Thursday, May 13, was a memorable day in the history of the motor vehicle in America. On that day the Pope Manufacturing Company, Hartford, Conn., made their opening bow to the world (the Pope Company never bows to anything less) as manufacturers of motor carriages. After two and a half years of patient experimenting this leading company in the science of trackless locomotion has satisfied itself that it has a commercial carriage, and the event was therefore doubly significant. First, because the Pope Manufacturing Company is the first company to hold any such public opening, and, second, because the Pope Manufacturing Company is of national importance.

Invitations had been sent out to journalists and others interested, and notwithstanding the inclement weather a large number of visitors were in attendance. An ample collation was served all day in the offices, and visitors were taken to ride in the new carriages, of which quite a number were seen to be ready for the road. Most of the guests were requested to try the management of the vehicles themselves, to demonstrate the ease of control. Many were eager to embrace the opportunity and did so to their entire satisfaction.

The Pope Manufacturing Company began its work in the motor carriage field in January, 1895, and during the two years and a quarter that have elapsed since that date investigation and experiments have been going on, without regard to expense, to determine what is the best type of carriage and to devise and construct a vehicle which could be most successfully put before the public at the present time. Attention was first directed to the gasolene carriage, but after a very careful examination of this method of propulsion it was decided not to build a carriage with a gasolene motor, but to adopt the storage battery, and an arrangement was entered into with the Electric Storage Battery Company, of Philadelphia, whereby the Pope Company is able to use the chloride accumulators. Still the effort to discover a method of propulsion independent of a base of supplies has not been abandoned.

In regard to the electrical equipment of its new carriages the Pope Company says:

• It has been selected with a view to convenience in charging from the ordinary type of electric-light station circuits common to all towns of any size, to factories and private plants generally, and no doubt the situation will be understood by the initiated when it is reported that the carriage is susceptible of .being charged from any direct current of between 110 and 120 volts. This meets the most prevalent conditions as regards city and suburban service. As an indication of the extent to which the convenience of the purchaser has been considered, it is interesting to note that where the batteries are fully charged the current is automatically cut out. In large cities this current is obtainable at a rate which amounts to about 14 cents per mile of smooth, level road, and the cost of operating may be said to vary according to conditions from this point to less than1⁄2 cent per mile in case the current is obtained from the owner's private electric plant. It will be seen from this that upon a probable average run of 20 miles a day, the expense of operation of these carriages would vary according to the conditions above cited, from 10 cents to 25 cents a day. The difference between the annual expenditure on this basis, and the cost of keeping the two horses which would be necessary to maintain the same service, certainly represents the interest on many times a greater sum than the difference

cost of any carriage which could take its place, or, for that matter, of the entire price."

"The very first question that anybody will ask in regard to an electrical carriage, of course, is, How far will it go? The radius of action of the Pope company's carriages is over 30 miles-probably 35 miles. It has a maximum speed of 15 miles an hour, and other speeds on smooth level roads are provided for as follows: First, three miles an hour; second, speed six miles an hour third, speed 12 miles an hour.”

The object of the company has been to provide a vehicle which would be able to cover the distances required of the ordinary city horse. In order to determine this the company set on foot an investigation in which with the aid of cyclometers attached to the vehicles used by the various physicians, private citizens, grocers and expressmen it was determined that the average range of vehicles even used as much as those enumerated was about 18 miles a day, and in but one case (that of a veterinary surgeon with a large country practice) did the daily mileage exceed 25.

The primary consideration in the design has not been speed, but to make the carriage susceptible of operation with the least possible care and trouble, and with the least possible knowledge or instruction on the part of the operator. In other words, to quote one of the company's watchwords, the object has been to provide a motor carriage which should be "fool proof."

Each completed carriage is subjected to a test for endurance so severe that its successful result may be fairly taken as a proof of the wisdom of the adopted design and the success of the construction. In the course of this test, during which, at one time or another, the carriage is subjected to almost every condition likely to arise in service, the carriage is driven at full speed over an aggravated form of corduroy road. Whether or not this test has had an undue effect upon the structure and mechanism of the carriage is determined by careful measurements with a theodolite before and after the test. But before the carriage leaves the shops at all it is subjected to a variety of running tests in which it encounters every sort of obstacle that it could meet in actual use, and is subjected to strains which should certainly reveal any weakness of the structure. The carriages are entirely available in the most severe weather, and while their radius of action is, of course, necessarily reduced, six or eight inches of heavy snow is no obvious obstacle, and the same is proved by thorough tests to be true of mud. The experimental carriage also exhibited to visitors, has now made a record of about 3,500 miles, and has never sustained an accident so severe as to prevent its return with its own power. The endurance of the batteries was well demonstrated by this experience, and although they were carefully examined a few days ago they show no signs of deterioration.

