MEET MR SEMPLE!

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22987, 16 September 1936, Page 8

MEET MR SEMPLE!

AN INVENTIVE PROFESSOR FOOL-PROOF MOTOR CAR INGENIOUS SAFETY DEVICES (Special to Daily Times) WELLINGTON, Sept. 15. There is a fool-proof motor car in Wellington. It does everything but answer one back. A standard model with some inconspicuous special fittings, it looks almost like any other car, but acts in a way that suggests that it almost has a brain. Should the driver, for instance, go to sleep .r perhaps faint at the wheel, the ignition is cut off, the brakes are applied, a bell begins to ring, a fan blows fresh air on to the collapsed driver, and a jet of reviving vapour »s squirted into his face. Professor Leone C. Galli, an Italian, who owns the car and has designed the ingenious fittings which make all this possible, uses brandy as the reviving agent, but apparently that is not essential. One might use anything that is liquid, from water to champagne. Professor Galli, an archaeologist with a flair for scientific inventions, has had his car with most of its gadgets fitted for two years. His idea is to promote road safety by eliminating the human factor from driving as much as possible. He has incorporated appliances into the ignition circuit of the car, all electrically operated, to provide for many of the contingencies which make for danger in motoring. The most important feature is a large pad on a spring attached to the front right-hand door of the car so that when the driver sits in a normal position his knee automatically and without discomfort depresses the spring, which is made light enough to act without the necessity of conscious effort on his part. As soon as the pressure comes off the knee pad the whole series of operations begins. A bell rings to warn other traffic that something is wrong in the vehicle and also to attract attention from those who may be able to give assistance, a fan situated in the back of the car starts to whirl and circulate its stream of cooling air, and a jet of brandy begins to play from the dashboard on to the face of the driver to revive him.

If the driver, having collapsed, does not respond to the treatment no harm is done to him or to anyone else, because the ignition has been switched off and the brakes applied so that the car is stationary. Thus, an absolute collapse of the driver automatically stops the car. A sleepy driver whose knee pressure on the pad weakens is awakened by the ringing of the bell, and can continue on his way with all his senses alive again merely by restoring the pressure on the pad with his knee. A slow-acting, driver faced with a difficult situa-' tion would hardly need to act at all because relaxation of the pressure on the pad stops the car. Of this car, in fact, it is claimed that all the driver has to do is to take his knee from the pad and the whole thing stops. Professor Galli considers that his ideas could be incorporated in a car during manufacture at a comparatively small cost, but it would have to be done in the factories as part of the original construction of the vehicle. His devices include another working by synchronisation with the speedometer Lights on the dashboard show when the speed rises above certain limits. On the roof are two signal arms operated in association with the speed lights on the dashboard. When the speed gets above 30 miles an hour the righthand one, coloured yellow, rises. When the speed is increased to over 40 miles an hour, the left-hand one. coloured green, rises. By this means approaching or following traffic is warned of the speed of the car. Incidentally, of course, so are traffic inspectors and policemen. Professor Galli considers, however, that, if all cars had some such fixture announcing their speeds to those inside and outside the vehicle, there would be less speeding and consequently fewer accidents.