MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 143, 12 March 1920, Page 2

MOTORS & MOTORING

Recovering Wasted Energy. There is probably more than one : patented •; arrangement for. recovering a certain proportion of tile eiiergy 1 absorbed by the flexing of car springs by causing the spring to operate a small air pump for charging a the compressed air, which would be, stored' at' round about 100.1b. pressure to the square inch, being used for' tyre inflation,- and, con- . ceivably, ' also for starting ' the engine, •but nothing commercially litis yet resulted. The' point' of interest, however, , is that a Bimple means of recovering a certain amount of wasted energy on a car does exist, but whether' it' would.' 'pay to adopt it is another question. Incidentally, a spring-operated (tir-compres-sor would make quite aii efficient shocK absorber. A New Engine. Some motorists are for ever ready to hail the revolutionary-in motor design and to accept in advance anything that is novel if but promising.; There are the cases of the' electrically and fluid-operat-ed gear-control systems, which do not ■ appear to have made, any serious advance during the past ten years.. despite all their alleged advantages over the gearlever. Now we are promised a turbine internal combustion engine, and it certainlv h»s. developed so far as. demon-' strations or a test, bench, with compress- • ed'air 'ns the. motive force instead of the gn.v explosion impulses of the ordinary motor ero'ine.-'Even if it-be practicable, to adapt the ■ internal combustion principle to .this form of engine, there will still remain a very /serious .obstaoie to success in the necessity to gear down tremendouslv the rotary 6peed of the turbine shaft between the engine ana ths road 'wheels. This reduction must bo so great that it is doubtful if a bevel, gear of, such: excessive dimensions could beadopted with the present design of car. Therefore it may be„tpken for granted, that the motoring world will. lie. a very different' one before the internal-combus-tion turbine motov .becomes, a standard. : Its prineinle allurement is the recovery ■of a considerable portion ■ of the .powernow lost owincr • hwit flnd. f fictional • •waste in the cvlinder, but probably when the practical issue. i»>,.tried. tli.e turbine engine 'will: bo found ;to have a waste of its own 'due tb .the. necessity to. provide special gas compression gear and the "rcat .votary speed reduction already mentioned,. •• .■ Air-Propelled Motor-cars. , ' Nothing eouid be more foolisli' than the. attempts now being mado to drive ■a:motor-car 'by. means of.aiV air-propeller (cays J. Owen in the "-Westminster Gaz. • ette"). Such "a.s^t'emds. 'extremely dangerous and useless, and I do. not Blip-, pose for a moment that there is any law ■?n tl,is or any . other couhtrv that Wd -, permit such vehicles to use the toads ■Quito apart from , the, legal aspects air propulsion: is..quite hopeless as,we are informed: by a. correspondent in a technical -paper-.who .earned,.'out- experiments with:a vehicle constructed on. these, lin a for tbe purpose, .of obtaining data for. something- unconnected. ' The:vehicle, he says, was buiU with an -extremely-lieht ae-pplane type fuse ag (the-main "longerons were only; ijin. ' square asl.)., an.<l. aviation engine tion and carburettor, the machine scaling on'v 2i.-.lb, attMied • about .«. miles .per bom-, but with a 'dlron" head wind it refund to loom at. a gradient of V-i ll .-!®' . served its purpose in one wav. but in the ■wav.-that other, experimenters anpear to be hopeful .it was a complete failure. Motor-oVcle Springing.' ".' , "'lt is "(Slikimed by oX> -who .lu give* corisi'defabio "thought > moto r -eycl« springing that, -speaking • action of tho ordinary tyne of Mning tork under the' effect of Vibration -6 ' oheMM -and that resilience. should bo obtained'as the result'-of movements in a direction opposite to that; lisu f ft fe m n a on . . by the:fork's. support of tins con tention it- i 6 pointed' outjthat--in-many , « forlcs'as' fitted to «» : c[)niiMting'links-ftro"sp T)la^d_tl I'' movement and iliat of-, the- for thynieelvCß 'occurs in OP,P? sl ™ n ',i J* £ "were, 'to the -forces- wlnon set them : in mot'ibii; that is - tor'any,. as the, wheel strikes' an obstruction; the is exerted in: tho wrong plane,- so that "e get forces acting in. such .a manner that the maximum of eprvnsinE:,-effect. caiinot.be .'realised, and much of- the resiliency and consequent insulation of tho rider s arms is .lost. Dealing first with ■••tho' action of the forks as ordinarily <le'signed for motor-cycle work;-in this caw when the wheel strikes a bump m the road and tlio forks subjected. tci the resultant jnr. ' they tend \o move, as it • were - in- a direction parallel to tho lino of force, whereas ''if placed 1 in such a position that:.'th'e.forks, act m:the.oOTO; •site direction..it.is claimed effect is much. greater.' Actual te s t » required definitely, to .establish the point as; to'the euperiorify'of one system over .: tho. other,. (ind : the mhtter of in' design, must also not be lost Mght ofExperiments' are now being conducted in England" with spring forks designed on two different principles, the mechanical ' details' of construction being-.the'same in .both cases, and'it will be interesting in .due'course'to hear ths result of the : 'experiment!' Liglitiiig-up 'time:—To-day,; 6.18 ;p.m.