MOTORDOM

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1928, Page 8

MOTORDOM

NEWS OF THE ROAD

(By

“Gearbox”)

ANTI-GLARE.

INGENIOUS DEVICE

For years the problem of how to eliminate the dazzling effect of an approaching car’s headlights has worried motor experts and traffic authouties. Multifarious suggestions and devices, concerning colour schemes, shades and electrically-operated sliding lamps, have proved futile, and motorists perforce have reconciled themselves to the customary precaution of “dimming.” For the past ten years, Mr J. E. Robertson, of Dunedin, has been interesting himself in head-light glare. Unlike the majority of anti-dazzle devotees, Robertson disregarded" tho actual lamp lightings, and centred his attention upon a new design for the lamp shell. The result is ati ingeniously designed set of headlights offering a very practicable .solution of the dazzle danger, and which may yet revolutionise the manufacture of car lamps. The lamps are situated in the usual position of headlights, the back portion of the lamp shell, wherein is located.the light bull), being identical 'with the ordinary pattern q£ head-lamp. Projecting forward from the back part of the lamp is a cylindershaped shell elongated on the outside. The face of the new lamp takes the form of an oval lying horizontally and facing inwards. The whole of the interior of the lamp is lined with a Reflector. By means of simple attachments both lamps may be variably adjusted upward, downward or across. The primary object of the lamps is to obviate the dangerous necessity of having to dim lights for approaching vehicles. For this purpose the “pass■ng” light, or driver’s side lamp, is set slightly downward, the side reflector casting a full-power glare on to the left side of the road. The full service of the same lamp for straight-ahead lighting is maintained by the back reflector, but protection is given to the approaching driver by tlje shadow cast by the elongated side of the lamp shell. In traffic the left-hand lamp is kept dimmed, but is brought into valuable commission on the open road by doubling the forward glare, and throwing another ray anglewise which shows up the whole of the road. The advantages of the Robertson lamps are obvious. It is not necessary to dim the right-hand lamp when passing vehicles, while the driver, in addition to retaining his forward glare, is given a protecting light, to the left, side of the road. With both lights fully on the danger of corners is reduced to a minimum by the fact that the glare of one or other of tho lights rests round the bend before the car actually takes the turn. During a demonstration the lights were operated on a dark road, with passing traffic. With the offside, or left lamp dimmed, the functions of the other, or “passing” lamp, were conclusively established. The elongated side of the lamp was throwing a well-defined shadow which literally “halved” the roadway, no reflector glare of any description being visible to impede the approaching driver within several car-lengths of the other vehicle. Motor experts who have been favored with a demonstration speak very favorably of the service ability of th*e invention, which Robertson has already patented in four countries.

TRAFFIC SIGNAL.

DUNEDIN MAN’S DEVICE. It is interesting to read that Mr H. Harker, of Dunedin, a brother of Mr G. R. Harker, Greymouth, has patented a safety traffic signal, the object of which is to give a clear and decided indication of directions, or change of direction, of motor vehicles, to pedestrians, drivers of other motors, or any other traffic on the road. The method of accomplishing this is by the use of indication lights which are under the control of the driver, and which will show the intended course of the motor vehicle. These lights can be set at any’ distance before making change of direction, which will leaves driver’s two hands free for any emergency. The lights can be a colour distinctive and different from any other light used on car (possibly green), and large enough and strongenough to be seen either in daylight or darkness. The light is easily operated by driver using only one switch, which avoids any chance of operating the wrong switch. A light shows near the switch directly in front of the driver, telling him just what his indication lights are telling everybody else.

RUSTY WATER JACKETS. Careful attention to the water cooling' system of a motor-car will often give surprising results from the point of view of engine efficiency and increased mileage. Most popular makes of small cars are cooled on the hit-and-miss principle, which, while satisfactory, does not give the high efficiency of a scientifically designed automatic thermostat which maintains the cooling water at a. correct temperature for highest results. The trouble with nonautoinatically controlled cooling systems is that while they are designed to keep the water at a correct temperature when the car is new their cooling properties decrease with use. Rusting of the water jacket lining; and the consequent formation of a. coating of hard scale of poor conducting properties, prevents the cooling water from carrying away the heat from the scorching cylinder walls. In hot weather the trouble becomes aggravated, and leads to a host of trouble such as loss of compression, decomposition of the oil through excessive heat, greater wear on pistons and cylinder walls and waste! of petrol. Carbon deposits naturally follow with a still further decrease in miles per gallon. If.the rust flakes off and clogs some of the small water pas-1 sages round the cylinders more serious trouble may follow from distorted cylinders. There are several preparations for curing that trouble in a. ear. A little Red Diamond liquid solver poured into the radiator and left for two days will loosen an amazing quantity of rust which will drain out in suspension in the cooling water. A cleaning every three months will amply repay every motorist for the very small trouble involved.

MOTORISTS’ SUPERSTITIONS.

WORLD HAS QUAINT ONES.

Probably, every motorlLt knows some other motorist with a peculiar fad when he is on the road.

There are some who consider it bad luck to pass a funeral.

Quite a few persons will drive miles around the country in order to avoid passing a black cat. You probably laugh at a man who has the “Can’t-pass-a-black-.cat” complex. But isn’t it true that you won’t park your car outside any building which is numbered 13? .

Actually, we all have some fad or other in respect to motoring. These are. world-wide, however, and no one nation can say it is devoid of them, nor in some countries they are so pronounced as to have become customs. And not all of them have a sensible application.

