MOTOR & CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1919, Page 10

MOTOR & CYCLE.

OVERHEAD VALVES. It is a remarkable fact that while before the war the motor-cycle engine led the -way in the matter of overhead valves the position is now reversed. Not only have overhead valves become standard practice in aviation engineering an.l are rapidly becoming so in car engineering, but they have almost disappeared from motor-cycle engines, if one excepts a particular type of engine, the horizon-tally-opposed twin. Some of the liveliest motor-cycle engines made have been head valve models, singles, and V-twins. The prejudice which at one time existed against overhead valves had been overcome, for modern metallurgy had made possible valves which simply could not be broken under any running conditions. How many riders of modern machines carry spare valve 3 unless they are setting forth on an extended tour of some hundreds of miles? Even so, how often do they require the spare valve if carried? It is now well known that overhead valves render possible a more efficient design of combustion head than do side-by-side valves. The combustion head should approximate as nearly as possible to the spherical, and with valves slightly inclined to the centre line of the cylinder this desirable feature can be very nearly attained. The. question of actuating gear is not so easy to solve, for with a single or twin-cylinder motorcycle engine the designer is tied to the use of push-rod 3 and rockers. The car or aero engine designer, on the other hand, is dealing with cylinders en bloe and can employ an overhead camshaft driven by a vertical shaft- a train of gears, or a silent chain. Such an ar. nujgement renders inclined valves easy of adoption, hut although the motorcycle designer has a possibly harder task, 1 it is not impossible and has already been done. , , FO»D MOTORCYCLES. " It Js rumored in England that the Ford Co. intend establishing huge motor works in Ireland for the production of a low-priced motor-cycle. With the present high cost of material and labor, the £35 machine seems to be the only proposition that is at all likely to materialise. Such a machine, of course, would be bereft of all such luxuries of variable gears, clutches, kick-starters, etc., but the enormous sale that it would command, even as a low-powered singlegeared machine, would be unprecedented. A fortune truly awaits the company that can produce, and produce in quantities, the motor-cycle on Ford car lines. AMERICAN WAR VEHICLES. The American War Department has fanned over 11,751 arinv trucks, valued at £6,672,(100. together with 414 tractors, 550 miscellaneous touring cars and 1075 Fords to the Department of Agriculture for distribution to the various state highway departments for use in the construction and maintenance of highways throughout the United States. A further large distribution of war vehicles is to be made shortly, with the same purpose in view—the betterment of American roads. THIEF-PROOF DEVICES. A now and ingenious type of thiefVroof device made in England consists of a conspicuous signal on. the car, of = )c-h a nature that it would arrest the attention'of any passer-by or police constable, should it be showing upon a car which is being moved or driven away without the owner's permission. It takes the form of a disc upon which Is written in bold white lettering on a ;ed ground: "Stolen if being moved." The disc is arranged just outside the windscreen, the operating lever passing through the dasli into the mechanism below, which is enclosed in a metal box rigidly attached to the woodwork or body of the car by special bolts without nuts or screw-.heads, and only removable by drilling. The operation of the device is simplicity itself. Upon entering the cur in order to take it out, the owner slips his key into the key-hole provided, given a half-turn, when a spring, which forms part of the mechanism inside the box. automatically lowers the disc out of sight. When leaving the car, however, it is only necessary to turn the knob (on the outside of the mechanism) in an anti-clockwise direction, when the disc once more comes into view, and upon reaching a vertical position, is securely locked without the necessity for using the key. Various objections may be raised to the idea. For instance, it may be pointed out that a determined thief would easily saw through the rod supporting the disc, wrench the disc oft" forcibly, pick the lock, or remove the contrivance bodily, but the inventor lias made provision for these contingencies; in the first place, by constructing the u;sc and rod from hard metal which would render the operation of a hacksaw upon it exceedingly difficult: by arranging the disc as close to the windscreen as possible, to render any tamper-, ing with it an exceedingly awkward matter and fraught with danger to the glass itself of the windscreen; by securing it in position as explained afiore, with special bolts having no nuts or screw-heads, and by making provision so that, should the operating knob actually be. wrenched round by sheer force, the difce will still be left in the "on" position and resist any attempts lo move it The lock itself is of the barrel or Yale, variety, exceedingly difficult to piik, the key-hole.being in such a conspicuous position that any tampering with this would at once attract the attention of passers-by. In order to render the device visible at night, it is proposed to use luminous paint for the let-' wring on the discAEROPLANE SPEEDS. Aeroplane speeds are still climbing. Whereas when the Gordon-Bennett race in the Isle of Slieppery in July, 1911, produced 78 m.p.h. as the best attempt, now, scarcely eight years afterwards, Brack.Papa, no a Fiat biplane with two ''up" has covered 15SJ miles, or rather more than double the distance, within the hour. The flight was carried out at «ear Turin, under the,control and supervision of the Italian Aero Club. FORD MOTOR COMPANY. The Ford family have practically bought out all the shareholders' in the I Ford Motor Co. A sum of £'15,000,000 -was involved. This transaction will leave Henry Ford free to do what he likes as regards the future making and marketing of the car that bears his name. It is interesting ip note that 3,200,000 Fords have been sold since the first car was made in July, 1903. It was then a two-cylinder opposed type engine, inptalled in a light runabout. In this form 050 cars were made and sold in one year—a then unheard of record in car production in America. Now, 320,0 Fords •tu« being JnMe <*<s£• i