MOTOR AND CYCLE

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1915, Page 11 (Supplement)

MOTOR AND CYCLE

NEWS AND NOTES. Spots on the body of the car or fenders due to spatters of tar from roadways that have been tar-surfaced may be removed by washing with soapsuds containing a small amount of kerosene.

In a French report recently issued it was stated: —"By reason of the growing difficulties in renewing their supply of petrol, new measures have been taken in Berlin to restrain the use of automobiles. Motor-cars placed at the disposal of particular persona, such as doctors, for. their professional use, sie not allowed to be used by their families. Hiring of cars is forbidden. Severe penalties are prescribed against offenders."

The utility of the motor cycle was demonstrated in a unique manner in Sydney recently. It appears that a cinematograph film, due to be shown at Batlmrst (133 miles away) the same night, missed the train. The only means of getting the film to its destination in time was by road. A well-known Sydney motor cyclist undertook the task. Leaving Sydney at 12.30 p.m., he handed over the package at 4.45 p.m., his time for the hilly journey over the Blue Mountains being 4J hours, equal to an average of 31V4 miles per hour.

Tests conducted in Great Britain have shown that the use of rubber tyres on the huge wheels of steam tractors greatly increases the efficiency of the vehicles. Before the war no one dreamed of putting rubber tyres on the broad wheels of the tractors, but rubber tyres have now justified their use from the experiments conducted at the front. The results of tests have been so surprisingly good that the ma-jority of big tractors, both in Great Britain and behind the battle lines in Flanders, have been rub-ber-tyred. The tractors formerly had steel tyres. # # «

According to the manufacturing plans of-thirty of the largest motor-tyre manufacturers in the United States, their output during the present calendar year will exceed 11,000,000 tyres, of an average value of £4 retail. The remaining smaller companies, supplying local trade only, produce about 1,000,000 tyres in twelve months, worth £3 los to £4 10s a-piece. The total value of tyres used in 1915, including solid tyres for trucks, tyres for 'buses and taxieabs, amounts there/ore in round numbers to £50.000,000. To this suni should be added 200,000 motor-cycle tyres, worth from £1 to £2.

A wonderful little petrol motor engine for use as an attachment for bicycles is to be shortly marketed in England. Jn tests the engine has been run for eight consecutive hours at 2500 revolutions a minute on the bench without any cooling assistance whatsoever. The motor is a four-stroke one, of about 1 h.p., and it is attached to the back wheel, and power is transmitted to this by means of a friction wheel driven by a chain from the engine. This arrangement allows the friction wheel to be used as a clutch. The price at which it will be sold has not yet been definitely decided, but It will be in the neighborhod of £9 9s. It is claimed that any cycle dealer could fit it to a bicycle at a cost of about 2s. It is expected that it will attain a speed of at least 30 m.p.h. on the level, and that its economy in petrol will be startling.

"Trouble lamps" are very handy and useful to all owner-drivers and almost indispensable in all garages and workshops. But sometimes it is very hard to fix the "trouble lamps" in such a position as to throw the light on the point where the trouble is. Unless another person holds the lamp the driver has to work with one hand, his other hand being kept busy supporting the lamp. A new type of lamp has just been marketed in America, which at once does away with this difficulty. It is fitted with a magnetic base, enabling it to stick to any iron or steel part. The socket at the end of a 10ft wire will fit any electric lamp socket on the car, while the base of the lamp itself can be stuck to any part of the motor-car chassis, in any position desired, where it will remain until detached by switching off the light and removing it by hand.

How rigorous are the tests for motor vehicles sumbitted to the French Government may be judged from the following description of a typical "try-out" to which they are subjected upon delivery. Two drivers are put on each vehicle, which are sent to the front as part of a convoy for 20. Each convoy is in charge of a lieutenant in a touring car. One of the trucks is fitted out as a repair shop, while another carries the cooking stove and kitchen outfit for the men. The convoy is sent over the hilliest and toughest- country in Northern France. The four-wheel-drive machines, of which an ever-increasing number is now used, are compelled to go through a ditch so deep that there remains a clearance of but a few inches at the front, when the rear is elevated. No "green" driver can possibly get by, in such a test, while the work is so strenuous for the trucks that a great many fall by the wayside. One of the first trucks subjected to the ditch tcsi broke the starter handle clean off, in the bottom of the ditch, showing at what a steep angle it was driven.

Messre P. W. Armstrong and H. Fraser, two well-known Western Australian motorists, left Fremantle on Wednesday, November 10, at 1 a.m., with the intention of establishing a record through to Sydney, via Adelaide and Melbourne. The ear being used is u (.-cylinder Studelmker. The latest reports from Australia show that splendid progress is being made across the Continent. Kucla, on the border of Western Australia and South Australia, was reached on November 13, after considerable trouble, owing to the radiator of the car being continually choked up with grass seed. Notwithstanding this delay, the progress of Messrs Armstrong and Fraser across to the South Australian border has been remarkable, 300 miles being covered o'.i the Friday, and, barring accidents, which are always to be expected on a vpeed trip of this description across rmi-s'J country, a very fine record to Adelaide is now almost assured. The distance from Fremantle to Adelaide is approximately 1930 miles, and the difficulty of this transcontinental journey may be ganged from the fact that Birtles' cycle record for this trip is 20 days 12 hours 35 minutes. It looks as if the overlanders will negotiate this difficult journey in about eight days. The full distance through to Sydney is about 3000 miles, and it will be a remarkable test for both ear and drivers if this severe and rough trip can be covered in 13 or 14 days. If the present rate of progress is maintained it it Bossiblt.