Figure 22.—From the Springfield Evening Union, September 16, 1893.
[Text of Article]
Toward the latter part of the following week, Frank was ready to give the product of his labors its first road trial. On September 21 the completed carriage was rolled onto the elevator at Russell's shop. Seeing that the running gear was too long for the elevator, they raised the front of the machine, resting the entire weight of 750 pounds on the rear wheels. Once outside the building, they pushed it into an area between the Russell and Stacy buildings. After dark, "so no one will see," Will Bemis, Mr. Markham's son-in-law, brought a horse and they pulled the phaeton out to his barn on Spruce Street.[28] There, on Spruce and Florence Streets the first tests were made. The next day Frank wrote his brother saying, "Have tried it (the carriage) finally and thoroughly and quit trying until some changes are made. Belt transmission very bad.[29] Engine all right." He did admit the engine seemed to be well loaded most of the time. He also had an idea in mind to replace the poor transmission, explaining the plan to Charles: "The three gears[30] on secondary shaft have friction clutches, the two bevel gears on same shaft are controlled by a clutch which frees one and clutches the other at will. This provides a reverse."
Figure 23.—Type of spark coil the Duryeas are believed to have used in their electrical circuit,
as shown in a catalog illustration. (Smithsonian photo 46858-A.)
The Springfield Evening Union of September 22 carried a notice of the trial. This report, too, commented on the faulty transmission and the plan already in Frank's mind for the new transmission.
… The friction belt allowed of the speed being steadily increased or diminished at the will of the driver and caused no sudden forward motion of the carriage, but while this arrangement has many advantages it uses up the power so that the two-horse power furnished by the motor [somewhat less than the rating Frank gave the engine] was reduced to less than three-fourths horse power on reaching the main shaft. This would not be sufficient to propel the carriage up steep grades but would be sufficient to run the carriage on level road.
The inventors will do away with this belt in favor of a clamp gear and will make the drum wheel smaller. By this means there will be very little power lost in transmission to the shaft and by a patented arrangement the carriage may be started gradually but the speed must be increased by shifting the clamp gear to a succession of gears on the driving wheel of the motor. The speed of the carriage will be fixed permanently according to the size of the gear that the smaller one is shifted to. The test of the machine with the gear arrangement will be made soon.
In October Frank decided on another vacation and went to Chicago to see the Columbian Exposition. Charles had come up from Peoria to see the fair and the two talked over the progress on their motor wagon, and discussed the transmission problem. They gave particular attention to everything relating to engines and motor carriages, and Frank recalls seeing a Daimler quadricycle that impressed him with its performance.[31] Just what decisions the two might have made there are unknown, yet it is likely that they agreed to give the old transmission one more chance to prove itself.