May, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



179 



enormous plants, their designers and equipment are the and as there is no equipment of machine tools, the expense 

 best obtainable, and their products embody the latest and is slight. The freight rate on unassembled parts is much 

 best in the practice, material and workmanship. Assem- lower than on complete cars, and the sa\ing effected in 



time and convenience as 

 well as in money makes 

 the system a satisfac- 

 tory one. 



However it may have 

 been in the past, the 

 present - day manufac- 

 turer of moderate-priced 

 cars makes no more than 

 a legitimate profit. One 

 of the largest producers 

 stated recently that his 

 profit on a Si, 000 car is 

 less than $100; this is 

 not excessive when one 

 considers his enormous 

 investment in material 

 and parts, his really vast 

 equipment of machine 

 tools, and his labor 



biers thus have parts at 

 their command that are 

 of a high degree of ex- 

 cellence, anci can buy 

 them at prices that are 

 far below what was 

 charged for the weak 

 and faulty product of 

 former years. 



The low prices at 

 which assembled cars 

 can profitably be sold 

 have forced the builders 

 of cars of competing 

 grades to manufacture 

 on a verv large scale, in 

 order to bring down 

 costs through economies 

 possible only with 

 quantity production. 

 Such a firm equips its 

 factory with jigs and 



Another 20-H.P. runabout; price, $750 



expense. 



It has been said that 

 special tools for every operation, and makes it an inviolable any average engineer can design a car to sell at $4,000, but 

 rule to accept no order that calls for even a slight deviation that the greatest skill is necessary when the selling price is 



from the standard specifications. 

 When a manufacturer turns 

 out twenty thousand cars a 

 year, it is not only justifiable but 

 necessary for him to invest 

 very considerable sums in spe- 

 cial machinery of all kinds that 

 for a smaller output would be 

 inadvisable. One manufacturer 

 has spent $40,000 for dies to 

 produce a rear axle housing; on 

 a production of one thousand 

 cars, the charge against each 

 for this would be $40. With 

 an output of twenty thousand 

 cars, however, the charge of $2 

 against each is little enough for 

 the purchaser to pay for so ex- 



A 22-H.P. runabout; price, $900 



to be less than $1,000. How- 

 ever that may be, the medium 

 and low-priced cars on the mar- 

 ket show exceedingly clever de- 

 signing, and bear every indica- 

 tion of the highest grade of 

 mechanical engineering. Being 

 light in weight, the material en- 

 tering into their construction is 

 selecteei with the greatest care, 

 and it is typical of the automo- 

 bile industry that manv of the 

 alloy steels in common use were 

 hardly more than laboratory 

 curiosities five vears ago. 



The whole tendency of de- 

 sign is to reduce weight and ma- 

 chinery and assembling costs. 



cellent a feature. A recent development that illustrates the but it is rare to see a case where strength and durabilitv 



endeavor to reduce manufacturing costs is the establish- have been sacrificed for economy. One of the features of 



ment by some of the leading producers of assembling shops the 1910 cars is the casting of the four cylinders in one 



at the large centers. To these are shipped parts in suffi- piece, which results in a considerable saving in weight and 



cient quantity to build the cars required for that locality, cost, with no apparent reduction in strength or abilitv. 



One of the latest runabouts; price, $750 



A reliable touring car; price, $930 



