MOTOR AMD CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 June 1918, Page 7

MOTOR AMD CYCLE.

NEWS AND NOTES. | The drastic curtailment of their normal activities has only served to whet the appetite of the motoring fraternity in England, says the "Motor News." The past three years, during which motoring as a pastime has gradually diminished to vanishing point, have undoubtedly made for progress in the technical side of the motor car. Necessities of war have stimulated the brains of inventive genus. Private motorists hear whispers of wonderful developments, of super-efficient engines, of improvements in the direction of lightness, strength, simplicity and mechanical efficiency. Motoring journals are full of prophetic articles forecasting new enterprises, both general and particular. Manufacturers, in the intervals of producing munitions of war, are steadily perfecting their post-war programmes. Economists are clamouring for standard cars which are to solve the question of price, and thereby strengthen our hands against the menace of foreign competition. Individual dwners, too, are thinking out their peace-time plans. "The four-seated, 15 h.p. toui'ißg car, now standng cold and inert in the garage/ will, when peace comes, be replaced by a nice little two-seater, light on tyres and petrol, comprising- sill the latest improvements at a moderate price. It is a healthy sign. There is little pessimism in a community so active in their preparations for the day when peace comes.

The younger generation will hardly relognise in "Gum Elastic" the familiar übstance with which their motor cars ire shod. In the memory, however, of aiddle-aged people the word "rubber" pas rarely used; commercially it was mown as "caoutchouc," popularly we Dade use of "gum elastic" in small [Uantities. Then, as now, the. term. 'lndiarobber" was generally confined to ;he small pieces of .stuff used for erasng pencil marks; up to about 1820, inleed, rubber was used for no other purJose. It was .not until the discovery of ;he process of -vulcanisation, about the pear 1543, that the value of this wonlerful natural product began to be relognised. T\yo chemists working independently —an Englishman named Handcock, and Charles Goodyear, at American—discovered that by mixing the raw material with sulphur and heating to about 300 degrees its elasticity was greatly increased, and it was rendered immune to the effects of heat and cold. _ Natural rubber is hardened and loses its elasticity in cold and becomes 90ft,and viscid in heat For a long time the imports into England were small—in' 1852 only 7fi3 tons; in

18G2 it rose to 2985 and 111 1872 to 7855 tons. 'lt was all natural grotvn rubber, coming principally from Brazilian and other South Amerean forests, and in smaller quantities from West Africa, Mauritius and India. Plantations rub' ber was unknown, and is, indeed, a very modern development. The world's production of rubber in 1906 was 68,210 tons, of which only 510 tons was plantation rubber. In 1917 the total production was 257,000 tons, of which the plantations provided no less than 204,000. But for the necessary restriction of output due to war conditions, the yield of plantation rubber would undoubtedly been very much mora. It was in 1888, that Irish Surgeon J. B. Dunlop invented the tyre that made cycling and motoring possible and laid the foundation of the present tremendous demand for rubber throughout the world. So muca depends on the quality of the lubricating oil one uses that the following, easily-made test, besides providing an interesting winter evening's occupation, will prove instructive. True, it is of a somewhat rough and ready nature and the results obtained can only bo comparative, but it is fairly true guide for viscosity. An ordinary test tube, a thermometer and a watch are aD the apparatus required. The former should be easily obtainable from the local chemist. It is necessary to have a small hole drilled at the closed end of it, and two marks about 2ina. apart scratched on the side, the top one being about three parts way up the tube. To carry out the test the tube should be filled with your favourite brand of oil to the level of the tap mark, the hole at the bottom being temporarily plugged. All that is necessary now is to plunge the whole into hot water, the temperature of which should be taken by thermometer and kept at 200 degres Fair, This is approxijnately the heat undfcr which the lubricant has to serve in your engine. After the tube has remained long enough in the water to ensure the oil reaching the same, temperature it should be removed and the plug withdrawn. Now, with a watch in front of you, time how long it takes for the oil to drip so that the level falls from the Tipper to the lower of the two marks cut on the tube side. If it is anything over 22 seconds there is nothing much the matter with the grade of oil you are usng. Comparative tests will show that castor oil will give the best results, taking approximately 28 seconds, but, of course, its price makes it prohibitive for ordinary use. Naturally the size of the drilled hole regulates the rate of flow, and since no definite ruling can be given it would be well to try the castor oil test first and base other results in proportion.

Does it not seem rather remarkable that, whereas in the United States and Canada, many millions of square yards of unprotected concrete roads have been constructed during the last ten years, very few attempts have been made in this country to follow this example ? It is hard to believe that such a shrewd business people as the Americans would have invested millions of dollars in such roads unless they felt confident of their success. Perhaps the Australian road engineers are more cautious than the Americans, but this is not a sufficient reason for them to show timidity where progress can, and should be made, or otherwise no advances, for the benefit of mankind would be forthcoming. It' is net suggested that the use of concrete, as a road material, should take the pkice of other materials, but that this deseripton of road construction might be included in the practice of road building, and should be given a better chance in the future, than it has received in the past, to prove or disprove, its merits.