Motor and Cycle

Otago Witness, Issue 4031, 16 June 1931, Page 62

Motor and Cycle

<By

DEMON.

An amusing error was made by a woman motorist in making her application for new number plates at Auckland. Among the questions to be answered by the applicant is one demanding the occupation or other description of the owner. The woman filled in this space as follows: Medium build, five feet high, fair hair, blue eyes. At the recent conference .of the combined automobile associations of New Zealand, held in Wellington, it was felt that universal recognition should be given to some approved signal indicating that the person so signalling was suffering from blindness. It has now been decided that the signal shall be the right arm extended vertically above the head. Belief in the popular superstition that 13 is an unlucky number was shown by several applicants for new number plates at the motor registration office at Auckland. The series being issued for motor cars and trade vehicles included some of the numbers between 13,000 and 14,000 and quite a few of the applicants requested that they should not be allotted plates commencing with 13. “ We hope that it will lead to a better understanding between the police and the association,” said Mr R. Twyneham at a recent meeting of the council of the Canterbury Automobile Association, when announcing that a billiards match would probably take place at an early date between the teams mentioned. Members smiled, and one suggested (according to the Press) that it might do good to play a similar match with the traffic inspectors. Albert Jackson, of Tunbridge Wells, was out of work. In the local market place he saw a motor cycle for sale. A motor cycle, he reflected, would help him in his search for a job. The price was £5. Jackson waited. In a week it fell to £2. Still Jackson waited. When the price fell to 9s he bought the motor cycle. At Bromley Police Court subsequently he was summoned for having an inefficient silencer. A constable said the machine was doing eight miles an hour when he stopped Jackson. A fine of 5s was imposed. The first instalment of the vast quantity of apparatus necessary for Mr Norman “ Wizard ” Smith’s forthcoming attempt to create a new land motor speed record has arrived in Auckland (says the New Zealand Herald). A box containing four dozen sparking plugs of a type suitable for use in the special supercharged Napier engine has been received by the Auckland Automobile Racing Club, Ltd., from England. The timing apparatus ordered by the club arrived some time ago and was tested at Henning’s Speedway, Mangere, on the occasion of Mr George Smith’s successful attempt to create a 100 miles record. LEAKY CARBURETTOR. A leaky carburettor is a potential source of explosion and fire danger, and should be at once made tight. When petrol is smelt strongly when one enters a closed garage it is time to have the carburettor float mechanism set in order before a backfire or a stray spark starts a fire that may destroy not only the car, but the garage and adjacent buildings. Keep the tank supply shut off while the car is not in service until the required repairs can be made.

MOTORING WISDOM. “A general negligence is noticeable among motorists in the practice of giving directional signals by hand, and this tendency is to be regretted,” says the latest message from the Canterbury Automobile Association, in its effort to instil safety first principles. “ Every motorist has a plain duty to assist following traffic no matter of what type by giving ample indication of his intention to change his course, and every road user is entitled to expect such courtesy from the driver ahead. “A large number of motorists fail to give .any. warning whatever of change of direction, and many fail to extend the hand at a distance from the car to be of any value. It is useless to hang one’s hand negligently over the side of the door panel and expect such action to convey any intelligent meaning to the following drivers. There is only one way to signal by hand and that is to thrust the hand straight out. To many drivers that is impossible because of incorrect driving posture. The proper place for a driver is right behind the wheel, and if anything as close to the right hand side as possible. Some seconds before, or at the same time that a hand signal is given, it is wise to sound the warning device. That detail is often missed. “ Following traffic should not keep too close to the car ahead, and particularly near corners a sharp look-out should be maintained for the hand signal from the person ahead.”

