Reminiscences of Dr. Langstaff
Advent of horseless carriage
Panels
Lacrosse in the old daysEveryday lifeStreet lightingChristmas timeHorse and buggy daysAnecdotesAdvent of horseless carriage"The Liberal", November 7, 1957.
The advent of the gasoline engine and the automobile, around the beginning of the century, marked the greatest boon to mankind of all time. Before long the gasoline engine had two rivals in the automobile field, although these did not as long, and have long since become extinct. A short description of them might be of interest:
The first was the electrically powered. The electricity was supplied by coupling together quite large number of storage batteries, the same as we now use for ignition purposes. These were stored under the seat and in the back. Their total weight was over a half ton. This car was quiet and easy to handle. It was only suitable for short trips around town. It was costly and was suitable for wives of wealthy men to make social calls and for shopping. It was of no use on hills as the batteries soon ran down, however one woman physician used one for a time to make her calls.
Next came those propelled by a steam engine. Of these there were two types: One, a small car, used a non-condensing engine. It was necessary when going out of town to carry a pail and stop every eight miles, look around for a pump to replenish the boiler. It took time to get up steam and had to be drained in cold weather to prevent freezing.
The other, the Stanley steamer, had quite a sized Poiler under the hood, carrying over 200 lbs. steam to the square inch. It had a small but powerful engine geared directly to the back axle, no gears to shift. It had no governor, the power was controlled by a lever in front of the driver acting on the throttle. Its main drawbacks were that it had to have a pilot light to keep up the steam for quick starting and freezing in cold weather, also an injector which was not fool proof. It was claimed that there was no danger from a dry boiler, however if it did blow up it would at least kill the passengers. One should have engineers’ papers to drive it. I later drove one — it was silent and very powerful. It would accelerate on quite a steep grade up to 55 miles an hour.
The one that has survived is the one powered by the gasoline engine.
My first car was one of these. It would go 20 miles or more on a small tank of gasoline It. was a 1902 model, just 55 years ago. It was the 78th car in the whole of Ontario. There were no traffic jams in those days — one car might be seen on Yonge St. every two weeks.
Try and imagine the thrill of driving one of these for the first time. Once up in the seat, one would notice that there were no shafts and no horse. By reaching down to the side of the seat and pulling up a few times on the crank, the horseless carriage would spring into life, noisy, fairly dancing up and own and raring to go A touch and it way off down the road at twelve and a half miles an hour, as compared with the horse’s seven miles per hour. On a down grade it would accelerate up to 17 miles an hour and gain so much momentum that it would nearly half way up the next trade before having to change into low (it had only two speeds forward). There were hundreds оf horses on the road in those days and they were all scared to heath of this noisy contraption. The situation was so bad that a law had to be passed whereby if a person, driving a horse, he’d up his hand, the motorist had to bring his car to a stop, shut off the engine and give any assistance that he could.
One of my worst problems was to meet a young swain driving a spirited horse and with his sweetheart by his side, with picture hat and ribbons flying. This foolish young man to show for ‘Sweetie” what a real he-man he was, would give me the “Come on”. This I would refuse absolutely to do and an argument would ensue. I could always count on the young lady being on my side as she had no particular reason for seeing a prospective husband killed and maybe losing her own neck at the same time. We would win out in the end. The following are a few cases to illustrate the dangers encountered:
While driving south, going past the Headford school I met a man, his wife and child going north in a buggy. I stopped, shut off the engine. The three got out and the man held the horte by the bridle and said to “Come on”. I told him to lead the worse by, get in and drive away while I waited. He said “No” that the horse had to learn. Just as I got about opposite the horse it sprang forward, knocking the man down and started up the road on the gallop. It ran about a mile, when a man went to stop 4 it turned into a lane, running up and stopping at a late. No damage was done. I took the man tack to recover his horse. Another time, coming around the corner of the second at Wilcox Lake, I met a man and his wife, driving in a buggy. I stopped and shut off the engine; they came right on and as they got opposite me the horse shied sharply, the wheel hit the bank throwing both passengers out. They landed against aware fence which broke the fall and they were uninjured. The horse ran down the grade but failed to turn the corner at the bottom. It went on, jumping over a four foot drop and landed in a clump of cedars where it stuck fast. I took the woman back home in King, while her husband took the horse back to the man from whom he purchased it two days before. The man had been told that the horse was well trained and safe, whereas it was scared to death of almost everything it met.
Sometimes meeting a horse was riot so serious. One day coming from Maple, at the corr.er of the third I met a horse and a democratic wagon. In the wagon were two women and a girl. As soon as they saw me they got quickly out and one woman held the horse by the bridle, the other waved me back frantically with both hands, the big rim of her hat keeping time with her hand not stopped the auto and shut off the engine. The women then gave me the “come on”. Now I urged them to get in an drive on but the woman insisted. Now I noticed that the horse was quite old and I drew the woman’s attention to the fact that the horse had gone to sleep. This seemed to anger her and she reminded me that the horse had, at one time, run away. I told her that I did not doubt that but that it must have been before she was born. This made her madder than ever, and as she was rather a big husky woman I thought I had better move along before she had time to come over and pull me off by the scruff of the neck. When I passed the horse seemed to be still sleeping.
