MOTORS and MOTORING.

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 193, 10 May 1924, Page 22

MOTORS and MOTORING.

(BY

SPOTLIGHT.”

HIGHWAYS IMPROVEMENT BOARD APPROVES OF SCHEMES At its recent meeting the Highways Board gave provisional approval to a number of highways improvement schemes, and several more have been tentatively discussed with local body representatives. Ihe board has decided that it will only contribute towards tho cost of main roads through boroughs where the bulk of the traffic is to and from points outside the borough. Tallies to settle the nature of such borough traffic are being, or are about to be, taken at Levin, Inglewood, Otahuhu, Avondale, and Sumner.

It may not be generally known that th'e board has power to make the same grants for main road improvements through boroughs as in ihe case of counties, viz., one-third of the maintenance and one-half the cost of new construction. Towards a proclaimed main highway running through a city only contributions towards maintenance are payable.

County road improvement schemes havo been submitted to the board by five counties, and surfacing work over a total length of 25? miles has been either definitely or provisionally approved. Of this mileage, the whole is in Taranaki excent for. 5} miles in Woodville county. The mileage in the various counties is as follows: — Miles. Woodville County (tar and bitumen, fit Inglewood County (bitumen).. 1} Waimate West (tar-sealing).. 8 Egmont County (bitumen) ... 2

Hawera County (re-tarring) ... 9 The Hawera work is maintenance and draws only a subsidy of 83 1-3 per cent., whereas the . surfacing work counting as construction is. eligible fot a fifty per cent, contribution. Other schemes discussed with the board bv the local bodies concerned include one in Horowhenua county for the surfacing of the main "West Coast Road'frotn Wniknnae to Foxton, and from Levin to Palmerston. This is a big project, and has vet to be fully gone into. The work is one which will havo to be tackled, and when done it will mean a vast improvement to travellers to and from Wellington. In the Wairarapa proposals are under consideration for. dealing with the main road, and the idea seems to bo first of all to do the. portion from Mastorton to the Waingawa Bridge. Tiro Fcatherston-Martinborough Road is also projected for improvement. Mortinhoroueh had the first sod of its railway tunnel turned 12 venrs back and if it has never been given a railway it feels it deserves at least an up-to-date road.

Around Auckland there are proposals for dealing with the main North Rond to Henderson, and the main South Ro.nd to Tamaki. In the South Island. Westland county is putting forward nlans for the improvement of tho Hokitika-Ranieri and Hokitika-Arahu-ra roads.

It will he seen that so far it is Taranaki that is making the running with the highways scheme. In many other districts count.v councils are developing a keenness for better, roads, but are doubtful as to their ability to induce the ratepayers to carry loan proposais. Once the good roads

movement gets under way, the financing of the works will have to be put on a better basis. At present each county is raising its own little bit of money independently. This is u costly and wasteful method, ana it would be obviously far better to unite and secure authority to raise sufficient each year to linance all the projects, and parcel the amounts among tno various highways districts and counties. In the meantime it is good to see the scheme gradually’ developing, though Wellington motorists would doubtless be better pleased to find more visible signs of a move at this end of the North Island.

HUTT ROAD LICENSE FEES

AUTOMOBILE UNION’S SOUND MOVE-

The demand of the New Zealand Automobile Union for the wiping out of the Hutt Road motor license fees when ttie Motor Vehicles Bill becomes law is thoroughly sound. The union is the governing body of automobilism lor the North Island, and having reached an understanding with the Government that tho national motor tax is to supersede all losgjl taxes it rightly desires the observance of this sound principle. Tho 'Wellington Automobile Club, as previously noted, has resolved that “if the Hutt Road tax is to stand” it favours the expenditure of the surplus money from the tax on the improvement of other roads in the district. The registration figures show that there will be a large surplus, as up to Monday last no less than £4313 had been collected for less than 2500 registrations. There were 500 old “W”. numbers issued in Wellington and about S5OO “WN” ones, to say nothing of registrations in Lower Hutt and Petono and Hutt and Makara counties. Even a 50 per cent, discount for dead numbers should aponrnntlv leave enough to produce £BOOO or £9OOO a year.