MENACE OF CYCLISTS. Certain of the requirements for drivers of motor vehicles laid down under the regulations of the Motor Vehicles Act apply with some slight modification to pedal cyclists. These regulations should be studied by pedal cyclists and special attention should be given to the rules governing hand signals, overtaking, cross roads, traffic indications, etc. Cyclists should not ride more than two abreast and should make passage for other traffic wishing to overtake, by getting into single file except on the widest of roads. It is a common practice with cyclists to wobble about on the road. No doubt much

of this is due to thoughtlessness, but one has only to drive a motor vehicle behind a cyclist behaving in such a manner to realise the dangers to which the cyclist is laying himself open. Another common and very dangerous practice is to ride close behind a fast moving vehicle, not allowing enough space for their slowing down or stopping suddenly. Many cyclists also offend by “ hanging on.” In traffic blocks, the cyclist is advised to remain quietly where he is stopped. He should not attempt to gain a forward position in a traffic block by cycling through the narrow places among the stationary vehicles. They may start suddenly and the cyclist will not only block them, but may become endangered. At night, cyclists are not easily visible to following traffic. A red reflector properly placed on the vehicle is a safeguard, but an even simpler and perhaps more effective method is to paint the back half of the rear mudguard with aluminium or white paint. It is only a matter of selfprotection to develop the habit of giving traffic signals, particularly before attempting to turn to the right. It must be remembered that all persons—pedestrians, cyclists, persons leading, riding, or driving animals, and the drivers of motor and horse-drawn vehicles —have a right to use the highway, and the obligation to respect the rights of others is placed on every user of the road. NOISES. Anyone who drives a car regularly becomes familiar with the sounds that the car usually makes. Any unusual sound is a sign of some trouble developing. It is wise to stop and endeavour to ascertain the cause of a noise. After a little experience, it should be easy to distinctly distinguish body squeaks and rattles from chassis squeaks or engine noises. Chassis squeaks uually result from dry shackle bolts or spring leaves, also from the attachments which hold the body, mudguards, fenders, etc., to the chassis. Chassis squeaks will be obviated if spring shackles and spring leaves are regularly lubricated. WARMING UP THE ENGINE. The idea of allowing an engine to warm up before starting out on the road is quite a good one, particularly during the very cold months of the year, although a slow* tick-over is not always favoured. If warming up is going to be indulged in at all, the engine must be set to run quite moderately fast, as only by these means can it be made certain that the oil normally supplied to the cylinders and pistons by splash from the crank-shaft webs will really get to its proper place and supply lubricant where it is most required. A slow tick-over causes no anxiety with regard to the lubrication of the "engine bearings, but it is possible to do a tremendous amount of harm to pistons and cylinders, bearing in mind that immediately on starting up from cold a certain amount of condensation will take place in the cylinders, etc., tending to cause rapid w’ear if the oil film is not maintained. FUTURE IN CARS.

A battle between rival transmission systems, wide acceptance of the downdraught carburettor and fuelling method, bodies scientifically designed to avoid air resistance, ad the eventual appearance of a power plant embodying both conventional and Diesel features are seen as the significant trends i n automotive activity during the coming years, according to Professor Walter E. Lay. automotive expert of the University of Michigan College .of Engineering, in a report just received by General Motors New Zealand, Ltd. The Diesel engine principle embodies such marked advantages in simplicity and economy that it cannot be disregarded, declared Professor Lay. Three general divisions of the automobile industry are sponsoring transmission improvements variously known as the syn-chro-mesh gear, the silent third gear, and the free wheeling principle. The immediate future will see a stern testing of all these, with the elimination of one or two, or a combination of elements of each being probable.

Stream-lining of bodies will proceed in the future along scientific lines determined by tests, instead of being simply designed to look speedy. One manufacturer increased efficiency by 10 per cent, at high speed by such design. The rear is more important than the front in avoiding wind resistance, Professor Lay states, since it is here that air currents either smooth away effortlessly or whirl and eddy in a suction which must be counteracted by more engine power. Down-draught carburetion is a valuable aid to starting found in many new models, and the complete downard feeding system for the fuel from the carburettor to cylinders is a logical principle which may be expected to have wider application. Great simplification is notable in brakes, from the highly complex affairs of early four-wheel days to the self-lubricating, internal expanding hydraulic and mechanical types with moulded linings.

