THE MOTORIST

Northern Advocate, 24 September 1927, Page 13

THE MOTORIST

TREATMENT OP CABS.

EXPRESSION OF 'CHARACTER,

It has long been tacitly recognised although not so often stated, that when a' man gets an automobile for Mmself he acquires a perfect means for the expression of his character. Everyone is bound to admit that no transportation medium of the past has ever had anywhere near the capabilities for use and misuse that the motor ear now offers, and the judgment of a man by others, as to whether he is a bad operator, will always be based upon how he expresses Mmself by the use of his car. Character as used in this connection must not be confused with morality. Rather, the word includes, besides common attributes, all those individualities and idiosyneraeies which,. wMle not always reprehensible in themselves, make their possessor enough different from other men in

reaction to take Mm out of the aver

age and place him in the class of the unsuccessful or unsafe. This of performance is fortunately high. There is only a minimum of people who are bad. According to statistics,, about 85 per. cent, of all operators have those qualities which make them desirable, while out of the 15 per cent, remaining the whole gamut from a slight tendency towards absentmindedness to actual criminality is run. The safety and transportation problem is to make more people attain the average. The means used to secure that end are education, discipline and general character building. All this is readily apparent to any thoughtful reader, but what is not so plain, but nevertheless worthy of note, is what driving an automobile does to a man. No person can successfully operate an automobile without correct reactions to the various situations in which he is bound to find himself. These are primarily mental, but followed by ,the correct- physical application to accomplish the indicated result they must be correct or safety is sacrificed.

COIL OB MAGNETO. The manufacturer of a well-known coil ignition system makes the ridiculous statement that coils are superior ti magnetos, because they are continually absorbing current and preventing overcharging of the battery. The coil certainly draws direct from the battery when the engine is idling, but with the car runnng on the road and the dynamo charging, the current consumed by a coil is not worth considering. If the generator is delivering 8 to 10 amperes and the coil is using perhaps less than one ampere, its value as a safety valve for an overcharged battery is hardly worth considering. If a battery is being dangerously overcharged the obvious remedy is to alter the generator output. The suggestion that many battery troubles may be eliminated, by abolishing the magneto need not influence owners of perfectly good engines to convert to coil ignition.

CAR DESIGN.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS.

The modern trend of automobile design has been towards relieving the user of all ’work: or adjustment which could be done automatically. The idea underlying motor ear development is to make motoring easy and time-saving. The machine has been developed along the line of being self-lubricating and almost selfadjusting. All unnecessary mechanism lias been eliminated, and the vehicle has been made as self-maintaining as possible. Probably the extensive use of the motor vehicle by women and the wide adaptation of it by the owner-driver, who cannot afford a chauffeur and whose business leaves him little time for giving attention to : the car, have been the causes which have led the designers and manufacturers to devote so much attention to details which, in earlier days were not considered important.

Chassis lubrication has now been recognised as being so important a matter that it is receiving unusual attention at the hands of those who are interested in catering for the modern user of self-propelled vehicles. It is obvious that the greasing of all transmission and suspension mechanisms of the car—often (generally) concealed behind and below valances and running-boards —is not a job suitable for the woman driver. Neither is it a job. which should be imposed upon the much-occupied business or professional man "who wants his car ready and fully equipped for the road at all times. From the maker’s point of view, again, the simplifying of this lubrication problem makes for longer life and wear, and better and more efficient, operation, and must add to the reputation of the firm who completely provide for it. Various forms cf automatic chassis lubrication are now on the market. They are also installed in a large number of wellknown cars, and, will ne found in larger numbers as. the Importance of the matter becomes more evident to motorists and to makers. All motorists will be glad to see the develop- [ monts in this direction and undoubtedly they will halve the effect of increasing the popularity of motoring by removing a very real objection which: many people have to the time and expense—attendant upon the proper care of the ear in the vital matter of lubrication, and in getting longer life and better service for the capital laid out upon the vehicle. i

Neither fines nor imprisonment being effective in California to check the increase in the number of motor fatalities, the magistrates of Berkeley recently came to the w conclusion that the responsibility, lay not with the driver, but with the vehicle. Now the motorist who kills, a man is allowed to go free, but the peccant car is impounded. This is said to be the most effective deterrent yet discovered for reckless driving.

ADVICE TO GUESTS.

ETIQUETTE ON TOUR.

