Life, 1916-01-06 · page 41 of 48
Life — January 6, 1916 — page 41: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **straightforward advertisement**, not a cartoon or satire. It promotes Westinghouse Electric's automobile electrical equipment (starters, lighting, ignition systems). The page lists 56 automobile manufacturers—from mass-market brands (Ford, Dodge) to luxury marques (Packard, Pierce-Arrow) to obscure makes now forgotten (Halladay, Wichita)—claiming they all use Westinghouse systems. This was a significant marketing claim: Westinghouse positioned itself as the trusted electrical supplier across the entire automotive industry. The mechanical drawings show starter motors, generators, and ignition units—the cutting-edge technology that made hand-cranking obsolete. For modern readers, the key context is that **reliable electric starting was revolutionary** in the 1910s; this ad essentially argues Westinghouse made cars actually *work*. The sheer number of car brands listed reflects the fragmented pre-consolidation automotive market—dozens of small manufacturers competed before Ford's dominance and later industry consolidation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
WESTINGHOUSE WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC ELECTRIC WESTINGHOUS AUTOMOBILE EQUIPMENT STARTING-LIGHTING-/GNITION T the Automobile Shows now hate held in every part of the country you will find some of the Fifty-six makes of Cars and Trucks fitted with Westinghouse Equipment. These are the cars—conceded everywhere to be the leaders in their respective price ranges. art SDs “Halladay ‘*McFarlan “Davis Hupmobile ‘Michigan Hearse 1Dorris ‘ i Kelly Springfield Moreland [Rissel Cor National "Kline Kar pLauthJuergens ‘Lenox “Pi *Sterling (Motor Boats) tLexinston-Howard + *Pi Stewart jGramm-Bermtein _fLocomobile fToursine ‘Gramm M.T. *Marion 3 {United States Carriage “Starting, Lighting and Ienition, Lighting and Ignition. _:Starting and Lighting. “Wichita In each of these Fifty-six cars the Westinghouse System is designed specifically for that car, adapted to its type of engine, speed, number of cylinders, weight, balance, kind of service, and method of handling. The foremost automobile builders today have found that the surest way to efficiency and rugged reliability in this most important part of the car is to turn the problem over to Westinghouse specialized automobile engineers—the leading electrical engineers and manufacturers for more than fifty years. You will find Westinghouse Service Stations at the most important touring centers of the United States—at the service of every owner of a car equipped with Westinghouse Electric Systems. {Dort “Duplex Power Special equip: for Ford Cars. Write for folder No. 4311 Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. Automobile Equipment Department, Shadyside Works Pittsburgh, Pa. Canadian Westinghouse Co., Ltd., Hamilton, Ont. 2 Lightingand Battery ; Charging Generator Starting Motor comicbooks.com