TEMPORARY VALV REPAIRS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 23, 19 April 1927, Page 11

TEMPORARY VALV REPAIRS

The fracture of a valve spring, especially when the motorist is a considerable distance from the nearest garage and does not carry a spare, is an awkward happening which may well mean much annoying delay. There are. however, one or two methods by which “first aid” may be successfully administered. The most popular “tip” is to tell the motorist to remove the two broken halves and to reverse them, so that the flat ends of the spring bear on one another at the centre, and the broken halves, when thus replaced on the valve, do not work into one another, so making the valve useless. But an even more reliable way is to make use of a small spiral tension spring, which can usually be bought at any country store. The broken spring is allowed to remain on the valve, and one end of the tension spring is attached by strong wire to the cotter pin end of the valve. The other end of the auxiliary spring is wired to any neighbouring part of the mechanism which will enable the spring when drawn taut to exercise a downward pull on the valve. The position of the spring when it is fixed in place should be one that will allow it to pull as nearly as possible in a vertical position in relation to the valve. The tension at which the spring is thus stretched can be adjusted to a nicety by starting the engine and then s'ackening or loosening the spring until the engine is firing smoothly. A NOVEL CASE On the ground that a motor-car had “unlawfully broken and entered” his shop, or, alternatively, that the shop was damaged by negligent driving, resulting in trespass and damage, an Oxford Street shopkeeper claimed, in the Westminster County Court, £43 from the owner of the car. The evidence showed that early one morning the defendant and a friend were travelling in the vehicle, when it was turned to pass a van, skidded in the middle of the road, which was wet from cleaning with a hose, and went into the shop front. The plaintiff, who was sleeping over the shop, was atvakened by the crash, and came down to find the place wrecked. Judge Reeves decided that negligence had not been established. The defendant was entirely blameless, and, though he would have liked to find that the plaintiff was entitled to some compensation, ho was satisfied that the defendant was not guilty of any negligence, and therefore dismissed the action with costs.

Where do you keep the gas throttle when you drive through the traffic? If you are in the habit of using the hand throttle now and again instead of the accelerator, you are likely to forget to shut it all the way off when you are again using the accelerator. The danger of this is that in the event of a quick stop your brakes will be rendered less effective because of the fact that the engine is pulling the car ahead instead of helping it to stop, for the proper way to stop—as you will probably know—is to keep the clutch engaged until the last moment.

Those drivers who wish to preserve the highly-finished panels of their cars from scratches as long as possible should use. or provide for the individual responsible for the car washing, two sponges and two drying-off leathers —one for each of the panels, bonnet and similar parts, and the others for the chassis details, springs, front axle, interior of mudguards, and so on. It is impossible* to keep the sponge and leather used for the chassis parts free from the particles of grit, and if they are used cn the highly finished panels it is certain that the latter will exhibit more or less serious blemishes after the car has been cleaned two or three times.

In these days of electrically-driven tramcars it is curious to note that there is still a pair-herse tram-car working in the London district. It is running on a cross-section route down Bermondsey way, and, as far as is known, is the only specimen of this old-time two-horse power haulage operating in the metropolitan area.