NATORE 313 
THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1902. 
AUTOMOBILES. | 
Schule des automobil Fahrers. By Wolfgang Vogel. 
Pp. viii+ 189. (Berlin: Schmidt, 1902.) Price 
m. 2°60. 
N R. WOLFGANG VOGEL has moved about on 
his motor cars with such pleasure to himself 
that it has resulted in a desire to share that pleasure with 
others, and he addresses his book chiefly to those who 
are unlearned, not only in motor cars, but even in the 
rudiments of the usage of machines. He is right in this, 
for they are numerous. 
Probably the largest percentage of persons who are 
quite ignorant of mechanical matters exists among the 
upper classes. The millions who work in factories, delve 
in mines, and direct some one or other of the innumerable 
agricultural appliances have had an acquaintance with 
machinery forced upon them. Few of these would 
require a diagram and many words to indicate the use 
of a sight feed oiler or a Stauffer lubricator, by whatever 
name they might distinguish them. 
But among those who can buy motor cars these things 
are still a mystery, and it is likely that the automobile 
movement will cause a very important alteration in the 
mental attitude of the so-called cultivated classes towards 
machines, and thence towards mathematics and science. 
At present, therefore, it is reasonable that a book such 
as Herr Vogel’s should give elementary diagrams of the 
Otto cycle and obvious sketches of the much-sketched 
induction coil. 
Chapter ii. shows how explosive gas is made by spray 
or vapour from the liquid petrol mixed with air, how it is 
controlled in amount, ignited electrically, and voided 
noiselessly after it is burnt. 
A very justifiable preference is shown for the secondary 
over the primary battery and for the dynamo over either 
for the purpose of making sparks to fire the charge ; but 
it is remarkable how much less perfect is the electrical 
part of automobiles than might have been expected. 
Instead of working fervently in this new field, the elec- 
trician has evidently settled down to making money in 
his other dearly earned preserves. 
If we compare the amount of energy utilised in igniting 
the charge in an explosion engine with the bulk and 
weight of the usual ignition equipment we shall feel some 
surprise. If we further consider how easy it is to make 
an electrical instrument “fool proof,” especially when it 
is devoid of moving parts, we shall be astonished at the 
numbers of electrical breakdowns—the loose wires, oily 
contacts, broken terminals, which characterise every 
beginner’s early motor-car runs. 
It has been noted in various automobile competitions 
that electrical troubles were prominent in cars entered 
by manufacturers and agents, and almost absent from 
cars entered and owned by private persons, the differ- 
ences being ascribed to the superior electrical knowledge 
of most of the amateurs who had sufficient mechanical 
tendencies to tempt them to what then was, in its early 
days, an odious sport. 
There still remains much to be done to diminish the 
NO. 1709, VOL. 66] 
high cost, high weight, large bulk and frequent oppor- 
tunities of breakdown which characterise even the most 
modern motor cars, but these questions of design and 
improvement do not exercise our author, who contents 
himself with instructions how to use cars as they are. 
It may be mentioned that the book contains many 
tabulated forms, which give, in order, the necessary 
operations for getting the machine ready before running, 
for starting up, and in case of breakdown. Copies of 
these tables should be of great value to the beginner, 
and he is intended to use them until thoroughly familiar 
with his machine. 
The “self-mover” which is more likely than any other 
to create a stir in the world, and which, until he is 
educated up to it, the pedestrian and carriage person 
hates, the motorist despises, and the ordinary cyclist is 
jealous of, is the motor bicycle. This most useful’ 
machine by no means receives its proper share of atten- 
tion at the hands of our author, who ascribes to it only 
two pages. It will be avenged on him some day, even 
if it be only in the matter of the sale of his book. 
In chapter iii., Herr Wolfgang Vogel divides auto- 
mobiles into cycles, voiturettes and motor cars, without 
showing any very good reason for so doing, though he 
incidentally points out that the driving of a motor 
tricycle will probably come more easily to one who has 
never been accustomed to ride a bicycle. In chapter iv. 
he deals with brakes, and explains simply and clearly the 
necessity for differential gear which so often puzzles the 
tyro. The subsequent chapters are given over to trailers 
and the like. Possible breakdowns and their remedies 
are dealt with. A 
Part ii. begins by dealing with minor accessories and 
the repairs of pneumatic tubes. Hints are given for 
lengthened tours, and a table is appended which in- 
cludes all the hundred and one articles which are so 
apt to be left behind. The reader may gather several 
wrinkles from this chapter ; they all deserve the descrip- 
tion of “praktisch.” 
Chapters iii. and iv., which are devoted to the descrip- 
tion of tours from Berlin to the Rhine, Switzerland and 
Italy, made by the author, are lightly and interestingly 
written, and give the reader an excellent idea of the 
pleasures and difficulties incidental to such tours. The 
run over the Stilfser Joch, the highest bit of road in 
Europe, seems likely to provide as much excitement as 
modern man could desire. 
The necessity for being provided with enough money of 
the various countries passed through and an ample 
number of spare parts is pointed out, with illustrations 
from the author’s own experience of delays at an exacting 
Customs Office. A knowledge of languages is, of course, 
desirable. 
The author proffers an admirable suggestion that con- 
tinental automobile clubs should compile a register of the 
hotels which have suitable ‘“‘stabling” for motor cars, 
and not confine their attention to the places where petrol 
can be procured. He is, of course, not cognisant of the 
good work done by the English Automobile Club both in 
this and in every other direction for road and route 
improvement. 
The author favours petrol cars, and, according to him, 
the purchase of a motor cycle only engenders the 
P 
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