Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/267

 A Gasoline-Electric Automobile

��COMBINING the utility of both a gasoline and an electric automobile, a new flual-jxnver passenger car recently put on the market by a western manu- facturer, may be run by either gasoline or electricity', or both, thus retaining the great mileage ability of the gas car and at the same time the simplicity of the electric.

The power plant of this unique vehicle consists of a small gasoline motor and an electric-motor generator combined in one unit under a con- ventional hood forward of the dash, and a storage battery carried beneath the rear seats.

The speed is controlled by two le\-ers mounted on the steering wheel, the power being transmitted through the propeller-shaft directly to the rear axle without clutch, gearset or levers, thus eliminating the trouble of their manipu- lation and at the same time gi\'ing a multiplicity of vehicle speeds. One lever operates the mechanism connecting the storage battery to the electric motor. The other starts the gasoline motor.

The vehicle is started as an electric by moving the electric control lev-er, which automatically connects the storage bat- tery with the electric motor. As this lever is advanced, the speed of the v'chicle is increased up to twent>' miles an hour. If more speed is required, the gasoline lever is thrown in, connect- ing the gasoline mo- tor with the electric motor, and starting the former without

��stal'ing. .As the gasoline le\er is pushed still farther forward, it causes the ear to be operated more by the gasoline i)ower, until at a certain point the vehicle operates as a gasoline car, neither charging nor discharging the battery.

By a slight variation of the relative positions of the two levers, the battery may be either charged or discharged at will on any speed from ten miles an hour up to twenty-eight or thirty, the re- tardation of the electric lever causing the electric motor to act as an electric generator dri\'en by the power of the gasoline motor. The current thus gen- erated is used to charge the storage battery while the car is running.

The same effect may be secured at any speed above six miles an hour by braking through the electric motor when on level ground or when coasting down hills, this being accomplished by a re- tardation of the electric lever. A conven- tional brake pedal is provided for braking at speeds less than six miles an hour.

While the two power elements em- ployed in the operation of this car are electricity and gasoline, one supplement- ing and augmenting the other, it may be~ run on gasoline power alone. There are no clutches to throw in, no gears to change and no waste of fuel in operating.

��A gasol i ne - electric car which combines the mileage of the gasoline car withthesimplic- ityof the electric

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