MOTOR AND CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 March 1918, Page 6

MOTOR AND CYCLE.

NEWS AND NOTES. Now that the motor side-car combination i.s becoming so popular, it behoves , the trade and riders to pay a little more attention to the proper staying of the side-car attachment. One has only to glance at the rear of machines aa tliev pass along tliu streets to note that m the majority of cases .the back wheel* are out of alignment, in some casea almost t;> an alarming degree. Anyone with any knowlodg,' of mechanics knows what this means in-additional stress ojl the outfit. The greatest sufferer, however, is the' tyres, for it means that there is a continual lateral sawim; action at tlnj point of contact with road surface. This friction means ruination to the best tyres ever made. Needless to . say, in most instances the tyres receive the blame for not standing up to their work, whereas in reality faulty bracing of the outfit is the cause of the trouble. Nothing w?ars rubber quicker than the rasping action of a wheel which is running' out of alignment. The matter is an important one to the trade and to motor cyclists themselves, and it is a subject that certainly requires more attention than it is getting. There is not much doubt that a good deal of the vogue of the American car in England is due to the extra refinements which the long-sighted American manufacturer has embodied in his designs, but which his British competitor has either listed as "extras" or ignored altogether. It is a fact that we move slowly in these matters, and are apt to leave a thing undone until compelled to do it, bv the liro-'siny demand of the public, rather than - 1 - '' "•••+ and then proceed to educate the public into a 1 itijr for it Take, inr e.uunple. cleetrieIk'hting for the car. l.'p to the time of outbreak of war it was greatly the except init for the Rr'tish ear to he listed with a (lvnamo-lighting plant, included in the price. Yet 1 cannot call to mind a single American car —save one. or perhaps a couple of the ultra-cheap ones—that was not so equipped. And there is not the least question hut thn' tli? motorist who had made up his mind to acquire a new ear had equally d termincd that it must have electric light. After the war we shall see practicaltv every British car listed with a dvfiamo set—because the American educational campaign having created the demand, thus writes an English expert. Tn another direction the. Americans (have given ns a strong lead, says the sama. writer. I refer now to the "selfstarter" which originaliv came to us from America and which has been pr'ncipall.v developed tlw. Almost every American vehicle which sells at any'hin'r ov-r C2 0 j« em'nped with v ele.'lric engine-starter; this, to mv wa • of thi nk;o!ihan..v a . 'u.. ,-nienee, and therefore its value, o-' -V all »roponion to flu; actual cost of the machin". All other thins's being e.jiial, no one who has -> wiied and driven a car in which the enrne can he started from the driving seat 'n- the m-rc: pressure of a pedal will go back .to flic crude methed of cranking 'iv hand to get the motor running. Although I'■ is is so olivious as almost to he a truism. T think I am right in saying lliat before the war'thore was but one I'.ritish ear—and that one of t>" highest in prie~—n which the electric .engine-slar'er was listed as an absoluteIv standard fittine There were others, of course, in which it could be had as an evtra—and n eost'v extra at that. A novel motor engine sparking plug ha.; Keen marketed in America. It is -all"'! the Push-Clean spark plug and it cleans itself. All that is necessar,- is to oihli the button on the top of the plug. The push cleans tlu< porcelain, the electrode, scrapes the side wires. A paten- i •ted cleaning bridge on the bottom of the ' shell protects the sparking points and ' poicolain, besides making it possible U ; clean the pings while the engine is running if so des'ved. 1 Carbon and oil are ' removed from the porcelain by the cut < t'-rs. the points of the side wires are ] cleaned and polished automatically, i while oil and carbon are wipe,! oft' thr centre electrode by the bridge during • the operation, whiejj. it is said, takes not more than two seconds.

While in many respects the front seat of a motor car is the n' of tlietwo, the heat f\o which {Tie let those occupying the posit on. are sub;rete«l to is. no means Agreeable Even in winter the r gion directly behind the dashboard is uncomfortably '.vi.iin in many cars, while in summer tlie temperature is often almost unbearable. In some i-rt-s n m-nuni-tory attempt is mad' at --Miii'dtion, but at best it is ineffectual, and the distri - tion of the air is very uneven. It would not he a diflicnit, nor nn expensive ninttor to provide an ad quate. am! an easily controlled ventilating system in even - ear above the lowest grade, and why the pres.-nt condition of affairs is permitted to exist is one of the mysteries that only the manufacturers can solve. It is all the more a mrsterv ho n au'.!:- anything that adds to the" comfort of a car is a strong recommendation nor.- a-davs.

