Life, 1912-10-17 · page 27 of 44
Life — October 17, 1912 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **product advertisement**, not political satire. The United States Light & Heating Company promotes its U-S-L Storage Battery for commercial vehicles and automobiles. The page uses two visual demonstrations of the battery's strength: a truck hauling an enormous load of cargo, and a steam locomotive pulling a flatcar full of workers. The headline's wordplay—"Not Power, Merely—But Sustained Power!"—emphasizes that the U-S-L maintains consistent voltage throughout discharge, unlike competitors whose batteries lose efficiency under heavy load. The copy addresses commercial users (truck operators, manufacturers) facing practical problems: hills, sand, traffic congestion, and the need for reliable long-distance travel. The advertisement includes a coupon for more information and lists service stations in eight major cities. This reflects early-20th-century commercial culture when industrial reliability claims were central to marketing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Not Power, Merely —But Sustained Tin OD, a, 4 om 1. Taiditn bdo tine. 4 4 Storage In hundreds of Important installations throughout the country the U-S-L Storage Battery is proving itself to be the battery that stands up under continu- ous, heavy service. The illustrations above show U-S-L Batteries handling sons almost as though they were pounds! Anybattery might do this work when fully charged, but the merit of the U-S-L lies in the fact that its voltage capacity is maintained right up to the end of discharge. ‘Jt comes home with lights bright and bells ringing,” as one enthusiastic user expresses it. This U-S-L characteristic is not a common one; for under heavy load or rapid discharge the efficiency of some batteries drops toa point that is really trouble- some to the operator. Others become heavy and sluggish after the first few miles of discharge. U-S-L Service insures to users maximum results from all U-S-L_ equipment located in 8 principal cities, where spare parts are always in stock Fill out the Coupon and Get Valuable Information The U. S. Light & Heating Company General Offices: 30 Church Street, New York Branch Offices and Service Stations’ Chicago, New York, Boston, Cleveland, Buffalo, San Francisco, Detroit, St.Louis Manufacturers also of the U-S-L Electric Starter and Lighter for Gasoline Automobiles USL =] THE UNITED STATES LIGHT AND HEATING CO (Formerly National) Our service experts operate from stations Battery | If you make long runs and it's important that you get there and back without balk or delay; if you en- counter hills or sand, or have to contend with traffic congestion, you need the U-S-L Battery to give live- liness, speed, responsiveness and staying qualities to your truck or pleasure car. Any manufacturer can equipit ;insistonthe U-S-L, cither in new purchases or renewing old plates. The Usited States Light & 30 Charch Street, New Yerk, Jemen— Please send me the U-S-L Balleting below: ret for Electric Vebicles— Pleasure aod rage Batteries fot Stationary Service. for ladependent Elec ioe. -L, Biecthie Starter and Lagbter for Avo mobiles NOTE—Wath the balleting will go forwa 4 the L Rook ilustrating and descnbiag the USL facilities, service and products.) Factory. Niagara Falls, N. Y. ct City... comicbooks.com