2IO 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



September, 1905 



ARTISTIC HOMES 



ARTISTIC 

 HOMES 



A DOLLAR BOOK 

 OF MODEDATE COST 

 HOUSE DESIGNS, 

 tainted on the best of 

 paper in 

 Edition dc Luxe. 

 Any one intending to 

 build should purchase 

 this new edition of 



ARTISTIC 

 HOMES 



HIGH-CLASS ARCHITECTURAL WORK. 



HERBERT C. CHIVERS 



127-7th 



strh* CONSULTING s 



—ARCHITECT- 



T. LOUIS 



No. 21 Mantel 



A SIMPLE yet 

 effective design 

 after old Mis- 

 sion styles, tfl Surface 

 very rough. t| Good 

 in dull green. Cfl Sizes 

 made to suit 



The Hartford 

 Faience Co. 



HARTFORD, CONN. 



print copy of the ceiling plan is then sent to a 

 customer, showing the arrangement of the 

 patterns, the spacing of the furring strips, 

 sections of the cornice and list of the items of 

 each room. The painting of all this material 

 is done with pure white zinc, linseed oil and 

 turpentine, on each side after stamping and 

 trimming, leaving no raw edges. The lasting 

 qualities of a steel ceiling depend entirely 

 upon this prime coat, the manner in which it 

 is applied and the kind of paint used. The 

 walls and ceilings can be put up by carpenters. 

 An example of ceiling of the charming 

 " English " pattern is given by the preceding 

 illustration. It is particularly adapted for a 

 dining-room or library of a residence, although 

 very suitable for many larger rooms. It is 

 usually placed diagonally, and can thus be 

 used in rooms of any shape. This pattern is 

 made in sheets 24 x 96 inches, by the 

 Northrop, Coburn & Dodge Co., No. 40 

 Cherry Street, New York, N. Y., and fairly 

 represents the style of ceilings made by this 

 firm. Its catalogue No. 8 contains beautifully 

 illustrated specimens of these steel stamped 

 ceilings, and one may wonder if the limits of 

 witchery in ornate design have not been 

 reached in such as these for such a purpose. 

 The company also manufactures metal stair 

 wainscoting and tile for bathrooms. 



A Shock Absorber for Automobiles 



ONE of the principal reasons that so 

 many wealthy automobilists leave this 

 country to tour in their cars is the 

 bad state of our roads as compared with those 

 abroad. A device which has been on the mar- 

 ket for over a year, and which has received a 

 thorough test on the racing cars in the last two 

 international contests for the Bennett Cup, 

 is a shock absorber known as the Truffault- 

 Hartford Suspension. This apparatus con- 

 sists of two steel arms, suitably pivoted to 

 the frame and spring of the car, just over the 

 axle, and connected together through a fric- 

 tion disk arrangement which acts as a brake 

 on the spring and checks its rebound. The 

 result is that when passing over obstacles or 

 dropping into gullies the wheels of the car 

 quickly regain the ground and remain upon it 

 a much greater percentage of the time than 

 they do ordinarily, thus doing away with loss 

 of traction and a great deal of abnormal wear 

 on the tires, which is the result of slipping. 

 The principal advantage, however, is the en- 

 tire lack of rebound of the car body and the 

 consequent easy-riding qualities which ensue. 

 When the machine drops into a hole its oc- 

 cupants feel the vehicle settle down, but in- 

 stead of being shot upward into the air the 

 next moment, they experience no further jolt. 

 A car equipped with this device can conse- 

 quently be driven at a high rate of speed on 

 rough roads without danger of breaking 

 springs and without serious discomfort to its 

 passengers. Fully a twenty-five per cent, in- 

 crease of speed is easily possible. Further- 

 more, the mechanism of the car is not sub- 

 jected to such severe strains as it otherwise 

 would be, with the result that its life, as well 

 as that of the tires, is perceptibly increased. 

 In time, without doubt, this device will be 

 found not only on all high-speed pleasure 

 vehicles, but also on commercial cars and rail- 

 way locomotives as well, for it is an apparatus 

 that soon pays for itself in the reduction of 

 wear and tear which it causes. A demonstra- 

 tion ride which the writer had on a car fitted 

 with the Suspension, and afterward with it 

 removed, was most convincing, the difference 

 in comfort between the two being about the 

 same as that between a Pullman and a freight 

 car. 