The soundest principle is, undoubtedly. to wipe the Hutt Road tax completely out and bring the road under the national highways scheme. On the other hand, Mr. Strand’s project for continuing the tax and using the money to get right ahead with good roads in tho district is not -without its good points—provided it is put on a more equitable basis. As it stands the scheme is objectionable in that it is simply a scheme for the local bodies to help themselves to the motorists’ special tax to do what Auckland citv and suburbs, for instance, are doing without any such snecial taxation. If the scheme is left on that basis local motorists would be wise to unite to scotch it without delay. On the other hand, if the local bodies agreed, as has been previously suggested in these columns, to obntr'bute pound for pound in works financed out of the tax motorists could look forward to getting real value and the scheme would then have everything to commend it. It does not appear that the committee of tho Wellington Automobile Club has taken any steps to ascertain its members’ views on this matter, although professing to speak for motorists generally. Mr. Strand’s, scheme certainly seems to be of sufficient importance to justify calling a general mooting of motorists te obtain a. more ronrosen 1 stive expression of opinion.

CORRECTING WHEEL WOBBLE CAUSE AND CURE OF A TROUBLESOME DEFECT. Any motorist of experience must have been troubled at some time or other with the irritating defect known as “wheel wobble. For the benefit of those new to. the steering, wheel, it may be mentioned that this term is applied to a phenomenon which usually occurs when proceeding at a moderate speed over a poor road surface abounding in pot-holes. the car pitches this way and that, and then suddenly the front -wheels commence to wobble violently from side to side, causing the steering wheel to ierk rapidly to and fro. . The best expedient for stopping this action is to give tho wheel two rapid twists first in one direction and then in the other This usually has the desired effect’, but is merely a temporary cure, and an endeavour should be made to get at the root of the trouble. Incidentally, it may. be as well to point out that there is another, type of wheel wobble sometimes experienced when travelling at really high speeds. This is usually due to lack of balance in the wheels, which gives rise. to very large centrifugal forces at high rates of rotation. Those forces may cause the wheels to dither to and fro at certain speeds near to the maximum of which the car is capable. It is only the more common kind of wobble described in tho first paragraph which it is proposed to deal with here. There are several contributing factors which make wheel wobble at slow speeds possible. One of tho most important is the presence of wear at the various steering connections, tho steering pivots, steering box, or the wheel hearings themselves. Wear in tho steering gear will, of course, give rise to backlash; in other words, tho steering wheel can be moved for quite a considerable distance before actuating tho front wheels. Conversely, the front wheels will be free to move to and fro for a considerable distance before being pulled up by tho friction in tho steering system, and this will obviously render wheel wobble more liable to occur. Another point which may be mentioned in this connection is the influence of the mechanism used in the steering box:. In most designs this mechanism is to some extent reversible—that is to say, by pulling at the front wheels the steering wheel can be made to turn. Although a reversible gear will enable front-wheel wobble to be transmitted most readily to the steering wheel, it must be understood that it docs not in any way affect the liability of wobble to occur. A somewhat analogous . situation arises with regard to the position of the front wheels and the steering pivots. It is well known that by the adoption of what is known as the “centre-point ’ system the labour of steering is reduced. This is due to the fact that tho wheels can be locked over much more easily when tho centre line of each pivot meets the road at the point of contact of the tire. Conversely, the fact that the wheels can move more easily when the pivots are of the centre-point variety means that the effects of wobble are more easily transmitted to the steering, wheel, and it can, in fact, more readily occur. Centre-point steering can, of course.,