All developments, Professor Lay pointed out, continue th e progress towards more speed and power with safety, a trend marked in recent years by larger engines and higher speeds, more and more to achieve by refinement of engine detail and body design. PISTON MOVEMENT. Do pistons move at a uniform speed, and, if not, in which way does the speed jrary through the stroke ?

No. matter how fast an engine may be running, each piston comes momentarily to a standstill at the end of its stroke. It is impossible to reverse the motion of a part in a straight line without first bringing it to a standstill. During the stroke, therefore, each piston accelerates to a maximum speed and then slows down to a standstill. The point at which the speed is highest is n< ?t exactly at half-stroke, but occurs slightly earlier on the downward movement, approximately at the point where the connecting rod and crank are at right angles. Very big forces are created by the acceleration of the pistons at high speeds, and these are responsible for vibration unless they can be made to balance one another, as in six-cylinder and eight-cylinder engines.

brakes and running costs. Much of the wasted fuel economy of the average car is due directly to careless °r thoughtless driving by its owner. to a great degree this wastage is caused by excess or wrongful use of the brakes, and it would come as a surprise to an owner to sum up the wastage of his car in one week due to this cause in terms of £.s.d., and add it to similar estimates for tyre-depreciation caused by bad driving anti wrong inflations and parts depreciation caused by neglect or insufficient lubrication. To-day many owners are carefully checking their speedometer readings against fuel bills, and generally if results are. poor they blame anything except their own driving. . Few of them ever take braking losses into consideration —losses, that is, of petrol in restoring speed after each braking period. Providing your carburettor is tuned correctly and economically, and valves and ’Suition are in good order, a car in high gear on level , roads should operate at absolute fuel minimums. It requires very little power to overcome the small resistance of tractive effort and wind resistance, whereas variations in running speed cause rapid fuel losses.

hot this reason a car with a firm accelerator will operate more economically, especially on rough surfaces, than a similar car with a very weak accelerator spring. Again, a brake is placed in a car for emergency usage, but the average driver to-day uses it more frequently than his gear lever. Yet every application of the brakes wastes fuel, and more fuel subsequently is wasted in restoring the car by acceleration to its economical running speed. If your brakes are sound, 30 m.p.h. is a very safe travelling speed under most conditions, whereas 15 m.p.h. is practically no safer, and wastes fuel badly, as it does not permit the engine to operate near its most economical heat. Also, very many cars, due to wrong fuel or ignition settings, are not extracting full efficiency from the fuel charges drawn into the cylinders. This is another bad cause of poor fuel economy, but it seldom is so severe as the loss caused from dragging brakes or brakes which are slapped on at every curve and every intersection. To test the effects of braking on fuel economy, a special investigation has been completed in England by Prof. A. R. Low. Apart. from the losses the tests revealed, it was found that extreme fuel wastage followed each acceleration after braking. For a 20 h.p. saloon car the figures for the acceleration losses showed that while the car did normally 20 m.p.g., the consumption dropped to 9.6 m.p.g. during high gear accelerations from 15 to 30 m.p.h., and to 8 m.p.h. for violent accelerations in high gear. Severe second gear acceleration further reduced the consumption to 4 m.p.g. during the acceleration periods.

REAR AXLE LUBRICATION. So free from trouble is the rear axle equipment of the modern car that the small amount of care necersary to ensure long life is seldom given to it. Most modern axles are completely lubricated if the differential housing is filled to the level of the filler plug with oil of the’ prescribed grade. In a few cases, however, separate lubrication is required by the axle shaft bearings located at the extremities, close up to the brake drums. This point should be verified from the instruction book, and a close examination made of this part of the housing for lubricators. Gearing of the worm-and-wheel type generally is rather less tolerant of neglect than is the bevel-and-pinion gear usually fitted. Not only is it necessary to keep the oil level well up to the prescribed level, but special care should be taken to see that both the make and grade specified by the manufacturer is used. Trouble with worm gearing usually occurs owing to wear of the thrust races which regulate the mesh of the worm and wheel. In the case of one well-known light car, with something of a reputation for trouble of this nature, excellent results followed the use of a heavy engine oil, instead of the usual gear oil.

