1908.] on the Modern Motor Car and its Effects. 157 



Pressed steel frames are now everywhere used instead of the weak 

 metal or wooden frames of earlier days, while improvements in 

 carburation, or in other words improvements in the volatilisation of 

 petrol spirit by the passage of air through it, are being made every 

 day. Apparatus for speed changing has been greatly improved, 

 while the addition of a small dynamo, generally called a magneto, 

 actuated from the secondary shaft, is common enough in most cars 

 nowadays, enabling the storage battery to a great extent to be 

 dispensed with. Toughened axles have added their share to the 

 increased safety of motorists, while last, but not least, is the improve- 

 ment made in pneumatic tyres, the prices of which are becoming 

 cheaper, while the durability is becoming greater with every 

 succeeding year. 



Perhaps the most remarkable improvement has been in the 

 direction of the production of more and more horse-power for the- 

 same weight. Eleven years ago a 6 h.p. Daimler car weighed about 

 28 cwt., and was fitted with an engine producing little more than 

 6 h.p. To-day there are four-cylinder cars, which, while weighing- 

 less than 25 cwt. have engines capable of developing at least 50 h.p., 

 while there are many which weigh, with the carriage work all 

 complete, about 22 cwt., which have engines ranging from 15 

 h.p. to 80 h.p. This has naturally made for greater economy in 

 upkeep. I here give a table showing the fall in the price of horse- 

 power : — 



Prices per Horse-Power. 



To deal with the effects of the motor car on road construction 

 and maintenance, it is interesting to reflect that up to twelve years 

 ago there were many main roads in this country which were almost 

 grass-grown in the summer, while in other places they were often in 

 such a bad condition that it was almost impossible to drive a vehicle 

 at any pace along them. The road, for instance, between Inverness 

 and Perth, ever since the construction of the Highland Railway 

 between these two points, had fallen into such a state of disuse that 

 when I first crossed it, some ten years ago, there were long stretches 



