MOTORING WORLD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 182, 3 July 1936, Page 6

MOTORING WORLD

NOTES. • A Stoke-on-Trent motorist lias just been convicted for his thirty-sixth motoring offence. His fines total over £SOO. •Two motor licenses, one for the day time and one for night time, were suggested by a councillor at- a meeting of the Association of Public Lighting Engineers in London, and that a charge of 50 per cent, more should be made for rho night licenses. It would be necessary for the day and night driver to take out both licenses.

Olympia, London’s great exhibition building, which for so long has been the Mecca, of the motoring world each autumn, will house the International Motor Show for the last time this year. On the site of the old Earl’s Court Exhibition a new building providing 12 acres of floor space is to be erected, and a provisional agreement for the 1937 show to be lield there lias already been signed. Motor owners in California are subject to arrest if they fail within 10 days in giving notice of change of address. The addresses of owners are shown on their ownership certificates. In no circumstances should chrom-ium-plated parts be cleaned with an abrasive polish. If the car is cleaned and looked after regularly, rubbing such parts with a damp rag would be sufficient to remove all traces of travel stain's, and u final polish with a soft cloth will restoro iis pristine appearance.

When celluloid side curtains lose some of their transparency through rubbing and scratching an application of ordinary metal polish will usually help to restore them. If they become very discoloured, however, a soft rag soaked in warm vinegar should be rubbed over them. Another suggestion is to dissolve two ounces of flexible collodion in a mixture of two ounces of methylated spirits, two ounces of acetone, and two ounces of amyl acetate, and rub over the celluloid. With battery and coil ignition, the only moving parts are the contactbreaker and distributor. Both these require very little lubrication, but it is. important that the bearing below the distributor housing should be kept well lubricated. The contact-breaker points in the distributor must be kept clean and entirely free from oil. TO STOP DAZZLE. NEW REGULATIONS IN ENGLAND. Regulations ordering “anti-dazzle headlights on the road will come into force in England, on October 4 next for all new vehicles, and on October 3, 1937, for existing vehicles. The Royal Automobile Club denounces the principal operative clause about “a beam of light incapable of dazzling at 25 feet irom the lamp” as unworkable. It is maintained that it is impossible to define precisely cither “beam of light” or “dazzle.” A technical offence would be based on measurements involving inches. According to the regulations it appears to be compulsory to carry antidazzle lamps, but not compulsory to use them. Good points of the regulations arc fliat they permit the use oi doublefilament bulbs and limit the power ol .sidelights. Further, it is hoped that tlie use of foreign bulbs will bo checked and that the unsatisfactory form of head-lamps which allow one to be switched off and the other pointed straight ahead will bo changed. Many thousands- of cars arc so fitted at present. They will all hnve_ to be changed before October 3, 1937. PURE WATER. USE FOR BATTERIES.

The purity of the water used for refilling the radiator and the storage battery will in the long run have a very pronounced effect on the condition of those units. Most motorists are aware that only distilled water should he added to the battery when if is necessary to top-up the cells, hut sometimes they are tempted to use rain water, or what is supposed to he an unmineralised public supply. It must he emphasised that die word pure is used in a scientific sense, and that even a very slight degree of contamination can cause serious deterioration of the plates of the battery. The electrolyte or solution which surrounds the plates of the cells consists of distilled water and chemically pure sulphuric , arid, in prescribed proportions. A I certain amount of the water. » liich Us the lighter constituent, ('aporj ales, and for that reason the cells should be examined every few weeks, nd the level of the fluid brought.

above the plates by adding distilled water. Only when the electrolyte has leaked away or been spilt is it permissible to add a solution of water and acid, and in such circumstances the topping-up of the cells should be done at a service station, where a solution of the right specific gravity is procurable. But the periodical refilling ol the battery must not be neglected, lor when the material of the plates is exposed to the air it is soon affected. Chemical contamination is also most harmful, and there is only one substitute for distilled water which is not utterly undesirable. That is rain water which has been collected in a gla/.ed vessel, alter the rain has been falling long enough to rid the air of dust. Many cities and towns rightlv boast ol the purity ol their supplv of water, but no matter how uncontaminated the source might be its passage through metal pipes will cause it to pick up some chemical impurities. When refilling the cells it is best to wipe the top of the battery belore removing the plugs, so that there will be no risk ol dirt lading into the solution ; and the cells should not be replenished to too high a level, lor I hen the liquid may splash out or creep up the terminals.