MOTOR AND CYCLE

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1915, Page 11

MOTOR AND CYCLE

NEWS AND NOTES. Motor-cycle engines are put to strange uses. A recent Home paper contained a photograph of a Douglas engine used as the power for a travelling wireless "somewhere in France."

When the war broke out nearly all the magnetos used in England and fitted to most English machines came from Germany. The well-known "Bosch" must have been imported by the million. But slowly the British firms took up the manufacture of magnetos, America also came to the rescue, and the great shortage w«a overcome.

Few motor-cyclists realise the number of revolutions a 26-inch motor-cycle driving wheel makes in a mileage of fiOOO miles, which is probably about the average dstance a motor-cyclist travels in a year. The figures are 3,876,920. This means that every part of the tread receives this numher of violent blows during a year's running. To the thinking motor-cyclist these figures call attention to the necessity of a wise discrimination I in the choice of tyres.

"In about von year," said a German tyre director to an Australian manufacturer in the early part of 1914, "ve vill 'ave viped you out."; Fifteen months later he Himself and his precious firm is "viped out," and the German fallacy of counting hie chickens before they are hatched is again proved.—The Australian Motorist.

Some evidence of the increasing efficiency of the motor-car engine can be gathered from the times of the winners of the great Indianapolis "600" (Bays the Bulletin). When Harroun won, in 1911 he averaged 74.8 miles per hour. In 1912 Dawson registered 78.7 miles per hour. Goux had an easy win in 1913, his figure being 75.93 miles per hour, but he eould easily have done better if pushed. In WW Thomas jumped to 82.47, while this year Ealph-de Palma broke all existing American records by covering the 500 I miles at a speed of 89.84 miles per hour.

It is a good, plan to carry a small sponge in one of the pockets of the car to be used in removing dirt from the float chamber of the carburetter. It is surprising what a quantity of dirt will be deposited in the bottom of the float chamber at the end of a few weeks, if : a filter is not fitted. Host motorists attempt to remove this matter with the aid of a piece of waste, with the result that the clean petrol is drawn away and the dirt remains, and has to be got out with a rag. A much better plan is to stir up the petrol, then push the sponge into tiie chamber, when petrol and dirt will be removed together.

The motor vehicle has had its effect in assisting in the victory in German Southwest Africa, and although the story of General Botha's gallant march and roundup has not yet been fully written, we know that when it shall be placed before us the motor vehicle will be found to have helped in no small degree. The Ufa of mechanical traction has not yet been very prolonged, and it is barely two decades since the public in general heard about it at all; nevertheless, in that comparatively short space of time its progress and adaptations have been nothing short of marvellous. We may douht whether any other inventionsave, perhaps, wireless telegraphy—has in so short a time given such a widespread account of itself. Throughout the war, in three Continents, the motor car has played, and is playing, a most important part, The capabilities of mechanical traction and its use over rough ground have probably been put to a greater military test by General Botha's forces than at any previous period.

One of the most popular motoring fallacies is that the lower a car is geared the more petrol ia consumed, owing to the increase of the engine speed. Such a supposition, however, holds good only in extreme cases, for within certain practical limits the fuel consumed should be a little less, if anything. For example, a 15-h.p. car, geared to 55 miles an hour, would most assuredly consume more petrol than if it were geared to 40 miles an hour, for the reason that the power, in relation to the tractive load, as determined by the gearing, would not be proportionate. It would not perhaps be strictly proportionate in the case of the lower gear, but the tractive effort being so much less, the load is more easily pulled. It is a pity that no data are available to show what the difference is in the consumption of fuel of a car between the limits of, say, 30 and 60 miles an hour. At present it is so much guesswork, although little four-cylinder cars demonstrate very conclusively what excellent results can be obtained from low gearing and high engine speed. It is not an easy experiment to carry out privately with a car.

Considerable attention has of late been paid by motor-car designers to constructional detail in the steering-gear mechanism, which was formerly neglected. Easy steering, and the immediate answering of the road wheels to the movement of the steering-wheel means greater safet}'. It also means less wear of the front wheel tyres, and, since this is productive of a saving in running expenses, the steering mechanism is well worth a careful consideration. (!ood design, as regards this particular part of the car implies, above all else, big wearing surfaces, ample means of adjustment and adequate lubrication. This latest point is often overlooked by the user, although all first-class makers realise its importance and provide for the introduction of the lubricant in the simplest and most direct manner. The greatest wear, and the most serious effect in the way of back lash, is liable to occur in the working jointß of the connecting rods that transmit the movement from the steering gear box to the axle arms, and to the cross rod that connects the axle arms of the two steering rod wheels. Pins of big diameter and adequate length reduce this wear; if, however, they be allowed to become short of lubricant or to be exposed to the dirt and dust of the road, they soon wear loose and develop a shake. If there be considerable looseness in the pin joints at the end of the connecting bar between the two wheel axle arms, the result is that the wheels, instead of remaining parallel with each other when the car is travelling in a straight course, tend to deflect away from one another, on account of the backward pressure of the road, and instead of rolling truly on the ground, the wheels have to spin slightly. Friction to a very material extent is then set up, and the tyre suffers out of all proportion to the work that it should really be called upon to undertake. Thus wear and neglect, the former the result of the latter, involve an increase in the tyre bill. In other words, the most expensive of the item* of cat maintenance ■f» iafUt«4

While a number of. motor-car manufacturers are fitting shock-absorbers as standard on their cars, a large lumber do not. These attachments are said to increase the life of cars and tyres out of all proportion to their cost, to say nothing of the added comfort of the car.

The writer has of late been carefully watching the many motor-cycle aide-cai' combinations out on the road whilst week-end motoring, and it ia no exaggeration to say that on fully 75 per cent, of the outfits the side-car wheel and motor-cycle driving wheel are not running parallel. In most instances, the side-car wheel hangs in at the top at a considerable angle; in others the car and passenger tilt the motor cycle over towards it, .whilst in many cases both the wheel of the machine and the side-tar incline inwards at the top. All this points to faulty construction or poor connection supports. Apart from the twisting effect on the whole outfit, from the lack of alignment, the wear on tyres is greatly increased, for nothing will grind away rubber more quickly than a Bide drag on covers. Another point is that it takea more power to propel a side-car outfit when the wheels arc out of alignment. Few motor-cyclists are ready to believe that their machines fail in this important direction, for they do not see the fault, but it takes little observation from a car to see this trouble is in evidence on most motor cycles drawing side-cars.