Apr. I, liU2 



vance the spark and pour some gasoline in 

 the cyUnder before the engine will start if 

 the day is cold. 



The book of instructions says, " Never ad- 

 vance the spark before getting the engine 

 started, as there is danger of a back kick." 

 But as the Brush engine runs opposite to 

 most motors, the result of a back kick would 

 be to throw the hand out of the way, and 

 no damage would be done unless one's knees 

 were in the way. I keep my feet out of the 

 way and have not had a back kick yet. 



Most of my trouble has come from not 

 oiling enough. The engine has stopped sev- 

 eral times for this reason. On one occasion, 

 when only three blocks from home I looked 

 into the gasoline-tank to find it as dry as a 

 bone; but I managed to run the machine 

 within a block of home on the gas in the 

 tube and carbureter before it stopped. I had 

 to take the g.isoline out of our stove to fin- 

 ish the trip, then rush up town and get 

 back with a new supply in time to save the 

 baking which my wife was doing at that 

 time. 



One of the beauties of the Brush runabout 

 is that it is so light it can be lifted around 

 by hand. 1 do not need a jack to lift a 

 wheel. It will run 25 miles on a gallon of 

 gasoline, which costs \2}i cts. at the refinery 

 two miles from our house. On Colorado 

 roads it w-ill run from 15 to 18 miles an hour; 

 and for short spurts, perhaps 25 or ;)0 miles. 



Our Colorado mud has so much alkali 

 that it will dull the varnish; and some small 

 specks that I left on for several days took 

 the varnish off entirely. It will pay every 

 auto owner to remember this. The varnish 

 was taken ofT from the steel parts, not on 

 wood. Letting out the hot water from the 

 radiator on the varnished steel turned it 

 from black to a bluish color. Oh! one learns 

 fast, I can tell you. 



We inspect the auto often, and keep bolts 

 and nuts tight. One 

 of the gasoline-tubes 

 leading to the carbu- 

 reter began to leak, 

 and we unscrewed 

 this and put some 

 white lead in the 

 threads, screwed it 

 back into place, and 

 it has not leaked 

 since. An auto-re- 

 pair man told me 

 this. 



My father -in- law 

 has h e 1 p e tl m e 

 grease, oil, and crank 

 and generally fool 

 with the auto. He 

 is also very much 

 interested in chick- 

 ens. The other day 

 he made a contract 

 to furnish 500 baby 

 chicks, and is plan- 

 ning to buy an in- 

 cubator. Well, we 

 found that the radi- 



197 



ator was not quite full; and so, as the per 

 cent of wood alcohol in the radiator was a 

 little below the 40 per cent average, he took 

 a pint and a half down to pour in; but he 

 w^as thinking about that incubator, and 

 poured that wood alcohol into the gasoline- 

 tank! Well, we asked our all -knowing 

 repair man whether harm would come from 

 such a mixture. He said we had better 

 draw it off and put in new gasoline. It 

 took us an hour to draw it otf through the 

 faucet on the under side of the carbureter. 

 We found that the gasoline came to the top, 

 so we poured the top off and threw the wood 

 alcohol av/ay, and are using the gasoline in 

 our stove in the house. 



Fully equipped, the Brush costs $450 in 

 Denver ($400 at the factory), and the makers 

 say that it can be maintained for three to 

 five dollars a month — a claim that I can 

 well believe. At any rate, it is cheaper by 

 far than a horse, when gasoline and oil are 

 worth 12>^ and 50 cts. a gallon respectively. 

 It is a time-saver also, and its ways are as 

 easily learned as the nature of a horse. The 

 Brush has room for an extra seat behind for 

 a few bee supplies. As it is, twenty supers 

 may be carried, but by making an exten- 

 sion box, forty or fifty could be hauled very 

 easily. 



Boulder, Colo. 



[You will very likely find that you have 

 already had nearly all the trouble that you 

 will have for some time. A beginner with 

 an automobile, as with any thing else, 

 makes a good many blunders at first; but 

 after he becomes accustomed to the car and 

 its eccentricities itwill run along very stead- 

 ily and give practically no trouble — that is, 

 if it is a well-designed machine. 



The wood-alcohol solution for an anti- 

 freeze mixture in the radiator does very well 

 if you are careful to test the density of the 



J. R. Ileaton's Cadillac 

 vere attack of automobile 



which he purchased because of having a very se- 

 fever. 



