REEVES MAKES SIX WHEELS SERVE

Removes One Pair and Finds Advantages Are Not Diminished—His Six-Wheeler Ready for Marketing.

After considerable experimenting, during which his original product, the Octoauto, which made its appearance about nine months ago, has been driven some 7,000 miles over the roads of the United States to demonstrate the faith of its inventor in the principles involved, M. O. Reeves, of Columbus. Ind., has so far modified his designs as to eliminate one of the four pairs of wheels with which the first car was equipped. Quite as appropriately as the first, the second model has been styled the Sextoauto, and will be manufactured by the recently formed Reeves Sexto-Octo Co., of which Reeves is the manager and absorbing qualities of the four rear wheels and tires are felt.

The basis for the claim of greatly reduced body movement with consequent lessened discomfort to passengers and shock to the mechanism of the car, is that the majority of bumps or depressions in a road are three feet or less in length. With the ordinary vehicle either corner of the chassis is lowered or raised, according to whether a wheel drops into a hole or mounts an obstruction, by the height of obstruction or the depth of the hole. With the Sextoauto, however, the dropping of one of the rear wheels into a hole six inches deep, for instance, results in a body movement of but three inches by reason of the construction, which is according to the mechanical principle involved in a lever of the second class having arms of equal length.

Similarly, when the forward pair of wheels in the rear set are ascending from the hole the rear pair are descending, the result centers is 156 inches. As for the motor, transmission and chassis, no change whatever has been made from standard practice other than a lengthening of the frame by 19 inches to accommodate the extra pair of wheels.

The motor is rated at 45 horsepower and has four cylinders which measure 4S& inches bore and inches stroke; ignition is effected by means of the Bosch dual system. Power is transmitted to the fullfloating driving axle through the intermediary of a large leather-faced cone clutch and three speed selectively operated change gear mechanism mounted in ball bearings. Both the front wheels and the drivers are shod with 34 x 4 inch tires, and the rear steering wheels carry 34 x 3J4 inch tires; there are two separate sets of brakes, internal expanding for service and externa! contracting for emergency, and both sets are mounted on the driving wheels. Either four- or five-passenger bodies are supplied, at the option of the purchaser, and the list the moving spirit. A factory has been acquired in Columbus, Ind., and the cars are to be marketed at $2,500.

In eliminating two wheels and more or less machinery, however, Reeves still has adhered io the theory exemplified in the Octoauto, to wit: That three little bumps are easier to cushion than one large pump, a theory which has been in use in the construction of Pullman cars for many years The Sextoauto is essentially the Octoauto but in a very much more modified form. The distinctive and exclusive rear construction, embracing four wheels in place of the usual two, is retained, though the front construction now is exactly the same as the orthodox type of four-wheeled automobile.

The greater simplicity of the six- wheeled construction over the eight wheels is apparent, and the results achieved by the change arc that the cost of manufacturing is materially reduced, while at the same time approximately the same service can be obtained from the vehicle. This is explained by reason of the fact that the position of the passengers is over the rear wheels, where the easy riding and shock being that theoretically the movement of the car bcdy is nil.

Actually there is a slight movement, due to the resiliency of the springs, though even this slight movement is better cushioned than it is in the average car because the two pairs of wheels permit the use of longer springs. The front of the car, it is explained, acts the same as the front of any other car. That is to say, the front wheels of a car do not cause the amount ol body motion that is caused by the rear wheels nor do they ride as "hard." For which reason, it has been deemed sufficient that the "Pullman" effect be confined to the rear of the vehicle, which, in the usual type of car, is the most uncomfortable place to ride.

The construction of the car is quite similar to the construction of the Octoauto, only one pair of the rear wheels being driving members, and the other pair being arranged to steer by means of suitable levers connected to the front wheels. Thus when the vehicle is turned it simply pivots around the driving wheels, which are in the center. The total distance between the front wheel centers and the rear wheel.The price includes such items of equipment as top, windshield, speedometer and the usual complement of lamps and tonneau fittings.

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