MOTORS&MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2804, 23 June 1916, Page 9

MOTORS&MOTORING

IBt Clutch.]

What is Full Equipment?

Tho queation of complete equipment for a motor-car, like a great many others, may bo considered from tivo points of view, tho manufacturer's and the purchaser's. The manufacturer, equips his car only with those improvements necessary to hold his prestige in the market, and, of course, the purchaser seeks to obtain as much as possible for his money. 'What would have been considered complete equipment a few years ago would not bo sufficient to sell a car at the present time. -It has not been long since the purchaser was expected to pay extra for'top, wind-shield, lighting system, etc., all of which are now held to bo actual parts of the car and are hardly considered under the head of equipment. In their places have appenred such things as solf-startors,' demountable rims, power •tyre pumps, shook absorbers, etc.; which will no doubt follow tho samo course, so that in a year or two no one would look ,at a new car which did not have these It would be impossible for a manufacturer to so equip his cars that n'o one would find it necessary to add somo of the many attachments which aro being continually placed on the market. Tho manufacturer, should, however, add ithosa improvements which are found to be adaptable to his particular car as fast as they shall have been thoroughly tried out and found to be good. One part of tho equipment which could easily be improved is the .'tool kit. The. purchaser of a car seldom pays much attention to this at the.time of buying, but ho generally -has reason.' to Tegrct this fact soon afterwards; The solid wrenches furnished should be only for thos9 places requiring special design. .They should be well made aiid marked, so one would know : at a glance where *they were to be used. A good set of adjustable onen-end wrenches and eight-inch pipe wrench will take care of the.'wrench work. The screwdrivers should be properly tempered and so ma.de that.they can be hammered.on without injury. The chisels and hammer should be large enough so i hat actual work could be-done with them; ' These, with the usual Bupply of pliers, cotter tools, punches, ett., would take care of all the'ordinary repair work, whioh is all the manulacturor pan bo expected.to anticipate. The purchaser of a car cannot expect the manufacturer to equip all cars so' that they will be complete in every detail for each 'individual.

"Water As a Fuel"—An Experiment. If there is. any. -value>inthe theory of electrolysed water as an aid to combustion, it could be-proved experimentally on. any' car 'fitted with" an electric lighting system, as,.,with this, it would' .be quite easy 'to generate a small and continuous supply , of. ; the inixe'd gases, viz., oxygen and hydrogen,- and add this •to the supply of ordinary fuel and air mixture. The arrangement'"would' be. simple; thus, the gas generator would ,i bo a fairly strong,, and. wide-mouthed -'' bottle fitted with a rubber stopper. This requires three holes through it, in two ' of; which : are fitted tightly lengths of small diameter electric light carbon, and through the' other hole : is -fitted gas-tight . a piece of, say, 3-lGths bore copper or brass' tubing. With -a . metal clip to \ each carbon to make the connection and -the' bottle nearly filled with •' slightly acidulated water, 'the generator is complete. . The copper tube is connected up ■• to. the inlet" pipe in a suitable manner. -By means , of. a couple. of. wires anil a ' switch, the generator is -connected up to the 6 or 8 volt lighting battery, and it. will be. seen that gases come off in an appreciable manner; how much gas oomes off will depend on the strength, , of the current-used; but-certainly some. of the' mixed gases would enter the cylinders with, every charge, and (says ' the "English' Motor"), as a result, one ' would expect to find from theoretical reasoning that there was, some appreci- ; able and advantageous, effect -on the combustion'; the . explosion should be quicker and a slightly higher mean effective pressure be developed'. It. is important to remember' that tho,oxygen ' and hydrogen gases come off in a chemical, active' or 'nascent- 1 state, and .the ■ termingling of them' with 'the fuel molecules would be advantageous to the , speed of combustion. Of course, it will be obvious that any such advantage is not got for nothing, as the-engine itself , has: to supply the power to decompose the water/and this seems on the face of it an. utter absurdity, the more so as only a small percentage of that used-. ■ up power can be.got back again. Where, however, evon this apparent fallacy ' might be turned to good account would be in using at the most opportune mo- ' ment the gas generator to help the engine, becauso there would always', be ] a reserve of energy in the accumulators, and provided that the dynamo were .' switched off, and not Tising power, there would be a direct transfer of this en- . ergy to the engine and result in a ; greater power ontput for the time being. But, however one looks at it, the ulti- ■ mate result is that everything In the- > shape of energy developed comes out of < the main fund, i.e., the fuel tank: One | cannot become rich simply: by transferring money from one pocket fo tlie i other—the same reasoning applies. ' . Lubricating Parts. ' At this time of the'year much attention should be given to the lubrication of exposed parts of the car, that Is, pans , such as steering connections,' which are •not completely hbußed'and which invite snow and water, to enter. • The, various connections- from ;tlie steering post to;t!\e front wheel spindles heed lubrication as much as any other moving parts, and. if not cleaned periodically and given a good supply of grease,-hmy'fail in ser; vice. Leather 'boots oh tho steering' drag link ends help somewhat, but even boots do not protect the joints from the entrance of water. Glean the steering connectiocs andgreaso the parts well. Make an examination every'few hundred miles during the winter. Here and There; , ;.. The piston heads of an automobile engine may attain a temperature of. 900 degrees IVwhile the lower portion ofthe piston-may reach a tomperature of about 500 degrees. The piston rings- have a temperature of about 400 to 450 degrees because they come, in contact with the cool wall on one side and the hot piston on the other. . The orection of warning posts on the Day's Bay Road is under consideration by the Wairarapiv" Automobile Association. ' Mr. W. Howard Booth is, to design a post of. suitable, typu. ■ ■ As showing: the extent to which the motor-car is cutting duto railway holiday traffic in the--United-States, it is - reported of one large country hotel that in 1898 tho manager contracted with a local jobmaster for the. conveyance of guests between the railway and the hotel, and that in that year all arrived by rail, whereas, during the twelve-months ended last July, only 20 per cent, did so,.tho remaining SO per cent, travelling by mo-tor-car. • - ■■ .. About 17 per cent, of the.energy of the. fuel in an -automobile engine is -convert;, ed into usefur'work, over 50 per'cent, is absorbed by.the cooling wator, and more than 20 per cent, is lost in .the exhaust. 'Tho remainder is lost in friction in driving the camshaft, etc., at the bearings. Some of the nii]c-posts.onthe.Bimutaka Hill have been damaged, and one was recently thrown down. The Wairarapa Automobile Association, which erected the posts, is offering a reward for such information as will onablo it to bring the vandals to book. . When driving, do not hold tho foot on' the clutch pedal, becauso evon slight pressure sometimes causes the clutch to At the Inst meeting of the executive of the Wairaratm Automobile Association' it accepted with deep regret tho resignation of Mr. J. D. Smith, who is leaving the district. Mr. W. Hutton (Greytown) was appointed' to the executive to fill a vacancy amongst tho Feathcrstbn members. The'matter of filling the vacancy caused bv Mr. Smith's rogisnation was held over. "Ligbting-up time: To-day, 4.27 p r ni. Next Friday, 4.29 p.m. ■ Following are particulars of the motor license fees collected within tho city area during the year onded March 31:— £ s. d. Motor cycles •'• 78 10, 0 Motor-cars. i« * « Motor wagons 7!) 5 " JC3IS 17 • 0