Apr. 1. 1912 



195 



Wesley Foster and the Brush Runabout, purchased by the State of Colorado for use in bee Inspection. 



AN AMATEUR AUTOIST 



Some Knowledge Gained by Experience with a 

 Brush Runabout 



BY WESLEY FOSTER 



Automobiles are taking such an important 

 place in the beekeeping world that possibly 

 my first month's experience with one may 

 be interesting and valuable to the owner 

 who is already or soon will be in the same 

 fix that I am. December 1, 1911, I knew 

 almost nothing about autos except that they 

 have been honking at me at every crossing, 

 and throwing dirt and burnt gasoline into 

 my lungs ever since Bryan ran for president. 

 Previous to December 1 had enjoyed perhaps 

 three rides in automobiles. I had also run 

 my uncle's gasoline-engine to operate a 

 buzz-saw for making some bee supplies. 

 The extent of my knowledge had been in 

 reading advertisements and watching the 

 changing models from year to year. I knew- 

 that, to be right up to the times, one must 

 have a new auto about every six months, 

 but I did not know the use of a carbureter, 

 spark plug, magneto, nor the various levers. 



On Dec. 1 the State purchased a Brush 

 runabout for my use in bee inspection, 

 and since that time I have been getting ac- 

 quainted with nuts, burrs, grease of three 

 kinds and oil of two, well scattered over my 

 anatomy and clothes. I have washers and 

 burrs in every pocket, and nuts and screws 

 in my pocketbook. 



December 2 I went to Denver to bring the 

 runabout to Boulder. The Overland Auto 

 Co., from whom the auto was purchased, 

 sent a young man along to show me how to 

 run it. We left Denver about S : 30 p.m. for 

 the 32-miIe drive to Boulder. The mechan- 

 ic ran the machine to the outskirts of Den- 

 ver and slowed up to let me take the st( er- 

 ing wheel. A sudden crack, and our plate- 

 glass windshield curled right over the en- 

 gine shield! The nuts of both braces of the 

 windshield were g^ne and the bolts were 

 lest. We had not seen that everything was 

 tight before starting. 



V\"e took off the windshield, and my com- 

 panion carried it in his hands the rest of the 

 way. I got along well running the auto on 

 the straight road; but when it came to pass- 

 ing a hay-rack I nearly alwa\ s forgot for an 

 instant just what to do, and would put on 

 the brake, thus throwing the engine out of 

 gear, so that it would get to "going like six- 

 ty," buzzing and singing like a drone. After 

 having passed the team I would release the 

 brake and let the engine back into gear so 

 suddenly as to give it an awful wrench, send- 

 ing the car ahead with a mighty jerk. Now 

 I have learned how to pass teams with little 

 difficulty and no jerking. 



Well, I ran the auto all the way home 

 without the mechanic taking hold of any 

 thing, though he gave me "pointers" and 

 advice several times. The most valuable 

 point for me right at the start was my bi- 

 cycle experience in holding the handle-bars 



