In the fitting-shops the multitude of parts are assembled to form the _chassis_ or mechanical carriage of the car, to which, in a separate shop, is added the body for the accommodation of passengers. The whole is painted and carefully varnished after it has been out on the road for trials to discover any weak spot in its anatomy. Then the car is ready for sale.
When one considers the racketing that a high-powered car has to stand, and the high speed of its moving parts, one can understand why those parts must be made so carefully and precisely, and also how this care must conduce to the expense of the finished article. It has been said that it is easy to make a good watch, but difficult to make a good motor; for though they both require an equal amount of exactitude and skill, the latter has to stand much more wear in proportion. When you look at a first-grade car bearing a great maker's name, you have under your eyes one of the most wonderful pieces of mechanism the world can show.
We will not leave the de Dion-Bouton Works without a further glance at the human element. The company never have a slack time, and consequently can employ the same number of people all the year round. They pride themselves on the fact that the great majority of the men have been in their employ for several years, with the result that they have around them a class of workmen who are steady, reliable and, above all, skilful in the particular work they are engaged upon. There are more than 2,600 men and about 100 women, these latter being employed chiefly in the manufacture of sparking plugs and in other departments where there is no night work. They are mostly the wives or widows of old workmen, and in thus finding employment for them the firm provides for those who would otherwise be left without resource, and at the same time earns the gratitude of their employés.
NOTE.--The author gratefully acknowledges the help given by Messrs. de Dion-Bouton, Ltd., in providing materials for this account of their works.
Prior to the emancipation of the road automobile in 1896, permission had been granted to corporations to run trams driven by mechanical power through towns. The steam tram, its engine protected by a case which hid the machinery from the view of restive horses, panted up and down our streets, drawing one or more vehicles behind it. The electric tram presently came over from America and soon established its superiority to the steamer with respect to speed, freedom from smell and smoke, and noiselessness: the system generally adopted was that invented in 1887 by Frank J. Sprague, in which an overhead cable supported on posts or slung from wires spanning the track carries current to a trolley arm projecting from the vehicle. The return current passes through the rails, which are made electrically continuous by having their individual lengths either welded together or joined by metal strips.