Evening Star Newspaper, May 4, 1930, Page 97

BY GENE DAY. Mm«:umulmm“mmd to provide conveyances which are both comfortable and pleasurable for extensive tour- ing and gasoline travel. They have sought to improve riding qualities by equipping the horse- less vehicles with special springs, shock absorb- ers and luxurious cushions. Some of these devices have proved efficient, while many others valuless. Fortunes have been no standard apparatus available for meas- uring the degree of riding comfort. All the experimenters have had to go by has been the be toring comfort decreases as fatigue increases. In fact, “comfort,” as Dr. Moss reports, “appears to be inversely proportional to fatigue.” “We now know that fatigue is a physiological phenomenon,” says Dr. Moss, “and hence if the physiological changes which occur during an automobile ride are sufficient for measure- ment, one can gain conclusive data as to motor THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MAY 4, 1930. What Are the Motorists’ Reactions to Riding? Scientists Are Now Trying to Solve the Problems of Automobile Fatigue Through a Series of T'rick Devices vehicle riding qualities from these manifesta- tions.” To begin with, this Washington investigator carried on laboratory experiments with the bicy- cle ergometer and the muscular fatigue pro- duced in test subjects who exercised on that device. All the riders were tested as to -blood muscle. In number checking tests at George Wash- Dr. Moss takes bicycle ergometer rider's pulse. Accelerometer developed at Bureau of Standards and used by Dr. Moss in mo- toring tests. ington University a decrease in performance efficiency and accuracy was observable among the student subjects after nerve fatigue was produced. For example, an eight-hour auto- mobile ride over rough roads resulted in de- creases as great as 16.9 per cent, while average fatigue after five-hour periods of mental mul- tiplication showed a decline of omly 2.6 per cent. The subjects’ ability to tap a telegraph key was reduced twice as much after a 300- mile automobile ride as by a five-hour session with mental mathematics in the laboratory. Dr. Moss used two different systems of measuring hand steadiness after fatigue was induced by motoring. One featured a simple tracing test with a stylus through a narrow groove. The sides of the groove were elec- trified so that errors could be recorded on a special counter whenever the stylus came in contact with the sides of the groove. The second apparatus consisted of two metal tubes when the inner tube i8 partially withdrawn, against a table, without sliding the inner tube into the outer one. The rate of oxygen consumption, as shown by basal metabolism tests, has increased in all cases after automobile rides. The amount of change depends on the length of the journey, type of car used and condition of the road traveled. Oxygen consumption was the low- est after one-half day rides over good roads and highest after a 150-mile jaunt over a rough dirt road. Automotive engineers have known for sev- eral years that after long motor trips both the drivers and passengers suffer from im- of balance. fication of this loss ¢ equilibrium, or balance, 7 Making wobblemeter tests after long au- Tnl first wabblemeter which Dr. Moss devised consisted of a metal bar upon which the balls of the subject’s feet rested as he attempted to balance on his heels after a long motor ride. All movements of the bar were registered by a supplementary electric counter. The drawbacks of this device were that its activities were influenced by foot position and style of shoe worn. The George Washington University experi- menter developed a second apparatus, consist- ing of a piatform balanced on a universal joint. Metal rods at the front corners of this it “writes the record” of every bodily sway the motorist tested upon it after a trip. platform in this case is mounted on a ball socket joint. Automatic pens are linked to platform in such a way that they record all its movements on a revolving drum at ome side of the wabblemeter, which turns at a uniform speed. A straight line indicates * According to the results thus far obtained, both motorists and passengers vary widely in their loss of equilibrium reactions. Omne rider, for example, made 5 times as many wabblemeter errors after an all-day auto- mobile trip as before. Another increased 11 times in errors as a result of fatigue induced by motoring. A third increased but 1.7 times The average increase in wabblemeter errom after motoring of all subjects tested was 3.3 times. Unquestionably, touring would not be nearly as popular as it is were it not for the efficient handicraft of Nature. Nature in her usual ef- ficient manner fortifies man to withstand the accumulative effects of motoring fasigue. Briefly, the human body develops counteractants, such as adrenalin, to counterbalance the in- fluence of fatigue products. Adrenalin, appar- ently, is produced constantly during your motor trip to counteract the evil effects of fatigue. Hence it conceals certain of the physiological manifestations of motoring fatigue which other- wise would be uncovered by such research as that supervised by Dr. Moss. To illustrate that adrenalin does affect the physiological manifestations of fatiguwe, Dr. Moss injected this material into the legs of test riders after they indulged in strenuous ex- ercise on the bicycle ergometer. The drug masked the manifestations of muscular fatigue which otherwise would bave been observable. Purthermore, road tests have demonstrated tha¢ technical rides—experience greater discomfort than is shown by any fatigue tests as yet perfected. Eight-hour test rides have resulted in average fatigue score of 10 umder conditions where the Continued on Thirteenth Page