehicles for short spurts. 



The wheels are of the cycle type with tangent spokes and steel rims, 

 and carry 28-by-2i/^-inch, single-tube, pneumatic tires. 



RIKER ELECTRIC AUTOMOBILE, Ca. 1900 



U. S. N. M. No. 310470 ; original ; gift of Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth in 1932 ; photo- 

 graph No. 13186; plate 12, a. 



At the beginning of the twentieth century the electric motor was a 

 perfected machine as compared to the gasoline engine, with the result 

 that electric vehicles were correspondingly quieter, cleaner, and more 

 dependable than the early gasoline cars. This was reflected in the con- 

 struction of luxurious closed vehicles, such as this one, several years 

 before closed bodies appeared generally on gasoline automobiles. This 

 vehicle was built by the Riker Motor Vehicle Co., of Elizabethport, 

 N.J. 



The frame of the vehicle consists of tubular front and rear axles, 

 connected by tubular side members, the whole strengthened at its front 

 corners by short tubular diagonal members. The front wheels, 30 

 inches in diameter and mounting solid rubber tires, are mounted on 

 pivoted steering knuckles that are connected by a tubular tie rod. 

 The outside diameter of the front tires is now about 34 inches, but some 

 wear, of necessity, has taken place. The tire size does not appear on the 

 tires. The rear wheels are 36 inches in diameter. They mount solid 

 rubber tires 41 inches in outside diameter and are marked 42 by 3i/^. 

 All four wheels are of the artillery type, having wooden spokes and 

 felloes. 



A large electric motor made by the Electric Vehicle Co., of Hart- 

 ford, Conn., is mounted in front of each end of the rear axle. Each 

 motor is geared directly to a large spur gear bolted to the spokes of 

 its respective rear wheel. The gear ratio from wheel to motor is ap- 

 proximately 10 to 1. 



Springs at the front and rear of the frame support the body. The 

 front springs consist of a transverse semielliptic pair, the one mounted 

 over the other so that the arch of the inverted upper one is clamped to 