In Manila, in the Philippines, native drivers regard horseshoes as being more than ordinarily burdened with good luck. If the driver spies a horseshoe on the road, with the points towards him, ho stops his car and picks tho horseshoe up. Tie does more. If the points are showing away from him, he drives round and comes back to pick it up from the right direction. He just-picks it up and tosses it over his head on occasions. But in the majority of instances the horseshoe goes from the road, and other drivers are saved the nuisance of punctured tyres. Such a practice is not recommended for the busy hour in our main streets, nor is it advisable to turn round in those thoroughfares so as to approach the horseshoe from the right direction to invite good luck.

Japan is rightly renowned for the courtesy and civility of its nationals. There is a peculiar custom in Japan with a very sensible application. All cars in use in Japanese streets are required to have splashguards for use in rainy weather. Thus equipped, when a car runs through a puddle, the resulting spray is deflected by the guards. It is a custom which might well be adopted by other countries.

Japan, like New South Wales, demands a ta’il-light which cannot be extinguished from the dashboard. But Japanese, authorities also insist on a dome light for constant, use at night. Maybe this is to prevent exuberant love-making in public. Incidentally in Japan, one must, have a bulb horn, in preference to the up-to-date electric horn, and no driver can smoke while driving.

In Hong Kong the old axlage might be construed to read; “Coolies rush in where evil spirits fear to tread,” for the coolies have a peculiar superstition that to rush in front of a moving car is to frighten away all evil spirits which may be hovering in the vicinity. It is a superstition which often results tragically for those who possess it, and ono which gives drivers no end of worry. In Germany, the antipathy towards the number 13 is more pronounced than anywhere else, and motorists all over the country refuse that numberplate. Any foreigner who > has the temerity to,accept it, ami drive his car in Germany with that number attached, receives quite a deal of sorrowful deterrence.

In India,, the lowly cow, which, on the road in Australia is treated with scant ceremony, and may have a piece of her hide shorn off by an irate motorist’s tender, is regarded as a sacred animal, and is always given the right of the road, no matter how the traffic is disorganised behind her. Any driver who touched a cow wandering across even the busiest intersection would soon know something of the penal code of India.

Russian commissars have established a custom which has something of good sense in it as well. When one of the common motorists meets a commissar’s car it is the custom to pull right over and make a clear path for authority. It is founded not only on courtesy, but on safety, for commissars are generally in a hurry, and brook no interference by the lowly “comrades.”

Some countries, notably Mexico, attach a religious significance to the purchase of a car, and invariably the purchaser has the family car blessed by the local priest, St. Christopher being, generally accepted as the patron saint of motoring. St. Christopher emblems are carried by motorists and aviators the world over.

Several motorists have a superstition against stopping when they have run down a cyclist -or collided with another car. This is a superstition which the authorities are anxious to stamp out.

SPEEDS AND DISTANCES.

CAREFUL CALCULATION NEEDED

A Canadian police magistrate recently put forward a suggestion to i motorists which if generally followed, . should bring about a safer condition ■ of affairs on the roads. Many new drivers are deficient in their judgment. of speed and time in relation to distance. The magistrate really elaborates this point, when he advises drivers to cease to think in terms of miles and hours and to think in terms of feet and seconds. Enlarging upon this ho continues: “If an object suddenly crosses your path 50 feet ahead from whore yon are sitting at. the wheel and you are travelling at 30 miles an hour, you have only one second in which to act to avoid an accident, and only half a second if the object, is only 25 feet away. A motor car travelling at 15 miles an hour is covering- 22ft per second: at 20 miles per hour it is covering 2!) feet, per second; at 25 miles, 36 feet; at 30 miles, 44 feet; at 35 miles. 51 feet; at. 40 miles, 58 feet; at 45 miles, 66 feet. What should, therefore, be constantly in the motorist’s thoughts,is the time limit which his speed is setting for him should an emergency arise.’’ There are. of course, experienced drivers who will be able to say I hey have found all this out. for themselves. On the other hand, there must be many who have never given a thought to the number of feet they are travelling in a. sec- - ond, and what, therefore, is the frac- < tional period of time they have inh which to act in face of an emergency. I A driver whose perception is thus ' trained in terms of feet and seconsdl is much more likely to have his car in constant control, and must be/

quicker to judge the speed and pos- * sible action of some more irrespon- ; sible driver. In other words, it is not i space and time behind, but space and i time immediately ahead that he may i have to reckon with. Judgment in i driving should always be concerned in i anticipating the unexpected. Think- I ing in terms, of feet and seconds is a i' sound policy, and the figures shown in ; this article should impress upon all •: drivers the need for concentration | upon the job in hand, for, particularly i in these days of crowded roads, driv- i. ing does really call for careful calcu- ; lation all the time. i

ENGLISH ENTERPRISE The growing appreciation by English Manufacturers of the difference between conditions in England and other countries, and the measure they are taking to adapt, their products to the requirements of their overseas customers, cannot be other than gratifying to everyone who has the welfare of the Mother Country at heart. On almost every hand evidence is now met that manufacturers at Home are closely studying their distant markets and manufacturing expressly to meet the demands of the countries which absorb their products. In this connection it is worthy of note that the English firm to whom belongs the credit of introducing and manufacturing the first pneumatic tyre, has again led the world and produced for cars and motor cycles a tyre which is specially designed to meet road conditions that are encountered overseas. Though of quite recent introduction, this new tyre, the “Fort” Dunlop, is rapidly winning the approval of motorists, many of whom have long li(>ld the opinion that the severe road conditions in the Dominion call for a tyre of stronger and heavier construction than is usual.