Some Brand New Names in Motoring

GEORGE W. SUTTON, Jr.

New Cars Which Show Originality and New Principles

IN spite of the fact that the automobile shows throughout the country are revealing very little in the way of radical change in the new models of standard cars, a number of extremely interesting new cars are appearing which are not being exhibited at the shows but many of which contain new ideas calculated to make the motoring public stop, look and listen.

Probably the most interesting of these is the Parenti. This is an air-cooled car in which all previously accepted ideas of motor car construction seem to have been deliberately put aside and new ones adopted. In the Parenti the frame is of wood, there are no axles, and almost every part of the car has some unusual characteristic or feature worthy of notice. Instead of the body units being assembled on a steel frame as is customary, the body and frame of the Parenti are one integral unit in which the frame consists of two rails of five ply Haskelite wood twelve inches deep, which run the entire length of the body. This construction, appreciably lighter than the ordinary body and chassis, is extremely strong, the plywood frame being capable of sustaining a load of 2½ tons at its weakest point. The use of such a light body with the usual spring and axle construction would result in rather rough riding due to the exaggerated proportion of unsprung to sprung weight. Therefore in the Parenti we find most of the unsprung weight transferred above the line and carried on the body, so that the only weight left consists of the wheels themselves. This is accomplished by daring use of transverse springs which do away with solid axles entirely and allow the wheels to rise and fall independently and at the end of levers. The springs are of high vibratory type and extend dear across the car, joining the four steel tubular spring hangers which carry the wheels. There are two such springs in the front of the chassis, one above the other, and three at the rear.

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The differential gears and housing, as well as the propeller shaft, brakes and rear drive shafts are carried on the body, being suspended on the same tubes that act as spring hangers. The drive is carried to the wheels by means of two short drive shafts, each shaft having a universal joint at either end. An interesting feature of this construction is that only the two lower springs act under normal conditions, the action of the upper spring being reserved for heavy loads and extremely rough roads. This is perhaps the first time that variation of loads and roads has been allowed for in spring construction.

The steering device is also worthy of special mention in that both wheels are turned positively and directly by the turning of the steering wheel so cleverly that it is claimed the hands may be taken off the wheel on the roughest road and the car will run straight. The turning radius of the car is 32 feet.

The air-cooled motor in the Parenti is as different, both essentially and in appearance, as the car itself. It is of the V type, and has 8 cylinders, which are staggered to accommodate side by side connecting rods. The bore is unusually small, 2¾ inches, with a stroke of 4¼ inches, and the motor develops 35 hp. The cooling system is entirely

different from that of the usual aircooled car. Deliveries are promised for early spring.

TN the Kelsey we have an example of quite a different principle, a car employing a shaft-operated friction drive. The friction drive is not new. It has been tried a great number of times, but the early cars of this type did not attain much popularity, by reason of a number of disadvantages,—one of which was the chain transmission. In the Kelsey this feature has been eliminated and the transmission is by a shaft from the rear end of the engine crankshaft to the friction disk enclosed in the big central housing on the rear axle. One of the advantages of this type of drive is that it eliminates the clutch and the usual gear set. The engine in the Kelsey is a 6-cylinder Falls valve-in-head machine with 3⅛ in. bore by 41/4 in. stroke. A touring car, a runabout and a sedan at moderate price are the present models, all of which have a wheelbase of 116 inches.

Another feature of the Kelsey is that it has an internal gear final drive, being the first passenger 'vehicle to use this type of construction, which has had a number of years' successful use in motor trucks.

THE Ace is a brand new car for which much popularity is expected on account of the unusual construction of its valve mechanism. It employs a system of disk valves, one in each cylinder, each disk operating at ⅛ crankshaft speed and containing four slots, cut in the form of a "V" which, in the process of rotation of the disks, pass over ports that enter into the intake and exhaust manifolds of the motor.

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The advantages claimed for this construction are (1) that this is the first really satisfactory solution, outside of the expensive sleeve valve motor, of the unsatisfactory problem created by the poppet valve type, (2) that, because the Ace disk valves are driven by chains of gears which are in constant pressure when the motor is in operation, the action is absolutely silent, (3) that the valves never need grinding, cannot lag at any speed, never get out of adjustment, and (4) that remarkable efficiency in handling the fuel mixture and in scavenging the motor give the machine an unusual power performance and economy.

An attractive, honest-looking machine which will probably be seen in large quantities during the coming year is the new Handley-Knight. The several models are mounted on a wheelbase of 125 inches, actuated by the 4-cylinder Knight sleeve valve, which has been made for several years at the Willys-Overland plant in Elyria, Ohio. The Handley-Knight is an assembled car throughout, with a style of lines which is particularly pleasing and in keeping with up-to-date modes in smart cars.

A little car which should be extremely interesting to our readers, either as auxiliary transportation, or as a car for the younger people to play around in, is the Brook. This is manufactured by the Spacke Machine and Tool Company, which formerly made the Spacke car, and the specifications are very similar, but the body has been changed considerably. The wheelbase is 90 inches, the tread 46 inches and the car comes only in the two-passenger roadster model. The engine is a 2-cylinder De Luxe machine, developing from nine to thirteen horsepower. The whole chassis follows conventional design and special mention may be made of the three-point suspension of the unit power plant and straight line drive through propeller shaft and bevel drive gears to the rear wheels. Selective type transmission and drive clutch are units of the power plant. The makers claim an average of from 40 to 50 miles per gallon of gasoline, 20,000 miles for a set of tires, and the maximum speed is 45 miles an hour.

Other new American cars which we shall discuss in future numbers are the Ogren, the Friend and the Lorraine.

IT looks as if we are in for a flood of foreign cars of all prices and sizes. France, Italy, Belgium and Germany are all busy establishing agencies in this country for their automotive products. We have become accustomed to the high-priced foreign car, but the Citroen from France sounds an entirely new note in our automobile scheme of things. This is a small light moderatepriced machine, built in large quantities, and it is expected that three thousand of them in various body styles will be imported this year and be distributed through dealers all over the country. It is a scientifically-built little machine, having double cantilever springs and a claim for economy of 36 miles to the gallon of gasoline and 1,100 miles to the gallon of oil. The Citroen has a 4-cylinder 18-hp. engine and comes in two sizes of wheelbase, 90 inches and 114 inches.

The famous Mercedes is with us again in two sizes of chassis, as previously related in this department, and now another German car makes its bid for American favor. This is the Sauer, which is a massive chassis most carefully built and employing an extremely interesting system of automatic gear shift.