MOTORDOM

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1930, Page 4

MOTORDOM

NEWS OF THE ROAD

(By

“Gearbox”)

ROAD CHIVALRY. PLEDGE FOR MOTORISTS. The day seems to be approaching when Sydney motorists' who make a mess of one another’s car or fail to give the other fellow the right of way will, with profuse ' and profound obeisance, be greeting one another with: “Don’t apologise, by dear man; the fault was entirely mine. What can I do?” (wirtes the Sydney correspondent of the Wellington “Evening Post” on April 24.) Deploring, in common with the Victorian traffic authorities, the lack of road courtesy, and the old spirit of road fellowship, the National Roads and Motorists’ Association of New South Wales is attempting an expert-

ment among motorists who are eager to do to the other fellow on the road what he would like the other fellow to do to him in a similar set of circumstances. It is issuing what is termed a “Golden. Emblem” pledge, or badge for display on windscreens and rear windows. Motorists who sign this pledge—signatures attest the fealty of more than 800 to the good cause al-

ready—undertake to assist, as far as reasonably lies within their power, every other member of the association displaying the emblem, when in trouble on the road. They also pledge themselves in writing to practise and encourage road courtesy, to apply all the safety first principles, and to respect the rights of others on. the road whether motorists or pedestrians. It will bo quite a good thing if it

means the death hnell of the road hog —of the motorist who believes the road and the rules of the road were made only for him; the chap who ignores the other man’s rights at street intersections; the driver who insists on cutting-in and cutting-out in heavy lines of traffic; the man who overtakes one on narrow bridges; the man who creeps up from behind, loudly blasts his horn, gets the right of way, and thep merely loafs in front of one. And So on. Perhaps the age of road chivalry only wants awakening.

FADDY MOTORISTS. Motorists are' faddy, but not superstitious, according to Superintendent Bennetts, of the Sydney Traffic Department. He says, according to a Sydney exchange, that he gets numerous applications for special numberplates from individual motorists, but these cannot be granted, as the practice was done away with several years

before the war. The only way a motorist can get a particular number ho wants is by buying the car which has it. Otherwise the numbers are issued in rotation, and he has to take what he can get. Some of the new car ow- ■ ners, said the superintendent, want a ;plate with nothing but sevens in it; others don’t want' any sevens at all. There is no trouble nowadays in getting rid of No. 13. At present it is

adorning a private car. In the days of the cabbies it was very hard to place No. 13, and for a long time nobody would take it. At last a man with a hansom cab was persuaded, and, far from the number bringing him bad luck, he was able to sell the goodwill of his run for three times the price he paid for it. Superintendent Bennetts says there are still people who will do anything to get a number they want. He knows of a man who wanted^/the plate numbered 100,000. It wa£§ issued in the ordinary way to an old Ford car, which in time was sent to the auction rooms. It was bought at quite a high price ■by the man who wanted its number plate.

WATER IN TANK

Quite a lot of trouble can sometimes be caused with a car if a little water finds its way into the petrol tank, and owners faced with this trouble are often at a loss to know the remedy, because draining the tank is usually no cure, the water remaining behind in the form of “beads” on the bottom of the tank. If, however, a quantity of methylated spirit—say a pint—is poured into the empty tank and the car rocked to swill- it round, the spirit will be found to absorb the water and the solution of spirit and water can then be drained off, leaving th© tank clean.

POSITION OF DYNAMO.

Many motorists, no doubt, are not aware of the fact that the charging rate from a cold dynamo is higher than when the instrument is warm. Heat has an injurious effect on the insulation. Therefore it will easily be understood that the cooler the dynamo can .be kept the longer and the more efficiently i twill continue to function. This point, however, appears to be ignored by some designers who place the dynamo at the rear side of the power unit, sometimes only an inch or so .from the exhaust pipe, or in such a position that it is liable to become heated from some part of the engine. A good position for the dynamo is where it will receive the full blast of air from the fan, or when there is no fan, the main stream of air forced through the radiator too rapidly to become If the dynamo is unfavourably placed as regards cooling, it is often possible to make up a light tin deflector which will force ah* on to it. The chief difficulty which designers have to face, however, is that of providing adequate accessibility, and very often an apparently bad position is the best compromise which can be reached between one Where the dynamo is kept cool and one where it is accessible.

MOTOR MONOPOLISTS.

