WILL CARS RUN ON AIR?

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 20, 16 October 1937, Page 15

WILL CARS RUN ON AIR?

New Type of Engine CjMped

ti- .S - ^roerimental pperation pf | sixcyiinder antpmpbile cnotor w^108® only fncl is compressed air, points to the time yphep motor cars may travel for years withpnt gasoline, pil or water, accQrdpg tp hhp inventor, Mr. pbid M. Smith, of Miami, who sayq he hqs driven a car thus eqnipped 9000" miles through 11 States without a stop at a filliug station. In a -recent exhibition of his inveniion, Mr. Smith, who says he iit*rally grpw np with engines, ppenpd the throttle and eased less than five pou^ds of air into the ne w motor, Whiph, after | flight prod^ing pf the f^Wheel; /|caught^ and moyed alqng at an even rhythm. The exhaust could be seen emitting a light vapour. Pr|ctic§lly np yibratiop was notice.fWe PU the engine b^Qpk and it was ppssible tQ place a hand pn the motor after it had been mnning for 15 minutes. Then it was ao warmer than th» gun might heat it. Its only fuel * heing coiupressed air, thp motor nqeds no wires, no gears or ign'itipn, and no watey cpoling system. There ip q small device for keeping the air at an even femperature, one of the secrets of the mvention. The construction is simple itself and the cost ig cla.imed tp bp much less thfU that pf Jhe cheapest mptor oi to-^sy. The mptor is four inches wjde and 29 inches Jong. The pistons have a diameter and 3J-inch stroke. ii?_.cylinder PUgine tunes up toj

5000 reyolutions a minute and deyele^ 62f hprse-power. Mr- Smith has experimented with air pressurp fo? 25 years. He was 13 ygars epterimenting with fhe present mptor. Before goihg to , Miami he operated for a garpge in Ghicagp for seypral years. In 1929, he said, h| droye §n autpmpbile with p, ponyerted gasoline. cuQtor, using compressed air, pa pt 9QQ0-mile tbur pf the United States and plimbed Eikp^s Ppah- %. Bmith -s pian is tp instai a 150ppund p.rpssurp tank pn the rear of fhe car similpr to the present gasoline tanhThis may bp filled % the beginning. at any filling station with the air used for inflating, tires, The crank casp is fllled with oil to lubricate the moving parts, but, as there is no heat, oil rarely has to be changed. Sp, stpps at filling stations will be Tare as the moving car will xenew air in the tank by four compressors operated on the roar jbrakedrums. By means of a device in • the mQtor, part of tho air nsed in the motor is'returned to be used over again. . Mr. Smith stoutly denies that this cou|d be called perpetual motion. The car would nofc be running on its engine Js power all th§ time, any more than qny other automobile does, he said. Engipeers esticnate that 40 per cent. of- the lime a car is moving it is running on mpmentum. Mr- "Smith claims to make nse of this momentum, somewhat qn th> frpe wheeling principle, partially to replenlsh his air supply. -r