GENERAL NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 146, 18 December 1919, Page 15

GENERAL NOTES.

It is surprising how much dirt will collect in the.bottom of a petrol tank, even when the fuel is habitually passed through a gauze strainer. /It 'is equally surprising how few owner-drivers' ever drain ami clean out their tanks. An occasional thorough cleaning out of the petrol tank will obviate many annoying roadside delays, and at the same time en.sure more even supply of petrol to the carburetter, and consequently an even running of engine. An American inventor .has patented an instrument to be installed in a motor vehicle that provides a continuous record of every period-of use of a car In brief, it consists of a strip of ruled record paper moved by clockwork. A suitable marking device is attached to the speedometer of the combination. The mark left on the record sheet shows the speed at which the car was travelling iit aiiy indicated time, as the paper strip is divided into days, hours, and minutes. This deviceis believed to be of value to operators of taxi-cabs and also to owners of automobiles driven by chauffeurs, not to mention its possibilities for commercial motor vehicles.

A difficult problem has been that of controlling the oil supply in an automobile motor in order to have sufficient oil under the worst or most severe conditions, and still. not too much oil when using but little power, or that- which would be needed under average running conditions of a car on good roads and with a light load Continual study has enabled the , engineers of a prominent motor-car maker to perfect a new automatic oil control, on which they have applied for patents, and which is saia to accomplish the following results : —When tho motor is pulling its maximum load, or using its full horse-power, with the throttle wide open, the automatic oil control provides the maximum oil pressure needed, as well as the necessary oil supply to. maintain the proper oil film under this full load condition. When the motov load is reduced and the throttle closed, the control automatically reduces the oil pressure as well as, the oil supply. It prevents' the piling.up of oil at either end of the.oil basin, i.e., when goin" up a grade or when going down a grade" It distributes the. correct amount of oil in the oil pockets for each cylinder, regardless of the grade, load condition, or speed. It is said, no cylinder is ever starved of oil or gets too much.