MOTORS AND MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 210, 24 May 1918, Page 9

MOTORS AND MOTORING

(By "Clutch.")

Keep Your Engine Clean. If you have over visited the engineroom of a large factory you will find everything spotless. Brass railings are polished to. a finish and the floor appears to havo been scrubbed three times a day. The engineer in charge will not have it any other way. He has fuund that to keep everything in the best condition he must have all oil and dirt wiped awny immediately. Dust soon settles whore oil is spilled, and in a short time a gummy mass results, which tends to.get into tho Rubricating oil, and finally into the bearings. The car owner should consider his cugiuo as the power plant of his miniature factory, and to keep it polished and clean as the stationary engineer does. It is more important on tho motor-car, for it Is subieoted to road dust, mud, etc., which, with the oil spilled occasionally, forms a gummy mass, detrimental to successful magneto or distributor operation, not to mention other parts, such as the carburettor, etc. If you would be known as a good drivor, and are really after the best to bo had from your car, you will be as concerned about the exterior of the ongine as you are to remove carbon from the inside. Bear in mind an engine cools better when it is clean. Dirt and mud act as insulation, and prevent the metal from coming into direct contact with the air. Cleanliness applies, also, to other parts, such as rear axle, bralie mechanism, etc. Mud is apt to collect on brake rod clevises and such parts, and when it dries soaks up the oil intended to lubricate the joints. The result is that the parts become dry and wear. All theso chassis parts should be cleaned at regular intervals, and fresh oil applied. Dust and dirt, when it tnixes'with the oil, makes a sort of grinding paste, and wears down the bearings. Many owners make leather boots to fit .over steering joints, brake connections, etc., and these not only serve to.keep the lubricant in,. but mud, dust, and water are denied entry.

Motorists' United Council. Mention was made recently of the formation in Great Britain of-a Motorists' United Council. Lator particulars stat that the promoters of the organisation have defined the following objects:— 1. To ascertain to what degree ifc v is possible for motor UEer6, producers, and distributors to arrive at complete or substantial • agreement as regards laws and legislative measures advantageous or disadvantageous to the interests represented .upon the council.

2..T0 use tho united influence of the interests represented, with n view to securing or checking legislation in. accordance with tlc-qsions reached uncljr tbe preceding clause. 3. In respect of legislation, kindred matters, and technical questions in relation thereto, to use. its influence to discourage any organisation from acting in a manner calculated to impede the policy or to lniuro the interests of those concerned; and to encourage united action and mutual support. • The. formation is the outcome of persistent antagonism, official and other, and tho enactment of harassing and restrictive legislation, the tendency of which was, and etill is, to impede the progress of automobilism. It would appear, too. that the incidence of the war has tonded to harden the feelings of many against, motoring, and to rake together the einbers or* prejudice that were boing scattered. It was agreed, however, that tho council shall not take public action on any matter except (is the result of a uiiinamous resolution. Primarily-, it will be a users' organisation, as it was determined that tho voting power of the three groups named bo as follows:—Users, 24; producers, 12; distributors, 8. A letter and' questionnaire is to be sent out at an early date,, with a view to nsoertaining the opinions of members of both Houses as regards a number of questions of "policy, which will come before the council for consideration at a convenient time. It was announced that on March 1 a dozen recognised organisations had filnctod representatives to servo on the council, but lack of aupprt from any ou'irter will not delay the inauguration of an aotire programme.

Here .and There. In trying to understand the motor-car differential gear same peoplo find it very hard to sue why, at a corner, one wheel really does turn faster than another.. A very siniplo experiment is to place a light car on a level road with the front wheels straight; then, with a foot-rulo and a piece of chalk, make a mark at tho back of each rear wheel

tyre, say, Jin. from the ground. If lie. car is now pushed forward for a

few feet, it will be seen that as tho wheels turn .the marks rise with item, but remain in the samo relative position on each whcol. Tho back wheels arc, therefore, turning at exactly the same speed when tho car is going straight. "Now set tho front wheels pointing sharply to the left, and mark the tyres in the same way. When Iho car is pushed forward it will now turn to the left, ami as it does so' the mark on the right wheel will move farther than that on the left, thus showing that this wheel has turned moro quickly than the other. But why has it done so? For answer one can tako .the practical illustration of walking round a sharp left-hand curve on a road. If one keeps close in to the left-hand sido all the way and counts oneV'steps, .and then repeats the process, keopiug to the-right-hand side, it will be found that in this latter case one has taken a good many more steps, and so covered mora ground.. On a smaller scale, it is exactly iho same with the wheels; the outer one has turned round more, and the mark lias moved farther along its circumferonce, because this wheel has had to pas over more ground than the inner one. The function of the differential is to allow this variation in speed to occur whenever the conditions require it, otherwise, if a car has no differential, the driving wheels are'forced to revolve at exactly equal speeds, and as at a corner the inner one does not require to turn in its natural rolling motion as quickly as the outer, it. is formed round, and obliged to slip and scrape over the surface until the car returns to nu approximately straight course.

A reniarkablo increase in the' number of driving licenses issued in Franco during tho war is shown in tho following figures.—ln 1914 the number of fresh licenses granted was 11,310; in 1915 it was 15,651; in 1916, nearly 18,000; and m 1917, nearly 25,000. CBhsiderins/ how far Franco has.gone in cutting out nonessentials these .figures strikingly exemplify tho important place taken by tho motor in useful and productive enterprise. This holds good oven if it is assumed that the issue of. many fresh licenses has been niado necessary during tho war period by the transfer of li-cense-holders to military duties unconnected with motor-driving. Thero are various forms of adjustment for radiator fan belts, for example, slide, eccentric, and pivoted bracket arrangements. A recent adaptation from motor-cycle practice is the uso of an adjustable pulley, one flange of which can be screwed close to the fixed ilange, thus altering the diameter, In Ontario (Canada) there were only 220 cars in use in 1903; this number has increased approximately to 100,000, due principally to farmers having learned that time can bo saved by the use of the «ar in placo of horses, not only as a means of transit for themselves, but also for the transport of produce from Iho farm to tho market, and of household supplies from the town to the farm. The use of the motor as a tractor for farming implements is also growing apace, largely increasing the area of land under tillage. Lighting-uptime:—To-dav, d.;) 6 p.m. Next Friday, 4.32 p.m.