FRONT WHEEL DRIVE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19150, 5 November 1927, Page 11

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE.

IS IT COMING? ADVANTAGES DETAILED. Say what one likes alxmt racing, for or against, it must bo admitted that it has proved, and thus indirectly produced, most of the newer popular features of motor-car construction today (says a writer in '•Motoiland"). In a sense, tlio'track is the proving ground for advanced ideas. Since they aro "advanced" ideas, they are put forward as a means to greater Jjower, greater economy, or greater something else. When track and racing prove this to be correct; -when the public slowly accepts the continued repetition of what this or that new feature lias done for racing, then and then only are these features adopted into standard construction.

Right now the front drive is in this position. Advocated by a few for years as the proper method, it has been tried out in racing and found most successful. Following these recent racing successes, far-sighted constructors now say this will be the next major chango in car construction. When one / of the.foremost French motor editors visited tho United States, ho stated positively that tho improved front-wheel drive would bo the next big improvement in car construction. Their'ho went on to say that many experiments on'front-wheel drives aro being made secretly hy European manufacturers. Not long ago Captain Edward Rickenbacker, himself a former'successful racing driver, stated that the front drive will come eventually. As ho put it, "Not to-day nor to-morrow, but when conditions demand it, wo will get around to it." Among the makers experimenting with new cars, details of which are secret, it is fair to assume that these include as large a proportion of front drives as tho European, new designs. So it is not too optimistic to say that some of the new cars for next' year (1929 models, as the 192S!s are now being put forward) will include one or more with frontiwheel drive.

Two Major Ways. There are two major ways in which this front drivo can be used, dependent on whether tho manufacturer using it regards it as sufficiently good and successful to stand alone, or whether he considers it more as a slight improvement on present rear drives. In tho former case, we would have cars equipped with front drive alone, forsaking rear drive altogether, pulling the car instead of pushing it. In the latter case, we would havo cars equipped with both front and rear drive, or four-wheel driving. Moreover, this probably would include four-wheel steering, and thus, since almost all cars now-have four-wheel brakes, fourwheel driving, steering, and braking. That the method of pulling the .load, is sound and correct as to principle is proved by the fact! that in tilling the ground trio plough has always been pujled, first by human beings, later by .animals, most recently by tractors; by the historical example of the locomotive, all.locomotives pulling their .load, 1 the pusher engine being used only on heavy grades because it' can be conveniently removed from the rear end of the train when tho top of the hill is reached ; v by the aeroblane, the pusher type (as thp original Wright and other planes were) having practically disappeared to be replaced by tho puller tynos; by all horse vehicles, or vehicles drawn by animals of any kind, the animal always being in front and a puller rather than a pusher; by the growing tendency among tractor designers towards tho puller type (mainly with continuous treads); by the tanks of the war period, all pullers; and by many and various other.instances.

Pulling the Load. Before the coining of the automobile, it was considered tho only correct principle to piiJl the load. The fact that automobiles have been so successful, in spite of their conta - arywiso operation, only emphasises the necessity for getting back to correct principles now. Let us see what tho front drive, used nlone, will do for us. For front driving, used without rear driving, it is claimed that the compact arrangement at the front reduces tho number, size, and length of parts so that weight is lessened and cost reduced, under present, rear-drive construction. The drive shaft, for instance, is perhaps six or seven inches long instead of thirty-six to fifty niches, its weight a ma ttcr of ounces instead of pounds. From the race track comes the claim of much higher speeds. Miller, Riokenbacker, Duesenberg, Milton, Durant, Oldfield, and other racers or racing constructors now claim the front drive to be faster than the rear. In 192(3, there were but two front drives in the Indianapolis five-hundred-mile race, but in 1927 there were eleven, showing that the 1926 results were most convincing, to the racers at least. Since the 1927 race, both Miller and Duesenberg have gone on record as favouring the front drive in any car, racing or stock. Another factor which racing has proved lies in the superior tyre mileage obtained from the front drive. The first cars to go through the five hundred gruelling miles of the Indianapolis race without a tyre change were frontdriven. This was one of the factors which led to its wider use this year, and the .proving nf it then impressed all drivers with this highly important idea, that front drive is easier on tyres. •

Effecting Economies. These it-ems combine to prcduce fuel and operating economies. \Vith lessened weight, lower parts and reduced lirst coat, vvitn faster speeds ou equal tuei or equal speeds ou less fuel, with reuuceu tyro wear and consequent cost, tho l'rono drivo should give a much lowered operating cost. The lightweight cars of tne Whippet type are now proving to many thousands, perhaps millions, that lessened weight and fewer smaller parts will effect a material redaction in car-operating costs. Lower first cost reduces interest and depreciation. Lessened fuel, oil, and tyre consumption are the most evident cost items, although they do not bulk so large in the end-of-tne-year totals. It has been proved in racing and in the Christie front-drive lire apparatus that front-drive cars are immune to skidding. Skidding seems to be a reardrive characteristic. Aside from the danger, loss of control of the car, slower driving caused by fear of skidding, and other factors, skidding is slipping, so that the power is being applied to the wheels but is not propelling the car forward. In frort-drive cars, the elimination of skidding will make wetweather driving not alone safer and more enjoyable, but more economical as well.

Present width of tread is fixed and standardised so that there is no possibility of that,being changed. Yet tho tread width governs the body width while tyre diameter governs the body's height. If the front drive replaces the rear drive, tho body at tho rear can bo lowered down between the wheels. In fact it can be placed as close to the ground as desired. Besides the rear axle, the driving shaft now prevents low bodies in.tho middle of the chassis. With the front drive, this is eliminated and the body back of tho engine may be set at any desired level. The low body includes a lower centre of gravity as well as centre of mass. Moth these make for safety and stabil-ity,-on the lovel, whenever turning, at low speeds as well as high, in fact at any and all times. The front drive which would permit very much lower bodies thus may bo'put'down as producing a safer, more stable construction.