HOW THEY WERE FOUGHT

: In an editorial “The Motor” (Lon- . don) describing two easily 'Strangleholds on the motor industry and how they were fought and overcome, says: On Monday, December 30, 1920, there died in Stuttgart ,a. German motor pioneer whose name became almost, as famous as that of his fellow-coun-tryman, Herr Gottlieb Daimler. His name was Dr. Wilhelm Maybach and he died at the age of 84. He foundeu the Maybach works where the engines of the Graf Zepplin were made, Jt was he who invented the . float-teed type of carburettor, a device waicn superseded the surface-carburettor. But briefly, the object of Maybach s invention was to produce, a mixture of never varying composition which Iho surface carburettor most certainly did not do. Indeed, so sensitive was the latter device that the performance of an engine varied materially in the open country and when running through a. town or village, or even between brick walls. Round about 1900 and 1901 there were astute people in this country who realised that by obtaining control of the patent rights of this and, other devices a monopoly could bo set up and a rich harvest could be-garnered in the way of royalties. So determined were these owners of patent rights that companies were formed to claim the royalties and others to resist the claims.

The interesting point, about the claims made in the case of the Maybach carburettor patent was that as muph as 10 per cent, royalty was 'levied upon the purchase price of the /complete chassis —less the carriage body, and this percentage was expected from the manufacturer before sale and, in the event of a vehicle having been sold, from the unfortunate and perfectly innocent purchaser. Eventually these monopolists claims were seriously resised in the course of a celebrated case in the High Court, and the claim of the company holding the patent rights was disallowed. At this distance of time it is interesting to ponder on the fate of an industry fettered in such a way. At that time inventors were scarcely able to appraise the real value of their inventions and some of the rights passed into the hands of others whose foresight was suciently keen to point the way to easy and quick moneymaking. But the motor industry and the public were to* be the victims. By the ruling in the case mentioned that possibility, happily, was nipped in the bud.

It is a. somewhat remarkable thing that almost exactly the same condition of affairs existed in the case of the American automobile industry. There one George B. Selden, who was not an engineer but a clever attorney and patent agent, claimed to hold a master patent practically covering the whole mechanism of the motor-car. The claim was based upon patent No. 549,160, dated sth November, 1895, but it was

found that Selden had actually put in 1 an application for a patent on Sth > May, 1879. As. Mr. H. O, Duncan ’ states in his book, “The World on * Wheels,” how Senden manipulated the ! American laws in order to profit by the enormous advantage thus secured was a mystery. He had arranged for

the definite patent to be delayed in such a fashion that it only really came into existence when otherwise it .might have been on the point of expiration in a few months! The only difference in the case of the United States motor industry and that of our own in these patent matters was that the American patentee claimed to cover the entire car. In all other respects the proceedings that were followed were identical andf litigation was continuous. An Association of

Licensed Automobile Manufacturers was formed to enforce manufacturing under the Selden licenses, and a numbr of other patents were acquired, the result being that those outside the trust ring found themselves cornered. Action after action followed and the patent rights were upheld. Eventually Selden came up against a solid rock of granite in the person of Henry Ford, who, in 1903, had formed the Ford Motor Co. He stated publicly that he did not car© a rap for the Licensed Association and openly defied all its efforts. Exactly the same as was .the case in England, an action was brought and on the first hearing judgment was given for the patentee. In 1911, however, the case was heard on. appeal by the Supreme Court and judgment was given in favour of the defendants without appeal and the monopoly was scotched.

It is necessary to state quite briefly why the action failed. In his definite specification of November, 1895, Selden had only claimed the invention of an explosion engine on the Brayton-two-cycle system.

The Brayton engine was invented, so it was proved in court in 1872 and Selden’s patent was taken out in 1879. It was also shown that Selden, in 1876, sent an engineer to examine the Brayton engine and report upon it to him.

It is quite clear to-day that if their monopolistic efforts had been maintained in both countries, the progress of the motjor industry would} been hampered very seriously and the public to-day might not be getting the value in cars they are getting now.

KAYE DON’S ATTEMPTS. it is particularly unfortunate that Kaye Don’s trip to Daytona. Beach, U.S.A., with a view of bettering Major Sir Henry Segrave's 231.36 ra.p.h. world’s motor record lias been, so far, fruitless, The announcement that the 9 miles stretch of beach upon which the existing record was established is in a dangerous state for the terrific speed aimed at, points to the fact that the famous speedway is not in as good condition as is usual at this time of the year. At the same time, according to cable reports, there has evidently been some minor trouble with the “Silver Bullet.” as regards carburation, supercharger revolutions, etc., but according to Don, everything is ready for the attempt except the beach surface. There seems to be some doubt

us to when a further attempt will bo made, as it is reported that Don intends leaving New York for England this week, but it is not stated whether he is taking the “Silver Bullet” back with him or not.