TELL-TALE MACHINE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 130, 26 February 1937, Page 10

TELL-TALE MACHINE

Testing Efficiency of

Motor-cars

DEVICES THAT CANNOT LIE

Although it has been reported that some grade A garages have been licensed and have commenced the work of testing cars for roadworthiness, the traffic department of the Wellington City Corporation has uot advanced that far. So far their testing work has been restricted to the examination and testing of commercial vehicles, which is being carried out at the corporatiou yards at Clyde Quay. When an inquiry was made as to the position yesterday, it was stated that the department was not yet ready to commence the new work of testing cars, work that required some organisation before it was actually put in hand. Coming to their aid were several highly sensitive modern machines which would perform the testing job much more swiftly and more efficiently than an experienced mechanic. If it were loft to the mechanic to run round with the car, “listen in,” and test all the parts by the “feel” of the car, and the way it answered to its controls, the job would be a fairly long one.

There are in existence certain machines, both of English and American manufacture, which do the work scientifically, and without the chance of a mistake. There is one extremely delicate machine which, when fitted to an engine in operation, reports exactly on the state of valves and the big end, and the general efficiency of the engine. It could not lie. On a recent occasion an owner put his car under one of these machines. It told the expert who controlled it that the valves wanted grinding, as there was too much escape. “Ha! That’s where I’ve got you; those valves were ground only last week!” said the owner.

“I cannot help that,” said the expert. “The machine cannot lie. Your valves want attention.” As the result of this encounter the car-owner allowed the mechanic to take the engine to pieces on the bench, and sure enough he proved, without any difficulty, that the valves had been so badly ground that they were still leaking pretty freely. The owner was convinced, and, metaphorically, took hig hat oft to the mechanical device which had discovered the poor workmanship. Another machine, attached to the exhaust by a long rubber tube, tells with the greatest nicety whether the car tested is receiving the right mixture (air and petrol) calculated to give the highest efficiency. Still another device, which can be placed on the running board, tells with uncanny accuracy the efficiency or otherwise of the brakes. With a set of these Instruments car-testing becomes a much more speedy and accurate diagnosis than the report of any mechanic. No doubt such machines will come Into general use under the new law, which compels an owner to have his car tested regularly every six months. Most of the A grade garages have been given their warrants for the examination of cars, and it is now the duty of car owners to take their cars in for examination as soon as they can arrange with the garage proprietor they select for the work. Some of these garages have one or other of the new machines'mentioned. Most of them, it is understood, have the brake-testing device.