Manv fluids for removing carbon from the cylinders of petrol engines have been placed on the market, and they would If! comparatively satisfactory if thecould he made to operate as they are intended To use them they must remain in contact with the carbon for some little time in ord r to soften it so that it '■nn be blown out by operating the engine: but ito do this the space between the piston head and the cylinder li'ad must be completely filled, and in a dirty engine the piston rings and valves are not tight enough to retain the liquid fn contact with both of these surfaces very ion;!'. Consequently, although the piston iiead may get a sufficient treatment the cylinder head, where the principal trouble usually ex'sts. do.s not get its share. Most of these liquids are composed largely, of acetous; but wood alcohol. applied in the same way, produces fairly good results if put into a warm engine and 1 ft over night. In either case the liquid that leaks past the piston rings finds its way into the crank chamber' and so contaminates the oil that it must be entirelv n uoved, and a fresh supply pour d in after every treatment with the ilc-earbnn'zur. Another point should also'be kept in. mind, and that is that although the head of the piston, may he well cleaned, it h impossible to properly clean the p'ston rings bv this treatment, for while the carbon around and under them may become softened the liquid does not dissolve the ;carbon, and consequently the condition of the rings is not improved. Burning out the carbon with a blowpipe will clean the upper part of.the cylinder, and the piston head, but this proeess cannot clean the rinc.s. and wli n i\n engine w>qu'res de-carbonizing the rings (ire tHUa!lv in a condition that requires attention.

Whoever first applied the current jißinos to the brake and the conventional motorcar was guilty of one of the most

serious and costly blunders in motor history, says the Motor Life (New York). The lianil brake is not the emergency brake, but the ofot brake is. Because most owners think tint-because the hand brake is called the emergency brake it is only for use in emergencies, this excellent appliance recivs far too little use at the hands of most drivers and the foot brake far too much. In fen emergency the quickest and most natural movement to stop the car is to push out with botli fee. It requires deliberation to do the unaccustomed thing of reaching for the band lever, and it also requires that the hand be taken from tb-e steering wheel—where it is needj in an emergency. The hand brake is useful in ways, however, in which it is rarely used. One of these is in coasting down hills/when more than incidental length. The common practice is to throw the gear lever in oue of the lower {Wars and either close the throttle or open the switch, leaving the friction and compression of the engine to hold the vehicle back on the grade. The correct method is to throw the lever into neutral, if the grade is long, or hold the clutch out if it is short and notch up the hand brake to produce the required amount of resistance. On hills of considerable length it is best to stop the engine, starting it again at the bottom of the grade, on the clutch. On long mountain grades the hand brakes wiil eventually beat up. in Which case thev should he released mid: the foot brake used long enough to allow them to cool off—and just that long..■ In connection-,-with-:the electricallycontrolled boat which .It was announced had been destroyed off the Belgian coast a _ little time ago,- the following information lias been supplied officially by the British Admiralty:--'!Thc - electricallycontrolled motor boats used on the Belgian coast are t\yiji patrgl-engined vessels partially closed in and' travel at a speed. They carry a drum with between thirty and fifty miles of insulated single core cable.,'through Which the boat is controlled electrically. The fore part carrier a considerable ,charge of hii>h explosive, probably, from JIOO-jOOlb % weight. After the engine has been started the crew leave, the. boat. ; A seaplane protected bv a strong fighting patrol then accompanies ,the ..vessel ,at a distance of three to" five miles; and'signals to the shore operator the helm to"give the vessel. The boat is zigzaggged while running, this may be either intentional or unintentional. On being,steered into a ship the cargo is exploded automatically. The device i* a very old one. A boat similarly controlled was used I in H.M.S. "Vernon;' (the torpedo experimental ship) as far back.as. ISSS. The only new features in the German boats are petrol engines and W/T signals, neither of which existed then.