NEW ACCESSORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1936, Page 16

NEW ACCESSORIES.

AMERICAN NOVELTIES. REDUCING OIL WASTAGE. REMARKABLE FILTER CLAIMED. DETROIT, March 21. Although automobile manufacturers have nothing new to offer in the way of Spring wares, the accessory companies are, as usual, displaying additional devices to increase the ease and comforts of motoring. Special attention has been diverted in Detroit to the plans for marketing a filter that promises to remove all the old-difficulties about changing oil. Provided the motorist starts out with a good grade of lubricating oil when the car is first put into use he may drive thousands of miles without ever draining the crankcase, the manufacturers of this new device declare. "Tests have shown no deterioration in the oil after 10,000 miles of operation of a motor equipped with this filter," claimed Mr. Arthur A. Bull, president of the company that will produce th device. Once the efficiency of such a filter is demonstrated it becomes an item of appeal for owners of buses, taxicabs and fleets of trucks. In the multiple ownership of that are in constant use oil changes each thousand miles often run into hundreds of dollars a month. Oil bills can never be eliminated, since a shrinkage occurs in the lubricating process, but engineers generally see a wide field 'for devices that reduce oil wastage. The sponsors of the filter just mentioned expect to launch a campaign directed, however, at the individual passenger car owner as well as the operator of commercial vehicles.

Generating Units. An unusually-frigid winter, which put an extra strain on batteries, has focused attention on generating units. In cold weather the tendency has been to impose a heavier and heavier load on the generator, what with radios and heaters to be provided, for also. The adjustment of the generator to the maximum has, in turn, often brought a breakdown in the generating system. New equipment, that promises "to become standard for all cars, provides a much higher capacity, according to electrical accessory manufacturers. To prevent over-charging this new generator has a control that is governed by the voltage of the battery. When the battery is in a discharged condition the control permits the generator to produce the maximum of current. When the battery is fully charged the control unit automatically reduces the output to ia fraction of its original output. Another. accessory manufacturer is offering an improved dashboard socket charger, which makes It possible to charge a battery over-night without removing it from the car. The charge operates from a standard 110-volt lighting circuit, and gives a tapering charge from four to two amperes. Its virtues lie in furnishing convenient backyard storage power when the battery is drained rapidly. , For the motorist who finds the Spring winds unpleasant a Detroit manufacturer has placed on the market a draught-proof ventilator. Shaped like a wing, this protector is offered either in plain or shatter-proof glass. Fitted to the window, it permits ventilation in all kinds of weather. It is so designed as to provide added suction at the window slots, drawing used air out of the car. One manufacturer has his eyes on the summer,: traveller with a compass, the indicator of which always shows the direction in which the car is moving. Dashboard clocks of modernistic design also are on display. For the new car owners the novelty manufacturers are offering seat covers in tans and greys. A combination of woven straw and cloth makes its bid as cooler than ordinary material for use on the seats.— (N.A.N.A.).