MANY WOMEN ARE NOW LEARNING TO OPERATE THEIR OWN VEHICLES






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Sunday, 24 June 1906
Brooklyn Standard Union

MORE WOMEN HAVE BEEN SEEN AT THE STEERING WHEELS OF BIG TOURING CARS 
THIS YEAR THAN EVER BEFORE - 

TROUBLES OF THE FEMININE AMATEUR IN MOTORDOM.

   More Brooklyn women have been seen at the steering wheels of automobiles 
this year than ever before. A walk along the Eastern Parkway or the Boulevard 
any afternoon, will show that apparently the latest ambition of the up-to-date 
American woman is to become an expert driver of automobiles - not merely the 
natty little electrics that spin noiselessly up and down the city streets, 
proving a God-send for shopping and calling, but also the big gasoline touring 
cars that go bowling along country roads at express train speed. The number of 
fair motorists who are now operating their own cars without masculine assistance 
or advice proves that this fascinating accomplishment is well within reach of 
the average feminine enthusiast.

   The entrance of the gentler sex into the automobile field in considerable 
numbers has been followed by the establishment in Manhattan for schools for 
the instruction of feminine aspirants in al the mysteries of the twentieth 
century mode of locomotion. Such has been the influx of pupils and so liberal the 
pay that many auto experts have deserted other lines of endeavor in the field 
in order to devote their whole time to teaching the young idea how to mote. 
Every large automobile sales agency is also finding it decidedly profitable to 
have on its staff one or moire trained chauffeurs, of good address and courteous 
manner, who can be detailed to act as instructors for lady customers or 
prospective purchasers of automobiles.

   In some of the schools which have been established especially for the 
benefit of feminine amateurs in motordom it is the custom to give, as a 
prelude to practical instructions, a series of lectures designed to familiarize 
the motorist with her car and to impress upon her memory certain very essential 
"don'ts." The average instructor prefers, however, to dispense with this 
preliminary theoretical instruction and to repair from the outset to some 
unfrequented park, drive or country road where the pupil may learn in the 
school of experience. The choice of a schooling course must be made with 
great care since it is highly desirable that a self-conscious pupil shall 
not be made nervous by the too frequent appearance of other automobiles or 
spirited horses and the possible eccentricities of a car in unfamiliar hands 
render it imperative that there be no steep embankments in the vicinity.

   To learn to operate a gasoline car is obviously more of a task than the 
handling of an electric, but most of the women who possess the accomplishment 
declare that the enjoyment and satisfaction more than compensate for the extra 
effort. The first lessons in the course of instruction for a gasoline or steam 
car are designed to familiarize the new recruit with the operation of the 
steering wheel. There appears to be an impression prevalent among women not 
familiar with large automobiles that a man's strength is required to turn this 
large wheel in guiding the car, but this belief is wholly unfounded.

   It is, to be sure, something of a chore to steer a heavy automobile over 
rough country roads for an entire day's run, just as it may prove wearying to 
drive a spirited horse for ten consecutive hours, but under ordinary 
circumstances the steering of a large automobile presents no difficulties and 
the higher the speed of the car the easier it is to manipulate the wheel. 
The steering  wheel is turned to the right when it is desired to have the 
automobile turn to the right, and is swung toward the left when the car is to 
be turned in that direction. Almost all of the large touring cars are provided 
now with irreversible steering gear which serves to prevent the steering wheels 
from being turned from their course by striking a rut or some other slight obstruction.

   The next step in the making of a feminine motorist consists of an 
introduction to the uses and operation of the brakes. On a representative car these 
consist of a foot brake which operates on the transmission and a hand brake, 
operated by a lever at the side of the car, which acts upon the rear wheels of 
the automobile. These brakes may be operated independently or simultaneously and 
no unusual exertion is required to apply them. The foot brake is the less 
powerful of the two, but it is the more convenient and usually suffices under all 
ordinary circumstances. However, if the automobile strikes a heavy down grade 
or must be brought to a sudden stop in an emergency the hand brake is 
resorted to.

   Lesson number three in the education of a fair automobilist takes up the 
uses of the sparker and throttle - two little levers located on the top of the 
big steering wheel. Combinations of these two in manipulation give the various 
speeds of the automobile
and their proper management distinguishes the good operator from the poor 
driver, since they constitute the means of saving gasoline and keeping the engine 
cool.

