Water in Brake Drums

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 2 March 1935, Page 15

Water in Brake Drums

Property Extends for Mile and a=Ha!f

Many Drivers Negative Work of Correction

The large number of physical properties required for the mass production of automobiles is nowhere more apparent than in the huge plants of the Buick Motor Company, at Flint, Michigan. Here have been assembled multitude of manufacturing processes that convert raw steel and iron into motor cars and provide, in> wages, sole subsistence to the equivalent of a city of 50,000 persons. Within this plant area are 12 separate manufacturing divisions housed in more than 50 buildings. Each is a large manufacturing operation employing from a few hundred to several thousand men' —3000 normally are employed in the foundry alone—and each contributes its finished produce to the Buick final assembly line. The Buick Company properties reach a mile and a half along the bank of the Flint River. They are more than a half-mile wide. The many buildings, which line a broad factory boulevard entirely within the plant, have total floor space of 5.430,255 square feet — more than .125 acres of manufacturing space in which 14,000 men labour. There are 14 miles of railroad tracks within the Buick plant area. The activities of the many manufacturing divisions are physically coordinated by means of nearly 18 miles of conveyors, in addition to inter-plant trucking, over which finished products of the various divisions are conveyed to the main assembly. Conveyor lines and power equipment are driven by electric motors which annually •uT'e more than 45,000,000 kilowats of electric power. Two miles of tunnels undermine the Buick properties, hous-j ing more than nine miles of pipe. I

j "Many drivers who arc careful enough to see that their car braking j efficiency measures up to the standard required by the national regulations overlook one important detail of car maintenance which may completely negative the w r ork of brake adjustment or correction and lead to serious consequences,” says the Automobile Association of Canterbury (Incorpor ated), in a safety-first message ] "After a car has been washed driv I ers should take steps to see that the \ brake lining is dried as quickly as possible. Drive in low gear and apply the brakes gently from time to time so ' that the friction will eliminate the j water and the engine will serve as a good brake if an emergency arises in the drying out process. Sometimes wet I linings make it impossible to- halt even j at a couple of miles an hour.”

"The detail mentioned is the operation of w-ashing the car, particularly by the use of high pressure water supply-. Water frequently finds its way j inside the brake drums with the result that the braking effectiveness may be dangerously- impaired. There have been many instances of confusion caused to drivers who have taken newly- washed cars into traffic and found that the brakes were ‘not there’ when required because of the action of water on the linings. When washing a car it is a good idea to depress the brake pedal, by the use of a suitable length of wood so that the brake shoes grip the drums and keep water from the .frictional surfaces.