TYRE EQUIPMENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 344, 4 October 1932, Page 2

TYRE EQUIPMENT

CAR CONSTRUCTION AFFECTED RY LATEST DESIGNS. engineers' problems. One of the •problems of plant engineers (says an, American exehange).- is adaptation of the present future models to the new "doughnut" tyre trend. What is involved in such ehanges may be judged, front a report drawn up by the service division- of ! one big corporation on the new type J equipment as applied to one of their ' mod'els. 1 The "air wheels" are supplied o'n speeial orders, but, the rep.ort says:. ■ "Experience has proved that ehanges in design are absolutely necessafy." In brief, they consist of several steering gear ehanges. A new design is used in which frietion is reduced by an additional roller bearing on tke seetor shaft. A new 15 to 1 ratio is used, and the drag link has to be reversed to provide proper clearance." I In the shock eliminator, one coil spring has to be replaceu by a rubber block, and the other orie has, to be shortened. A 15in dempuntable wood wheel is used, and the new tyre size is 7.50 by 15. Both front wheels and tyres have to be .balanced by | means of weights attached to the r spokes. The recomm.ended air pre?sures are 181b in front and 161b for the rear. A speeial jack is placed in the tool lcit. Ordinary jacks are not low enough. Shock absorbers require , adjustment to compensate the les^ sened pressure. Factory precision methods a.re being applied to service station equipment. Brake testing for some time has been done by machines that determine in mathematical terms the pressures^exerted, together with slippage, if any. Equalisation, therefore, is no longer guesswork. Machines likewise have been devised to diagnose engine and steering faults. A "sick" engine's internal ailments may be aseertained by means of a check-up machine. On cne dial it records valve action and indicates if it is "sticky." On another, comprassion is registered, and it may mean need of new piston i'ings or other replacements. Ignition and the electrical system are examinad in the same way as a physician might determina blood pressure or basal metabolism. The clinical process as applied to steering gears allows the tyres to revolve in contact with motor-driven rollers, from which readings may be made and inequalities detected. Turning angles and radius can be shown on a calculator, with such factors as wobble, balance, and toe-in made plain for the guidance of the expert mechanic.