be obtained in three different ways, of which the best consists in dishing the wheel to such an extent that the vertical pivot comes exactly over the centre line of the tire. Alternatively, the wheel or pivot can bo canted, which gives somewhat similar results as tai as the labour of steering is concerned. Sometimes a compromise is effected bv inclining both the wheel and the ' Having dealt with some of the important factors which influence the degree or intensity of wobble, we can now consider the means commonly adopted for preventing this occurrence. This usually consists of giving the front wheels what is known as a castoring action, by inclining the steering pivot as viewed from the side of the car. The principle is simply that which is commonly adopted for motorcycles, and results in the wheel being given a tendency to follow a straight path without deviation. When the pivot is vertical any small obstruction will suffice to throw the wheel to one side or tho other. This fact may be illustrated bv the front wheel of a bath-chair, which is usually mounted on a vertical pivot. By watching one of these vehicles proceeding along a road one can frequently see the wheel wobbling to and fro. In the case of a car the pivots are usually inclined to the vertical bv matVr of 5 degrees or 6 degrees. This provides quite sufficient castqring action, the important point being that the centre line of the pivot must meet the road a short distance in front of tip* point of contact of the tire. The manufacturers’ adjustment may ho altered bv various causes, one of the more common being distortion of the front springs. Any slackness in the clamps used to fasten these springs to the axle will have a similar effect bv permitting the axle to twist round. In some cases the cause of the trouble has been traced to worn shackle pins, permitting undue axle movement. Occasionally, the trouble starts after now front springs have been fitted, and in this case it is simply due to the fact that the new springs do not conform exactly to the shape of the old ones, and the mechanic who fitted them did not remedy matters by making suitable adjustments. The obvious remedy in such cases is to restore the original alignment of the steering pivots, and this can be quite simply effected by fitting a tapered wedge lietween each front spring and tho corresponding pad on the axle. When the clamps are tightened up the presence of these wedges will tilt the axle to the required degree, giving the pivots the inclination which is essential for castoring action. When this factor has been grasped, it is quite clear why wobble is liable to be set up when particularly rough roads are encountered. The springs are deflected unduly, the pivots become vertical, any obstruction throws the wheel off its'course, and, owing to the lack of castoring action, wobble is set up.—“ Tho Motor.”

A local motorist who set his’ throttle to run at 25 miles per hour on the surfaced part of tho Hutt Road, found that when he continued with the same throttle opening on the unsurfaced road, his car would not do more than 22 m.p.h. This shows the saving in benzine consequent on good roads —to say nothing of tho saving in general wear and tear.

KNOW YOUR CAR OR, AT ANY RATE. MAKE YOUR WIFE THINK YOU DO. “I’m a perfect gump around machinery —anything more complicated than a’ screwdriver makes my head swim. So admits Homer Croy, the novelist, in the course of a little skit entitled “My Wife Thinks I’m Wonderful Around Machinery, and Don’t I Treasure the Illusion?” There is information in this confession of a comparatively honest soul which may be of value elsewhere. It appears in “Motor” (New York), and following the opening admission that the writer is “a perfect gump around machinery runs as follows: — . But my wife doesn’t know this. She thinks I am gifted in regard to machinery and I treasure this illusion . . . you know how hard it is in these days to get women to look up to us. It used to be women looked up to us and thought we were perfect. But have you noticed any of that lately? . . . I thought not. The way she came to have such confidence in me is this. We had hardly got back from our honeymoon before the cold-water faucet in our bathroom began to leak. I went down to the basement and came up with some tools. I had seen them down there when we took the house, and wondered what they were for, but now I brought them up with a confident air. With my thumb I worked the slip-thing along the screw-thing and soon got the wrench so that it would fit the faucet, while my wife stood there admiring me. It was wonderful. so her expression said, to have a husband who equid do things around the house. So I took off my coat and rolled up my sleeves. Then I gave tho wrench a yank, but unfortunately it slipped. I blew the nickel ravelings off quickly . . . she had not seen. I gave the wrench another pull and the water spouted. . . then I went down in the basement and turned the water off. While I was gone she wiped up the floor, and when I came back she had picked up on one of tho wrenches and herself was trying to turn the faucet. “You’re turning in the wrong direction,” I said. “To take a nut or anything off you should turn it from right to left—that is, from your little finger toward your thumb.” It made a profound impression on her. Just think—l could look at a faucet and tell which direction it turned I I let it soak in—and never since hare I had the slightest trouble with her about mechanics. I did not toll her that my father had told me this, nor did I add that threads on all nuts, bolts and faucets are alike. I kept that to myself. If all men will keep such things to themselves it will do a great deal to simplify automobile driving. I hare mv method of fostering her belief that I am a. master of machinery. It is a wonderful help in the complicated matter of family driving. When anything goes wrong with the car I leap out, lift the hood and say, “Hmmml Hmmm! Just as I suspected : it’s not hitting right.” When I have a car full of ladies and want to be unusually impressive I say “functioning.” But a follow has to be careful of his audience. If you think they know anything at all. assume a Napoleon attitude. Remain silent, say nothing. Do you remember, in the era when they were naming cats “Dewey,” the imposing and important looking man at the banquet table? Every one wondered who he was —ho was so distinguished looking. People whispered to each other —who could he be? And then do you remember when ho opened his mouth ? “Ain’t them shrimps fine?”

