NEWS AND NOTES

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 532, 16 May 1933, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES

FROM NEAR AND FAR. The tyres on a car represent a year's outpnt of crude ruhber from no fewer than eight trees. The average annual rubber production of a tree is four to five ponnds. To serve a suhppena on Mr. Henry Ford, in connection with a suit hrought against the Ford Co. hy the receiver of the Sweeten Automobile Co., states the Motor Trader. Mr Wm. C. Leland, jun., the twenty-four-year-old grandson of the founder of the Lincoln Motor. Co., "gate-crashed" a dance Mr. Ford was attending. He served the suhpoena on Mr. Ford before his intentions were known. _______ «="■ American production figures for priyate cars during 1932 were 42 per cent. lower ibhan those for 1931, the figures for trucks being reduced by 43 per cent. Private car saies to the United States deaiers were 42 per per cent. lower, and foreign saies were 38 p'er cent. lower. On several makes of car the oil dipstick .passes down a hole formed in £ boss protruding from the side of the crankcase, and it nearly always happens that oily grit settles on the sur- . f ace round the hole. There is the risk ; therefore, that some of the grit wil be pushed into the crankcase wh'ei ! the dipstick is replaced after takinj a reading. It is a igood plan to sli] a disc of cork over the dipstick, s > that when the stick is m place th cork can be pushed down into the surf | ia.ce of- the crankcase boss, thus, whe: ' the stick is removed, the cork an dirt will lalso be withdrawn, the hos surfac'e remaining perfectly clean.

tc a Motorists, in the near future,_are to h become increasingly familiar with the V( term hydrogenation, and the process ^ to which' this term refers is likely to jj. have a far-reaching effect on the run- ^ ning of their cars, says the Auto-Qar. y Hydrogenation may be defined as a bprocess in chemical science which u does instantly what nature would take b many centuries to perf orm. In other ie: words, it changes a given substance. d In the case of crude petroleum, with b the aid of hydrogen gas and by the n use of grea,t heat and exceptional n pressnre, hydrogenation alters and b corrects its chemical istructure and p vastly improves the operating proper- Q ties of the finished- product. At the a moment one of the leading oil compa- b nies is busy on this task, and th'e b fruits of its efforts are likely to he 0 available in the near future. e £ Those who do their own mainten- ( ance still, unf ortunately, find it essen- j tial to crawl underneath the ear from j time to time, and, when this is neces- i sary, they will find a large square of ] old oilcloth very useful. It is hoth ] cleaner and more comfortable to lie K upon than the igarage floor— especial- - ly if the latter be of concrete — and i it can readily be cleaned afterwards ; by rubbing it over with :a rag moistened in petrol. It will also be f ound useful for preserving the bench wlien such jobs as decarbonising are heing icarried out; it is quite satisfacfcory to I work on, and, unlike paper, which is sometimes used for the same purpose, it does not catch in projecting parts and ruck up or tear.

When dehating the momentons question of what .should be included in the Road Traffic Act :a.s an animal, one member of Parliament in England 'in England urged that the common or domestic cat should he classed among I the animals. This prompted the Soli-citor-General to remark: "But you never see la cat in the road. . Soon af- I terwards ia daily newspaper published the following: "Snow fell at Southampton during the greater part of yesterd,ay, and several motor cars overturned on snowbound roads leading into the town. Road conditions in the New Forest were the worst known for years. In several places the roads were lined with cats unable to climh the snow-covered hills, aiid tracks had to be made with brushwood and twigs pulled from thickets. It is reported that an increase of ] | saies h'as necessitated the taking on of more men in the Standard factory at Canley, Coventry. This seasons? models are now heing produced lat the rate of 100 cars a day, land it is probabie that this figure will have to be amplified in the near futnre. Besides this satisfactory state of things ■in the home market, the firm's export

figures show a very great increase, several new markets having been develepode with outstanding success. It is announced hy Messrs. D. Napier and Son, Limited, aero engine manufacturers, that Air Yice-Marshal A. E. Borton, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., A.F.C, has been elected a director of the company GBrake cahles require only occasional luhrication to ensure that they slj.de easily over the pulleys where they lare exposed, and easily in their casings. The exposed portions of the cables should be cleaned every 8000-10,000 miles, and the casings disconnected at the same time and slid along the cahles towards the cross-shaft; the portion of the operating cable thus ieft exposed should he greased thoroughly hefore finally replacing the casing in its correct position. A mechanic at Moravska Ostrava, near Pragqe, h'as perfected a car-gur which is inivisihly fixed in the wheel of a motor car, ipotpir cycle, or cych and fires five loudly exploding hlanb cartridges should iany un'authorisec person try to remove the vehicle froh its parking. It is aisq possible t( charge the gun with bullet cartridges