Motoring Notes

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4873, 21 July 1936, Page 3

Motoring Notes

MOTOR SPIRIT PRODUCTION. Answering a question in the House of Commons recently, the Secretary for Mines stated that the production of motor spirit from coal or shale in England by all processes amounted to 75,000,000 gallons. Such spirit was not taxed, but, so far as he was aware, it was sold at the same price as imported petrol. The figure given is interesting, in view of the fact that imports of motor spirit in 1935 amounted to 1,235,863,000 gallons. Thus imports exceeded home production by 1,160,868,000 gallons. Consumption in 1935 was 1,321,145,000, which was 1,321,145,000 in excess of home produced spirit. KEEPING DOWN THE COST. Different drivers with the same type of car frequently obtain widely different petrol consumptions. When a poor consumption is obtained the car is usually blamed, but the fault more often lies with the driver. If the foot-* is used heavily on the accelerator pedal when moving off from rest, passing other vehicles, and so on, much more petrol is used than when the foot is pressed down gradually so that the car gathers speed smoothly. In city driving rapid acceleration is usually followed by rapid braking, which not only means that much of the momentum the car has gained has to be wasted, but also that the brakes and tyres will wear more rapidly. The cruising speed a driver maintains is equally important. Some cars cruise most economically at 25 m.p.h., others at 40 m.p.h. It all depends on the design of the carburettor and the type of engine. If a car has a fast, economical cruising speed, it often means the mixture, will be too rich at low speeds. In medium-sized cars it can always be assumed that at speeds over about 40 m.p.h. the rate of petrol consumption per mile will increase rapidly. In fact, simple tests will show that the rate of consumption at 70 m.p.h. is often tv/ice that at 30 m.p.h. Careful driving, therefore, will not only mean greater safety, but also more economical motoring. THINGS WORTH KNOWING. To save breaking or bending very small twist drills push a cork over the drill before using it. This increases its rigidity to a surprising extent. Bushes can often be extracted from blind holes in timing covers, etc., by filling with oil and hammering a close-fitting wooden plunger into the bush. The oil will drive out the bush. To file a plain washer thinner, hammer it on a block of wood to form a recess. The recess will then hold it while it is filed. To unscrew a tight sprocket, wrap a chain round it, hitch the end on the point of a “pinch” bar, place the blade between the two teeth, and apply pressure to the chain side of the bar. To extract a tight gudgeon pin or stubborn rings from an aluminium piston, warm the piston with boiling water. It will then expand slightly and release them.

If a valve stem is gripped in the chuck of a breast drill and the drill in a vice, the valve can be spun with one hand and scraped and polished with the other.

Braking- power * will be improved and wear on drums and linings reduced if brake drums are kept true and their surfaces bright and smooth. Pillion passengers should be provided with footrests in such a position that they can use their legs to take a large part of their weight. WOOD GAS FOR MOTOR CARS. A British firm has bought the rights to manufacture the wood gas generating device for motor cars invented by the German engineer, Gerhard Grunert. “My apparatus is specially valuable for the British colonies and dominions,” ITerr Grunert to a Sunday Times representative. “Wherever there is a considerable surplus of timber, or only of waste from sawmills and building works, my device is very appropriate. I can save up to 90 per cent, in fuel costs. The trip in my large saloon from Berlin to London cost me only about nine marks (14s) in fuel. I used ordinary chopped wood, as I could get it at any hotel or even at any farm on the way. Apart from the cheapness of the fuel, wood gas, as it is used for driving my cars, is smokeless and odourless. No suffocation by escaping fumes is possible with my generatof. Nor is the material inflammable like petrol. Wood gas explodes only within the motor, but is non-inflammable otherwise. Any wood will do. I prefer hardwood, as it takes less space in the generator, evolving enough energy to drive me 150 miles with one filling.”