That’s Hie way it is around a car — don’t talk until you have to. Napoleon was a wise man.

“When we left the enrage I thought I noticed a little knock, but I didn’t think it would amount to much—it must a been looser’n I thought,” I say.

Then I look intently at some part of tho car. “It’s one of Hie connecting rod benrines working loose,” I observe thoughtfully. If there’s one thing in a car Hint 1 know less about than another, it’s a connecting rod. Why, I am so ignorant that I don’t know what it connects. And if by some chance I ever found out what it connected. I wouldn’t know why it connected with it instead of some other gadget. But there's the domination of tho female which must be kept up. So I take the largest monkey-wrench, hit three sharp blows on the left side of the engine, two on the right, givu

the spark plug a twist and say: T4ow I guess it’s all right.” Of course the knock’s still there, but usually I manage to get home, and the operation is considered a success. As soon as I get the car back to the garage 1 turn it over to the man, and my wife still has one thing in which she can look up at me. llusbands who blurt out that they don t know a danged thing about what is tho matter with + ho car. and who stand around helplessly, hoping that some kind motorist will stop and tow them in, are making n mistake. Remember this, men—mechanics are our last stand, and we must take advantage of them. But whatever happens don’t let your wife get the idea that she knows more about the car than you do. If you do you are a “goner.” You won’t have anything left but the furnace. Don’t encourage her to leant anything al>out it. If she can drive, and can get the car out of the garage jtnd back again without manslaughter, That is all she needs to know about it. Make a mystery of the car. And don’t ever say, “All machinery looks alike to me.”

If you do, you are courting trouble. You are not only courting.it, but you are practically rushing it into a loveless marriage. Instead, pretend that vou know its every eccentricity. Use lots of technical language, so long as it keeps your wife in darkness. Differential. cam, ratchet, iypotenuse and rhomboid are good words. If she begins to find out what a differential is. begin talking the new-model differentials: about the different kinds —the automatic differential, the singleaction differential and the air-cooled differential.

Don’t-—if you want to have a happy home and a loving wife —squint up an , eye. stand on one leg, and say, “There’s , something the matter with the engine.” Don’t be indefinite. Get out. walk around the car, kick the right hind -wheel and say, “Just as I thought—got a fouled spark plug and she’s missing on Number 2.” Always specify a definite cylinder. ’lt shows a far greater grasp and tho chances are she’ll never know. Then you can limp home and turn it over to the repair man. Slip him a dollar and toll h m not .0 talk He’ll get .you. DRIVING ON RAINY NIGHTS DEVICES TO HELP THE MOTORIST ALONG. A great many motorists are anxiously searching for gadgets which will render ft possible to drive their cars in comfort by night, and especially on those nights when difficulties are accentuated by rain, and the various devices in use in this connection are thus discussed by B. 11. Davies in the “Autocar”:— The ever-present problem of dazzle is bad enough : but when the semiblindness resulting from meeting a stream of dazzling head lamps is intensified by attempts to obtain clear vision through a wet -windscreen, night driving becomes a positive ordeal. Clear vision is, of course, readily obtained by opening up tho windscreen sufficiently to give the driver a satisfactory range of open view; and on some cars tho vital dimensions fit the particular driver concerned so admirably that this can bo done without admitting much cold and wet. Nevertheless, at least half of the motoring public find their cars extremely uncomfortable with, the screen open in such weatlffir; draughts rage round their persons, and the cold air is often heavily laden with moisture. Tlie name of anti-dazzle devices is legion. They include switching off, dimming, dipping, special lamps, glare guards, and the like. Many practical men regard switching off as dangerous. Dimming, especially if progressive, is much safer, and the necessary fittings are not dear; but it is a purely altruistic performance, as tho other fellow frequently neither dims nor switches off, so tho graduated resistance pleases him, but does not help its user. Dipping is efficient, but quite expensive. There are hosts of special non-glnre lamps. Tin’s year tho R.A C. Ims tested a quartette, of which the blinding effect at an eve level of 4.lft. ceased nt distances of 157, 150, 104 and 75ft. respectively. This information is fairly useless, for “eve level” va r es by as much ns 4ft. if we include the eye levcTc of all traffic; low-hung sidecars and cycle cars, pedestrians, sports cars, high-built taxis, motor lorries, and coaches, etc. If anybody can devise, a lamp which does not blind eyes 150 ft. distant at any levels between Bft. and Bft. above tho ground, that lamp will be good

