THE MOTOR

Grey River Argus, 26 February 1927, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE MOTOR

(By

"Sparging Plug.“)

USE OF GRAIN DUST. An engineer at the Arlington Agricultural Farm Laboratory in Washing ton, D.C., U.S.A., recently ran an automobile motor by using grain dust instead of petrol as a fuel. Grain dust has highly combustible qualities, and the motor ran perfectly while using it. Recently German scientists discovered a new method for turning wood into petrol, at about one-third the cost of the ordinary motor fuel imported in Germany. If such fuel can be prduced on a commercial basis there need be no fear of a fuel shortage in the future -when petroleum supplies are exhausted. BALLOON TYRES. Failure to realise than even though, the balloon tyre is an easy-riding over-size casing, built for cushioning and consequent comfort—it is not a stunt tyre—has resulted in useless mileage losses to car owners (says the Goodyear News). The erroneous impression has got abroad that the balloon tyre is not only built for comfort but that it will stand rough usage and can be run over the roughest kind of a street, over railway tracks, climb curbs, and take the jolt and skid that follow slamming on the brakes when the car is maintaining a high rate of speed without damage. Properly cared for balloon tyres will last as long and give mileage equal to that of high-pressure casing.’-. Because the balloon tyre will not stand any more abuse than a highpressure tyre is no reason for thinking that it is a fragile piece of workmanship. Given the care that the average car owner expects to give his regular casings, the balloon tyre should give him equal or even better service, because it affords better cushioning for the car’s mechanism, thereby reducing repair bills. It is essential, first, that proper inflation should be maintained in the tyres at all times; and, second, stuntdriving should be avoided. GOODYEAR PROGRESS. With a capital of £1,200,000 in £1 shares the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company (Aus.), Ltd., which is to be registered under the New South Wales Act. intends to start operations in New South Wales in the manufacture of motor-car tyres, tubes, and other accessories.

A site covering 200 acres has bee selected at Mortdale. The capital h; been divided into 300.000 8 per eei cumulative preference shares an 900,000 ordinary shares.

The whole of the preference shares have been subscribed for, while 500,000 ordinary shares of £1 each will be subscribed at par by the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, of Akron. Ohio, U.S.A., and paid up in cash, leaving 400,000 ordinary shares to be held in reserve.

Plans are being prepared for an up to-date factory, with rail, tram, an 1 road connections. It is estimated that the plant will be operating within .12 months’ time.

So that the preference shareholders may be assured of their dividends the parent company in America has agreed to enter into a contract guaranteeing the dividends on the preference shares for two years to January 1, 1929. Directors of the new company will be: Messrs James Kell (chairman); Paul W. Litchfield, president of the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, U.S.A.; and William G. Hither, managing director of the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company of Australasia, Ltd. Mr Stillman, vice-president of the Goodyear Tyre Company, and a staff of engineers have been in Australia for several months past. GREAT PRODUCTION. On July 21 last the fourteen millionth model “T”Ford car was produced at Detroit. It took Ford seven years to produce the first million cars. The first model “T” motor was manufactured on October 1, 1908, and the millionth mark was reached on December 10, 1915. Eight and a half years later the production total had climbed to ten millions—an average of more than a mil lion cars a year over this period—the ten-millionth motor coming off the assembly line on June 4, 1924. So fast had Ford facilities for mass production grown that almost exactly two years later an additional four million. Fords had been manufactured —an approximate average of two millions a year. TWO TONES. “Two-colour finish” for motor-cars is an idea which is obviously gaining ground (says the motor expert of the Daily Express). The side panels of the car may be painted in a light colour, such as primrose, pale grey, vermilion, or brignt green, while the wings, the top of the bonnet, and the upper parts of the body are of a darker contrasting shade. ‘ ‘ One excessively smart car, indeed ’ —he was writing of the recent English motor show—“was finished in cream and olive green, with green upholstery, and cream-coloured steering wheel and controls.” TYRE MILEAGE. Statistics compiled by the Goodyear Company show that if we take 100 as the tyre life in Great Britain this figure has to be reduced to 80 for the same ear running in Germany; for Belgi Holland, and Switzerland it is 76; for France it drops to 60; on Spanish roads the mileage is cut in half; in Italy it diminishes to 45; while in the Balkans 30 is the average figure. Comparisons with the United States are difficult, but in the Eastern States, where good concrete roads exist, the mileage is estimated to be the same as in Great Britain. It is probable that the New Zealand figure os about half the Eng-

TWO-STROKE DESIGN. Three important Uiitish firms, which have for many years produced twostroke motor cycles, no longer market this type of machine. Two other factories, which have built up enviable reputations by means of their simple two-stroke engines, have iu troduced 1927 models fitted with fourstroke units.

If asked the reason for their present policy, the first-mentioned group of manufacturers would probably reply that the public.itself decides such matters, and that the demand for then* two-stroke models had shown a steady decline for several years past. It is significant, on the other hind, that those firms which have not allowed their designs to stagnate find that the demand for the two-stroke motor cycle increases as its many good features become better known. Certain it is that two-stroke motor cycles were never more mechanically efficient than they are at the present time. SPARKS. ‘Can anyone tell me,” asked the teacher, “what makes the sound wc call tintinabulation ” ‘‘Please, ma’am,” replied a young-; ster, “It’s pa’s second-hand flivver.” “Do you think, professor,” asked the economic student, “traffic experts will ever demand reduction or automobiles?’ ’ “I rather think,’’ replied the instructor, “the solution lies in cutting down the number of pedestrians.” There has been at least one intelligent anticipation in a new colour scheme for a car which will blend with this year’s number plates. Before there was an announcement that orange and black were the colours to be used an Auckland motorist had ordered his car to be painted in these shades.

A new apparatus has been developed in Lyons, France, which is said to remove all deadly gases from automobile exhausts and to eliminate smoke an ' sound. According to the inventor, the apparatus, resembling in aspect an ordinary exhaust and called the silencer-catalyzer,” completely breaks up carbon-monoxide into carbondioxide.