Motorists frequently take friends on tour, and the following advice to guests, if acted, on, will make the tour more pleasurable (states a contributor to the “Melbourne Argus”). An invited passenger, who brings an excess quantity of luggage may not realise the inconvenience he or she causes. The carrying capacity of a car is limited, and one should consult the host as to the limit of luggage that can be conveniently carried. The driver of a car laden with unwieldly suit eases has his own pleasure spoilt by* the realisation that his varnish is .being scraped or his upholstery damaged. Nothing spoils the host’s pleasure more than to be cramped up so that he cannot with perfect freedom control Ms gear levers. Another source of annoyance is the idea that because a private ear is being used strict punctuality is not needed. The host will have planned to be at various towns or places at certain times, and he no doubt bases his time schedule on his knowledge of road conditions. Starting late means that he has to drive faster, and he might be forced to travel at a speed which, due to road conditions, results in broken springs or blown-out tyres. It must be remembered that the hours during which meals can be obtained at hotels are governed by legislation. A driver should not have too much of Ms attention taken from the road by unnecessary conversation. If a host hears his passenger carrying on a ceaseless chatter he realises that the country through which they are passing is of little interest to the guest. ,Many drivers have been irritated by the careless way in which guests, through ignorance, throw their whole weight on the door when alighting from a car; this is . done unintentionally, as one only learns from experience > that a great stress is placed on the hinges, and sagging is caused by putting the full weight on the outer edge of the door when alighting.' Guests should never become what is known among motorists as “back seat drivers,” the man at the wheel becomes pardonably annoyed if the rear passenger is continually offering words of advice or giving unnecessary warnings. On the other hand, tne perfect host will never drive in such a manner as to cause fear to inexperienced passengers. When the car pulls up with the engine running the driver knows that the slow turning over of the engine is pumping oil, which is going to result in carbon deposit. The longer the guest takes in collecting various articles before the driver can garage the car the more petrol is being unnecessarily used, and the more oil he is going to get on his piston heads; therefore the guest should alight quickly, and not cause unnecessary delays.

From a woman’s viewpoint the dominant feature of motor cars this year is that the closed ones are not complete unless they have a doll swinging in careless fashion against the back windows. ' All kinds «f iqueer, freak dolls have made their debut, bobbing up and down grotesquely, as if. in derision, at the ears following behind.

engine troubles.

FINDING THE CAUSES,

When an engine stops contrary to the wishes of the driver, it is a great advantage to know how to set about finding the cause of the failure. Otherwise much time may be lost in futile search and in examination of parts which are in no way to blame. ,An experienced driver will, as often as not, know pretty well what is the matter before the car stops, or, at any rate, before he has left his seat to investigate. This comes from experience and a knowledge of the little peculiarities of his car. The man who has this power has passed the novice stage. A mechanical breakage is, of course, unmistakable, and it brings the ear to a standstill most unpleasantly. Usually there is not much chance of setting it right on the road. If an engine suddenly ceases to function simultaneously in all cylinders, it is almost certain that the cause is not in the engine itself, since it is most unlikely that all the cylinders would go wrong at the same moment, nor all the plugs become shorted together. A very sudden loss of power suggests failure of the ignition or a choked jet; a more gradual falling away, accompanied, perhaps, by hissing and some explosions in the silencer, points to a failure in the fuel supply. A modern magneto is not likely to go seriously wrong without warning. If it does, there is nothing for it but to obtain a spare at the nearest garage and leave the faulty instrument to be put right. It may be, however, that the rocker arm of' the contact breaker has stuck on its bearing and does not make contact quickly enough to function properly. The fact that the points are touching when the cover is removed 'does not prove that they dose properly when running. The bearing of the arm is generally a fibre brush, and in damp weather this may swell and not work freely. It is also possible that the platinum points need attention; they may not be making good contact owing to wear or not separating the correct distance (.4 m.m,), or, again, they may be dirty or pitted. The points should be absolutely flat and meet fairly over their whole surface. The amount of separation should be tested with the gauge provided and should be the same at every opening. Sometimes a cam may require to be set up a trifle. This should be done in the garage at home rather than upon the road. If there is apparently nothing wrong with the contact breaker, i.he magneto may be tested by placing a plug on the cylinder head, taking care that the terminal does not touch metal. Turn the engine over by hand or with the electric starter and watch for a spark between the points. In a bright light it is not easy to see the spark, but the plug may be shaded from the light so that the spark may be seen. A good spark between the points •suggests that there is nothing wrong with the plug or the magneto and its wiring. It is, however, not certain proof, because a plug may spark well enough in the open air, but fail to spark through the compressed gas in the cylinder. The width of the gap should therefore be tested and set to what is known to suit the engine best. Some engines run best with a fairly wide gap, others with a small one. In the absence of definite knowledge on this point, try a gap of .02in or .025 in if a magneto is the source of the spark, or .03in if a coil is used.

THE AMERICAN CAR. MARKET IN BRITAIN, In spite of the reimposition of the McKenna import duties of 33 1-3 per cent, on foreign ears, American motor vehicles imported into Great Britain and Northern Ireland during the first six months of 1927 showed an increase of over 50 per cent, in total value as compared with the first half of last year. There 'were actually decreases in the demand for American chassis and commercial vehicles, but motor ears complete enjoyed a phenomenal demand in spite of the heavy horsepower tax which counts for so much in England. Following are details of the American motor vehicle imports into Great Britain and Northern Ireland during the two half-yearly periods:— 6 Mths.- 6 Mths. - 1926 1927 No. No. Motor ears ....... 2150 7024 Commercial vehicles 120 41 Chassis, all types .. 4283 3625 6562 10,690 Value .... £908,115; £1,590,895

THE DRIVER.

MARKS OF COMPETENCY.

