MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 87, 6 January 1933, Page 6

MOTORS & MOTORING

(By

SPARE WHEEL.)

-ziiuiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiuiitiiiiuiiiiiuiiiiiciuiimuiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiciiiiiiiiiuiic “TWO-SPEED” ROAD English Experiment As a traffic experiment a straight road at Castelnau, Barnes, S.W., is ; being divided into three carriage ways by white lines. Slow vehicles will be driven along the ways the nearest the kerbs, and the middle way will be for fast traffic. The lines are being painted in dots, and if they give traffic greater speed and safety they will be laid permanently in white road-surface blocks. ■ Three-quarters of a mile of road is being treated in this way by the local authority at the request of the Ministry’of Transport. Several services of omnibuses and motor-coaches use the road. At intervals the new white, lines are broken by pedestrian islands. : . Notices requesting slow traffic to re.main on the extreme left-hand side of the road have been posted in various thoroughfares in London for some time, but the constant necessity for slow-moving traffic to move into the middle of the highway has in most cases rendered the scheme request of no effect. The trial is being made in Castlenau owing to the fact that the road concerned is one of the heaviest traffic routes in the county. “As far as we know this is the first place in the country where the idea has been tried,” Mr. M. Williams, Assistant Surveyor of Barnes, stated. "The information gained may be a great help to traffic everywhere.” SPACE FOR CUPBOARD Below the Valances On many ears there is available quite a considerable space in the curve formed below the valances along the running-boards. If this space be made into a cupboard by the fitting of a side and a bottom member, of wood or light sheet steel an admirable container: for. long articles, such as golf sticks, fishing, tackle, or guns, is provided. Such articles are often among the most difficult; to carry in the car without inconvenience to passengers. A. cupboard may be fitted under each valance. Ony may be made airtight and dustproof id ac/ commodate sports equipment. If the other be‘fitted with wire doors, which will retain the edntents without ■ excluding the air, it can be used to carry game with far less danger of loss than if the game be hund from the spare wheel or some other: place on> the rear or at the side of the car. SIMPLE TROUBLE LIGHT If one does not chrry an adjustable trouble light, night repairs often present great difficulties if the parts concerned cannot be detached and carried into the beam of the headlights. Much of this trouble can often be eliminated by holding a mirror, such as a woman’s handbag mirror, in front of a headlamp or parking lamp, and directing the beam reflected from this mirror on to the part concerned. A fair-sized mirror wiU also facilitate work in the garage, as it can often, be used to reflect the from a powerful electric lamp or from the sun, underneath the chassis, and into other places upon which light does not fall directly, and where the presence of petrol fumes precludes the use of naked lights. INDEPENDENT SPRINGING The independent springing of the front wheels of cars is being increasingly adopted by European manufacturers as a means of contributing, to riding comfort. Independent springing essentially involves the abolition of a rigid axle connecting each .pair of wheels. Each wheel Is mounted on a stub axle anchored on the springs of the corner of the chassis to which it is fitted, and it is free to respond to bumps on the road without the necessity for its conveying any of the motion it receives to the opposite wheel. When the wheels are rigidly connected by an axle, a bump which causes one wheel of a’pair to rise is transmitted through the axle, and it tends to press the other wheel on to the ground with more than average force. The employment of independent springing, it is claimed, adds greatly to stability and facilitates smooth running over rough roads. AVOID RUST IN RIMS Much time is lost unnecessarily at tho roadside through failure to keep the interior of the rims of the road wheels clean. Rust, scale, grit, or other foreign substances which form, or which are allowed to collect, inside the rims exercise an abrasive action on the inner tube, and ultimately puncture it. Whenever a tire is removed the interior of the rim should be carefully examined. Any rust spots or weaknesses in the enamel which are found should be carefully burnished with fine emerynaner'and immediately repainted. Before replacing the cover carefully remove any scale or dust which may be collected in it. DETECTING DEFECTS The components in a car engine often behave markedly differently when the engine is running at high speed than they do when it is merely idling, lor instance, if valve springs are weak, the valve stems, while closely following the tappets at low engine speeds, may lag far behind them when the engine is speeded up. This means that the valve does not close properly, and, in consequence, there is a loss of power assoc.ated with the danger of burning out the valve head. As the motion of engine parts cannot be followed by the eye at high speeds, the detection of such defects has hitherto presented difficulties. By the ingenious application of a wellknown optical Illusion it is now possible to see the action of parts n a fast-runing engine iu "slow motion. The engine is placed in a darkened room, and while it is running.it is exposed to a rapidly flickering electric light. The eye does not notice the nickering of the light, but if the frequency of the flickering be suitably adjusted to the engine speed, the illusion is produced of an engine which may actually be running at 3000 revolutions a minute, turning over at only one revolution a second. The precise movement of every part may then be followed, and irregularities noticed. The illusion produced Is so marked that an early demonstration of the machine was aecompanied by a serious accident, a mechanic allowing his hand to be caught in the fast-running fan, because be thought be could see the blades turning idly round.

