MOTORDOM

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 October 1929, Page 7

MOTORDOM

NEWS OF THE ROAB

(By

"Gearbox”)

MISUSE OF GEARBOX.

HARMFUL HABIT. I After.observing traffic conditions on | the modern main road one is often tempted to ask this question: How would the average present day car driver describe the function of the gear box? In nine cases out of ten the answer would probably be: “In order to get the car up hills which are too steep for top gear.” It is be1 cause so many motorists associate gear changing solely with hill climbing that they fail to take advantage of the indirect ratios on the level road. They do not perceive that the real function of the gear box is to enable them at any moment to get a largely increased power from their engine, and what is more, they do not realise that acceleration is just as potent a factor of safety as the most powerful four wheel braking system. Time and time again one sees an opening in the traffic presents itself to a driver who “treads” on the gas,” keeps his car in top gear and reaches the opening just in time to find it shut by an oncoming vehicle. Had he slipped into Third or second gear he could have safely cleared the obstruction. As it is, by hanging on to top and not using his gears he has brought the control of his car down to the very minimum. It will decelerate all right, but its acceleration is distinctly limited. A point that cannot be too often stressed, for it. defeats a fallacy that hundreds of thousands of motorists believe is that high revolutions never hurt an engine so, long as it is given a load to pull. Yet often enough the driver who races his engine in neutral, so as to “warm it up a bit” is the last man in the world to use his lower gears. He does his engine infinitely more harm by allowing it to pull down to the last few futile revolutions before giving it re- - lief. But this aspect of the matter : is trivial (for it is his own affair en- ■ tirely) compared to the fact that the 1 motorist who will hang on to top is J a disturber of traffic and a menace to 1 other road users. It will, of course, I bo understood that this is not refer- 1 ring to the driver of the super sports « car, who is'always in a superior posi- * tion as regards other vehicles, but 1 essentially to the man at the wheel < of the general utility vehicle. The 1 motorist who rushes into top gear can 1 be assured that he is doing that which 1 is utterly futile. He will not harm 1 the gear box by using it, for good de- c sign and impeccable material have < made it almost wear-proof and quite ‘ fool-proof. He should learn how to - slip his gears in quietly, which is only ' a knack and can be acquired after a 1 few minutes practice. Above all it ( should be borne in mind that to get ® past another car quickly is to get past 1 it safely. c

DRILLING & CONNECTING ROD. Drilling a hole one-eighth of an inch in diameter through the entire length of a nine-inch rod is one of the precision operations required in manufacturing the efficient full pressure lubrication system of the modern car. This long but tiny hole permits oil to be forced upward through the connecting rod to the piston pin. Engineers not only had to find ways of performing such operations, but the methods had to be such that could be used in quantity production and without adding a prohibitive amount to the cost of manufacture. To drill a hole through the length of the connecting rod, drills had to be more than nine inches long; they had to be hollow to permit a flow of oil to lubricate and cool the cutting edge and some method had to be devised to remove the chips of metal created by the drilling. The drills have a hole 3/64 of an inch in diameter running through their centre, and a V-shaped flute cut in one side the entire length of the drill. Oil is forced through the centre hole under 500 pounds pressure, and after performing its lubricating and cooling functions, the oil returns down the flute carrying with it the metal chips. The cutting edge of the drill is ground off centre so as not to interfere with the oil hole, and for that reason the ( drill has to be made in two pieces with the cutting point welded to the shank. Usually in drilling operations the drill is rotated. In drilling connecting rods, however, this was found impractical as the long thin and hollow drills broke when rotated at speeds up to 3,000 revolutions a minute, so machines were devised whereby the drills are stationary and the connecting rods are rotated. These specially designed machines are absolutely accurate and are so efficiently constructed that only one man is required to keep six drills in constant motion. With these rifle drilled connecting rods, oil is forced from the pump up through the crankshaft to all main bearings and from these up through the connecting rods to the piston pins. Camshaft bearings are lubricated in the same manner, giving full pressure lubrication, which has long been considered a mark of quality in fine automobile engines.

COMBUSTION PROBLEM. Internal combustion engine experts have been striving to find a satisfactory liquid which has a much higher boiling point than water to replace water as a cooling medium and permit the engine to operate at a higher temperature. Many different liquids such as mineral oil, kerosene, salt solutions, glycerine and other compounds have been tried, but all have failed. Some are highly inflammable, some corrode the inside of the metals and deteriorate the rubber hose in the cooling system. Recently the engineers of the U.S. Army Air Corps have developed in the laboratory at Wright Field an almost ideal system of cooling the water-cooled type of engines. This development has been 1 the result of a number of years of intensive research which has culminated in the successful operation of the system. The liquid has a boiling point of 388 deg.F. in the pure state and has all of the properties required of a cooling liquid. It is manufactured. commercially and is comparatively cheap. Since it has been known .for 50 years it is not a newly-discov-ered liquid, but its use in connection , with high temperature cooling is a .new development. Since ethylene- 1

glycol has such a high boiling point it permits operating the water cooled type'of engine at a higher temperature than ever before possible/ Amongst the big advantages claimed for ethylene-glycol over , water cooling is the amount of cooling area, or size of radiator necessary, which is greatly reduced, and considerable reduction in weight of the installed power jbnit, due to the reduction in size of the radiator and the lesser amount of liquid required in the cooling system.

