er
furnished by the motor [somewhat less than the rating Frank gave
the engine] was reduced to less than three-fourths horse power on
reaching the main shaft. This would not be sufficient to propel the
carriage up steep grades but would be sufficient to run the
carriage on level road.

The inventors will do away with this belt in favor of a clamp gear
and will make the drum wheel smaller. By this means there will be
very little power lost in transmission to the shaft and by a
patented arrangement the carriage may be started gradually but the
speed must be increased by shifting the clamp gear to a succession
of gears on the driving wheel of the motor. The speed of the
carriage will be fixed permanently according to the size of the
gear that the smaller one is shifted to. The test of the machine
with the gear arrangement will be made soon.

In October Frank decided on another vacation and went to Chicago to see
the Columbian Exposition. Charles had come up from Peoria to see the
fair and the two talked over the progress on their motor wagon, and
discussed the transmission problem. They gave particular attention to
everything relating to engines and motor carriages, and Frank recalls
seeing a Daimler quadricycle that impressed him with its performance.[31]
Just what decisions the two might have made there are unknown, yet it is
likely that they agreed to give the old transmission one more chance to
prove itself.

Returning to Springfield, probably in the first week of November, Frank
gave the friction drive its final test, this time substituting a leather
belt for the rubber one first used.[32] Mr. Markham, though intensely
interested in the experiments, apparently was dubious concerning the
safety of the carriage. It had no brakes, and fearing failure of the
transmission on a downgrade, he was reluctant to ride in the machine. On
November 9 he asked Will Bemis to try it for him. The following day the
_Springfield Morning Union_ gave a description of the run:

Residents in the vicinity of Florence street flocked to the windows
yesterday afternoon astonished to see gliding by in the roadway a
common top carriage with no shafts and no horse attached. The
vehicle is operated by gasoline and is the invention of Erwin
Markham and J. F. Duryea. It has been previously described in The
Union and the trial yesterday was simply