A REMARKABLE INVENTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 204, 26 February 1912, Page 7

A REMARKABLE INVENTION.

MOTOR CAR REVOLUTIONISED. On his journey Home to England last year, Mr. ,C. Carter, chairman of directors of the Taranaki Petroleum Company, met a Victorian farmer aboard the steamer, who was proceeding to the Continent of Europe to put on tho market an invention which he claim,ed would revolutionise the motor car industry. Being interested in oil, Mr. Carter was likewise interested in the invention and he and the inventor (Mr. iJ. J. Charley by name) became close friends and saw a good deal of one another in London. Mr. Carter was much impressed with the invention, which does away with axles and even with rubber tyres. In fact, from what he saw of it he felt sure it would supersede rubber tyres. Instead of the axle and tyres taking the jerks and shocks incidental to travelling in a car, the new device that forms the invention bears them, or, rather, diverts them in the direction in which the car is travelling;. The chassis is suspended on tho cantilever principle, and differs largely from any existing modes of spring. It abuts from the body of the car like an arm, and with solid tyres (iron tyres or any other' substance) one can ride over the roughest of roads, footpath kerbings or any other irregular surfaces without the slightest jarring. .Mr. Charley, said Mr. Carter, was a farmer in Victoria of a. mechanical turn of mind who had been on the invention for the past six years, and was quite satisfied that it would prove all that he claimed for it. This was borne out when he got to London, where he had i car made at his own expense fitted with his patent wheels and springs, and lie satisfied the greatest motor engineers in London of its success. He disposed of the English rights for £200,000, and he is now negotiating for the disposal of the patent rights in other countries. Mr. Carter relates that at first English people who Mr. Charley approached were desirous of binding him down and really exploiting him, but Mr. Charley , happened to be in a comfortable position financially and able to bear the cost of making an experimental car and paying the preliminary expenses. This put Mr. Charley in an independent and strong position.

The following article, dealing with the invention, we clip from an English paper: —Some time back an announcement was made as to a remarkoble invention in motor chassis suspension/Big things Were claimed for the invention, the work of a Victorian, Mr J. J. Charley, and that there were good grounds for the optimistic views taken by all who had a trial run on the experimental machine is now borne out by the formation of an English company, with a capital of £200,000, to handle the English rights. Negotiations are now pending for the purchase of the French and German interests in the patent. The crude experimental car, an old antiquated one, taken to France and England, has created quite a sensation amongst those who have been privileged to have a ride, and. four of the leading engineers in England have given most glowing reports, on the new suspension device. ; Mr F. Lamplough, .C.E., M.1.A.E,, one of the leading i experts Mn England, says that "the de-' sign is so original and effective that it might be termed the coping stone of tractive progress?' Mr Lamplough says: "After inspection I essayed a ride, and before the machine had travelled 100 yards the appearance of the car Was for-' 5 gotten in my new experience, for neve* I before in all my travels upon various J cars manufactured by leading makers I have I enjoyed so novel and exhilarating a ride, From my inspection I had been led, as stated, to expect something out of J the ordinary, but I did not realise for ( one moment that the result would be : superior to pneumatic tyres, as I merely J looked upon the device as something that would, if carefully driven, give a result that would at least compare favorably with riding on pneumatics. Imagine my surprise on finding that the result obtained in practise was infinitely superior .to the best pneumatic tyres ever invented, and it was indeed hard to believe that the car was running on solid tyres, or even wheels at all, as the motion! was exactly similar to that of a boat travelling through water, and even when the car was driven over the kerb, and on the pavement and off again into the gutter, an operation that in a pneumatic tyres car would have causwl much discomfort to the passengers, the only knowledge I had of the incident was what I saw. Neither the passenger with me, nor I, felt any appreciable movement, and whether the car was driven over a rough newly-metalled road, or a smooth one, the effect was practically the same, so that generally the effective result of the suspension is simply amazing. With the inventor's assistance I unravelled the mystery, and at the same time the reason why, and I am clearly of opinion that his conception is simply a masterpiece in mechanics, as it can never be altered or improved upon, , Refinements in the way of casings a,nd method of lubrication can of course be added, but, like the propeller invented by Archimedes, through ages to come, the principle evolved will, remain, the same. It is, in effect, unalterable, 'and can neither be augmented nor detracted from, and shows a depth of ingenuity that must.be the* result of much thought and experiment, as it is not by any means what might be termed a chance discovery. The springing certainly lessens the road'shocks and transmits "them to the body of the vehicle in a mgdified form with considerable rolling and pitching; even the modern tyred vehicle suffers from this defect, and no one could possibly state that they compared with the smoothness of a boat travelling through water. "Why? Because in all devices up to date there is no buoyancy or resistance to pitching when travelling over uneven ground. With the Charley system everything possible has been effected by the simple expedient. All vertical shocks are taken -and converted in the direction of travel, and the wheels being in independent profile the road, and thereby the body, is always in a state of equipoise, and practically floats through space always on a level, while , the most severe shocks possible are re- j duced by 75 per cent., and the remaining 25 per cent, lost in transit through being • transposed from the vertical to the hori- j zontal plane. It would be impossible . for me to over-estimate the value of ' such a method, as to commence with it absolutely dispenses with the necessity "of pneumatic tyres. On well-made solid rubber tyres, with the, Charley system, , tyre expenditure should not cost more than £25 per annum, with no worries. Of course the opinion here expressed has no bearing on how the Charley mechanism is going to stand up to heavy driving, or whether there will be a limit to pace with the new springing." ,