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Show HOW AMERICAN PLUCK AND GENIUS BAFFLES THE BRITISH How an 4Unkown Inventor Conquered Con-quered The Industrial World. x ,- By Lon J. Haddock. The annals of American industry are replete with stories of Individual achievement. Heart stories they are, Of gripping interest, stories of success wrung out of great travail and sorrow, whero the determination of the Individual Indi-vidual alone, has Berved to defeat tho cunning nnd astuteness of an entire field ot strenuous opponents. What follows Is a recountal of how the genius of ouo man served to revolutionize ono of the greatest Industries In-dustries of tho present ern. The tale Is vouched for by ono of our local men, Mr. George F. Thatcher. Mr. Thatcher recently favored the writer with a cross country ride In ono of the famous fa-mous Stoarns-Knlght motor cars, and ns the giant vehicle whisked along with scarcely a Jar and with tho mighty engine working so smoothly that It seemed as though somo uncanny uncan-ny Influenco was silently impelling It forward tho story camo out piecemeal and It Is now set down crudely hut nevertheless accurately, In tho main. This story of tho series of triumphs nttendlng tho sleeve valve motor Is a story of many years of toll and discouragement dis-couragement a story of burled gonlus a story of n man who for years sought recognition for nn Invention dostlnod to revolutionize motor car building. Tho story of that man Chas. Y. Knight, of Chicago reads Uko a romance of business fiction. Away back In 1896, when automobiles automo-biles woro JuBt boglnnlng to attract attention In this country, Mr. Knight brought forth a new type of motor radically different in man" wavs from the ordinary engine. He was laughed at by engineers and designers at that time they woro "too busy" to investigate. investi-gate. In thoso y.ears manufacturers were chiefly concoruod In making their cars run they had no time to experiment with now motors. The question ot maximum efllcloncy, silence, si-lence, high power nnd smooth operation, opera-tion, were not vitally Important. Those wero tho days when the principal thing necessary was to make the car run not how or why but Just to keep It running. "Uuti" -Mr. Knight would argue, "My motor Is not only suporlor theo-rotlcnlly, theo-rotlcnlly, but practically. Cars with my motors aro running successfully today right horo In Chicago." It mado no difference no ono would pay any attention to the "Silent Knight," Just a freak," was the al-iinbersal al-iinbersal comment. Knight Goes Abroad. Discouraged, but firm In tho belief that ultimately the world would pay blra homage, Knight persisted. Finally, Final-ly, on tho Invitation of tho English Daimler Company, Knight sailed for England In 1907. At that tlrao Eng-laud Eng-laud and the Continent were far ahead of this country In automobile manufacture. manufac-ture. Even then, tests nnd experiments experi-ments had hecomo chiefly devoted to Improving, refining nud silencing the machlno tho ono aim bolng "the quiet car." Straight to the Dalmlor Company nt Coventry went Knight to tho oldest manufacturer In Great Britain, Quietly Quiet-ly the engineering start listened to him and carefully watched tho performance per-formance of his sleeve valve motor. Comparison with their own highly developed de-veloped and efficient motors showed au Immense margin tn iou' u i Knight type. For over a year the experimental dc partition! of the Daimler works tester and tried tho new engine. Not onl) was tho old Daimler motor very cill clent In Itself, but the company ot. also licensed under tho (Jornum Met cedes pntents, nnd had ucccss to nl the developments worked out by thai well known firm. Consequently tin Daimler people wero loth to ndmlt the superiority of a now motor but months ot gruelling tests proved trtto all the claims made for tho Knight sleeve valvo engine. Daimler Adopts the Knight Motor In 1908. FInnlly, In 1908, after combining tho best points of design as practiced In Continued on pago S. 9m I HOW AMERICAN PLUCK ANO I GENIUS BAFFLES THE BRITISH SBBBia I v HH Continued from pago 1. H 1 tho Daimler power plant with tho H - Knight sleeve valvo principle, tho Hug- HH llah manufacturers announced to the HI ' world that they had adopted th0 new HB motor, convinced that It was far m HB j ndvnnco of nny other typo of engine BB i So, In England, the Invention of Chas. BB Y. Knight, or Chicago, was first pub- BB Hcly recognized by automobile mnnu- BB facturors. BB Thon camo tho storm of criticism BB a blast from every other English man- BB ufacturor. "Tho new motor was only BB good In theory It had not been prov- BB en It wag a froak why weren't pop- BB ' i pet valv6!rifftuos good enough wh) BB I hadn't America recognized this en- BB sine?" la short, Knight and tho Datm- BB lor Company faced the same biting BB blasts of criticism, denunciation and HB. Ignoranco that wbb borno by Alexand- BH er Graham noil, Morse, Prof. Langley BB 'I and every other true discoverer and BB 1 Inventor. BB Rivals Demand a Test. BB But sorvlco In the hands of owneia BB uoon proved the Knight motor. It BB raoro than fulfilled the claims made BB for it. Daimler sales doubled then BH trebled. Then tho other British mnnu- BJ facturors becaino badly worried. I.aclc- BB lng any tanglblo proof of the claims BH made against the Knight motor, hut BB secure in tho belief that It could not BBT "o as good as represented, they do- BB manded a test -an olllclal trial by mo itoyul Automobile Club, tho high-tit high-tit technical uutliorlty on motoring in Great Hrltaln, and n body composed ut engineers for whom designers the world over lunc profoutid respeca. The manufacturers demanding this trial felt certain that tho Knight mo toi could not "make good" that It uat proe false. '. -o Da.mler peoplu at first did not ca e one whit whether their motors were tried by tho It A. C. or not their sales had uecr been as good in all the history of the company Daimler Daim-ler stock was advancing by leaps and bounds. Still In a way they were