MOTOR NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 93, 11 April 1914, Page 7

MOTOR NOTES.

Few motorists realize the degree of accuracy that is now incorporated in the high grade car engine. This particularly applies to the turning of pistons to fit cylinders. The thickness of a thin piece of paper measures about three one-thousandths of an inch ; yet the manufacturer of a highclass motor engine would hold up Ids hands in horror, if you showed him a piston or cylinder that varied from his standard by anywhere near that amount. The usual method of testing cylinders is to use two guages, one that fits, and another one-thou-[ saudth part of an inch larger m j diameter/ that does not. The cylinder! must be finished to take the proper | sized gauge, but not the larger one. j itanv motorists who go about in | dread of their car catching fire j owing to petrol, drippings in the tray j becoming ignited, will be interested to learn that the London police authorities now all the Motor j Omnibus Companies to fit a small sheet metal chute under the carburet- j tor to carry away all petrol drippings, j and thus prevent their falling into; the oil tily. This provision has pro-, ved a great success, and no doubt the practice of the Omnibus Companies as rogards\ this little detail will yet be generally adopted on private cars. The small outlay entailed is a good insurance against fire anyway. Captain Kelsey and his companions, ' who last August left Capetown with the intention of trying to motor i

through to Cairo, are reported to he financially stranded in Central Africa. The previous advice to hand stated that the party had succeeded in reaching Livingstone; On the way up the driver of the Argyll car had to be invalided home on account of contracting black water fever, and another driver picked up at Wankie. An appeal is being made in South Africa by the Transville Automobile Club for funds to assist the expedition. Despite the difficulties that have faced Captain Kelsey, another party, driving a Dun!oV shod 16 h.p. Fabrique Automobile Belgique bar, and supported by the Belgian Government, intends endeavouring to make a trip across Africa from Capetown to Cairo. The disclosures made in connection with a civil action recently heard in the County Court, Melbourne, will cause a Considerable amount of uneasiness in motoring circles, particularly where .paid drivers are employed. One of the parties to the action when asked if he had any understanding with a chauffeur in reference to secret commission being paid on repairs and tyres supplied, replied; “If I did, it is done by others. Some of the big firms pay afv’ high as 15 per cent. to. ..chauffeurs for their business.” Such >4 statement-will, no doubt, cause considerable mistrust among car owners? uvlio leave jho ordering of tyres*, .accessories and repairs in the hands of their chauffeurs. The admission is such a serious one ■that every' effort should ebo made to prove the truth of the assertion. A sweeping investigation would bo welcomed by reputable ■ firms who would not, for a moment, "countenance such practices. Foib some time past it has been common 5 talk that a considerable amount Of such unsavoury business has been going on, and some drivers have uhblusliingly boasted “that it pays better to use certain goods because they got commission.” Car owners are •.themselves to blame in many instance's for the lax manner in which they leave the ordering of goods, etc., in. their drivers’ hands. The trouble is that the perfectly honest chauffeur is unjustly brought under suspicion through the action of unscrupulous drives, whilst those who traffic in such business go scot free. The matter is a serious one, and very difficulf to sheet homo. Anyhow,. the case in question should act as a warning to motorists who, after the disclosures made, should exercise closer supervision in the ordering of goods, etc. The matter of secret commissions is ono that the' automobile trade and automobile clubs should make every 7 effort to suppress, tor apart from it's unlawfulness it is an insidious practice that will cause a considerable amount of mistrust, and undermine that feeling of confidence that should lie engendered between the automobile trade and motor, ists generally, if not scotched in its infanev.