MOTORING WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 86, 8 March 1930, Page 14

MOTORING WORLD.

NOTES

There are nearly 1,250,000 cars licensed in Germany. * 9 * • A motor exhibition will probably be held at Stockholm in March. * * * * In Berlin 60 taxi-drivers have passed an examination in foreign languages. • * * « A garage, enclosed by glass, has recently been erected in Paris capable of accommodating 800 cars. * * * * It is stated that the elaborate traffic plan which was recently introduced in Rome is a definite failure. * * 0 m A new motor roadway is being constructed which will lead to the top of Haleakala, the world’s largest extinct volcano, in the Hawaiian Islands. » * * • An English coroner recently stated that there were a great many “jaywalkers” about, and consequently there were a great many accidents. » * * * The banquet recently held in Bucharest by the Royal Automobile Club of R/Oumania to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its establishment was attended bv members of the Roumanian Royal Family. * * • * According to statistics issued at the end of last year there are now 240,000 motor vehicles in Spain. In 1922 there wore only 59,949 cars registered, while the number registered for the first time during 1929 alone was 20,000. * * • * The American automobile industry is making forty-five miles of automobiles, end to end, every day, which is much faster than roads are being built. There are also 635 different models of motor cars being built and the renewal demand is constantly growing. * * * * One of the latest stories from America is that the residents of one city have discovered a new use for automatic traffic lights. By watching the lights, three green flashes, three red, with the ambers thrown in, they are able to determine the time required for satisfactorily boiling an egg 1 « « * • The Prince of Wales has consented to become a patron of the Brooklands Automobile Racing Club. The Prince has several times shown his extreme interest in motor racing, and besides watching racing at Brooklands has more than once visited the works of factories engaged in making racing cars. • • * * A motorist regarded with suspicion bv the United States Customs officers at the Detroit end of the new Ambassador Bridge between the United States and Canada, spanning the Detroit River, is required to drive his car on to a trestle for examination. Inspectors look underneath for “trick tanks and other possible concealed containers of contraband. RABAUL’S RECORD. TEN CARS PER MILE. If every one of the 500 cars in Rabaul tajces the road at once, the traffic congestion must be terrific, for there are only 50 miles of good road on the island of New Britain, df winch Rabaul is the capital. The white population totals only 500 so that a world’s record of one car per white man seems to have been achieved. A Chinese population of 1600 also inhabits the island. These facts were revealed by Mr J. B. Steel. Freight and passenger ’plane services have helped to develop commerce and mining. Some of the nine ’planes operating between Rabaul and the diggings make three trips per day.

SUPERCHARGED ENGINES,

There aro probably many people interested in motoring who have heard of “supercharged” cars, who aro rather hazy about the meaning of the word and how a “supercharger” functions. A supercharger is a device which forces mixture into the cylinders of an internal-combusion engine, and is used to supplement the atmospheric pressure which normally is solely relied upon for this purpose. At high engine speeds the period during which the gas oan enter the cylinder is so short that there is a limit to the quantity which can be taken in under ordinary conditions. A supercharger raises the limit by increasing the pressure behind the gas in the induction pipe. It should be obvious that its eflect is greater at high speeds, as the time in which the gas om enter decreases in proportion to the revolutions of the engine. Superchargers have not yet attained very great popularity as there are many difficulties in the way of the designers. and it appears doubtful whether they will ever becomo popular on engines, as we know them at present, for every-day use; but for high efficiency motors and for multicylinder racing engines, there is a great deal in their favour and there are several famous Continental firms which embody them in their sports productions, while at least two of the best known manufacturers of English sports airs are also using them on their higher-priced vehicles.

