MOTORING WORLD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 310, 28 November 1936, Page 7

MOTORING WORLD

NOTES. It is not generally known that it is an offence to smoke when driving a car in Czechoslovakia. Fine new highways are being developed in Russia to meet increasing motoring needs. One of the most important, which now connects Moscow with Kiev, is designed for 75 m.p.h. travel. Battery cables and ground wires are frequently broken by a loose battery bouncing around in the container. The San Francisco motorists appear to be waging a losing war against parking meters. The city Board of Supervisors has voted in favour of giving the meters a further period ol trial. Much easier gear shifting may be accomplished with transmissions having a ball type gear shift lever if the ball is lubricated occasionally. This can be done by pressing down on the gear shift lever and squirting transmission oil on the ball with an oil can. Care should be taken in letting the lever return, to position, as oil will be splashed on the interior of the car if the lever is allowed to snap back into place. Grease does not harm a cellulose lacquer finish on a car, but it should not be left on for any length of time. It can be removed easily by washing the car with a mixture of about one pint of kerosene to tour gallons of water. Afterwards wash down with clean water before drying with a chamois cloth. Traffic signals have been installed at Washington Airport to control lioii automobile and air traffic. The aeroplane runway crosses a main road, and the aeroplanes taking off wait for the green light at the crossroads before tney move, while at the same time a rear light stops the oncoming crossroad traffic. ACCIDENT LOCALITIES. UNSUSPECTED DANGERS. A surprising and important fact emerges from an official analysis of the causes and circumstances of 5289 road accidents, involving the death of 64V 7 persons, in Great Britain last year. The figures prove that the greater the danger the less likelihood there is of an accident. Two great enemies to safe motoring are fog and rain; yet only 2 per cent of the fatalities occurred in fog or mist, and only 12.5 in tret weather. Night driving is generally believed to be more dangerous than travelling in the daylight, yet 58 per cent of the accidents occurred in the daytime. Nearly 62 per cent happened on the open roads; only 30 per cent at junctions— always dangerous points. The analysis shows that where the danger is obvious, care is exercised and accidents are thus avoided. Evidently, speed is not the main cause of smashes, because 62 per cent occurred in built-up areas, where the limit is 30 miles an hour. Bicycles were involved in 1497 (17. per cent) accidents, a substantial increase over the. previous year’s figures. Only in 235 instances were mechanical defects the cause of fatalities. Among the motor-drivers it was shown tnat accidents were most common in the 21—30 age group, while nearly one-third of the cyclists killed were under 18 years of age. No less than 83 per cent of the pedestrians killed (2575) wore considered to have been the sole or main cause of the accidents in which they lost their lives. EMPHASIS ON SPEED. At a recent meeting of the United States Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, the following decision was made: — . “In lino with the automobile industry’s highway safety policies, the board of directors of the Automobile Manufacturers’ Association recommends to its members that they eliminate from their advertising and publicity ail reference to vehicle top speeds.” It is felt by manufacturers that too much attention has been paid in the past to the matter of sheer speed and that the psychological effect on prospective purchasers has been bad. Manufacturers have been advised to direct their publicity efforts to the dependability, safety, comfort, and economy of their products. NEW PISTON DESIGN. A problem which for a long time has been associated with the design and production of light aluminium alloy pistons has been to provide qn effective means of compensating for the clifterenco between the heat expansion coefficients of cast-iron cylinder walls and the piston alloy, and lor temperaturo differences, so that the clearance would remain substantially constant under all operating conditions and temperatures. One of the foremost American manufacturers of pistons has tackled the problem with a design ill which are used parallel members of steel and aluminium, and the claim is made for the- new design that expansion can definitely bo controlled on the thermostatic principle. It is reported that the new piston has passed all its tests very satisfactorily, and it is expected that a number of 1937 American cars will be equipped with it. FAULTY “WIG-WAGS.” LOCATING DEFECTS. The electrically-operated direction indicators which are now standard fittings on a farge number of cars require practically no maintenance attention other than the occasional application of a spot of thin oil to the pivot on which the arm rocks. When the signals are fitted in the door pillars of the body space is somewhat cramped and the arms are required to swing outward through very narrow slits. In the ordinary way they have ample working clearance, but if an arm be slightly distorted it may foul the side of the casing. This, however, probably will not prevent its being raised, because the pull of the solenoid is fairly powerful. But when the current is shut off, the arm returns to the closed position by gravity, and, as it is of very light con. struction, it may jam if it-touches the casing. A signal arm partially erected may be misleading to other drivers, while, furthermore, it is in a position to be damaged perhaps beyond repair. For these reasons the arms should have perfectly free movement. A brief examination will show whether or not they are clear of their casings, and n they tend to foul, it will probably be sufficient to centralise them by gentle bending. In a bad case it may, perhaps, be necessary to file the lip of the casing.