USE OF NEW METALS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3462, 24 March 1930, Page 2

USE OF NEW METALS.

CHANGES IN DESIGN

Many of the materials that go into motor cars to-day are different from tnose of even -so short a time ago as January of last year, when the 1929 models were introduced.; With the appearance of 1930 models, there will be still other changes in, construction. Many of the changes are just begin ning to be recognised by the car buyer. An illustration of this is 111 brightly plated exterior parts. The motorist’s" first thought is chromium pitting. He is right in most instances, but breaks in the line here and there find car makers using stainless steel ioi parts previously treated with chromium. The manufacturer of two popular sixes, for example, is using a' hood hinge of stainless .steel in spite of the tact that chromium plating was largely developed by the corporation of which this company is a unit. In the products of other car manufacturers, stainless steel is being used to an even larger extent lor exterior parts likely to feel the effects of weather. Despite the fact that this type of s teel is four times as expensive as ordinary grades, the maker of on© fine car is using it for virtually all bright exterior parts. Others are considering it for various units. Another member of the same family that is coming into wider use is rustless iron. Its first application to a motor car was m the form of running board mouldings. I fie first user was the manufacturer of a hue of sixes and eights. Others are now looking into it . In three of the largest motor car laboratories, experiments aio being conducted with an entirely new type of steel for use in crankshafts. While details of the new metal are not yet available, it is known that it eliminates the process of heat treatment. The recent introduction of a senes of new models by the maker of one of the most expensive cars marked the first use in the United States of nitrided steel in motor car fabrication. This metal has been much exploited in Europe and its progress is being watched with special attention by American engineers and metallurgists. A great deal of case-hardened steel, of course, is employed in motor-cars and many feel that something still harder, less corrosive, less easily distorted and capable of withstanding heavier impact is to he desired. It is this fact that has focussed so much atention on nitrided steel, which is claimed to possess these desirable virtues. The nitriding process was developed at the Krupp works in Germany. It was introduced in America by Adolphe Aubert, a, French steel maker, who rights to the process outside Germany. Whilst it has failed so far to find an application in America outside of the steering gear of the car referred to above, it has caught on more strongly in Europe, where it has been longer known. One of the most expensive European cars uses nitrided steel for cylinder walls, crankshafts, timing gears, camshaft gears, clutch disc, valve tappets, water pump, and other engine parts. Still other European cars are using it to a lesser degree. Proponents of this new steel foresee its early and general use in America despite ‘•some of the present disposition to wait. Cost and possible brittleness are two of the considerations in the minds of American engineers. A new ingredient that has recently gone into the making of automobiles is asphaltum. A coating of this substance is being applied to the inner side of the steel body panel to remove its tendency to rumble. Several of the more expensive cars ar e using it. Rubber having displaced metal in 00 many parts of the average automobile, it is worthy of note that one instance has recently developed in which metal has displaced rubber. This is in the clutch. When the 1929 cars were introduced, rubber inserts were to be found in virtually all clutches. Their purpose was to prevent the matching of engine and drive mechanism vibrations. Recently, after months of experiment, the maker of one of the most popular sixes decided the same end could be better achieved by using a small coiled spring insead of the rubber insert. Others may follow this example soon, according to present indications.

One continuing discussion with regard to the metals used in car making is that relating to the springs. Virtually all laboratories have considered, and continue to consider, the relative superiority of a carbon or alloy steel for spring material. The final word on the subject has not been spoken. Some have chosen a carbon steel, others an alloy. Carbon steels are less expensive but more material is necessary, which makes them as costly in the final analysis as one of the alloys, some declare.

In such ways a.s these are the ingredients of automobiles undergoing changes. The trend is one for which most observer# can see no end, for, as one of the greatest engineers declares : “We are just beginning to learn how to use metals.”