ROAD SAFETY.

AUTOS SAFER TO-DAY. a With the great number of automoa biles on the roads nowadays the ever v present question of road safety comes r uppermost of all motoring. topics. & Many people who are not fully aca quainted with the vast improvements i in the modern vehicle may get the j impression that motor cars and motoi’ - cycles are dangerous. The contrary is B the case. Against the increase in the - number of accidents, one must bal--5 ance the vastly increased number of I motor vehicles on the road, and the > many millions of miles they travel. > If this were done it would probably i be discovered that it is just as safe • to motor to-day as it was ten years : ago. It depends much on the driver. • No reckless driver is safe on the roads ; to-day, neither was he, for that mat- . ter ten years ago. But one thing is ■ quite definite. Motor cars and motor cycles of to-day are far safer in themselves than the vehicles of 1919. Safety in a motor car depends largely on two factors. The most important is the question of efficient braking. Both cars and cycles have, it is true, become very much faster, but they can be brought to a standstill in a much shorter distance. The modern cars doing 50 miles an hour, if fitted with good brakes, can be brought to a standstill in a much shorter distance than was the case with the car of ten years ago doing a speed of 30 miles an hour. The next important factor is that of acceleration. This perhaps represents the biggest improvement of all in both types of vehicles. The “wolly” engine of the past was dangerous because the driver could not disengage himself from approaching trouble in time. With quick acceleration, trouble can more often than not be avoided, though the really good driver rarely places himself in a position of difficulty. Other ways in which cars have improved from the safety point of view are: The great advance in tyre design which has greatly reduced the skidding danger despite the introduction of pavement type road surfaces that are in a few cases more slippery than the old type of roads. Actually failure on the part of the motoi - car or motor cycle, is responsible for only a small fraction of the total yearly sum of motoring accidents. The failure is a human and not a mechanical one. Even where the car fails and causes an accident it is usually due to neglect on the part of its owner. Brakes, being of so great an importance where safety is concerned, should always be kept in proper adjustment. Tyres last now for so long that many drivers continue to run on them after they are practically worn out. This is courting danger. For night driving, antidazzle devices are important. Here again big strides have been made. Most cars of 1929 production have some form of anti-dazzle protection. If, despite the improvements in vehicles from the safety point of view, accidents still increase, the remedy is in the hands of users of these vehicles. In the case of nearly 90 per cent, of accidents, official figures show that drivers or walkers are to blame. In other words accidents are in the main due to recklessness, carelessness and ignorance. All beginners should take care to learn to drive really -well. There is a vast difference in being just able to drive and being a ( good driver. i

SHAKESPEARE AND CARS. What might have happened had (Shakespeare lived to-day—after D.8.L.: — No. 1,976. Die., C.P.H. Typed, J.S.M. W. Shakespeare, Esq., Stratford-on-Avon, England. Dear Sir, —Our attention has been called to the following lines from your recently-produced drama ‘Macbeth/ now being performed by the Glugenheimer Company, Broadway, New York: — To-morrow and to-morrow and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. As. to the literary merit of these statements we make no comment, though the manager of oui’ Uplift Department compares them unfavourably with somewhat similar remarks made by the gifted American poetess Ella Wheeler Wilcox. We wish, however, to point out that inferentially they are a reflection on the “To-morrow” Cars which we lately put. upon the market with most satisfactory results. There is no creep about the “To-morrow.” She can do her 70 miles an hour without an effort on a petrol consumption of 25 m.p.g. She is a wow! Swift and smooth acceleration, easy gear change, and springing such as you, an Englishman in the backblocks, have probably no conception of. With regard to your further statements about the lads from the loony box being laid out stiff daily—well, if they choose to commit suicide by getting in front of the “To-morrow” when she is in her stride, what can you expect? It is worthy of notice, however, that our new braking system absolutely lays over that of any of our competitors. We would suggest that you rewrite the passage complained of, which in our opinion, and in that of our attorney, Colonel Cyrus P. Hawkur, is distinctly libellous. If you will consent to do this, and we approve of the alterations, we will consider putting you* on the ground floor at oui* next stock watering. Yours faithfully, THE TO-MORROW CAR CO., INC., Rutabago, Pa.