NITROGEN GAS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 30 September 1933, Page 12

NITROGEN GAS

USE IN MOTOR TYRES ' * FREE AIR” SIGNS MAY GO AMERICAN EXPERIMENTS. . Nitrogen gas may replace air, now used to inflate tyres of passenger automobiles, if plans of commercial gas producers work out eventually. A step toward this development was noted during the recent 500-mile race period at Indianapolis, when nitrogen for the first time replaced air, for safety reasons chiefly. It was stated nitrogen was being used in the tyres of all the racers on the speedway because it was less inflammable than either air or oxygen, and preferred for that reason. Oxygen had been tried in previous years, because engineers thought it might give the tyres more buoyant cushioning, but the fire hazard, although it never gave trouble, knocked it out.

Nitrogen, being heavier than either air or straight oxygen, protected the race pilots and riding mechanics against possible fire resulting from collision or crash against cement walls of the track. It possesses the additional property of being inert as regards sudden combustion from back-firing or from flame that might be emitted at the precise instant a blow-out happens

With the passenger cars, nitrogen inflation of tyres is a subject of experiment, because it may be utilised to build up preservative qualities of the rubber and lengthen tyre life The chemists concede that excess sunlight and heat, next to hard usage, are the chief disintegrating factors that shorten the life of a tyre. For that reason a large part of their effort has been centred on treating both tube and casing fabrics with anti-oxygen chemicals. It has been found that the oxygen content of air has a deteriorating effect both outside and in. In other words, it is the oxygen that ages the tyres and robs the rubber of its life resistance under continuous use. Illustrative of this is an instance recently brought to the attention of a large tyre-producing organisation. An old electric car, dating back to 1914, was shown, resurrected from storage in a building where it had lain unused for about 11 years, and where it was not exposed either to sunlight or heat during that period. Strange to say, the tyres showed little deterioration from new condition, simply because the light and heat had been kept away from them. Should the nitrogen plan prove feasible, it may be possible that the “free air” signs of the filling stations may give place to the words “tyre nitrogen.” Expense is a distribution factor that the gas producers will have to cope 'with, but if it can be figured out or shown that the use of the gas instead of air can conserve tyres to an extent that will mean economy for car owners, the change may come to pass.