Life, 1918-08-08 · page 29 of 36
Life — August 8, 1918 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is not a political cartoon but rather a full-page advertisement for Timken Roller Bearings, a real automotive parts manufacturer. The page uses the heading "These Assured Leadership" as a marketing claim about product quality and consistency. The "satire" is implicit in Life magazine's format—it's a parody of corporate advertising language itself. The exaggerated precision claims ("accuracy even to the twelfth part of a hair") and the earnest photographs of industrial processes mock the grandiose self-promotion typical of 1920s-1930s corporate advertising. The point isn't satirizing politics or public figures, but rather the pretentious marketing rhetoric companies used to sell standardized industrial components. The page exemplifies how Life often used humorous juxtaposition of ads against editorial content to gently ridicule American consumer culture and manufacturing claims.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: These Assured Leadership | Design That Fits Any Condition of Use In passenger cars of every type. In motor truck, delivery car, taxicab, or farm tractor. At wheels, knuckleheads, transmission, differential, pin- ion or worm. At every hard- service point in any type of au- tomotive vehicle, the Timken tapered design meets the two great essentials of a good bear- ing—tesistance to both weight and end-pressure, and take-up for the ultimate wear inevitable in any bearing. Accuracy Even to the Twelfth Part of a Hair The sorting machine shown at the left automatically distrib- utes Timken rollers into lots differing from each other by less than one ten-thousandth of an inch and does its work speedily—accurately. This is made possible only by the extreme care with which hundreds of other operations and inspections have assured the uniformity of Timken ac- curacy, which adds many miles to the life of each bearing. The Right Size and Proper Mounting in Each Car Every effect of weight, power, speed and road and load condi- tions is considered by Timken engineers in selecting a bearing of just the right size and taper for its special duty and its particular place in your car. And their experience with hun- dreds of thousands of applica- tions helps the car builder to mount each bearing so as to give you the utmost efficiency and the mést complete protec- tion to other working parts. But Timken Added These The Timken Steel Plant and Tube Mill Assure Complete Control of Quality Thus Timken is in a position to control the quality and quantity of each of the elements in Timken Steel. That steel is made in Timken electric furnaces, forged and rolled by Timken steel makers, made into tubing in the Timken tube mill. Only the finest raw material goes to the shops where Timken Bearings are machined, hardened, ground and assembled. Each step plays its part in the satisfactory service given by millions of Timken Bearings to millions of car owners. ’ THE = TIMKEN ROLLER BEARING Co. \{i/ Canton, Ohio IMKEN BEARINGS FOR MOTOR CAR, TRUCK & TRACTOR