MOTORING

Evening Star, Issue 15909, 15 September 1915, Page 10

MOTORING

-/," [By Cah.b'urettob.] > Otago Motor Club meet the first Tues- ,•" day in the month. Secretary, Mr F. W. - Oakdem Arrangements-are well in hand for the annual meeting of the club, to be held next Saturday evening. A good programme is being prepared,, and every- ■ thing points to a successful meeting. Mr Haggitt is to be congratulated on his "purchase of a three-speed countershaft Hover.' The local agents are not very hopeful of receiving any mqre similar machines while the Rover people are fulfilling so many orders for the War Office. The machine embodies the usual Hover features, the chief improvement being the countershaft three-speed. I have already heard several people | speak appreciatively of the action of the j O.XLC. members who spent their half- > holiday in endeavoring to make the Main | South road through Green Island fit for motor traffic. '■ Unquestionably the road j was in a bad state, and the blinding of j the road will prove a great boon to ! 'motorists and to drivers of horses as well. ! But I would like to know why such a move is necessary.' Surely a first duty of loqal bodies should be to render, their portions of the arterial roads fit for traffic;of' all kinds. More than one local body appeals to the Motor Club for help in maintaining roads "with which the coun- , cil are entrusted, and which they are expected to maintain in a condition suitable for wheeled traffic. How long will it be before the Government take over the control of the main roads? There are still a number of motorists who never take out the plungers of their' pumps and. give them a little vaseline. The improvement in the efficiency of the pump may surprise you. ' World's Work' shows an interesting ! photograph of the largest-geared locomotive in the world. It is used in connection with the Kansas City railroad. The terminal tracks extend up a street which has a grade so excessive that the ordinary type of locomotive, which can surmount a 4 per cent.. grade at the very most, could not be used. The geared locomotive will pull 200 tons up a 7 per cent, grade and go around 60deg uncompensated curves (i.e., curves in which there is no pitch to offset the centrifugal force), which are in this case necessary to get into the various warehouses. One of the great advantages of the geared locomotive is that it is under absolute control,'either in ascending or descending the steep grades. The engine weighs 160 tons, and, the' ordinary type of locomotive, all this weight is on the drive wheels. Even the wheels of the tender are drive wheels. Oil is used for fuel, thereby! eliminating smoke, cinders, and sparks, j Mr T. Chapman, of Mount Palm, Rotherham, recently presented a motor car -to' the officer commanding the Canterbury military district for the use of himself and his staff.—'Press.' There is a new motor law in the Transs vaal, and some of its provisions' might be copied in New Zealand. For instance, no local body has power to restrict motor traffic to less than, 20 miles per hour, although warning to take a lower speed might be erected in dangerous places. Motor cycles are taxed at 10s when solo, with an additional 5s for a side-car.— 'Wheeling.' Mr Aubrey Paterson is riding a new T.T. Rover. This machine is fitted with oyor-size tyres, on specially constructed rims of exceptional strength. The carburettor, a B. and 8., is different to last year's pattern. The petrol flows in at the top of the float chamber, while a fine wire gauze is fitted over the air intake. The machine is well finished, powerful, and quiet.; Motor cyclists are sometimes apt to forget to oil the bicycle parts ,of their machines. I was stuck up recently by'magneto trouble. The fibre bush on the "make and break" had swollen slightly, and the *' mag." would not break. To cure this take off the mechanism containing the bush and enlarge the hole slightly by means of a round file. Sometimes a temporary "repair" may be effected by injecting a few drops of * petrol on to the tiny axle. When the war broke out nearly all the magnetos used in England and 'fitted to most English machines . came from Germany. The well-known " Bosch " must have been imported by the million. But slowly the English firms took up the manufacture of magnetos, America also came to the rescue, and the great shortage was overcome. The following is a list of British firms who are either producing or preparing to produce magnetos :—The British L. M. Ericsson Manufacturing Company,' Ltd., the British Thomson-Houston Company, Ltd., Electric Ignition Company (1913), Ltd., Fellows and Co., the High Tension Company, Morris and Lister, Ltd., Nicole, Nielsen, and Co., Ltd., J. H. Runbaken, the Stehtophone Magneto Works, Ltd., Thomson-Bennett Magnetos, Ltd., C. A.Vandervill and Co. "In about von year," said a German tyre director to an Australian manufacturer in the early part of. 1914, "ve vill 'ave viped you out." Fifteen months later he himself and his precious firm is "viped out," and the German fallacy of counting his chickens before they are hatched is again proved.—' The Australian Motorist.' While a number of motor car manufacturers are fitting shock-absorbers as standard on their cars, a large number do not. These attachments are said to increase the life of ears and tyres out of all proportion to their cost, to say nothing of the added comfort of the car. _ According to a northern paper, the subject of New Zealand roads brought forth very -uncomplimentary statements at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Automobile Union. It was announced that small county councils wasted a great deal .of money in the way they carried out repairs and constructions, and there was urgent need for expert advice. It was suggested by the Otago Motor Club that the Government should be approached'with a view to establishing .a public roads office, to be in- charge of an engineer who was a roads specialist, and able to give advice to local bodies free of charge. Motor-cycle engines are put to strange uses. A recent Home paper contained a photograph of a Douglas engine used as the power for a travelling wireless " somewhere in France." ■Dr Linden has purchased the "Baby Bayard," which differs from his first light qar in being a 4-cylinder car. The "Baby" is really a miniature of the well-known French firm's Bayard car. There are still a number of'local motorists who forget to close their cut-outs when riding about town, while one or two seem anxious to annihilate distance and everything else that is in their way. One of these road hogs seems to know that Cargill road is a mile long; I would hko to get his time for the distance last Saturday, also his number. Carrier _ riding was responsi ble for an- , other accident on Sunday, when a wellknown business man and his wife came to grief on the Brighton-Kuri Bush road. The practice is strongly condemned at Home on account of the danger arising from the great strain imposed upon the machines. _ Some evidence of the increasing efficiency of the motor-car engine can be gathered from the times of the winners of the great Indianapolis " 500" (says the 'Bulletin'). When Harroun won 'in 1911 he' averaged 74.8 miles per hour. In 1912 Dawson registered 78.7 miles per hour.- Goux had an easy win in 1913, his figure being 75.93 miles per hour, but he could easily have done better if .pushed. . In 1914 • Thomas jumped to f2.47, while this year Ralph" de Palma roke all existing American records by covering the 500 miles at a speed of 89.84 miles per hour. ■,