Life, 1917-04-12 · page 35 of 42
Life — April 12, 1917 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **full-page advertisement**, not a cartoon or satire. It promotes the Torbensen-Drive rear axle for trucks, published in *Life* magazine. The page explains engineering to justify the product's superiority. The central image shows a cutaway of the rear axle assembly with visible gears and mechanical components. The text argues that truck rear axles experience extreme stress (carrying four-fifths of load weight) and that older "pleasure-car axles" failed under this demand. Torbensen solved this problem by designing an "internal gear" axle that distributes forces properly. The ad emphasizes durability (gold bond guarantee, two-year minimum lifespan) and market dominance ("largest builder of truck axles"). There is no satire or political content here—it's straightforward industrial marketing aimed at truck owners and fleet operators, using technical detail to establish credibility and competitive advantage 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.
TORBENSEN DRIVES — are made to LAST. Every owner gets a GOLD BOND GUARANTEE that the I-beam axles and the spindles will live the life of the and that the internal will last at least two years. It is the rear axle DR/VE that makes a truck a truck! OUR-FIFTHS of the whole truck load hammers the A differential and a jack shaft transmit all the power rear axle constantly. and apply it near the rim of the wheel. They carry no Every road shock, every side-sway, multiplies this load whatever. tremendous weight—tries that rear axle to the limit. These two units, held rigidly as a single mechanism Pleasure-car axles can’t stand such treatment. That in practically perfect, permanent alignment, form the is why old-time trucks, with pleasure-car axles, were fail- TT SN Drive. ures. It was up to the rear axle and it fell down. TI how TORBENS olved the truck prob: So the truck business lagged behind in development r N became the largest till a rear axle was designed which took into account all. builder of interr This is why—in the the rending for at trucks must meet. last two years—the internal gear truck axle has scen a TORBENS Rear Axle Drives are truck drives. development proportionately greater tha A dead /-Beam carries all the load. It naturally has great other type of drive. This is why TORBENS overload capacity. the world’s largest producer of truck axles of any kind. ¢t) TORBENSEN-DRIVE @) PATENTED Internal Gear Axle a : Torbensen Axle Co, CLEVELAND. The Torbensen Axle Company is the lareest builder af Truck Avloe_in_ tho War icomictooks.com