E. T. BIRDSALL, M. E., A. L. A. M.

In the early days of the automobile industry in the United States little or nothing was known of the properties required in the materials of construction.

In Europe, on the other hand, the requirements of foreign gunmakers, engine builders, and others had created a demand for special steels and bronzes.

From the beginning of the automobile industry in France the machines were entered in races and other competitions that developed in a few hours weaknesses and shortcomings of design in materials that would have taken months of ordinary use.

Finding that increasing the size alone of a weak part to make it strong enough was not always the remedy, or even always feasible, the manufacturers naturally turned to the steelmakers for better materials.

Right here another difference between the United States and Europe should be noted. In the United States the steelmakers wanted “tonnage.” That is, they would not get out a special grade of metal and set up the rolls to shape it unless an order for many thousands of tons was placed. Whereas, in Europe, the steel mills would take an order for a few hundred pounds of a steel of special composition.

The net result was that the French automobile builders, by races that tested the materials and design of construction, by the facility and possibility of procuring proper materials, by cleverness in design and by keen competition, soon distances all other nations in the production of cars that were reliable, fast, and dependable.

A concrete example of the above is furnished by the actual experience of one of the early American manufacturers who conceived the idea of building in this country an exact copy of a well-known and successful French car. After the first car was built the testing out proved that the American tubing used in the frame had only about one-half the strength and stiffness of the tubing used in the model. The gears would not stand up under the work, and the wearing qualities and general durability of the entire machine were far below the French model. A careful investigation showed that the difference was solely due to the quality of the materials used.

As at that time practically no one here who was available knew the difference between the materials in the model and the copy, and there were not procurable in this country materials from a constructive and commercial point of view that would answer the purpose, the manufacture of the car was discontinued.

Conditions in the American engineering talent and material market have in the last three or four years completely changed.

We now know what material to use in each particular place, how to use it, where to get it, and why we use it.

It is, moreover, a fact that reverse of the above-mentioned case has happened. An American manufacturer, in 1899 and 1909, produced a number of 8 horse power cars, with a single cylinder, vertical in front engine. The owner of one of these cars appeared within the past two months at a New York salesroom and stated that he still used his little 8 horse power original American car, and that the bearings and all of the parts had stood up wonderfully well. This car must have had excellent material and admirable design. As a matter of fact, one of the largest manufacturers in Germany acquired in 1898 exclusive rights to manufacture this same car of American design and on American specifications for material.

The American industry has grown to such proportions that steel and other material manufacturers seek and cater to the wants of the automobile builder. At the present time there is not, and in fact for some time past there has not been the difference between the foreign and the domestic car that formerly existed. If the American engineer is not satisfied with American materials, all kinds and grades of foreign materials can now be procured in stock in the American market, and at prices commercially practicable.

The only possible reason for the purchase of a foreign car in this country today is the same one that leads many persons to buy English clothes and French hair dyes.

There is an idea very prevalent in some quarters that practically all the cars made in France, England, Italy, Germany, and Belgium are as good or better than the better grade of cars made in this country, whereas the reverse is really the truth.

Some of the foreign cars that have had a large sale and vogue in this country and been accepted without question as being of the highest grade were classed as second grade at home. Taking the good and the bad together, the average quality is higher in this country to-day than in Europe.

It is true that there are more builders of high-grade, finely-finished cars in Europe than in this country. But their combined output is not as great as the combined output relatively few similar makers here. On the other hand there are practically no cars built here as “rotten” as some of the foreign ones.