Front driving is really no more than a combination of front steering and rear driving, the front wheels taking up the combined tasks of steering and driving. And in" present-day cars with fourwheel brakes, they add the third function of braking. Thus, the one axle combines nil the functions of the former two, and the rear axle becomes no more than a support for the rear end of the car. And even that can bo minimised so as to be but a pair of wheel supports on either side.

Bunching engine, transmission, final drive into a very compact group at the front end of the. car, that is in no longer.space than the present engine and front axle, or from axle back to dash or cowl, means that the drive is shorter and thus more efficient. The present use of two universal joints is reduced to one slip joint of limited movement, so the big loss through the universal joints is eliminated. Shorter shafts are stiffcr and more efficient.

Further Advantages. The front drive combined with the rear drivo will result in even more advantages. With four-wheelbrakes now universal, this construction, probably would result in four-wheel driving, steeriiigi and braking, so that 'two axles would be alike, also the four wheels exact duplicates. That is, by having oach wheel drive, steer and brake, this becmes a big production problem since the axles are alike, the difference from the present arrangement being that two duplicate axles must be produced; and the wheels would all be alike, the problem then being one of quantity, producing perhaps five exactly alike in place of the present plan of two of one kind, two of another, and a duplicate rim. • This arrangement gives four-wheel traction and. in the early constructions, mostly for trucks, gave almost unbelievable results. One vehicle with fourwheel driving, steering, braking used to carry a ten-ton load, haul another tenton on a trailer, and take both through hub-deep sand or mud, and do many other unbelievable stunts.

The argument for the efficiency of four-wheel brakes applies with even greater force to four-wheel driving. Once the kinks are ironed out of the combination of three functions ia one unit—as four-wheel brakes- have practically accomplished this now—the desirability of four-wheel driving will be admitted by all, owner-driver as well as technical njan. Its common sense is beyond dispute.

Smaller Motors, With greater driving efficiency and lowered losses of power, it will be possible to reduce motors greatly. Just as tho ultra-modern small eights, with 2 3-16 inch bore and a piston displacement of 91* cubic inches, have shown that the big engines are wholly unnecessary, the four-wheel drive will bring forth even smaller engines, such as eights with a bore less than two inches and sixes of a bore approximating two and one-quarter inches. Since four-wheel driving doubles the tractive grip on the road necessary power could almost be cut in half and give present-day results. This means tiny motors with to-day's speed and power results. Tiny motors will cost less to build, less to repair and care for, less to operate .and there will be less to depreciate. A reduction in engine weight,- ,with less power to be transmitted, which means lowered weight in transmission and drive parts, will bring considerable total' saving in weight. With drive distributed over four wheels and consequent diminution of tyro slippage, and aided by all-round weight economy, the tyre wear will be much less. With lighter weight for equal speed, power, and carrying capacity, tyres can be smaller in size. Thus, initial tyre cost will be less, tyro repairs will be less, mileage greatly increased, so all tyre costs from first to last will be reduced. If a car which has but front-wheel steering can turn in forty-foot radius circles, one with four-wheel steering could turn in approximately half that space, or, sa}', a twenty-four-foot radius. A slight movement of the steering wheel would turn the front wheels in one direction, slightly to tho left, let us say, and the rear wheels equally in the other direction, slightly to the right. With both wheels steering, the car is thus' more mobile, turns more easily and in much shorter space. Almost any size of car could turn c-rapictely around in a fairly narrow street or road. This would simplify city driving and make country driving in mean places much easier also. Many an awkward situation is caused by a narrow roadway, too narrow for turning, which must be followed for miles. Four-wheel steering would eliminate this.

. Will four-wheel steering complicate matters any?'lf'the addition of driving to the front wheel makes the car easier to steer, as Harry Miller, Los Angeles, racing constructor, says, having a pair of axles, both of which drive and steer, will make matters better rather than worse. Miller uses a ball-

bearing steering column, also ball-bear-ing steering knuckles or pivots, and says of combined front driving and steering, '-It is easy to drive, steer more easily than the customary rearend drive," without anv need of oversteering, and has alj the mechanism at the front, where it is accessible.'

Tie Near Future. From the above it may be seen that four-wheel driving, steering, and braking has all of the advantages of front driving alone, or plus four-wheel brakes, except that of fewer parts, and in addition has a number of very desirable advantages all its own. Now that the public has become accustomed to tne front axle which carries brakes as weil, and the rear axle which drives and carries brakes—that is, an axle with double functions, steering and braking on one hand, driving and braking on the other —it is but a simple natural forward step to four-wheel driving, steering, and braking. Which arrangement will come first, front drive or four-wheel drive, and which will prove most popular, only time can tell. But as certainly as the automotive industry has always moved forward, has always shown a marked advancement in one year over all preceding vears, so it is certain that one of these combinations of front-wheel driving with our present arrangements is but a year or two in the future.

The simplest way to get a car out of a deep rut is to roll a tyre chain into a ball and placo it in the rut under a front wheel. Place another under a rear wheel. The wheels will then ride up and out of the rut.

"More power to you," said the salesman as he delivered the customer au car and took a Lizzie m trade.

FORD TRUCK OWNERS.

H. and D. Shock Absorbers save 30 per cent, on Tyres, Benzine, Repairs, and Upkeep. Less chance of daroage to valuable loads. £4 15s fitted. Apply Reliable. Agencies, 211 Cashel street. ~~ 6.