Motor and Cycle Notes.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 17 November 1917, Page 1

Motor and Cycle Notes.

A big battleplane has been constructed for the British Admiralty by Mr Hamlley Pago and, while not as large as the huge 1,200 horse-power Curtiss triplane delivered to the Admiralty, is still of considerable size. It has a span of about 98 feet, a length of G5 feet, and a height of 20 feet. Seats arc provided for live people, and mountings are available for three Lewis guns. The craft is propelled by two 12-cylin-der Itolls-Eoyce motors of 280 horsepower. During a recent flight this battleplane carried 20 passengers and pilot to a height of 7,150 feet.

Standardised control is one feature of tlie modern motor-cycle that badly needs attention by the leading manufacturers. It is bad enough in going from one machine to another to find every practice reversed. That is, while on one machine the throttle lever, as an instance, will be opened outwards, on another it will bo opened in tho opposite direction, a little matter which is apt to be forgotten in moments of emergency. It is far worse, however, that, it should have become tho practice to festoon the handlebars and adorn the footboards with all manner of lever and pedals, with a few extra handles to grasp attached to the machine itself. What is wanted is the evolution of a simplified and practical control system which will make the motor cycle as easy to drive as the average car, where controls were reduced to the minimum years ago. Take for comparison, the average motor cycle —no particular make is in view—and the average car. To begin with, the throttle is opened or closed by tho depression of a single pedal on a car. On a motor cycle often there will be two levers controlling both air and petrol, yet it cannot be said that tho motor cycle carburettor offers substantial advantages over the purely automatic types employed in car practice. To these must be added tho exhaust lever, which, if it is necessary fitting, ought not to be, for it is largely a survival of single-gear days,. The ignition lever could be dispensed with on many machines, as it is on most cars, and ,111 fact fixed ignition has been adopted for a number of makes of motor cycles without disadvantage. In certain machines the clutch and gear controls have been combined, thereby offering an advantage over even a car. It seems apparent that this system could be extended. Those who have had much experience of handling a solo motor cycle in traffic will agree that it si a most- difficult task to change down, apply the brakes, and keep the engine running. Feet and hands are both busy while the rider has the added strain of steering and cahmcing at slow speeds. How he must envy the driver of a car, whose two feet alone will slip the clutch, decelerate, and apply braking lower. There is no reason why a motor cycl<> should not bo equally simple to driver in traffic, while, on the other hand, there is every argument in favour of its control being actually simpler. Whether control should be mainly by foot or hand is a matter for argument. The handle-bar at present is often festooned with lovers. There will be the exhaust valve lifter, the throttle and air levers to the carburetter or the ignition control, the front-wheel brake, and the clutch lever. In addition there may be a change speed operating lever and a rear brake on a footboard. Various combinations of these levers arc used, for there is no standardisation, and designers, indeed, appear ever to seek fresh complication. This is a matter calling for a great deal of improvement. Great strides arc being made with the motor tractor for ploughing purposes, particularly in England and America. During a test recently conducted in England, a "Whiting-Bull" outfit ploughed 7 acres of ground per working day of 10 hours, with a kerosene consumption of 3-2/3 gallons per acre. The tractor was handled by the man only and a seven inch furrow maintained throughout the test. The day will come when the motor tractor will play an important part in the development of this country.

The question of smoking in relation to petrol fires is seldom understood, even by those who arc daily handling cars and motor cycles. At least a briglit-rcd heat is necessary to ignite petrol, and a cigarette is therefore safe enough, while a pipe is hardly less so. The danger with both of these is probably that if an owner gets into the habit of smoking while at work on the car he will very easily go further and strike a match. Smoking and liglitingup close to a ear in the open is safe, as a rule, but in the garage it is certainly to be condemned. A thoughtless proceeding which has led to tho destruction of many ears is filling up with petrol by the light of an oil lamp. Petrol in the tank itself is not so easy to ignite in this way, but tho stream leaving the tin may catch, and unless this is instantly smothered the only thing to do is to fling the can away from the car, where it can do least harm. An empty tank is always dangerous, from the probability that enough petrol will remain in the form of vapour to provide an explosive mixture, and If soldering work is to be done, the only safe method is to fill the empty tank with water and drain it dry before commencing work. The latest notion is a device for washing the air before it passes through the carburetter into the engine. Needless to say, it is an American invention, and seems to bo a good thing. Probably two-thirds of the wear on the internal moving parts of the motor is due to dust and grit sucked in through the carburettor, and which it is the puryosfl nf this "air washer" to keep out. Without attempting any detailed description, it may be said that the essence of the device is a small watertank, and the air on its way to the carburettor, is compelled to pass through the water, which separates all foreign matter from it and ensures that nothing but pure air can pass to the motor.

The Ford motor works are carrying out a U.S. Government- order for 200,000 aero engine cylinders, and these arc being delivered at the rate of 5000 per day. The production .of standardised aeroplane parts is preceding at a tremendous pace in numerous American factories, and it is fully expected that before the end of the year 100,000 complete machines will be delivered to the American front. To this gigantic total, of course, must be added the intensified British and French production, running into tens of thousands.