COMFORT FIRST.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19803, 16 December 1929, Page 6

COMFORT FIRST.

IMPROVEMENTS ON CARS. All of the improvements to be found in the late model cars are l>v no means confined to engines and chassis. Body engineers state that in their own departments they have made advances which, in their eyes, are just as important as such innovations as the high compression motor and the servo brakes are to the engine and chassis engineers. Take, for instance, such an article as a seat cushion. To the layman, seat cushions are nothing much in the way of complication. The idea that the proper design and arrangement of cushion springs may keep an engineer awake at night seems almost ridiculous, but such is the case. In the description of a new car which recently was placed on the market the body engineer announces that wool padding has been utilised in the seats rather than the usual cotton, and the result is a softer, yet more durable cushion. Furthermore, he goes on to say, instead of being clipped together, the seat springs are joined by small coil springs so that pressure on the cushion at any point is spread over a considerable area. On this same car another new feature has also been adopted. This is what is known as weather hose, which is a form of trim binding corresponding to windlace. This weather hose is fitted so as entirely to surround the edge of the door. It is claimed that this added protection makes the door more weather-tight than is usual. Likewise, it is claimed to prevent the windlace from causing the door trim to mat down as is sometimes the case on bodies that are otherwise very well constructed. Speaking of safety, great stress is being laid on the non-shatterable plateglass that is rapidly becoming universal in the higher grade bodies. This glass is crystal clear, and the windshields are designed to give good ventilation without cutting down the vision. One thing that has been discovered about windshields this year is that there is a certain angle which cuts out the back glare from cars that are following. Only a few cars have adopted armrests for the driver. This is a small detail, but one which many drivers who have worn out coat sleeves by draping the arm over the door will approve.

It is stated that the oldest oil well in Germany, sixty years old, is still productive.

A GRAVE DANGER. THE SLOW DRIVER. When the maximum speed limit ct-mes off. as it is doing in some areas at a significant rate, will the minimum speed limit be established? The number of those who answer this question affirmatively grows rapidly. There are many who think that oven before the maximum speed limit is removed it will be necessary, for the sake of highway safety, to establish a r.poed mark below which

the car becomes a haaard to other road users. For a long time, slow drivers on high speed highways have been recognised iws a har.ard. Just how much of hazard, though, has not been precisely measured. The average driver, travelling at :» speed of 40 or 4"> miles an hour, en countering a vehicle moving at '2O or '25 miles an hour, and not being able to pass with safety, would be inclined to put the slow driver down a« about the greatest of all highway Innards. The impression is inevitable. Such a measurement, however, i«« not precise. It was not arrived at by nnv scientific process. That situation, however, is looked upon by many as destined to pass.

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