How The Locomobile Is Made

The intention of this chapter is to explain to those who are unable to visit Bridgeport what our factory is like and how we make our cars. The Locomobile plant enjoys what is undoubtedly the most beautiful location of any factory in the country, being situated on the shore of Long Island Sound at Bridgeport, Conn., adjoining Seaside Park. The buildings are arranged so that workmen in all departments have plenty of light and air, and it is well known that healthful surroundings have a marked beneficial influence on the quality of work produced in any factory. Bridgeport is the most active industrial center in Connecticut, provides us with skilled New England mechanics and facilities for making shipments by water or rail.

Our buildings are modern, having been erected by our company expressly for the manufacture of motor cars. Practically the entire car is built under one roof. It is interesting to note that seventy different classes of expert labor are employed to produce the Locomobile. Sixty-eight varieties of highest grade material are used in its construction. In all forty-three different metals are employed nineteen different varieties of steel alone. Some particular material is always better for some specific purpose than anything else. Locomobile material is always specially selected.

The raw material entering into the construction of the Locomobile is stored in the basement in bins and racks, each class of material having a special place. Before shipments of steel are unloaded from the freight car they are striped with paint, so that every workman can tell at a glance what the steel is intended for. Every steel has its particular color, and a color board hangs in each department that handles raw material thus there is no confusion. Every piece of steel is also stamped with a number. Some years ago a famous French firm lost an automobile race because, through a factory error, the wrong kind of steel was used in making up the engine valves. In the Locomobile factory the practice of painting the steel and stamping it with a number prevents error and makes it certain that each part will be made from the proper steel.
All Locomobile metal stock is subjected to a complete chemical analysis and physical test. This has been our custom for ten years. It insures uniformity.

Wherever it is possible to make parts from drop forgings, this superior method is employed. We design the parts, and sink the necessary dies. The drop forgings are produced in a complete shop, equipped with large and small drop hammers, trip hammers, cutters, trimmers and power shears, the raw material being cut in pieces and placed in oil-fed preheating furnaces. All forgings are immersed in an acid bath, which smooths off surface roughness, and are also subjected to the action of the sand blast, which cleans off the scale and reveals flaws if there be any. This operation is more than a mere cleaning process, it is an inspection of great importance. In this section of the factory is located an elaborate heat-treating and annealing department where special facilities are provided for the heat-treatment of alloy steel. This is probably the most complete and up-to-date establishment of its kind in New England, and none in the country excels it in the ability to accomplish the best results. This department has been a feature of the Locomobile plant for seven years, and long experience in heat-treating alloy steels enables us to produce parts of uniform and enormous strength. Owing to the sensitive character of alloy steel, it is necessary to regulate the heating to the utmost accuracy, therefore this is accomplished in oil-fed furnaces, the temperature of which is indicated by pyrometers (electric thermometers) and the oil burners enable the exact temperature to be controlled for any length of time. Two types of pyrometer are employed: one for regular working purposes; the other is a very delicate laboratory instrument held in reserve for calibration purposes to insure correctness of the working pyrometer at all times. An idea of the magnitude of our heat-treating establishment may be had when it is stated that the consumption of oil for the furnaces amounts to a thousand gallons a day. All drop forgings, all nuts and bolts are heat – treated, as well as all gears, shafts and axles. The importance of the foregoing statement cannot be overestimated. It insures uniformity and increased strength. It “restores” the steel, if by any chance the piece has been overheated by a careless forger.

The machine rooms constitute a large part of the floor space of the factory as the Locomobile is a car composed of Locomobile parts. The various manufacturing departments are equipped with the latest and best machine tools, which perform the various operations in the most correct manner. These machines are constantly being renewed as fast as newer and better designs are produced. Each machine room has its own inspection room under the supervision of the main inspection department. Accuracy is the rule in the Locomobile plant. All machine operations are inspected and every finished part is inspected. It is our practice to make and test, every single nut, screw and bolt. Some pieces are tested by a blow from a hammer, a clear ringing note indicating the absence of any flaw. These inspections are exceedingly expensive but guarantee high quality and long life of the car.

