FROM CART TO AUTOMOBILE 



eous vapors. The forward motion of the piston sucked 

 a whifiF of the gasoline vapor and air into the cylinder; 

 the backward motion of the piston compressed this 

 gas; an electric spark ignited it ; the heat of the electric 

 spark enabled the gasoline molecules to unite with the 

 oxygen molecules with explosive suddenness; the 

 conflagration thus started spread instantly to other 

 parts of the compressed gas; the myriad particles of 

 the gas rebounding from one another at inconceivable 

 speed, pressed with the aggregate power of multitudes 

 upon the cylinder, and drove it back with terrific force ; 

 then an escape valve opened; the return thrust of the 

 piston drove out the exploded gas, and one revolution 

 of the engine was complete. 



Over and over again this cycle was repeated; each 

 revolution requiring for its performance but a bare 

 fraction of the time required to describe it. The thing 

 is simple enough in practice, but it is a marvelous 

 mechanism when you stop to think of it. That such 

 power should be latent in a seemingly harmless whiflF 

 of gas is one of Nature^s miracles. And that man 

 should have constructed an engine so nicely adjusted 

 in all its parts as to utilize this power is little less than 

 a miracle of mechanics. 



A word should be said about another interesting 

 mechanism that pertains not indeed to the speed of 

 the automobile, but to an accurate record of that 

 speed. That is an electrical timing-device with which 

 absolute accuracy of timing is assured. A moment^s 

 reflection will show that it would be quite impossible 

 to time the automobile moving at record speed by the 



