Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/118

 The Problem of the Automobile Top

It may be made self-effacing and self-adjusting

��UP POSITION,

��HALF UP. POSITION

��CABLE DRAWN THROUGH HOLLOW WINDSHIELD POST

���The automatic top is not only raised and lowered by the power of the engine but it is stored away out of sight in the extended rear end

��Cable in position when top is down

��hinged door

��Reel

���ONE of the most conspicuous and ugly parts of the average automobile is the top. Folded, it is an overhanging object at the rear out of harmony with the pleasing lines of the body.

To eliminate this un- sightliness, the engineers of two large companies have designed two types of disappearing tops which are entirely hidden when not in use. Both of these are shown here. One is raised by hand. The other differs from all other types of tops in that it is automatically raised and taken down not by hand but by power secured from the vehicle's engine, a convenience especially attractive to thousands of women drivers.

When not in use the hand-raised and lowered disappearing top is stowed away out of sight in a turtle-backed compart- ment at the extreme rear of the car behind the rear seat. This turtle back serves as a cover but also gives the body the lines of a yacht. The top is inserted in the rear compartment through a large U-shaped door in the top and two smaller doors on the sides of the rear seat, all three doors forming U<^s fwwu;L! one large U-shaped opening when they are revolved up about their respective hinges. The side arms supporting the top, when up,

��Bring back \ Note position of levers

5 P nn 9 whentopisdown

The automatically adjusted top wound round the roll- er in the rear compartment

��are pivoted at opposite points inside the compartment. Suppose the top is to be lowered. The chauffeur walks to the rear of the car through the divided front seats and folds the top away in the con- ventional manner. When the three doors are closed it is entirely hidden from view. An eave trough is provided in front of the doors so that water can- not leak through the door joints and down into the compartment' where it might rot the

���revolving tire boi

.6 tires!

��The hand-operated top is folded back in the usual way and then stowed away out of sight in a turtle-backed compartment

��102

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