CLEANING BRAKE DRUMS. Motorists are sometimes surprised, when starting out in the morning, to find that their brakes aro not acting properly and that they are inclined to grip. The reason for this is that dust has been allowed to accumulate in the brake-drums, and through moisture it has become “gummy,” thus causing a grippy brake. It is as essential for the proper operation of brakes that dust be removed at regular intervals as it is that the crank case oil should be changed. An engine will not function properly when the oil is dirty nor will brakes function properly when they have an accumulation of dust in them. Simplo as this remedy is, it nevertheless will cure 90 per cent, of the brake troubles that are met with in the new type brakes. Great care was taken, in designing the internal brake, to house it so that water and road dust would not get in, but this same protection prevents brake dust from getting out unless taken care of as suggested. When two surfaces come in contact, one must wear. If the drum wears, scoring must take place. _ Consequently with successful brake linings the wear is taken on the lining and this wear evidences itself in the form of brake dust. This dust will cause gripping and loss of friction at times and also the erratic action of brakes so comonly experienced in the morning. It might be well for the good of the modern brake to broadcast the slogan “Clean your brakes when you change your oil.”

FRENCH DESIGN. For sheer interest the recent motorcycle show in Paris was unparalleled in recent history. There were not just two or three novel exhibits, as is usually the case at the Olympia Show, but a score or more, each showing originality in conception. A few years ago the motor-cycle movement in France, and in the Continent as a whole, was dormant. Todav it progresses rapidly. For one reason, the various films that have sprung up, or have had their interest in motor-cycle manufacture reawakened, find themselves with no preconceived ideas on design. In many cases

they have obviously copied and adapted British designs, with the object of starting where we left off, but in others they have given their ideas a free rein. The results provide an ocular demonstration of the fact that many promising avenues of development remain. Admittedly, the new designs are not publicly proved; they have gained no International Trial medals, but they include many features which are sound and which will appeal to motor-cyclists. Unit construction is an example. By combining the engine and gear-box in one smooth casing, and replacing the primary or high-speed driving chain by gear drive, not only are the parts protected and the task of cleaning greatly facilitated, but the need for frequent adjustment of a part that is necessarily difficult to adjust is eliminated once and for all. This is a great boon, and on the Continent it is rapidly becoming standardised. Shaft drive is also gaining adherents, for while it is quite true that the secondary driving chain on a motor-cycle gives excellent service, shaft drive has the great advantage of being weatherproof, simple, and of obviating the possibility of malalignment of the wheels owing to haphazard setting of the chain adjusters. Incidentally, the wheels on nearlv every French motorcycle are quickly detachable, as indeed they should be on all machines. A MOTTO FOR MOTORISTS. There are two kinds of cars: those which are cared for and those which are allowed to be neglected. An oldish car which has been properly looked after, and has had a little attention when it only needed a little attention, instead of a big overhaul, will almost invariably give far better service than a car of a later date and of a smaller mileage, which has not been treated as 11 Hackneyed though the proverb, “A stitch' in time saves nine” is, it bears repeating, for it should be the motto of all motorists. Very often the tightening of a screw or of a nut will save an expensive repair, and the consequent enforced laying-up of the car.

VALUE OF ACCESSORIES. The value of efficient accessories on a car is not fully realised lintil one or other of them suddenly fails to function and the driver then wishes he had’given the necessary attention to the various “gadgets” on his car. An erratic windscreen wiper, for example, may have been tolerated when rainy days were rare, but should be set right in readiness for less lrappy conditions. , Clear visibility is essential to safe driving, and it is really impossible to work a wiper by hand with satisfactory results. With the vacuum type all that may be needed is a new and leakproof rubber tube. The battery and the lighting equipment in general should receive attention, as these are of great importance from the viewpoint of comfort and safety at night. A very nasty accident might well result from the total failure of the lights when driving at speed, and yet how many owners take the simplest precautions against this eventuality, such as the operation of cleaning and tightening the connections which secure the cables to the accumulator terminals? These should be cleared of corrosive substances and then smeared with vaseline. Tire cells of the accumulator should be topped up with distilled water, so that tho level of tho electrolyte comes above the plates, and if necessary, the dynamo should be overhauled. ' Tho lamps of cars seen on the road are frequently in such bad adjustment and focus as to give a very poor driving light, while at the same time they produce great inconvenience to other road users. It is really very littlo trouble to take a car out on to a dark road and cover first one haidlamp and then the other in order to adjust the beams individually as regards focus and direction. A point worth remembering is that a good light cannot be obtained with old bulbs or dull reflectors.