MOTORDOM

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 February 1938, Page 3

MOTORDOM

NEWS OF THE ROAD

(By

“Gearbox”)

HEADLIGHTS. STEADY IMPROVEMENT. Although little publicity is centred on the steady improvement made in the efficiency of the headlights of automobiles, really worth-while progress is being math.. The world’s head lamp industry is far from static, and large sums are being expended annually in the march towards still more effective lamps and the reduction of night, driving hazards. Unfortunately, all owners of automobiles do not, see that, the lighting system of their vehicle is kept at its maximum efficiency. Regular maintenance and proper use of the modern multi-beam lighting system provides not only more light, to see the road ahead, but at the same time relief from glare.

Increasing the brightness of road hazards is one of the main objectives of the designers of modern automobile lamps, and that calls for more light in the headlamp beam. This means the use of bulbs of larger candlepower. In many countries there is a legal limitation that prevents the use of higher wattage bulbs. based

on. the assumption that, such limitation provides protection against lamp dazzle. According to the manager of the United States Society of Automotive Engineers (J. A. C. Warner), actually there is no necessary connection between bulb candlepower and glare, and he makes the following explanation why such is the case:-— “Due to the concentrating effect of the reflector, the lamp engineer can take a 32-candlepower bulb and produce candlepowers in the beam pro-

jected by the lamp of 10.000, 25,000, or more. Similarly, with a 50-candle-power bulb, by design, he can produce candlepowers in the beam of 10,000, 25,000 or more. What candlepower in the beam amounts to, therefore, is largely a matter of design. Since the candlepowers in the beam are the important factor from the glare standpoint, it is obvious that, placing a legal limit on bulb candlepower has little or nothing to do with the control of glare. What limitation of bulb candlepower does, however, is to set a mixumum on the amount of light the engineer has to work with. If he wants to put more light in the high intensity portion of the beam, tc

make hazards down the road visible farther \thead, he can only do so by reducing the amount, of light in those portions of the beam, which give foreground and lateral illlumination. Similarly, if he wants better fore ground or lateral illumination, he has to take the light out of the high in tensity portion of the beam. At present the legal limit in manj of the U.S.A. States and in othei parts of the world is- 32 candlepower , This actually means that the euginee .Ihas about as much light with whicl , to illuminate an area, say 500 ft Ion; fby 30ft or 40ft wide, as is provided b: /a single 60-watt bulb, such as we us ■in our homes and which we knot

will not light even a small room satisfactorily. Fortunately, these limita- i tions on bulb candlepower are be- j ing iecognised as unfortunate by for- ] ward-looking highway administrators, 1 and there are indications that, in c some U.S.A. States at. least, where ] 32 candlepower is now the top, the > limit, will be raised or eliminated.” <_ It. is of interest to mention that the concensus of opinion amongst headlamp experts of the S.A.E. (U.S.A.) is that, they could provide safer lighting if they were permitted to design lamps for a maximum of 75.U00 candle- < power in the beam. However, to c bring about, better results from the 1 headlamps in vogue, to-day. it is os- ‘ scntial to remember that these fit- 1 meins require regular service, just > as do other parts of an automobile. In 1 general, they'do not get. it. As a result, a large percentage of headlamps 1 on the average, do not throw more : than half the light on the road that

they could if they wore in proper condition. In ninny instances what light ' they do throw is not projected where 11 it will result in the jnost good. ' Most up-to-date service houses now o have equipment that enables one to quickly check up headlamp efficiency. • Occasional attention to the means safer night travel and less- t glare for other road users. CRAZE FOR CARS. fc i CONDITIONS IN AMERICA. I ■ ] A Dunedin man recently wrote to a ( friend in the United States comment- A ing on the unreality of life as depicted on the screen. He referred par- ( ticularly to the facts that every sec- < end person, no matter what, his walk , of life, seemed able to afford a car, and also that stenographers in offices j owned cars and fur coats, costly in- , vestments well beyond the reach ot their purses in this country. . His letter has drawn the following < ■ interesting' reply: “You make some , ■ pointed remarks about our ‘movies’ • l or cinema. I seldom waste time to , > go to a. movie, so I am no judge, but • the few I have seen have impressed > me as being in the direction of the L artificial and the unreal. There is t some truth in your observation that i every stenographer has a fur coat and i her own ‘auto.’ It. is remarkable what a sacrifices of other things we Amerie cans will make to get fur coats and V autos. I have known girls go without e meals just so they can obtain a fui >- coat. The ‘lady’ of Scandinavian i. origin who sells us fresh eggs comes s- in a fine car that must have cost 750

dollars, more or less, though it was probably bought much cheaper second hand, perhaps for 300 dollars. The workriian who works here keeping the cottages painted and ‘plumbed’ and . does all sorts of odd jobs comes in a ■ car made to sell for 1,000 dollars. I l have driven it, and. it is a smooth- : running, powerful car. The little r Italian who keeps the store on the j corner has an old. car, but he keeps 1 f it moving. SeveraJ of his sons have

