Care in operating the gears will add much to the life of the car and to the pleasure of the owner, and chauffeurs should be instructed in the proper handling of the speed and reverse levers. It racks one’s nerves when riding to hear gears clash and grind on a passing car, and many of the taxis seem to have this trouble.
The chauffeurs run the cars on a slap-dash method and disregard of the gears is a part of it all, but it costs the owner much in upkeep and renewals.
CHAPTER XXII
THE GEAR-SHIFTING BUGABOO
Probably the chief bugaboo of the new owner is gear shifting. This is evident from the fact that the average motor-driving novice will leave the gear in high when the car is slowed down practically to a standstill, and make the engine labor in order to pick up speed again, rather than run the risk of making a noisy shift. He has learned from his brief experience that, in addition to the noise he creates, he does not mesh the gears anyway, and has to start off from a standstill. Consequently he does not shift gears, but makes the engine start on high-speed gear.
This, no doubt, is the cause in a large measure of the great popularity of six-, eight-, and twelve-cylinder engines, since with motors of this type the gear shift is not so necessary. There is a greater range of speed; a greater flexibility and power may be delivered at lower speed. Even the manufacturers of four-cylinder engines have designed their motors for higher speed with greater gear reduction, which makes it easier for the engine to pick up the load from the very lowest speed, consequently making the car more popular with the prospective owner.
Inventors are continually at work trying to devise simple methods of bringing about an adjustment of load to speed without actually sliding the gears into mesh, and one very popular type of car is arranged so that no sliding of gears is necessary, and another one or two leave out the gears entirely.
However, the three-speed sliding-gear transmission seems to be the most satisfactory, considered from all standpoints, including cost of manufacture, ease of repair and care required, consequently the owner should learn at once how to manipulate the gear lever with a minimum of noise, which is largely a matter of practice.
If a man should get into a strange car he could hardly be expected to shift the gears noiselessly under all conditions; but a man who owns a car and drives it should very quickly learn the peculiarities of that particular car and be able to make the required gear shifts with ease and confidence.
CYLINDER OF STEEL, AND THE GEAR WHEEL WHICH WAS HAMMERED FROM IT