Life, 1917-06-14 · page 2 of 38
Life — June 14, 1917 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward **product advertisement** for the Torbensen Drive, a truck rear axle manufactured by The Torbensen Axle Co. of Cleveland. The page explains the engineering innovation: the rear axle carries 80% of a truck's load and must be exceptionally strong. The Torbensen Drive uses a patented I-beam construction and separates the load-carrying axle from the driving axle, reducing strain on turning mechanisms. The text emphasizes durability for "heavy loads" and "rough roads," positioning Torbensen as superior to competitors. The page concludes by claiming these axles made Torbensen "the largest truck makers in the world." This is period industrial advertising, not editorial commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Published every Thursday. Anoval cobter Vive Dells Single Copies. Ten Cen that the I-beam axles and. the spindles will live the life of the truck; and that the internal gears will last at least two years. The REAR AXLE carries 80% ofa truck's load HE vital part of a truck is the part that has to The fad carrying axle, which is I-beam construc- carry 80 per cent of the load and, at the same tion (the strongest and lightest form of steel con- time, transmit the power to the rear wheels—she struction known, and an exclusive patented feature Rear Axle DRIVE! of TORBENSENS), carries the load. Just as it was mofor trouble that retarded the The power is transmitted through an axle which carly development of the pleasure car; so it has is separate. And the power is applied at the wheels been xear-ax/e trouble that has retarded the develop- themselves and near the rims—instead of at the ment of srucks. : . center, the old-fashioned way. Pleasure cars are built for /ight loads; trucks, : A ° P . So this additional overage reduces the strain to for heavy loads. And four-fifths of the weight of these heavy loads a small fraction of the strain on the turning mem- ( ber of an ordinary a and by being wholly in- rests on the truck’s rearaxle. It must be STRONG. It must also be proof against the jars and shocks dependent of the ‘load axle, the gears o the differen- tial can’t possibly be jarred out of adjustment or of rough roads on sod tires. 5 f In addition, it must transmit power—and do it alignment. by the jolts oO! cobblestones or rough roads or by the jerking of trailers. efficiently. The TORBENSEN Drive dominates the ‘These are the main reasons why the Torbensen truck rear-axle field today, chiefly because it meets Drive has solved the truck problem; why more these practical truck requirements deffer than they Torbensens are being used than any other kind of have been met before. drive; why they are being used by the most pro- The TORBENSEN Drive is really two axles. gressive truck makers; and why these makers have One is for Lad carrying; the other is for drfvine. become the /argest truck makers in the world. er) TORBENSEN-DRIVE PATENTED CLEVELAND. Internal Gear Axle | lim —d 5 Torbensen Axle Co., Largest Builders in comicbooks.com