Free Wheeling

The first of many impending innovations in automotive design appeared last week. For its new "free wheeling" principle Studebaker claimed much: 12% saving on gas, 20% saving on oil, clutch not needed except in starting and backing, smoother riding, no "piling up" of the motor.

Basic principle of "free-wheeling": When the car rolls faster than the engine is turning over, the rear wheels are automatically disengaged from the engine. Bicycle makers long ago incorporated this principle in the "coaster" brake. In the automobile it amounts to an automatic shifting to neutral whenever the engine threatens to act as a brake on the car. When the engine is desired as a brake aid, an auxiliary gear is ready for the purpose on the new Studebaker.

Though an innovation among U. S. cars, "free wheeling" is a commonplace abroad. It is standard or optional equipment on a long list of cars including the Austin 12, Citroen, Humber, Chenard-Walcker, Renault. Studebaker, which also has announced a price-cut on its sixes, holds basic patents for its particular free-wheeling device.

Another score for Studebaker is the excellent earnings record of its subsidiary, Fierce-Arrow. Sales for the first quarter of 193,0 were 115% over 1929 figures; second quarter sales are expected to show a 33% gain, over first quarter. To Studebaker President Albert Russell Erskine goes much of the credit. A man of figures rather than a production man, he sowed $2,000.000 in 1928 in the then tottering Fierce-Arrow Motor Car Co., reaped $2,000,000 in Pierce-Arrow dividends for Studebaker the next year. The record came to its latest climax with a recent report that Pierce-Arrow now has $1,000,000 in the bank after having paid off all bank loans.

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