Life, 1917-01-04 · page 6 of 38
Life — January 4, 1917 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising, not satire or editorial cartoon**. The page promotes Westinghouse Electric's starting, lighting, and ignition equipment for automobiles. The headline "Getting Away at the Gong" uses a fire-alarm metaphor to emphasize speed and reliability. The circular inset shows an early automobile with prominent headlights, illustrating the equipment in use. The accompanying text argues that Westinghouse equipment is "relied upon" by major automobile manufacturers, claiming that quick, dependable starts could save "lives and property" in emergency situations. The right column lists numerous automobile companies using Westinghouse Equipment, serving as endorsement. This is a straightforward corporate advertisement leveraging safety and reliability claims to market electrical components to consumers and manufacturers during the early automotive era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
6 estinchouse STARTING, LIG HTING r = Getting Away at the Gong Westinghouse Equipment is Relied Upon Where Seconds Saved in the Start May Mean Lives and Property Saved in the End Clang! Clang! What a portent of de- struction is the alarm of fire. Doors fly open, firemen leap to their places aboard the apparatus, there is a whirr, then a throb of engines and away they go. If ever a quick, sure get-away is needed, it is when the sudden semmons comes to the fire fighter. Precious then is every second saved and filled with dire possi- bilities is every second lost. That's why two of the largest manufac- turers of automobile fire engines—the American-La France Fire Engine Co., of Elmira, N. Y., and the Seagrave Company, of Columbus, Ohio—rely upon Westing- house Equipment—Westinghouse Gener- ators to do their part in keeping the storage battery fully charged and Westinghouse Motors to make sure of a quick start in any kind of weather. The same dependability that makes Westinghouse Equipment the choice of the builders of American- La France and Seagrave fire engines has led fifty builders of pleasure-cars, trucks and other motor- driven vehicles to adopt it, though it costs more. This is a greater number of automobile manu- facturers than use any other make of electr equipment and includes manufacturers of such cars as Pierce-Arrow, Locomobile, F. 1. A. T.. Hupp, Stearns, Chalmers and others. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY Automobile Equipment Department Shadyside Works Pittsburgh. Pa. & IGNITION EQUIPMENT These Automobile- Builders UseWestinghouseEquipment Allen Motor Co., Fostoria, 0. sve Frock C porta Motor Car Ci Dert Motor Car Co. pra Natlonal Motor Veblele Co., 1adiasapotia, Lou. Nelecn & Leifeco, Chicago, 1, Ogres Motor Works, Chicago, 1, Pierce: Arrow Motor Car Co., Buffalo, N.Y. Riddle Coach & Hearse Co., Ravensa, 0. N.Y, ‘Cleveland, 0. Btegeman Moise Car Co., Mirwsukee, Whe. Stewart Motor Corp., Buffalo, N. ¥. Ualted States Carriage Co., Columbus, O. ‘Wichita Falla Motor Co,, Wichita Valle, Tess.