   The woman who longs to experience the exhilaration of driving a motor car, 
but has the traditional feminine distaste for mechanical details, is likely 
to grow restive when she reaches the subject of the gears and clutch  - the 
former operated be levers and the latter by a foot pedal. However, this dip into 
the technical side of horseless vehicle practice is quite important, for the 
gear levers work wheels in the transmission box and alter the relation of the 
speed of the engine and the speed of the wheels of the auto. Thus the status of 
this part of the mechanism is responsible for what the motorist speaks of as 
"speed," although this should not be confounded with the speed of the car on 
the road, which is largely controlled by the sparker.

   In accordance with the manipulation of the gear levers the engine is 
thrown on first, second or third speed, or as it might more comprehensively be 
expressed on high, intermediate or low gear. The so-called third speed is very 
useful when the heavy car gets into a bad rut on the road. The second speed is 
relied upon when the motorist desires to send his car up a long, steep hill 
without placing undue strains on the machinery, and the first speed or high gear 
signifying that the engine is direct coupled and that every revolution of the 
engine brings about a revolution of the wheels of the automobile is relied upon 
when a racing gait is sought.

   It is, of course, necessary to disconnect the engine from the transmission 
when changing gear, and this is accomplished by the clutch, operated, as has 
been explained, by a foot pedal. The function of the clutch in throwing out 
the engine from the transmission is also valuable in that it enables the halting 
of the automobile without the stoppage of the engine - a wise course in case 
only a brief stop is to be made at any point. Finally the clutch renders 
possible the very low speed used by a motorist in "nursing" his car through a 
crowded thoroughfare.

   At this stage of the instructive proceedings the fair motorist gets her 
first taste of the joys of "cranking," an operation the object of which is to 
give the motor an impetus so that it will start over and transform the car into 
an object throbbing with life and ready to leap forward the moment the signal 
is given. The suave instructor always encourages his fair pupil with the 
explanation that "cranking" requires knack rather than mere strength, but it is a 
detail which in the case of the average car, the feminine operator prefers to 
leave to masculine brawn.

   Likewise the conscientious teacher carefully explains to each pupil all 
the intricacies of the powerful little engine hidden behind the rakish hood at 
the front of the automobile, laying especial stress upon the method of cleaning 
the spark plug - the best remedy for that irritating, irregular exhaust which 
betokens a sick engine - but it must be confessed in all candor that the 
average woman disdains these as details beneath her notice. Her preferred policy 
is to operate the machine just so long as it behaves itself and to abandon it 
to be towed home ignominiously by some farm horse gets into a tantrum. (sic)

   However, the ordinarily prudent feminine motorist does learn that it is 
unwise to start on either a brief or lengthy tour without ascertaining that the 
water tank is full, the oiler filled with cylinder oil and the gasoline tank 
holding its full capacity of fuel. Sad experience will teach her that it is not 
safe to trust these preparations wholly to any garage boy. She acquires, too, 
without any especial instruction the art of sounding the "honk-honk" or the 
warning horn by virtue of pressing the rubber bulb which rests invitingly near 
her right hand.

   The operation of an electric automobile is child's play compared to the 
handling of a gasoline car, which is, perhaps, the main reason why so many of 
the fair sex are partial to the runabouts, Stanhopes and speed wagons driven by 
the magic current.

   The chief lesson in the curriculum of the electric auto school deals with the 
manipulation of the steering lever, which, when in position, is in the form 
of an inverted L. This lever is pushed ahead when it is desired to turn the 
machine to the right, and is pulled back when the car is to be turned to the 
left. A button in the handle of the steering lever enables the operator to sound 
an electric bell as a warning to pedestrians or the drivers of other vehicles.

   The woman who is lucky enough to have an electric auto takes up, after 
learning to steer it, the manner of operating the controller, a lever located at 
her right and on a level with the seat of the machine. By pushing this 
controller backward or forward until a designated notch is reached the speed of the 
auto may be regulated at gaits of from four miles to twenty miles per hour. 
Next the new convert to motorism has explained to her the functions of the 
reverse, a lever located under the seat. When this lever is pushed down the car 
moves backward. The average electric auto has two brakes, one on the motor and one 
on the wheels, both of which are applied by pressing pedals close to the feet 
of the driver. The brake on the motor is the one usually employed, but in an 
emergency both brakes may be brought into use.


Transcribed for the Brooklyn Information Pages by Mary Musco
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