The advent of the gasoline engine and the automobile, around the beginning of the century, marked the greatest boon to mankind of all time. Before long the gasoline engine had two rivals in the automobile field, although these did not as long, and have long since become extinct. A short description of them might be of interest:
The first was the electrically powered. The electricity was supplied by coupling together quite large number of storage batteries, the same as we now use for ignition purposes. These were stored under the seat and in the back. Their total weight was over a half ton. This car was quiet and easy to handle. It was only suitable for short trips around town. It was costly and was suitable for wives of wealthy men to make social calls and for shopping. It was of no use on hills as the batteries soon ran down, however one woman physician used one for a time to make her calls.
Next came those propelled by a steam engine. Of these there were two types: One, a small car, used a non-condensing engine. It was necessary when going out of town to carry a pail and stop every eight miles, look around for a pump to replenish the boiler. It took time to get up steam and had to be drained in cold weather to prevent freezing.
The other, the Stanley steamer, had quite a sized Poiler under the hood, carrying over 200 lbs. steam to the square inch. It had a small but powerful engine geared directly to the back axle, no gears to shift. It had no governor, the power was controlled by a lever in front of the driver acting on the throttle. Its main drawbacks were that it had to have a pilot light to keep up the steam for quick starting and freezing in cold weather, also an injector which was not fool proof. It was claimed that there was no danger from a dry boiler, however if it did blow up it would at least kill the passengers. One should have engineers’ papers to drive it. I later drove one — it was silent and very powerful. It would accelerate on quite a steep grade up to 55 miles an hour.
The one that has survived is the one powered by the gasoline engine.
My first car was one of these. It would go 20 miles or more on a small tank of gasoline It. was a 1902 model, just 55 years ago. It was the 78th car in the whole of Ontario. There were no traffic jams in those days — one car might be seen on Yonge St. every two weeks.
Try and imagine the thrill of driving one of these for the first time. Once up in the seat, one would notice that there were no shafts and no horse. By reaching down to the side of the seat and pulling up a few times on the crank, the horseless carriage would spring into life, noisy, fairly dancing up and own and raring to go A touch and it way off down the road at twelve and a half miles an hour, as compared with the horse’s seven miles per hour. On a down grade it would accelerate up to 17 miles an hour and gain so much momentum that it would nearly half way up the next trade before having to change into low (it had only two speeds forward). There were hundreds оf horses on the road in those days and they were all scared to heath of this noisy contraption. The situation was so bad that a law had to be passed whereby if a person, driving a horse, he’d up his hand, the motorist had to bring his car to a stop, shut off the engine and give any assistance that he could.
One of my worst problems was to meet a young swain driving a spirited horse and with his sweetheart by his side, with picture hat and ribbons flying. This foolish young man to show for ‘Sweetie” what a real he-man he was, would give me the “Come on”. This I would refuse absolutely to do and an argument would ensue. I could always count on the young lady being on my side as she had no particular reason for seeing a prospective husband killed and maybe losing her own neck at the same time. We would win out in the end. The following are a few cases to illustrate the dangers encountered:
While driving south, going past the Headford school I met a man, his wife and child going north in a buggy. I stopped, shut off the engine. The three got out and the man held the horte by the bridle and said to “Come on”. I told him to lead the worse by, get in and drive away while I waited. He said “No” that the horse had to learn. Just as I got about opposite the horse it sprang forward, knocking the man down and started up the road on the gallop. It ran about a mile, when a man went to stop 4 it turned into a lane, running up and stopping at a late. No damage was done. I took the man tack to recover his horse. Another time, coming around the corner of the second at Wilcox Lake, I met a man and his wife, driving in a buggy. I stopped and shut off the engine; they came right on and as they got opposite me the horse shied sharply, the wheel hit the bank throwing both passengers out. They landed against aware fence which broke the fall and they were uninjured. The horse ran down the grade but failed to turn the corner at the bottom. It went on, jumping over a four foot drop and landed in a clump of cedars where it stuck fast. I took the woman back home in King, while her husband took the horse back to the man from whom he purchased it two days before. The man had been told that the horse was well trained and safe, whereas it was scared to death of almost everything it met.
Sometimes meeting a horse was riot so serious. One day coming from Maple, at the corr.er of the third I met a horse and a democratic wagon. In the wagon were two women and a girl. As soon as they saw me they got quickly out and one woman held the horse by the bridle, the other waved me back frantically with both hands, the big rim of her hat keeping time with her hand not stopped the auto and shut off the engine. The women then gave me the “come on”. Now I urged them to get in an drive on but the woman insisted. Now I noticed that the horse was quite old and I drew the woman’s attention to the fact that the horse had gone to sleep. This seemed to anger her and she reminded me that the horse had, at one time, run away. I told her that I did not doubt that but that it must have been before she was born. This made her madder than ever, and as she was rather a big husky woman I thought I had better move along before she had time to come over and pull me off by the scruff of the neck. When I passed the horse seemed to be still sleeping.
Dr. Rolph Langstaff's first car Details