cars of their own. Tn Europe they, would be peasants. Here, they are’ dangerous speed demons revelling' in j the power of their cars. A ‘starving i dressmaker has a daughter with a car, a fur coat, and a husband—placed] in order of value to her. The. Polish] garbage man, s worthless drinking son owns a car. most, of the workmen 1 know have autos, and those who have not ride wit lit hose who at. the moment. are. slightly more fortunate in their possessions. “I think this points to’the tact that the, movies are a. true picture of our American conditions so far as the popular owning' of cars is concerned. However, the possession of a fur coat or an auto would indicate that our budget is sadly disarranged, and that wo consider the 1 coat and the auto essentials ahead of anything else.” BACK CHAT. Spent an entertaining hour the other day conveying a. middle-aged dame to a certain destination, writes a correspondent. Not the one I wished her. by the way. Notwithstanding the perils of the journey she chatted most pleasantly. Here are some of her brightest sayings: “You know you tire approaching a pedestrian crossing? No. I don’t see anyone on it: you’re all right.’ “Mind the dog." "When Mr. . . . Oh. 1 can't, remember his mime . . . never mind; when he drove me home the other day we took that road—or was it. the next one? I really forget.”

"Oh, there’s Alice! Goodness! she isn’t, wearing a coat. Stupid the way girls dress nowadays.” (Alice looked fortyish to me and old enough to know her own business). "Ooh! I thought you were going to hit. that car. How dreadfully fast everybody drives!” „ "Mind that horse; he looks frisky.’

"The lights are showing green. You musn’t. go against them, you know. Good thing for you. young man, there wasn't a policeman there.” "What? You cross on the green. Oh. how silly of me. Of course, you stop when it shows yellow, don t von?”

‘■l think you are driving' very nicely. Look out! there's a car coming right, across us.' ' “Stop! Stop!” (Car brought up al standing). “Was it necessary to shake me like that? ‘Whats the matter?’ Couldn’t you see that boy teasing that dog? I’d like to report him to the S.P.C.A.” “1 must write and tell Uncle I’red about my motoring experience. It is most exciting.” | 1 am not going to tell you what I said to the old trout. YOUTH AND ACCIDENTS.

The traditional belief that flaming youth is guilty of most drunken driving accidents was scouted by the results of a six months’ survey released by the New York State Bureau of Motor Vehicles (states the news magazine ‘Time’).

From., January 1 to June 30 there' ( were 344 alcoholic accidents, 25 of! them fatal, in which 28 people were I killed, 553 injured. All the motor- : ists involved were men. Drivers 1 under 24 years old caused two fatal accidents. 52 non-fatal. Drivers between 25 and 64 caused 21 fatal accidents and 256 non-fatal. Most accidents occurred at night in rural regions, 33 per cent, being

due to driving on the wrong': side of the road, 21 per cent, to speeding. Severity of the alcoholic accidents was much greater than in other highway crashes, one out of every 14 being fatal, while in all types of crashes only one out of every 31 accidents was fatal. . Intoxicants affect motorists m the same manner as they affect others, the survey concluded. {They (Jrive like they walk. KEEPING UPKEEP DOWN. If money saved is money gained, the car owner should be able to show quite a respectable profit at the end of 12 months if he undertakes to lubricate the chassis at regular interAdvice of this kind is so much superfluity to the experienced motorist but chassis lubrication is deserving of more attention than it generally receives from the novice. Many new* drivers are content to believe that they can afford to let lubrication go until they hear squeaks, rattles or even thuds, and that then they oil or grease the complaining part. This is unfaii o the car and it retaliates by taking" toll in tho form of excessive wear ot expensive to replace parts. 'rhe owner of a car 1 is in the motoi business —the business of making his car give him tho utmost in satisfaction.’ To this end proper lubrication is essential. ••ENG INE-TURNED" FINISH. The machined-surface finish on aluminium or brass, consisting of a series of overlapping buffed circles is an attractive method of treating' the dash-board or other prominent pints of a car. and presents no difficulties io the amateur mechanic. The tool used is a cork, to which has been glued a facing of emery cloth. Ihe cork mav be used in the hand foi small surfaces, but the best plan is to force it into a short length of metal tuba to which is attached a rod which can be held in a drill chuck. For irregular surfaces the cork is replaced with a wad of steel wool. The circles ’should overlap by at least half of their diameter to produce the most effective pattern, and a final coating of a clear lacquer ‘will preserve the brightness of the metal.

EFFECT ON HEAVY LOADS. Motorists setting out on tour in heavily-loaded cars should not forget that the luggage and other touring gear carried in addition to. a full complement of passengers is likely to have a definite effect on the. manner in which a car responds. This applies particularly to the modern type of car with a built-in trunk at. the back, which will accommodate most, if not all, of the luggage carried. The effect of loading this to capacity is to concentrate a very heavy load behind the back wheels. Consequently, in cornering it will be found that the tail of the car will tend to swing across on the

VCll W corners. Obviously, it will be neither wise nor safe to corner as fast in this fullyloaded. condition as when the car is running light.