It is never a good plan to over-fill with the idea of being particularly generous with lubrication, as the result is only to cause dangerous trouble with brakes owing to the excess oil escaping at the ends of the axle. This trouble' may, of course, occur with the oil at the normal level and. is then due to failure of the felt retaining washers, which must be renewed. On no account try to overcome the trouble by the use of a lubricant thicker than that recommended, or some vital part is certain to run dry and be ruined.

WATER COOLING IN MOTOR CYCLES. Although air-cooled engines have been recognised as the standard and practically the only form of power unit for motor cycles since the industry was established, many of the leading British manufacturers are again tackling the problem of developing an efficient, but at the same time compact and light, water-cooling system. This proposal rather radically to depart from a well-established principle has been prompted by the growing demand for a four-cylinder engine for motor cycling, and

the difficulty of air-cooling four cylinders set in line. The major problems in the development of a water-cooling system for motor cycle engines are the reduction of the’ weight and bulk of the necessary equipment to dimensions admissible in a motor cycle frame, while the fact that a water-cooled engine takes a longer time to reach normal working temperature than an air-cooled engine is considered to be a further disadvantage. As against this, it is possible to make the actual power unit more compact when water-cooling is employed; it is less noisy, and well-designed water jackets are both more pleasing* in appearance and more easily cleaned than the fins of an air-cooled engine. It is interesting to note this tendency in motor cycle design at a time when the watercooled engine is being quickly abandoned as an aeroplane power unit in favour of the lighter and highly efficient radial aircooled engine. Unfortunately it is impracticable to employ the radial engine in a motor cycle frame because its use would both reduce the ground clearance and at the same time increase the height of the centre of gravity of the machine. CRUDE OIL AS FUEL. Interest. in the development of the Diesel engine for use in motor cars and aircraft has been strengthened by the announcement that at least one motor car driven by a Diesel engine will be entered for the Indianapolis 500-mile motor car race at the end of this month. The occasion will be the first upon which such a vehicle has taken part in a race. The car built for the purpose will be driven My Mr C. L. Cummins, and it has already given interesting results in tests. At Daytona it reached a maximum speed of 100 J miles an hour, although it is not likely to maintain such a speed over the whole 500 miles of the Indianapolis course, and as the winning cars will probably cover the course in less than five hours, it is considered to have little chance of winning the event. Nevertheless, should it perform well in the race, it will provide a clear demonstration that the com-pression-ignition engine is reaching the stage in its development when it can be regarded as a competitor of the petrol engine in the light transport field. On a recent run of 2880 miles the car was accompanied by a standard petrol-driven sedan of equal weight. The fuel consumption of the Diesel car was 34 miles to the gallon, and the cost of the fuel £1 13s for the trip. The cost of petrol for the escort car was £l2 15s.

