STEAM CARS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19437, 24 October 1925, Page 19 (Supplement)

STEAM CARS

MEET LIMITED DEMAND The modern steam car possesses features not readily appreciated by the driver of a petrol vehicle. Three or four American factories continue to produce these unconventional cars to cater for a limited demand. In appearance the latest models lare indistinguishable from the highest class of petrol-engined car. The regular steam car engine burns paraffin or petrol automatically ignited by a device operated as easily as *an electric selfstarter. A high efficiency boiler under

the bonnet supplies super-heated steam, starting up from cold it is not the lengthy process expected from a steam plant. One type of steam car boiler requires only three and a-half minutes to reach a pressure of 5001 b. A safety device cuts out the fl<ame when the pressure is at its maximum, land brings it into operation immediately the steam supply begins to fail. The steam car engine is usually of tho two-cylinder, double-acting type with slide valves. In some cars a reverse gear is fitted. Other types reverse by changing the direction of the stelam supply to the engine. A water tank is fitted in the engine and the radiator functions as a condenser. Silence and lack of vibration are the chief claims of the steam car. The noisy gear-bnx is omitted owing to the superior flexibility of the steam engine unit.