HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20734, 18 February 1939, Page 28 (Supplement)

HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

PRISMATIC DISCS AID TO ROAD SAFETY It was reported recently that the highway authorities of the State of Michigan. r.S.A. had installed a numhor of reflex discs alone: each side of 'ho highway hot ween Dotrnit and Lan"n - a distance of sr, miles. The , surmss of this experiment has boon suoh as to .rive motoring authorities , everywhere—New Zealand not the loast—much material for serious consideration. Those discs am of a new plastic substance, and are prismatic so that they reflect t.hc headlights of approach- : iner cars, and clearly define the highway boundaries and the radius of curves. The discs are 1 5-8 inches in din.- I ', meter, and are planed at the tops of short posts. 30 inches high. These are i spaced 100 feet apart and 8 feet from , the highway edges. During the night, the car headlights ‘ • pick up these prismatic discs so that the highway appears to he outlined on either side by a myriad small lights. Even when a driver is exposed to t-he glaring headlights of an oncoming car. it is easy for him to pick up the line of the near side road edge and steer i a safe course. I. Pince the work of installing these | discs was completed more than four , months aern, the road has been kept ' j under close observation, to ascertain ~ the value of the idea. ,

Unqualified Success T?V2 experiment, according to reports just received from the United States has proved an unqualified success, and steps are- being taken immediately to Install similar discs on sections' of highway in other parts of the country, which, for various reasons, have a high rate of night-time accidents. | During the first three months of use ; accidents occurring after dark on this first experimental section declined by 70 per cent.—a result which marks this scheme as one of the most, valuahleable contributions to road safety of recent, years. | During the three months, there were only nine accidents and no deaths. Tn ! the equivalent, quarter last year, there! iwere 43 accidents and four deaths. i | These results are so important that ; it shoaild be well worth while for the : highway authorities of this country to Investigate the new system. ! The cost of installation is not disposed by the American reports, but j ‘even if it should be fairly high, the! remarkable prevention of accidents | and saving in human life which has i followed the experimental installation, j seeros sufficient justification for relegating cost to the background. However, in justice to our own highway authorities, a little more definite information concerning the efficacy of the system when a motorist is confronted by really blazing headlights is desirable. New Zealand System | Tn some parts of Now Zealand use is ' . made, of a most effective system of. outlining curves by placing a number of short, white painted posts at inter- j jVals around Ihc outside radius of the; curve. At night time, the car head- [ lights pick ilfese up when still quite j a long distance away, and give ample j warning of the necessity for braking .when otherwise a motorist might not! realise the existence of the corner until j . too late to reduce his pace to a safe ; f speed. A notable example of this sys- j tern is to be seen on the road approaching the Himufakas—"over the ! hill." as it is coloquially known—in the | territory of the Waiiarapa and Wei- ■ lington Automobile Associations. There ; the use of the short posts is not con- j fined to curves. | I In the isolated places where it is used ! this system must have saved lives, j The Michigan scheme of discs would | appear In ho intended for the whole j length of a highway. Apparently there is a definite reason for following this j plan, while its success, as shown by j the figures quoted above, is un- j doubted. )

MAGNESIUM HAS MANY USES I Magnesium may snnn bpenrne an important competitor to aluminium for .use in the component parts of motor ‘vehicles and aircraft. It is one-!hird iiirh: er than aluminium, and its alloys can he used almost anywhere where aluminium is employed, except, of Magnesium is made from a variety of alloys. including aluminium, zinc, magnese. silicon, and cadmium, in various proportions to produce the results required. The total percentage of these, metals in the alloys is alwnvs less than 15 pep rent, and sometimes less than 5 per cent. The alloys can lie cast in sand, or ; permanent moulds, op extruded in vari- ! ons shapes, such as plate, sheet, and strip. In certain magnesium alloys the j tensile strength reaches 4S.oonib a i square inch, while the maximum j strength in compression is fii.fiOOlh. 1 In-fere*ling history surrounds the i method of obtaining t-he chemical product of magnesium. The silvery white metal was first offered for sale in 1902 by a German firm which had a | monopoly for many years. In 1915 it ; sold for £2 a lh. During the war an American company built a refining plant, for production over a huge subterranean lake, which was discovered 1400 ft. benoalh the surface of a factory at Midland MU?.A . 1 From the brine solution of the lake

hiph percentages nr magnesium chloride and other salts ware obtained. The result was that by 1017 the price of magnesium fall to about ins par lb. In 1 928 it was Its id par lb. and to-day it is sold in ttia T'nilad Stains for only Is 3d par lb. Practically all the metal magnesium sold in the T'nilnd States is produced at the plant at Midland.