As further evidence of the progress with the Diesel type of engine for light traction it is interesting to note that the production of a new heavy oil engine has been begun for the French Army Air Service. Known as the Jalbert, this engine is of six cylinders in line, and it develops 180 horse power at 1900 revolutions a minute. An interesting feature of the engine is that the usual fuel pump aud injector are said to be omitted, and the engine is fitted with a carburretor worked in conjunction with an auxiliary cylinder, complete with piston, on the head of each of the ordinary cylinders. The German Junkers Company has recently made tests with a crude oil engine, which is claimed to weigh only 18001 b, but to have the high capacity of 720 horse power, and to be capable of operating satisfactorily at 20,000 ft. while the Rolls-Royce Company has perfected a similar engine, which, at present, is on the secret list of the British Air Ministry. TWENTY DEATHS A DAY. Home Office figures issued last month reveal that during 1930 500 people were injured every day on the roads of Great Britain—2o of them fatally. In England, Scotland, and Wales 7305 people were killed during the year, 609 more than in 1929 and 1167 more than in 1928. And 177,895 were injured, as compared with 170,917 in 1929 and 164,838 in 1928. The people killed included 3722 pedestrians. And of. the injured 71,155 were pedestrians, too. Private cars were the cause of 55,458 people being injured, 28,440 of them pedestrians, and only 11,784 of them drivers of or passengers in the car that was to blame.

Private cars were responsible for 1882 deaths, 1244 of them among pedestrians. But motor-cycles of all classes, solo, sidecar and with pillion passengers, were responsible for 2054 fatal accidents, of which 1464 were to their own riders and passengers, and only 438 to pedestrians. Motor buses and coaches killed 938 people, 701 pedestrians, 90 cyclists and 66 of their own drivers and passengers. Motor vans and lorries killed 1492 people, including 1010 pedestrians, 184 cyclists and 153 of their own drivers. But motor buses and coaches kill 145 more, and vans and lorries 151 more than in 1929. Roughly 90 per cent, of the fatal accidents were caused by mechanically-pro-pelled vehicles—motor vehicles, electric trams and trolley buses; 80 per cent, of the non-fatal accidents were caused bv them. London, combining the city and the Metropolitan Police districts, had 58,708 people killed or injured in its streets during 1930. Of 1415 killed, 17 were killed in the city. Of the 185,200 killed or injured in Great Britain, 162,416 met with an accident in England, 16,698 in Scotland, and only 6086 in Wales. Thus in London more than twice as many were killed or injured than in the whole of Scotland and Wales combined. MOTOR CAR RACING. THE IRISH GRAND PRIX. LONDON, June 7. A thunderstorm provided a dramatic interlude in the Irish International Grand Prix at Phoenix Park, the whine of the supercharged cars rising above the thunder and lightning which dazzlingly played on the racing giants as the drivers kept up their breakneck speed. Nine competitors covered 300 miles in 70 laps. Sir Henry Birkin, in an Alfa-

Romeo, averaging 88.8 miles per hour, won. i

An Italian, Campari, was second, three minutes later, after an astonishing effort. Campari, in trying to pass Sir Henry Birkin, was half-blinded by a piece of glass from a broken goggle. He suddenly swerved madly, but immediately regained control and thrilled the spectators, carrying on for two and a-half miles at full speed with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his injured eye. He drove like a man possessed, and once actually passed Sir Henry Birkin, but he skidded for 100 yards with locked wheels and amazingly avoided disaster. Earl Howe broke the lap record with a speed of 91.8 miles per hour, driving a Mercedes-Benz.

TOO SACRED TO BE SOLD. Here lies a Motor car, Born 1900, Smashed 1931. It W'as too tired even to retyre. “ This would be a fitting epitaph for a tombstone that may be erected just outside the confines of Plymouth Cemetery,” says a London newspaper. Beneath it will be all that remains of a car for 30 years the faithful servant of Dr Francis Pearse, of Plymouth. “ It is no use to me now, but I can no more sell it than a man can part with a faithful old horse,” the doctor said to the writer. “ I have arranged with a builder to have it buried on land adjoining Plymouth Cemetery, after having it battered to pieces. A friend of mine has promised to pronounce a funeral oration.” The car was the first motor vehicle ever driven through the streets of Plymouth. It was last used in 1928 in the London to Brighton race for a half-crowm bet. Dr Pearse might have kept bis oldtimer still longer, but he refuses to pay the annual rate of £3 10s levied by the City Council on the lean-to garage in which he has housed it. He has offered the car to the local museum, but it has no room for it.