46 Automobiles or Horseless Carriages. 



petroleum motor. The speed was not so easily controlled as 

 in the Serpollet, and not so great over the rather heavy roads 

 tried, being only eight or nine miles an hour. It was explained 

 that, though this might be considered satisfactory in a horse, 

 one expected more from a mechanically-propelled vehicle. 

 One sees perhaps that the horse is struggling painfully and 

 one pities him, and prefers a modest six miles per hour to 

 inflicting pain. There are no such feelings towards steel and 

 steam or oil power. Ten to fifteen miles an hour should be 

 attainable, and more is perhaps neither desirable nor necessary. 

 For this a five-horse-power engine is believed to be required 

 for a carriage for four people, although one old-fashioned horse 

 is all that we frequently allow for the same task. The ex- 

 planation of the apparent anomaly appeared to be that we do 

 not expect so much from the horse, and also that the horse is 

 able at a pinch and for a short time to exert much more than 

 one theoretical horse-power, although the average of his whole 

 journey would not be more than one. We class engines, 

 however, not by their average, but by their maximum horse- 

 power, and this maximum power might be required only once 

 or twice on the journey. The oil motor was referred to at 

 considerable length, and described as an offspring of the gas 

 engine, in which a combustible mixture of air and oil vapour is 

 set on fire in the cylinder of the engine, giving thereby an 

 increased pressure on the piston to be transmitted in the usual 

 way to the working parts of the engine. The advantages of 

 the oil engine for automobiles are — i. Its readiness to start at 

 any time on the shortest notice. Our professional coachman 

 will feel insulted if required to turn out a carriage and 

 pair in less than thirty or forty minutes, while the automobile 

 may be started in two or three. This is obviously very 

 advantageous for doctors, firemen, and others who require 

 to lose no time at any call night or day. 2. The small 

 weight and bulk of the oil motor, say from 70 to 100 lb. 

 per horse-power. The room occupied by the horse both 

 in the stable and on the street is thus saved, and this 



