MOTOR NOTES

Shannon News, 4 October 1929, Page 4

MOTOR NOTES

DEVICES USED IN BUILDING OARS I ARE ALMOST HUMAN. “Many almost human devices have been developed in the complex work of building a motor-car,” says Mr. W. McHardy Forman, Managing Director of General Motors New Zealand, Ltd. ‘ ‘ Two neAv ones, the piston milling machine and a syliuder honing machine, are so uncannily accurate and methodical as to give the impression of a ‘brain’ concealed someAVhere in their interiors.

“The piston machine, one of the newest in ,thc industry, furthers the impression of having been constructed to duplicate the Avork of the human employees in the factory by its tiyo ‘arms,’ each Avitli ‘fingers’ which are its chief features.

“Pistons in the rough are carried through the machine and,turned out in less than a minute, complete except for one or two minor operations. Contradicting the old axion, each ‘arm’ is si synchronized as seemingly to know exactly what the other is doing. “As one ‘arm’ reaches up that the five ‘fingers’ may grasp a piston in the rough, the other reaches down to seize the one Avhich has had its time on the machine. At the latter is lifted up on the opposite side of the machine, a rough casting is brought doAvn and anchored- firmly into place for milling and cutting. “The ‘arms’ and ‘fingers’ are actuated by compressed air. One of the difficulties that had to be overcome in construction was to get the ‘fingers’ to release the pistons at exactly the right moment. Seventy-one pistons pass through the machine each hour. “The cylinder honing machine does a delicate job which formerly required the work of twelve men, and its operation is precise and exact. (So accurate is the machine that it stops automatically when the honing cylinder has reached- the point of .001 of an inch in diameter.

“Another interesting machine in. operation in the industry here is a multiple spindle drill which bores 116 holes in a cylinder block at one operation and requires only one operator.” PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. Yearly thousands of Moslem pilgrims journey from all parts of the world to join in a pilgrimage to 'the birthplace and the tomb of the Proptict-Mecca. From time immemorial, these pilgrims have wended their hot and dusty way ; by camel earaA r an to their destinations, but the last few years have seen startling changes in transportation. Arabia is a land where the people cling tenaciously to the past, history, traditions) customs, all resist, change. Father does what grandfather did and son does what father does. Age-old forms of transportation Kaye been good enough. But changes will take place even in Arabia. To-day the übiquitous .-motor-, car now transports a large proportion of the pilgrims en-route to Mecca, and large transpbrt companies operate fleets of ears and buses running between'the main port of Arabia, Jiddah, and the tAVO holy cities, Mecca and Medina. Several of these transport companies own upwards of fifty and sixty cars. Mecca is 245 miles south of Medina and about. 65 miles east of Jiddah, its port on the Red Sea. The city is about a mile and a half long and from one-third to tAA'o-thirds of a mile Avide.

By its position Mecca commands the trade route connecting the Hedjza with north, south and central Arabia. It has at all times been a commercial and religious centre.

The streets are somewhat regular, but unpaved. They are dusty in summer and muddy during the rainy spar son. Some of the houses are as many as five stories high. Mecca is not known particularly as a manufacturing eity but it. is z true that rosaries and pottery are made there. The inhabitants of the city make their living by renting rooms to pilgrims.- As many as 100,UQ0 pilgrims are in the city at 01.13 time. The largest number' of these pilgrims- are Malays ani Indians; 'hen come Negroes, Persians, Turks, Egyptians, Syrians, Tartars and Chinese. OrUnonly, the city contains about 60,000 inhabitants. ' - ■

The centre city is the Masjid al Ha ram or Sacred Mosque which lies beneath the level tipon which the rest of the city stands and is always liable to inundations from the Sail or mountain torrent. This sacred area is capable of holding 35,000 people; it is surrounded bv colonnades, contains the sacred Kaaba (blapkstone) hnd is the only mosque in the world with seven minarets.

Foremost among the motor-cars being used to-dav by the Moslem pilgrims is the Chevrolet, which has proved itself so reliable and successful in the desert country.

No better illustration .of the fact that the whole world is to-day riding on rubber can be found than that the Moslem pilgrims, in making their way to the >oly city of Mecca, are travelling—at least, those with the necessaryfare—in mqtor vehicles.

FRANCE BUILDING MORE MOTORCARS. France is now building 34 percent of the European production of motorears, the equal of England, and second Only to the United States as a manufacturer of cars. Last year 200,000 motor cars were made in France; this year the number will be between 255,000 and 280,0Q0. The number of workers employed in manufacture of motorcars in the country is more than 200,000. .