Who Won the Motor Contest 



An interesting collection of labor-saving devices brought forth 

 in the Popular Science Monthly's prize automobile contest 



THE Popular Science Monthly's 

 motor contest has been a huge 

 success. 

 The first prize of $100 goes to Mr. C. 

 A. Butterworth of Newton Center, Mas- 

 sachusetts; the second prize of $50 goes 

 to Mr. P. C. Haas, 

 of Ann Arbor, 

 Michigan. Both 

 prizes were won 

 by young men in 

 whom invention 

 seems to be a 

 cradle- gift, for 

 neither makes his 

 living as an en- 

 gineer. 



It is significant 

 that both prize- 

 winners made use 

 of the electric cur- 

 rent to carry out 

 their labor-saving 

 ideas. Electricity 

 is playing an in- 

 creasingly impor- 

 tant part in reducing the muscular labor 

 required to drive the car. We have only 

 to cite the electric starter and to contrast 

 it with the old laborious hand-crankers 

 to drive home the point; or to mention 

 electric lights, turned on and off by a 

 switch from the driver's seat, thus elimi- 

 nating the flickering oil lamp or the gas 

 lamp with its leaking pipe; or the elec- 

 tric water temperature controller which 

 insures efficient engine operation as 

 against no controller at all; or the elec- 

 trically operated gear shifter as against 

 the hand shifter; or the score of electric 

 comfort-giving accessories. 



Mr. Butterworth, the first-prize win- 

 ner, is a young man who has had no 

 academic mechanical training and who 

 has not even had a lesson in mechanical 

 drawing. He has worked out an elec- 

 trically controlled hydraulic gearshifter 

 with an automatic clutch throw-out. It 



On the left, Mr. P. C. Haas, winner of 

 the second prize of fifty dollars. On the 

 right, Mr. C. A. Butterworth, winner of 

 the first prize of one hundred dollars 



eliminates the physical exertion expended 

 in the present type of car whenever it is 

 necessary to shift gears. In addition, 

 it does away with the physical labor re- 

 quired of the foot to push down on the 

 clutch pedal and to disconnect the engine 

 from the driving 

 mechanism when- 

 ever the gears are 

 to be shifted. 



It was our in- 

 tention to publish 

 complete drawings 

 of Mr. Butter- 

 worth's invention 

 in the present is- 

 sue of the Popu- 

 lar Science 

 Monthly. We 

 find, however, 

 that the time at 

 our disposal is too 

 limited for an ad- 

 equate presenta- 

 tion of the sub- 

 ject. Hence we 

 must ask our readers to wait for the July 

 issue, in which full justice \\ill be done to 

 Mr. Butterworth's ideas. 



The winner of the second prize of 

 fifty dollars, Mr. P. C. Haas, has inven- 

 ted an electrically operated steering 

 gear controlled by means of a small 

 switch mounted on the steering wheel, 

 retained for looks and for cases of pos- 

 sible emergency. The task of guiding a 

 car saps both the physical and nervous 

 energy of even the most hardened driver. 

 Mr. Haas' invention, therefore, reduces 

 the effort of merely following the right 

 path by a percentage which cannot easily 

 be calculated. It is our intention to 

 publish Mr. Haas' invention with full 

 plans and specifications in the August 

 issue of the Popular Science Monthly. 

 Both Mr. Butterworth and Mr. Haas 

 are to be congratulated on the success 

 of their ingenious ideas. 



Maybe you have special needs. Write to the editor about anything within the 

 scope of the magazine. He will be glad to help you. 



849 



