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NATURE 



[July 25. 1895 



THE RECENT RACE OF AUTO-MOBILE 

 CARRIAGES IN FRANCE. 



LAST month a most interesting race of auto-mobile 

 carriages took place in France. The course taken 

 was from \'ersail!es to Bordeaux, and then back to Paris. 

 June 1 1 was tixed for the day of starting, and forty-six 

 carriages were to have taken part in the race, but only 

 twenty-eight arrived in time, twenty-two of these taking 

 active part, and nine performing the journey within 





/n-;'-c 



Fig. I. — No. 5. MM. Panhard and Levas&or's carriage, worked by gazoline, 

 and 10 >cai two pcrsoiu (2nd prue, 13,600 fianc>). Arrived June 13, at 

 12,57 .-urn. 



a hundred hours ; eight of the latter were worked by 

 petroleum or "gazoline," and one by steam. 



The accompanying illustrations, which we are enabled 

 to reproduce by the courtesy of the Editor of La Nii/un\ 

 are from photographs taken at the exhibition of the 

 carriages on their return. No. 5 (Fig. 1) is the one which 

 was the first to arrive back in Paris. It received the 

 second prize, for it only seats two persons, and a regula- 

 tion had been made, that no carriage seating less than 

 four persons could receive the first. No. 16 (Fig. 2) 





msm^^ 



i .M.M._ l*cuj(cor» phaclon, worked l>y Kaxuline, and lo Miat 



< |..t |rrij>e, ji,5<x> franco). Arrived June 14, at 12.2 a.in. 



really caim in fnurth, but received the first prize, for on 

 reckoning up ilu- time taken in the journey, it was found 

 tol)elwi) Miinuti-. Ie•.^, than that taken by No. 8. The 

 third pri/c n;i> \wpii l.-, Xn 15 M-'ig. 3). 



Taking all il iitt) consideration, it appears 



that the lighter tra\elled best. This proves 



the advantage of using petroleum or gazoline, for in 

 order to produce one horse-power it requires per hour 

 1 1*/, lbs. of gazoline, whereas, if it were worked by steam, 



NO. 1343, VOL. 52] 



at least 65 lbs. of coal and 39i lbs. of water would be 

 necessar)' per hour, and if worked by electricity, there 

 would have to be accumulators of the weight of 220 lbs. 



Light carriages have many advantages, for besides 

 having to be less careful about the weight of fuel, 

 they can also have lighter constructed wheels. M. 

 Michelin's carriage, with pneumatic tyres, went the whole 

 distance w ithout an accident, whereas the steam vehicles, 

 one and all, had mishaps, oh ing almost always to their 

 great weight. 



It would take up much time and space to relate the 

 many incidents which occurred ; suffice it to say that, 

 apart from ordinary breakdowns, in some towns the 

 travellers were hindered by the inhabitants, in others they 

 were enthusiastically pelted with flowers. 



These auto-mobile machines arc evidently the carriages 

 of the future. According to the Times of July 10, 

 a journey has quite recently been performed in our own 

 country by the Hon. Evelyn Ellis, who was accompanied 

 by Mr. T. R. Simms, managing director of the Daimler 

 Motor Syndicate. The carriage is a four-wheeled dog- 

 cart, and will hold four persons, with room also for two 

 portmanteaus. It was built by Messrs. Panhard and 

 Levassor, of Paris, and is worked by petroleum, the cost 



Fig. 3. — No. 15. Worked by g;i.coline, to seal two person^. IteloneinK to the 

 >ons of Peugeot Brothers (3rd prize, 6300 francs). Arrived June 13, at 

 6.37 p.m. 



being about a halfpenny an hour. The journey under- 

 taken by Mr. Ellis, a distance of fifty-six miles, was 

 performed in fi\e hours and a half 



We understand that the proprietors of the F.ni>inccr 

 are offering a prize of _^iooo to the maker of the fastest 

 going motor. W. 



1 ^ 

 i 



NOTES. 



W'k regret to notice that I'rof. C. C. Hahiiiglon, K. U.S., 

 Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, died on 

 Monilay morning, at ihu age of eighty-six. 



I'Ror. Ramsay h.as been elccltd a Corrcspondant of the Paris 

 .\cadctiiy of .Sciences, in the Section of Chemistry, and M. 

 Sabalier has been elected a Corrcspondant of the Section of 

 Anatomy and Zoology. 



Mr. H. J. CllANKV, of the Standards Department, Board of 

 Trade, will attend the Sexennial Conference of the International 

 Committee on Weights atitl Mea.sures at Paris, on .September 6 

 next, a.s the representative of Her Majesty's Government. 



Dr. Carl Baris, of the Stnilhsonian Instilution, has, says 

 Sdcme, accepted the lla/ard Profe.s.sorsliip of Physics in Brown 

 University. It is slated that Brown University has recently 

 s|M:nl ^■20,000 in the litiikiing ami eqtiipmeiil of a physica 

 lalxiralory. 