j In the T'nifoii states magnesium al- ; loys arc used extensively in the pro- | deletion nf bus bodies and shells for j tracing cars, due fn the fact, that, there j is a 35 per cent savin" of weight compared with the usual steel or wooden construction. CARE OF BATTERY Some motorists believe that when a battery has been in use for about 12 ■ months the sulphuric acid weakens or \ evaporates. Actually the acid does not i weaken or lose power with age nor i does if evaporate. ; According to the Garage and Service ! i Station Gazette, the standard instruo- | tions issued by leading manufacturers t j fire: “Add distilled water to keep the! ■ top of the plates covered when rej quired : never add acid.” ! Motorists wtio fail to keep the terj minals of a battery clean will have j difficulty in removing them when they become corroded. The most effective method is to treat them with diluted ammonia. After cleaning the terminals thoroughly and coating them with vaseline there should be no recurrence of corrosion.

RIDGE IN CYLINDER A car was driven Into a parage to be repaired. The valves were ground, new liming gear and piston expanders installed, and the main connecting rod bearings adjusted. When the engine was restarted the mechanic noticed a knock which sounded like a bent connecting rod. He removed the connecting rod In the cylinder where he found the noise, and rechecked it., but it was perfectly straight. He searched again for the trouble, and found that the new rings were hit! ng a ridge that the lower p/st-on ring had made in the cylinder tore. He never thought that it would bo cylinder wear, lec.ause he had reamed the top ring tdge, and the bottom ridge had never caused trouble before. He used a cylinder hone and removed the ring ridge. When he reassembled the engine the knock was gone. CHANGING THE WHEELS ROUND With five tyres on a car and only four in use, the owner usually finds after several thousands of miles, that four are worn and one, the spare, still carrying its full tread. Of the four that arc worn, that on the near front wheel may be worn a great deal more than the other three, and any change round results in an uneven pair. The careful motorist will change his wheels round every 2000 miles or so. By these means even wear for all five lyres is obtained. NOVEL CAR RADIO AERIAL

The latest overseas departure from conventional motor car radio aerials is a streamlined antenna wire moulded in rubber. The flexible antenna wire is j completely encased in rubber in a | pleasant design, and runs longitudinj ally the entire length of the car top, ‘ tapering gracefully down over the j curved end surfaces. The moulded rubber aerial is said to meet all rei quirements to ensure perfect auto[,radio reception without destroying the [contour of the car. It is 1* inches high, and is made in two lengths for sedans and coupes. FAMILIAR STUFF Said the American police sergeant: “Did you give the prisoner the third degree ?” j ••Yes." replied the constable, “we ; browbeat him, badgered him, and ask- ! ed him every question we could think I of." j “And what did he do?’ I "He dozed off, and merely said: 1 ‘Yes, dear, you are perfectly right.’ ”

NEW TYRE CASING Onp of the leading American tyre manufacturers recently annuoncerl new type of casing buflf. on . foundatin ’ of rayon cords, instead of the more j usual cotton cords. I The makers claim that the synthetic j silk cords used are one-third lighter than cotton cords, but 11 per cenl. stronger, and that there are more cord - in every ply of fabric because they are i thinner than cotton, are more resilient, and offer greater resistance to shock. The makers state that a four-ply tyre made with rayon cords is stronger, has more resistance to .shock, and greater endurance than a six-ply tyre made of conventional cords. The rayon threads, it is stated, are continuous and smooth, so that flexing of t/he tyres causes less friction than when they are made of cotton fabric. Because of this, the rayon tyres are stated to run cooler, take road inequalities easier, and contribute to ease of steering. The production of these tyres, it is stated, is a technical triumph. The superiority of rayon for tyre manufacture has long been recognised, but for many years it was found impossible to make the rubber tread adhere tenaciously to the cords. By a new process which has been patented, it is claimed that this trouble has been overcome. The rayon fiords are treated with a solution of water and latex, phenol, and formaldehyde, dried and rolled under pressure into sheets of rubber to form plies. These plies are built up into a casing with a rubber tread, and. during vul- 1 canisation, the pheno land formalde- j hyde form an insoluble, infusible resin ! In the cords, to which the rubber j sticks