An automobile contains a very large number of bearing surfaces entirely separate from any ball bearings used in the construction of the car, and these must be absolutely true, smooth and of the proper density to resist wear. The proper way to finish wearing surfaces is by grinding and the Locomobile grinding department is noted for the amount and accuracy of the work performed.

In any automobile there are a large number of gears, both spur and bevel such parts are made in the Locomobile shops from start to finish. Elaborate gear-cutting machinery is employed that generates the teeth of the gears, that is, shapes the gear teeth so as to produce the curve called for by theory instead of approximating it in the ordinary manner. Another important matter is that Locomobile gears have been produced in the Locomobile factory for eight years with a corresponding precision to be gained only by such long experience.

We have always built our own engines. Many automobile manufacturers do not build their engines or have only recently begun to do so. (No Locomobile gasolene car has ever been equipped with an engine that was not a Locomobile engine.) Each engine is assembled from parts that have all been carefully inspected and are entirely interchangeable in character. When the engine is finished it is flooded with oil and driven by a belt until it is limbered up, after which it is placed on the testing stand where it is coupled with a dynamo which it drives, and the electrical power developed by the dynamo in consequence is readily transformed into horse-power. Each engine is tested until it fulfills the standard requirements for its type and the record of each engine test is preserved.

The transmission gears, an important part of any car, have always been a very strong part of the Locomobile. The transmission is built complete in the Locomobile plant. An exceedingly interesting testing device is used for all transmissions and rear axles. This consists of a stand on which is placed, for example, a rear axle, which is then driven and the conditions of actual road service are imitated to the extent of testing the rear axle for driving and braking stresses and for the silent and satisfactory operation of the gears. Each transmission is placed on this stand and tested before it is permitted to enter into the construction of the chassis.

This is but one of many similar Locomobile testing machines which are expensive both to own and operate. The use of such machines is another illustration of Locomobile factory carefulness.

Another interesting department is that in which the chassis is assembled. Here the motor, transmission, axles, steering gear, frame, springs and other components are combined to produce the complete chassis. Even with the close and accurate fits determined and established in our works there is no fitting in the assembling room. All Locomobile parts are interchangeable, and the assembly of all parts of the chassis frame are also interchangeable as the assembly holes are jig drilled. Consequently, any Locomobile motor will fit any chassis, and so on for the transmission and other units.

After its “rough test” the car is sent to the finishing department to be painted and to have the body and lamps and equipment added. The metal parts of the chassis are enameled instead of painted. The difficulty of making paint stay on the bonnet, which is hot, and on the fenders and other parts which are always subjected to more or less vibration, is overcome by baking on the enamel which makes a perfect foundation for the finishing coats of paint and varnish.

When the car leaves the final department which prepares it for delivery, it is given a road test of sufficient duration to make sure that the car is in proper running condition before shipment. After this the report of the “tester” is checked by other inspectors. The final test is performed by a special inspector whose regular duty is to examine the car with a view to eliminating any minute imperfections in upholstery, finish, or equipment.

The Locomobile is tested with the utmost thoroughness. No pains or expense are spared to make each car fulfill the highest standard of excellence. Locomobile tests may be arranged in ten parts, as follows:

1. Inspection and tests of raw material.

2. Inspection and tests of separate parts in process and not finished.

3. Inspection and tests of separate parts as finished.

4. Testing of components, such as engine test, magneto test, transmission test, rear axle test, etc.

5. Rough road test of chassis by special crew of men.

6. Inspection of the road test by different crew.

7. Final road test of completed car by special crew of men.

8. Inspection of final test by different crew of men.

9. Final examination by special inspector.

10. The car is checked against the customer’s specifications.

Every year we receive many visitors at our factory, and all interested in the production of high-class automobiles are invited to go over our plant. Anyone who has ever made a careful inspection of the Locomobile plant has carried away something of the spirit of Locomobile ideals of manufacture.