THE BALL

by Robert G. Reed

One Sunday in November 1965, I noticed an ad in the times for a 1926, Dodge Sedan for sale out near Passaic, New Jersey. I called and after a breif discussion about the condition of the car I made an appointment to go out and see it. Upon viewing the vehicle and driving it the decision was made to purchase it. The fellow's name was John H. Ball. Back at his home I discovered that Mr. Ball's Grandfather was an inventor and builder of an autombile called the "Ball." An article from "The Horseless Age" dated December 17, 1902 follows:

The Tonneau Touring Car illustrated in Fig. 1 is the desgin of Frederick J. Ball, of the New York Gear Works, 57 Milton Street, Brooklyn, New York. The vehicle has a wheel base of 80 Inches and a standard tread of 56 Inches. It has 28 Inch wheels, shod with 3 1/2 inch Goodrich clincher tires. The wheel bearings have plain bronze bushings. The axles are of solid steel, both front and rear axle being 1 1/2 inches square. The frame is built of 1 1/2 inches angle steel, reinforced for a length of about 3 1/2 feet between axles with angle steel pieces. It is supported on four semi-elliptic springs, 36 inches by 1 1/2 inches, with six leaves.

The engine is a double cylinder vertical one of 5 inches bore and 6 inches stroke. It runs at a normal speed of 800 revolutions per minute, and a maximum of 1,000 revolutions per minute. The two cylinders are cast in one piece, but the cylinder heads are separate therefrom. The crank is a double throw, with crank pins set at 80 degrees. Contrary to common practice with engines of this kind, there is a long bearing on the crank shaft between the two cranks. The crank case is made with circular end plates, by which the engine is supported. These plates are cast with lugs, which are drilled to receive the transverse supporting tubes of 1 1/4 inches diameter. The flywheel of the engine is 20 inches in diameter, has a 6 inch face and weight of the motor with flywheel being 375 pounds.

The ignition is electric and of the jump spark type, the two spark plugs being located centrally in the head of the cylinders. The current is furnished by a dry battery, and a single coil operates both plugs. The ignition system is illustrated in Fig. 2. On the left of the drawing is seen the combined circut braker and commutator, which is located on the half speed shaft to advance or retard the ignition. To this plate si fastened the post B, which supports the circut breaker blade C,. The spring force of this blade is not depended upon, as in most engines, but a special coiled spring D is provided, which draws the Balde C against the circuit breaker cam. This cam is made with two depressions on its circumference. When the nose on the Balde C rests on either of these depressions the contact Point F on the blade is in contact with the point of the contact Screw G. As the cam rotates, the nose of the Blade C is raised as soon as it reaches the end of the depression at which moment contact between the blade and the contact Screw G is broken and a spark produced at one of the spark plugs. It will be noticed that the two depressions on the cam are spaced at an angular distance of 90 degrees from each other, which corresponds to the time intervening between explosions inthe two cylinders.

The Commuter wheel serves the purpose of distributing the spark to the two cylinders. It is fastened to the half speed shaft, alongside of the circuit breaker cam. The wheelis made of insulating material, with a narrow contact Strip 1 at one part of its circumference. Upon the circumference of the wheel bear two sheet metal brushes, K and L. This contact strip is grounded to the half speed shaft by means of the screw which holds it in position.

The half speed shaft is shown in the position in which a spark passes at the plug shown on the right. The secondary current passes from the left hand terminal of the coil to the brush L, through the contact strip I into the frame of the engine, and then returns through the spark plug shown on the right to the other terminal of the coil. After the cam shaft has turned through three-quarters of a revolution, the contact Strip I will be under the Brush K and A, Spark will pass at the spark plug shown at the left, the nose on the blade D at that moment passing out of the other depression of the cam.

A double cam is provided for the exhaust gear, the cam gear is shifted sideways in starting, which automatically relieves the compression.

The starting crank for the engine is located on the dashboard. being geared to the crank shaft by means of a chain and sprockets, and starting is effected from the seat. The cooling water is carried in a 5 gallon tank secured to the dash under the bonnet, and is circulated by a chain driven rotary pump of special design. A radiating coil, composed of twenty four tubes with fluted copper flanges 1 3/4 inches in diameter, is carried in front of the vehicle. The tubes are five-eights of an inch in diameter and the coil was made by the New York Tube Bending Company. The tubes are arranged six rows high and four rows deep, and are 28 inches in length. The gasoline tank holds 8 gallons and is located under the seat.

The change spped gear is of the sun and planet type, and gives two forward speeds and one reverse. It is illustrated in Fig. 3. Referring to this figure the shaft passing through the gear is an extension of the engine crankshaft. The friction clutch is located on the side, towards the engine. The clutch is of the expanding type, operated by a conical shifting collar. The view on the left of Fig. 3, refers particulary to the clutch. The expanding flange and the web are cast in one piece. The flange is split, and is separated from the web by a saw cut extending nearly all around the circumference, At the side opposite the slot in the flange the web is strengthened by a rib, as shown. The two ends of the slotted flange are drawn together by a curved spring of sheet metal S, in addition to its own spring. the two ends of the flange can be forced apart by the rotation around its axis of a Cam C, and the flange then grips in the outer drum, which locks the change speed gear and causes the power to be transmitted directly.