glad of an opportunity to prove to the world Just how good the new mo tor read) was. Daimler Accepts the Challenge. Tho longer they thought over tho Idea of a test the more willing they wero to onter it, but not on tho terms prescribed by the Club. "No," said tho Daimler people. "If we submit these engines to the test, wo will mako It worth while and Impose conditions more stringent than any over ncard of In the history of motoring. Wo will proo our motors conclusively, and wo will set a Btandard that no other manufacturer man-ufacturer will over attempt to equal." And tho Daimler people handed In such a rovlslon of tho specifications and conditions that no ono could believe be-lieve that thoy were In earnest. "You surely don't want us to submit sub-mit your new motors to these rules," duld tho Royal Automobllo club In effect. ef-fect. "Why It would bo suicide for you no motor ever mndo could stand up under such a test we won't do It. "Yes you will," cnnio the grim to sponso from tho Daimler company. "You will try out our motors In thfa way or wo will not hesltnto to publish tho fact that tho Hoyal Automobile club refuses to put our motors to sucrt tests." The result of thnt trial Is hlstorv Not only wns it never attempted bo-fore, bo-fore, but no poppet valvo manufacturer manufactur-er has over dared to submit his en-glno en-glno to tho same test, since "The Greatest Engine Test on Record." For one hundred und thirty-two hours five and one-half iluyj two Dalmlcr-Knlglit sleeve valve motors ono of 33 h. p. and ono of 22 8 (It. A. C. rating), wero run undpr load, the larger motor at 1200 reol pet minute, thn other 1400. During that time tho 33 h. p. motor developed 14 h p. and the '12 '! p. developed 38 horse power. Thin overrating condition was Imposed Im-posed by the Daimler people themselves them-selves and had nevor been considered possible before Another condition voluntarily Imposed was that If either of the motors stopped once from any fault of theler own, or it tho power developed was at any time less than 30 per cont more than the rating, the test should officially bo called a fall uro When tho trial started, the con consus of opinion among nil Ilrltir manufacturers of poppet valvo motors was that It was impossible for any .no-tor .no-tor to go through it successfully Motors Develop Wonderful Power At End of Test. ' But, noto. For tho ono hundred and thirty-two hours from 6:00 a, m., March lGth, to 6:00 p. m March 20th, . these two motors (watched day j night by a committee of exports), rai steadily, smoothly and sweetly. Ever, minute of tho test they developed more than tho 30 per cent excess power pow-er specified by tho rules. At the end of this period tho engines en-gines wor0 put back Into tho cars ar quickly driven 'cross country to t famous Hrooklands track., with double relajs of drivers, covering C00 mllei n day. Still tho engines had not "missed a shot." The required 2000 miles wero completed com-pleted at an nvorago speed of 42 miles per hour. Then tho enrs were driven hack to tho testing room ngnln nnd the engines put back on the rack for a final test of flvo hours. Marvelous to relate, tho power developed de-veloped at tho second test was greater than nt tho first, seemingly an Impossibility, Impos-sibility, and novcr heard of beforo in tho world's history of automobllo man ufacture. Tho 38 h. p. motor dovel oped f7 horso power, thrco horse power pow-er more than during the original one hundred and thirty-two hours luu, whllo the 22 h p. motor dovolopcd nearly two horso power more than at tho beginning. Is It any wonder thnt no poppet vr.lv o nmnufucturer Is willing to submit sub-mit his motor to such a test? No vor It Is physically Impossible for anj ordinary (or poppet valvo) motor to mako such a showing. And right hero Is tho secret of this wonderfu engine ltB power steadily Increases whllo in use. Hut to return to tho test. At the finish tho engines wore tnken to pieces piec-es and the wearing parts subjected to a most searching examination by the olllclal club experts In charge of thn test Wo quote below brief extracts ilium the olllclal Hoyal Automobile club icport: "No perceptible wear was noticeable on any of tho fitted surfaces." "The cylinders nnd pistons were found to bo notably clean." (That Is, free from carbon.) "Tho ports of the valves showed no burning or wear." Tho storm of criticism was stilled. I The test demanded by rival manufacturers manufac-turers proved tho worst boomerang In England's automobile hlBtory. Tho vindication vin-dication of tho Knight sleeve valve motor was as complete as the test It self What The Test Amounted To. Think what this test amounted to In tho duration of It tho motors ro celved hardor treatment than would have been given them In two yenrs of ordinary service. Flvo nnd om half days at 1200-1400 revolutions per minute, nnd under load nil tho time I Yet "No perceptible wear was not.ci ablo." Almost ton million revolutions o tho crank shaft of the larger motor, and over oloven million of tho smaller ;whllo running on tho testing rack 2000 miles each on the Drooklanas track (a total consumption altogether of 1,333 gallons of goBcllne) yet "tho cjllndcrs and pistons were found to be notably clean." Over 30 per cent excess power developed de-veloped all during the engine test the average specified spepd exceeded while on tho Hrooklanda track yet "The ports of the valves showed no burning or wear." After all, Is not the word "marvol-ous" "marvol-ous" justified In tho description of such a test? There then you have tho story! Tho genius of a great Inventor Knight has been combined with the genius of a groat manufacturer StearnB to produco tho Steams-Knight, tno typo of car destined to bocome the Btandard Btan-dard of high grado motor car practice. Is it any wonder that Mr. Thatcher feels a prido In acting as tho agent of such a car? If you question the same take a ride with him and note the many advantages whlcn the Steams-Knight has to offer, and see If you, too, will not become enthusiastic enthusias-tic over It. |