CAB AND CHARACTER.

It is the opinion of Mr E, S. Jordan, of the Traffic Hanning and Safety Committee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, that you can juige a driver’s character by the condition of his ear, and also by the way he passes you on the road. On this latter point he is quoted thus in the Philadelphia “Public Ledger”:— “It is hardly possible to drive fifty miles on the crowded highways today without having dozens -of opportunities to display modesty, courtesy, and selfcontrol. And, of course, behaviour is to that extent an easy way of determining character. The man who sneaks by you, giving you only :an inch or two margin and making you put your car in the ditch, or the man who comes upon you suddenly, tooting his horn so loudly that he frightens your women and children out of their wits, not only is a ‘road hog,’ but obviously is not a gentleman. “Borne time ago a number of nationally known safety experts, leading traffic engineers, famous racing drivers, traffic officers of long experience, psychologists and ordinary drivers , in the United States were interviewed in order to try to determine the standards by which, a driver could measure his own competency and efficiency. Character qualities are inextricably woven into the six essentials of a good driver which were brought out by those interviews. They are: “1. The good driver has a high degree of self-eontrol at all times, this control manifesting itself in various ways.

“2. The good driver always maintains Ms car in such shape that it responds easily and quickly, thus assuring control of the car so far as the purely mechanical equation is concerned.

“3. The good driver regulates his speed in accord with the conditions of the road over which he is travelling, and never travels at such a. rate that lie cannot stop it within the ‘clear course’ ahead.

“4. The good driver accepts the safety of the .pedestrian as a primary consideration.

‘ ‘6. The good driver keeps Ms mind on the road ahead, as day-dreaming or chattering at the wheel causes many more accidents than are caused by stings of bees.

SPEEDER DEFINED. * ‘I do not think that there is a single phase of modern life which gives a person such frequent or excellent .opportunities for exercising self-control as driving a motor car. The tendency and, sometimes, the active desire is to show the other fellow what he ought to he made to do, and sometimes to force him to do it. Someone has said that the speeder is a person who Wants to get there and has nothing to do when he arrives, and that is the most admirable way of characterising him that I can think of.

if There ate two factors which enter into the speeder’s disregard of the rules of the road —his lack of seif-epn-trol and his love of a thrill. More than 90 per cent, of the speeding is due no't so much to the driver’s need for getting somewhere at a certain timeas to his human qualities or weaknesses.”

SOVIET PETROL. British motorists are responding well to the boycott of petrol produced by Russian firms which have paid no compensation to the English companies from whom the oilfields were confiscated. During 1926 Great Britain, imported 55,000,000 gallons of Soviet petrol, but hundreds of dealers are now refusing to handle spirit from this source. The “London Daily Mail” says.:— “Patriotic motorists do not want stolen petrol. Mr R. E. Tweed, the chairman of the Association of British Creditors of Russia, has stated that £71,000,00 of British cash was invested in connection with the oilfields, which the Soviet stole. The Soviet’s dishonesty gives it an unfair advantage over other produc-

6XS* “Oil from these stolen oilfields is being sold by various companies among them ‘R.O.P.’ (the trade name for Russian Oil Products, Ltd.) and the Tower Petroleum Company, Ltd. It is obvious to everyone that profits arising from the sale of this petrol go back to Moscow, and, directly or indirectly, reach the coffers of the Soviet Government. ’ ’

WORLD’S MOTOR FLEET. According to the latest census, there are 28,000,000 motor vehicles in use throughout the world. Of this number 22.000. are owned in the United States of America. Britain’s quota is 1.000. ' Considering that the motor manufacturing industry is only twenty-five years old, it is remarkable that trade has developed to such an extent. Twenty years ago, a statement that the World could absorb 28,000,000 vehicles by 1927 would have been received with derision. Comparisons would have been made, on the basis of the types of vehicles then offering. Today, few people would bother to express doubt regarding the ■possibility of 50,000,000 motors before 1937. V

Remember that there is. always a ; chance of a pedestrian slipping, fnll* ing and being run over by your ear. Don’t try to race against the traffic Signals.

MOTORING TO-DAY.

CHANGE SINCE THE WAB. The cheapness of motoring today is probably its greatest attraction. While the earning capacity of the individual is higher than it was in 1914, actually cars are cheaper in price, and the prin-, cipal items in running costs are lower.; One can get a very serviceable four-; soater for less than £2OO, so that motoring is brought within the means of: many who would not have regarded it as a possibility before the war. The ears that can be bought at the mini-

mum prices are neither cheap in pearance nor indifferent in ance. One can purchase a saloon caff offers an excellent outward showcomfortable accommodation people, at less than £BOO, is •drives easily and pleasantly at 4foiriy-five|i miles per hour, with a possible l#lbit,-ti®| speed of about fifty miles ner‘ hOTral and, by use of its gears, can be . taking up practically anythin in the eoantryi^ — l r“- ■ '".i When ' an automobile spark «ontrotS or generator is equipped With greMeJs cups, the cups should be filled vaseline to eliminate ‘friction.'