No internal gears are used in this Planetary Transmission. One pinion is formed integral with the shaft. The studs of the Planetary pinion are made of tool steel and the pinions are bronze brushed. The Planetary pinions are of peculiar construction, two of the pinions being made in a single piece, the opposite ends which are made with the same number of teeth of different pitch, the teeth being milled in from both sides. A third pinion of larger diameter, is forced over this double pinion and occupies a central position thereon. The gear will be seen to have two enclosing crowns, to which brake bands may be applied to hold them from rotation. By applying the band to a crown on the left the reverse motion is obtained , and by applying the other brake band the slow forward speed.

The gear is also made for the market by the New York Gear Works, in several sizes, one suitable for from 3 to 5 horse power engines, another for 5 to 12 horse power engines, the pitch of the pinions being 10, 8 and 7 respectively.

Fig. 4 shows the brake band by means of which the crown of the change gear are held from rotatiing when low speed or reverse motion are desired. This brake band conists of a cast iron ring with a central reinforcing rib running all around the outside and two lugs near the split in the ring. These lugs are drilled to receive an operating rod. One of the lugs is made with a cam surface on its outer face. An operating rod passing through the drill holes in the lugs has pinned to it on one end a collar with a cam surface corresponding to that on the lug. The other end of the rod is threaded and receives a nut and a lock nut. A spring is passed over the rod between the two lugs and forcess the ends of the ring apart. When the rod is rotated the cam surfaces co-act and the ends of the ring are forced together, and the ring clamps or grips the crown of the change gear.

The power is transmitted from the change gear to a transverse countershaft by means of a pair of bevel gears. Upon this countershaft is located the differential gear. The entire gearing is enclosed and runs in oil. The two gear cases are supported upon a special frame, which is supported pivotally in front. The countershift is made in sections, with jaw clutches to prevent any binding in the bearings in case the latter should get out of line. From the countershift the power is transmitted to a rear wheel by menas of separate baldwin chains of 1 1/4 inches pitch, one-half inch wide. The sprockets have fourteen and thirty teeth respectively.

Fig. 5 is a section through the rear wheel hub, showing the driving spocket and hub brake. The latter is of the expanding ring type and constructed on the same principle as the friction clutch of the change gear, Already described. This brake is practically dustproof, which is also the case with the clutch.

The vehicle has wheel steering, the hand wheel being 13 inches in diameter, and acting through a worm and wheel sector irreversible mechanism. One complete turn of the hand wheel moves the steering wheels from limit to limit of their motion.

A separate lever controls the high speed, another the low speed and reverse. the hub brakes are operated by a pedal. A thumb lever is provided for operating the throttle of the engine and another to time the spark.

The muffler is built of black russia iron and is rectangular in shape, as seen in Fig. 6. Inside this rectangular box is disposed a long strip of sheet iron bent into a wavy form, as seen in the figure. Which divides the box into eight compartments of gradually increasing size. These compartments are in communication with each other by drill holes in the partitions, which also gradually increase in size from one end to the other. The exhaust from the engine enters the smallest compartment passes from one to the other and leaves through a large number of drill holes in the wall of the larger compartment at the opposite end.

The weight of the vehicle complete is 2,000 pounds.

In addition to the actual automobile Mr. Ball invented the original Planetary transmission gear as noted in the following photograph from the Horseless Age, Dated March 11, 1903. This gear has been credited to many other people, however Mr. Ball had the patent on it. Mr. Ball was also first to use an electric ignition system on the dashboard.

As for Mr. Ball, early in 1904, he and James Ward Packer, the brains behind the Packer Motor Car Company, entered into an agreement which as far as is known does not appear in Packard's history. Mr. Ball was placed in charge of engineering and design and utilized the New York Gear Works as a subsidiary of Packard for the manufacture of Mr. Ball's gears and starter syatems.

Only 6 of the Ball Automobiles were built between 1902 and 1903. It is not belived that any have survived.

Mr. Ball told his grandson, John H. Ball, that in 1936, he advised the management of Packard not to produce an economy car, but because sales were decreasing and age of the sales minded was coming into being, Packard put out their Clipper Model. Mr. Ball immediatly resgined and temporarily retired.

Two or three years later, Mr. Ball joined Chrysler Corporation as a consultant on an advisory capacity. Mr. Ball held this position until his death in 1958.

It would appear that Mr. Frederick J. Ball was indeed one of the great automobile pioneers. I hope by way of this article that Mr. ball obtains deserved recognition.