enough. But it still will not effect an immediate solution, lor nil’St cars uro sold with plain lamps, and lew owners will scrap existing lamps and spend up to £2O on a special set. Some Palliatives. For the present distress I employ a progressive dimming switch to prevent my car being a nuisance to others; and for self-protection I use either “glare guard” or “glare glasses.” Both consist of tiny iiamols ■ —fixed to the windscreen, and incorporated in goggles respectively—composed of opaque dark green or blue glass, througu which any necessary side gaze can bo directed when encountering dazzling lamps. Turning no A’ to the allied nuisance of a wet screen, we are offered an equal variety of gadgets, tew of which are more thaai palliatives. They range from dopes through hand-operated squeoges to mechanical wet cleavers and special windscreens. ft is obvious that do ix.\s are the cheapest and simplest remedy. They require no mechanical fitting. They can be applied in a very few seconds. They would permit, the car to remain completely closed, supposing they reached tho desired standard of efficiency. A few shillings or coppers will piovide enough dope to last a winter. As they are very sparingly used, we may judge that the motoring community is dissatisfied with them. I have tried them all, from the. homely slice of potato or apple to tins of secret composition and cloths impregnated with chemicals. All of them possess a certain efficacy. As a rule, they break up tho large natural blots, of rain in innumerable tinv globules, i.e., thov substitute small distorting lenses for large distorting lenses, but the distortion is still there, even if reduced. Many of them impart a mild opacity to tho glass, tho full effect of which is hardly realised till next morning, when broad daylight betrays tho film of dirt which the dope has left behind it. Ido not know a' dope which will not provoke the laziqst ownor-driver to rub his screen down path a wet cloth next morning. Squeegcs. Tho hand squeegee clears the glass more efficiently than any dope, but its effect) is ephemeral. In really thick weather the toilsome action of operating the squeegee must be repeated ad nauseam —perhaps as often as every twenty yards if tho driving conditions arc tricky and the driver is not blest with tho eyes of a hawk. For short runs the hand squeegee is probably the best solution for an impecunious owner, but it develops into a tiresome obsession on a long drive. The mechanical squeegee came to .1 from America, and may cost quite a lot of money. It can be put out of action altogether, set to operate slowly, or set to operate fast. For the man who is willing to spend a few guineas on protecting his screen, they are probably as good ns anything which can bo had. Much experiment is going on behind the scenes, and in the course of time we may look for a comparatively. inexnensivo solution, which will give a Mrgc area of perfcct/Jy transparent vision from tho inside of a fully closed car. Vizors and Peepholes. Other solutions 1 include such special devices as the fitting of a vizor screen, of patent leather or glass, at an angle outside the main screen, and the cutting of peepholes in the driver’s panel of the main screen. The former is not efficient in a cross-wind; the laiter is quite good, but the hole is too narrow for adequate side vision, and also lets in a certain amount, of wind and wet. A commoner solution relies on the central horizontal gap between the two panels of Hie windscreen. This is seen nt its best .when the upper panel is vertically divided amidships; the driver can then open both halves and enjoy a slit running the fn’J width of the car, or. if the conditions are easy and his passenger ihjects to tho near half being opened, the driver can manage quite well with a "ap half tine width of the car. To open a gap, however small, in a windscreen on a cold, wot night is obviously a counsel of despair. But where the alternatives are mostly unsatisfactory this mar be the best wav of enttin" Hie Gordian knot; many drivers think so. T once drove », car equipped with a fixed and non-ndiustable front screen of the vertical type. Opposite the driver’s eyes was b rectangular peephole, some 3in. x T.2in.. with rounded earners, with a Sill. glass vizor cemented along its unver edge. TtjulmiUcd no rain find very little wind, whilst it furnished quite decent vision on a wet night.

Tlie Rangiriri Hill deviation on the main Auckland-Waikato road, will be opened for traffic in September. The I’ublio Works Department has now three miles of line laid for railing in tho metal, and this work can now proceed without interruption.