MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 58, 1 December 1933, Page 19

MOTORS & MOTORING

(By

THE 1934 MODEL CARS

Outstanding Features

“The tendency to produce cars which each year seem to go one better than models of the previous year in the matter of speeds seems to have been checked,” states an editorial in lue Motor.” "Instead, outstanding features of the 1934 models are easier handling and better control. More simple gear changing definitely makes for better driving, and that, of course, is very prominent in the new cars, but there are other features which also increase the factor of safety. "Ono of the most important is a general improvement in brake design. The desirable attribute of progressive action, without violently lockiug the wheels or providing an inadequate retarding effect, is conspicuous in modern brake layouts. "The use of safety glass is extending until it is becoming rare to find a new car without all the glass being of the unsplinterable kind. As old cars with glass of the easily shatterable type aie displaced by new ones there should be a diminution of injuries due to broken glass in the accident returns. "The battery master switch is now being taken up. Many car fires could have been prevented if it had been possible for the driver to cut off the battery current at its source. Another innovation which will also have some effect in reducing the risk of fire is the use of flexble petrol connections, which should be unbreakable. These are the sort of things which definitely make for safer motoring. “Increased visibility is also noticeable in the latest bodywork. Screen pillars’of narrower section are reducing blind spots, while the craze for a high waistline and inadequate windows is giving way to dropped window frames and higher roof lines. “It will be seen, as new car programmes are published, that manufacturers are giving serious thought to the possibility of reducing the number of accidents by increasing the drivers mastery of the vehicle.”

PUNCTURES SEALED

Remarkable Preparation

A preparation that should prove a boon to motorists was demonstrated to a gr/up of interested spectators, yesterday. This preparation, which is injected into the interior of an inner tube, automatically seals a puncture almost immediately after the tube has been pierced. At yesterday’s demonstration several holes wore pierced through the tire of a heavy car and, to the amazement of all the spectators, the tire did not go flat. Closer inspection showed that the outer cover was riddled with nails, some of them being four inches in length. The tire was later removed, and about ninety automatically sealed punctures could be distinguished. A glance at the inside of the outer cover disclosed numerous spikes which had pierced the inner tube. This preparation (a Nek Zealand product) is guaranteed by the makers not to injure the rubber in the tube. If ■anything it is claimed that it tends to prolong its life. Once injected into the tube, the preparation is expected to last its lifetime. It spreads evenly around the inside of the tube, making a perfect seal immediately it comes into contact with air, the result being that whenever the tube is punctured, the hole is immediately closed. The additional weight in the tube does not cause any wheel wobble, nor does it in any way affect the steering. The makers do not claim that the preparation will seal a blowout or a long rip in a tube, but they do claim that it will eliminate fully 80 per cent, of tire and tube trouble; also that when the preparation has been inserted it is not found necessary to blow up the tiros so frequently.

Exhaust-operated horns are becoming increasingly popular in England, and a new type makes a particularly pleasing note, resembling that of a ship’s siren. It is not difficult to fit: a section of the exhaust pipe has to be cut out, and two unions are inserted, the unions (being coned inside so as to make a good joint. The siren can be fitted to any make of car.

SPARE WHEEL.)

DANGEROUS PRACTICE

The Wellington Automobile Club reports that there is an increasing tendency on the part of car drivers to overtake on the Hutt Road on the left-hand side of tlie road.

The practice, which is a breach of the regulations, is an exceedingly dangerous one, and last week was file direct cause of an accident, when an overtaking vehicle threw out a stone which caused the breaking of the windscreen of another car.

MOTOR ENGINEERING

Value of Research Work

Car manufacturers throughout the world carry out persistent research in connection with an almost infinite number of problems connected with engineering practice. There are, too, many national and university institutions which devote much of their time to investigating the problems of construction associated with the building of cars, and amongst such bodies the National Physical Laboratory of Great Britain holds an eminent place. Amongst its recent investigations the 1 question of lubrication has received close attention and it is now reported, states a motoring journal, that the experiments performed tend to show that it should be possible to make use of much lighter lubricants in car engines aud transmissions than those now commonly used. Progress in that direction may eventually prove of real help to the motorist in that the difficulties of starting the engine in cold weather may be lessened by the substitution of lighter lubricants, which also tend to make for greater power efficiency. Amongst other branches of experiment in which the laboratory is constantly engaged is the testing of various metals to determine how well they ■xuj, puuq 'uuaav ‘Bjvqvjvduu ’juods J !S

resist vibration and constant twisting strains, and the facts ascertained in such tests are, of course, of considerable value to builders of all types of machinery. An ingenious device is in use for testing the hardness of fine metal plating, such as chromium, and despite the excessive thinness of such coatings as usually applied protectively to other metals it. has been found possible to make accurate comparisons. A small diamond point is applied to the surface to be tested and the impression left by it is then measured under a powerful microscope.

Ventilation of closed motor vehicles is also receiving close study, and special attention has been given to the problem of obtaining thoroughly effective ventilation in long-distance motor coaches.

In the department of aerodynamics, models of cars designed for recordbreaking work are submitted to windtunnel tests and the information thus obtained has proved to be of great help to the builders of such speed machines, while, of course, there is even more research of this nature in connection with aeroplane design. 'These arc but a few of th'e ways in which the National Physical Laboratory is helping the progress of car manufacturing, anti form but a small part of the most helpful work which that institution performs. WIRELESS IN CARS The British Ministry of Transport has been carrying out secret tests witli radio sets fitted to cars with a view to finding out if car radio is likely to distract the attention of the average motorist from his driving. According to an English writer the officials are convinced that wireless in the car is not dangerous, and it is highly improbable that, the Minister of Transport will find it necessary to deal with the matter by regulation. 'This disposes of a report that the Minister of Transport is likely to ban wireless in the car. In America some 400,000 ears are fitted witli radio and there has been no complaint that this has led to accidents.