Comparative lightness with great strength are the striking characteristics of the Pope vehicle. The steel frame upon which the body of the carriage rests is made of the Pope Tube Company's well-known .50 carbon steel and selected in dimensions that enable it to be used in the annealed state. As a result a better alignment of bearings can be insured. Everything about the carriage is made on a bicycle basis and ball bearings are freely used throughout. The peculiar design of the wheels was selected as a result of the observation of the Pope Company's representatives of the performance of the wheels of the carriages in all the important races that have

taken place to date, both here and abroad. They are equipped with the three-inch Hartford single tube pneumatic tires, whose performance on the experimental carriage has been most satisfactory, although the first set of tires had suffered no deterioration. A change of wheel diameter after a mileage of 1,200 compelled the substitution of a new set, which upon a mileage of about 2,300 appear to be unaffected by the severe service they have been compelled to undergo.

In design the vehicle is a high-backed phaeton, the front axletree of which is pinioned at the centre under the frame of the carriage so as to be readily turned by means of the steering handle which rises at the front of the seat. The person operating the carriage occupies the seat on the left-hand side. He steers the carriage with his right hand and regulates the speed by means of an upright lever which rises at his left With this lever the current can be turned on and off and the carriage made to move backward or forward. The lever extends to a mechanism under the seat which cuts the cells of the electric battery in or out. It is very similar to the mechanism for increasing or diminishing the current on a trolley car. Beside this operating mechanism stands a meter about a foot in height, with an upper face, on which a needle indicates the exact amount of electric power remaining in the cells. Alongside the meter are four small switches controlling the four electric lamps with which the carriage illuminates its way at night. The powerful brake which is applied to the rear axle-tree by means of the round gearing box is operated by a foot lever rising through the floor of the carriage. Still another feature is a small musical gong on the dasher, operated by means of a bellows which the driver strikes with his heel at the proper moment. One of the features of this carrirge is the balance gear, which enables the two rear-wheels to revolve independently of each other while turning a curve. The axle is divided into two sections, which may operate independently while the brake pressure is applied to both.

The circular gearing box and the diminutive motor box at the right of it are not large enough to disfigure the carriage. The motor which operates the axle directly is a 2 hp Eddy motor, which in order to develop a speed of 121⁄2 miles an hour on a smooth road consumes 18 amperes of current with a voltage of 80. This requires an output from the batteries of

1.93 horse-power. The efficiency of the motors is so per cent. and it is assumed that the loss in the gearing of the carriage is 10 per cent., making the total efficiency of the motor mechanism 70 per cent. This means that with 1.93 horse-power going in trom the batteries, 1.35 horse-power, practically 13% horse-power, is being exerted at the rim of the wheel. The motors are built for a normal load of 2 horse-power, being 1% kilowatts. Their specifications called, however, for them to stand an overload of 100 per cent., or 4 horse-power for onehalf hour without injurious heating. The capacity of the batteries is stated as 70 ampere hours at a discharge rate of 25 amperes. This would mean that 25 amperes discharge could be maintained for 2.3 hours, which on ordinary roads could be expected to propel the carriage between 30 and 35 miles, according to the number of stops made and the conditions of the grading of the road.

No rheostat is required for the operation of the carriage. The motor is series wound, and the highest speed is produced by putting the storage cells and motor field in multiple. The batteries are formed in four units of 11 cells each. These are 12 inches in length by 11⁄2 inch interior width, so that the 11 combined cells fill a box about 1 by 2 feet. These four boxes are slid into the battery chamber, from the rear, and each one weighs a little over 200 pounds, so that two men are required to lift them into place. The total weight of the four is placed at about 850 pounds.

The total weight of the carriage is about 1,900 pounds.

All battery connection, and all connections throughout the carriage which have to manipulated in any way are made of two different sized holes, the positive holes being the larger. Hence no negative plug can be inserted in a positive hole and vice versa.

When leaving the carriage standing in the street one can, by taking out the emergency plug, which is of a size to conveniently go into the waistcoat pocket, make it impossible for any one not possessing a similar plug to use the carriage. The connection is broken by removing this plug, so that the carriage cannot again be moved by its own power until the plug is replaced.

The purchaser of a carriage is furnished a diagram giving the names of its different parts and a brief statement of such few precautions as are necessary in its care and operation. A few wrenches and tools also go with each vehicle.

From a circular issued by the company we quote the following passage in regard to the sensations of riding in the new ve hicle:

"The experience of coasting down a long, steep grade, with the consciousness that the pleasure is not restricted to season or locality, is certainly not approachable by any other means we have at hand at present. It without doubt is the direct precurser to actual flying in the air. It is nearest approached, probably, by the bicycle, but in this case the rider has not the comfortable surroundings and the freedom from care that exist in the case of the motor car riage. The speed also is a feature from which is derived a new pleasure. Nothing, even in the imagination, can exceed the delightful sensation of running along on a