1930 Automotive Developments
The Public becomes an Engineer— and much of the 1930 automobile is in response to what “the people demand” although it may not always be best
By HAROLD F.BLANCHARD Technical Editor of MoToR, January 1930
WITH the advent of 1930 have come interesting automotive developments. The sixteen cylinder car makes its debut. Front drive has arrived and so has the down-draft carburetor. Four-speed transmissions have become popular. There are more eight-cylinder cars, more two-way shock absorbers, more fuel pumps, more shatter-proof glass, more automatic chassis lubrication, while adjustable front seats and steering columns are almost universal.
On the whole, the new cars are somewhat longer, roomier, heavier and a trifle more powerful due mainly to larger engines which run more slowly because of higher rear axle gear ratios. Likewise there has been a slight average increase in maximum speed and progress in riding quality, comfort, luxury and beauty. Compression ratios are little if any higher than last year and all standard automobile engines are designed to run with fair satisfaction on ordinary fuel.
The aluminum alloy piston has gained ground and so has the aluminum alloy connecting-rod. Weatherproof internal brakes have almost completely displaced the once universal external type. Brake pedal pressure averages less than heretofore due to improved design of shoes and linkage.
Generally speaking, quality of material and workmanship are a little better although in some quarters hard-boiled economy fostered by keen competition has pared down the details a little more than is desirable. The “half-size” wheel bearing is an example. It will last two or three years instead of the life of the car. Springs and various other units have in some cases been given the same sort of rather dubious attention.
Peeping into the future, there appear to be two rather immediate possibilities, twelve and sixteen-cylinder engines and power-operated brakes, and looking further ahead there is some likelihood of power-operated clutches and steering gears. Some attention is also being given to independently sprung wheels while inventors are still hard at work on new valves, new engines and transmissions with numerous silent speeds with or without the use of gears. There is nothing at the moment to indicate that the Diesel engine will ever be found in a passenger car although it is likely to have an important place in aviation and perhaps also in the commercial vehicle field.
Without realizing it, the public has played an important role in designing the 1930 car. To a certain extent this is unfortunate for the public obviously knows little about automotive engineering.
Eights are on the increase because the public wants them. Why? In a surprising number of cases the average buyer answers: “Because the eight has two more cylinders and therefore has just that much more power.” In arriving at this remarkable conclusion he completely forgets, if he ever knew, that the six-cylinder cars on the market have about the same performance as the eights.
Now the eight, it is freely admitted, has certain advantages over the six, and vice-versa, but it is questionable whether the public has been much influenced by consideration of the technical advantages pro or con. Both eights and sixes have rightful places in the automotive industry but public demand has persuaded many manufacturers to turn to the eight although in some of these cases the six is the logical choice from the engineer’s standpoint.
Some readers may remark rather hotly that “the eight is obviously much smoother than the six—and everybody knows it.” The practical answer to this is that behind the wheel he is a rare driver who can tell a six from an eight except by reading the name plate.
THESE remarks do not apply to all cases. — There are instances where the eight is definitely better but taking the general run of automobiles as built to-day there are but few exceptions to the statement that the public cannot tell the difference between an eight and a six. Almost every human being has a weakness for numbers. Eight is a larger number than six. Two is a larger number than one, hence two-way shock absorbers are better than one-way, concludes the public. Assuming, for the moment that the two-way instrument is actually better than the one-way type, the public as a whole has had neither the time nor the opportunity to determine this fact fairly and without prejudice. The only honest way to settle the question is for each owner to try his own car over his customary roads, first equipped with one-way shock absorbers, and then fitted with two-way devices. A very few, of course, have done this but their number is so small that they cannot have had any noticeable influence on popular opinion as a whole.
The present popularity of the two-way principle is apparently based mainly on two facts: 1—The two-way device sounds like a better proposition 2—Two or three important car manufacturers have campaigned the two-way principle to the point where a large section of the public has become sold on the idea.
Sweeping aside public prejudice, what do engineers have to say on the question? There are some chief engineers who sincerely believe that some particular two-way device gives the better riding quality, but there are other chief engineers who honestly prefer the one-way principle. But what happens ? In at least one recent instance the chief engineer attached two-way shock absorbers to his 1930 line because of their greater sales appeal and not because he thought they were better. And this is a typical example of how the public “engineers” the modern automobile.
While there are plenty of good engineers who prefer hydraulic shock absorbers, there are equally competent engineers who will tell you emphatically that some particular friction type is better. But the public wants hydraulics.
Via the route of “sales appeal” the public unconsciously directs the design for better or for worse and hampers progress to a certain extent by discarding designs which have a right to further development. Especially is this true when the design approved and the design rejected are really very close in actual merit.
The public is likely to take hold of the four-speed transmission and engineer it into most automobiles, reasoning that, “four-speeds obviously are better than three.” The four-speed transmission with silent third is a worthy, commendable development but, in the writer’s opinion, to say that it should be on all automobiles, that it will suit all drivers better than a three, is similar to insisting that all automobiles should seat five passengers, and that the manufacture of all two-passenger cars should be discontinued.
It is clear to everybody that the variables of personal need and taste cause one man to prefer a two-passenger car while another chooses a car for five people. Likewise there are good grounds for believing that both the three and four-speed transmission should have a permanent place and that some drivers will prefer the one and other drivers the other.
However, the public unconsciously, through the avenue of sales appeal, has already gone to work on the problem, but it is to be hoped that car owners generally will give the question of three versus four speeds really careful consideration backed by actual, critical experience, rather than jump to the conclusion that four speeds must be better and therefore insist through sales demand that all cars be so equipped.
Related posts:
- Automotive Advances for 1929
- 1930 Indianapolis 500 Rules
- Torque Converter Developments 1927
- Radio in Automobiles 1930
- First Air-conditioned Trains 1930
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