MOTORS AND MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 204, 17 May 1918, Page 9

MOTORS AND MOTORING

(By "Cliitch.")

Tho Car of 1951, A good deal has.been heard of tho developments in the motor that may bo expected after tho war. Looking further ahead, the motoring contributor of "At'Clure's Magazine paints a fancy picture of the car of 1951. It will have, ho thinks, a graceful streamline body which will "part the air as gently as a pike slips through tho walora of a latra" Gear-shift lovers, brake-pedals, and tho now familiar steoring-wheol will all disappear. "The ideal automobile of tho future," he continues, "willhave just ono control lever, and no.more. Step into tho car, and I will show you how simplo it is to start and stop, to slow down and to speed up. See, as I pull or push the levor, I turn tho power on or off. Did you notice how the ongino slowod down and how tho brakes woro automatically applied as the car slackens in speed? There are no pedals to onerato. The Bueod of the ongino determines how hard the brakes shall be applied—in other words in what distance the automobile, shall be brought to a full stop. And the speed of the engino is in turn governed by that little lever in my grip. In a sense, the car is its own judge of distances. We are coming to a crossing now. I move the lever ever so slightly. It is as if I speak to the engino and say: 'Slow down.' Note how the engine obeys. It seems to say to itself: 'Weare' going too fast.' And through a series of 'mechanical and electrical connections it telegraphs to tho brakes and commands them to press upon the too' rapidly rotating wheels. Of course, the country road of 1951 must be infinitely superior to tho wretched highway of 1917, with its mud and ruts. Your arms ache after manipulating a steering-wheel for a few hours in the noTer-ceasing effort to pick out, a volloy in an endless series of ruts. In a country threaded with superbly smooth thoroughfares the steering-wheel will be abolished. With a little handle you will guido the car of 1951 to the right or to the left. No tense muscles will be called upon to avoid collisions. Steamships have long had their steering-engines to s'worvo mdders that weigh many tons. The steering-ongine is controlled by the. wheel on the bridge. So in this car of 1951 the little steering-handlo causes a motor to turn tho front wheels to tho right or to the left. ... Tho alcohol; car of 1951 will consumo far less fuel than the car of 1917. . . . It is not to he expected that the automobile of 1951 will be altogether trouble-proof. No machine will ever be devised that will not break down. But in the future you will be deprived of your present privilege of tinkering with, engines and transmissions. When your typewriter, or your' pnouo j graph or your sewing inachino needs repairing do you dissect it with a screwdriver? Do you not telephone to tho manufacturing company- to send one of its skilled mechanics? The same principle will be applied in 1951. Tho mechanism of your automobile will be completely enclosed. You will not bo permitted to pry into its inner mechanism, because the manufacturer will niako It as difficult- for'you to dd so as possible. This' oar of 1951. will be as useful in winter as it is in summer. You -will.bo able to convort it'from an open touring car into a- closed liraousino almost in tho twinkling of an eye. In its closed form, its sweet lines will be.more than over a joy to behv.ld. It will havo tho parabolic look of an egg in front, and it will taper off pleasingly to the rear. Thus conceived,-, it'will roniind you of those romantically .designed'airship? in which imaginative novelists transport their heroes and heroines to Mars and Venus through millions and millions: of miles of chilly, interplanetary space."

Severe Limitations. '. Tho following examples of the limit* tions now-imposed on motoring in Groat Britain are cited by tho "Light Car":— At Nantwich, a motorist who was stopped when driving homo at 2 o'clock in the mornhg-, has been fined ,£lO for using petrol "for business -and pleasure piitposes"'combined. ■ A fine of =£10 was inflicted by a Cardiff Stipendiary upon a motorist who was conveying a cw'ti'of samples of boots on a journey that would have taken 'three days to accomplish with a horso and cart.

The use of a car for conveying detonators and explosives required for colliery working has been held-to bo a contravention of the Motor Spirit Order, although tho petrol license ■ was 'granted for this express purpose! Tho female driver of a light van (a converted car) has. been fined .£2O for the illegal use of petrol, it boing admitted that the van not only conveyed goods, but sometimes the traveller of the firm it belonged to as well. Here and There. • Lost motorists, especially motor-cyclists, are familiar with that bell-like sound known as' "pinking," It occurs when the temperature of the mixture is raised abovo a certain critical value, the charge fires in a manner more nearly equivalent to a detonation. This critical temperature is much lower for petrol than for benzole, and if a little benzole is mixed with petrol- the pinking disappears. Petrol ignites spontaneously at 270 degrees C, and benzole at 500 degrees C. If the fuel he comjiosed of four-fifths petrol and one-fifth benzole there will be no pinking—in a clean engine'at least. For most purposes a long screwdriver is a bettor-and more effeotive tool than a short one. As a rule, tho handle of Iho longer tool is bigger, so that two hands can be used with tho greatest effect. There' is also the question of grip, often overlooked when it is necessary to use more than the ordinary amount of force to drive a screw home.' This really amounts to the success with which tho point of the screwdriver can bo kept in tho slot of the screw. The slightest wobbling with- a short screwdriver results in the point slipping out of- Ilia screw slot, and this means a considerable expenditure of wasted .energy. The point.of a long screwdriver is easily kept in the screw slot, and no power is wasted.

Chain-drive throughout is now a standard method of power transmission on motor-cycles, and it; is found that sometimes the front chain gives out first, and at others the rear and longer one. I,t is not always realised that a low-speed chain is subjected to greater tonsion than one at high speed, and that it is not tension that decides its. life.. The shorter chain is subject to less tensions than the main drive, yet it frequently is tho first to go becauso of tho higher 6peed nt which it runs. Periodical adjustment and constant lubrication, however, arc necessary it a fair amount of service expected of thorn.

Considering, the abuse to which inner tubes are subjected by tho ordinary ciivo'wner it is a wonder, says'the Dinilop Rubber Co., they staud up as tliny do; but the increasing cost of tyres mil undoubtedly compel more careful methods ot handling. Take a single point in tyro manipulation: How many people properly i'rcrich chalk a tube when putting it into a tyre? Many do not even provide themselves with this necessary material. The constant movement between the casing and the tube causes a friction that is destructive to the tube. Moreover, this friction, and that resulting from the constant Hexing of the casing, heats tho tyre, causing (he tube to stick to tho casing, with tho rnnult that the tube, is torn. To ovorcome this friction a liberal quantity of French chalk or powdered soapstone should be nibbed over tho tube when it is put, into the casing, to act as a lubricant b'elwrthe casing and the tube. Caro should he taken, however, not to put top much of the powder into the casing, uo is frequently done, for tho loose excess collects into hard lumps, that lire apt to grin--a hole through tho tube. Lighting-up time-.—To-day, 4.42 p.m. Next Friday, -t.36 p.m.