iniiiiiiiiuiiuiuiiiiuuiaiiiiiiuiiiiuitiiMiiuiißiuimmiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiJ ' ELECTRIC TROLLY-BUS Among the many substitutes of the I electric rail-tram which have been introduced successfully, the electric trolley-bus ranks high. It is claimed that on economic grounds it has high merit, as the initial cost of such vehicles is considerably less than that of ; traincar units, and existing systems might be modified cheaply to permit trolley-buses to replace ordinary trams. .

The British Electric Development Association reports that almost 500 such vehicles are now in service in the United Kingdom, in 22 towns, and that during last year more than 127,000,000 passengers were transported in them. The merits of . the trolley-bus are of peculiar interest to Australia, as the authorities ’in every State of the Commonwealth are perplexed by the problem of the economic co-ordination of transport. . , It is claimed that the trolley-bus in | congested areas can be run more profitably than petrol or Diesel-engined transport, and that its introduction by tramway authorities would enable present services to be maintained with -less overhead cost. It is also said that if the electric trams are scrapped gradually, and trolley-buses substituted, the introduction of the latter should cost no more than the replacement of existing rolling stock. It is realised that the question has many financial and political complications, and that in New South Wales it is proposed to build a fleet of new tramcars. Congested cities like Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Derby have found that it pays to supplement ordinary electric trams with trolley-buses, and there should be a favourable field for them in Sydney. Instead of the considerable noise and uncomfortable travel associated with electric tramcars, trolley-buses would be quiet-running, and would take up and set down passengers at the kerb. One of the great local traffic problems is the confusion and slowing-down of traffic because trams monopolise the centre of the roadway, and can,only follow a pre-determined course. Trolleybuses are flexible, and can swing to one side and leave a . clear way to fa ster traffic. They cause no m ore congestion than a. parked motor truck when it pulls into the kerb at a stopping-place. ' . Their nse would not imply the total scrapping of electric-car system. The same source of power is employed, and the only major addition necessary would be a duplicate overhead wire, for the trolley-bus has two overhead contact arms. It has been found that the structural strength of the standards supporting the overhead gear is often great enough to hear the extra weight of a second wire, and in other cases the necessary modifications could be carried out cheaply. CUTS IN TIRE TREADS Should a tire receive a cut which penetrates the tread rubber, and exposes the carcase, this cut or hole forms a passage for all foreign matter, including water, Into the carcase. The ; greatest tire enemy of all is water. In running on wet roads the cut becomes filled with water, and the cotton in the carcase soaks up some of it This eventually causes the wet cotton to separate from the rubber and soon a section of the tire has no resistance to the internal air pressure, beyond the rubber forming the tread or sidewall. This often results in a blister, and eventually causes a burst, which rains both tire and tube.