THE MOTORIST

Northern Advocate, 26 October 1935, Page 7

THE MOTORIST

SIDE LAMP DAZZLE. TIME FOR SUPPRESSION. What is; the precise use of side lamps on a motor car? Are they required in order that one may see to drive by their light, or are they necessary merely to indicate the approximate width of the vehicle? It is time for these questions to receive an authoritative answer. One view is that the side lamp should not be employed to illuminate the road, for the reasons that it is not normally fitted with any antidazzle device, is very rarely focussed correctly, generally has a reflector that makes focussing difficult if not impossible, ,and —in a word —is a real source of dazzle annoyance and danger through the “spraying” of its beams in an upward direction. Only to Show Width. So long as cyclists are not bound to carry live rear lights it is exceedingly dangerous to rely on a motor vehicle s side lamps as a means of picking them out. Side lamps, also, cannot give timely warning of a pedestrian’s presence. Therefore—apart from the dazzle nuisance which they accentuate —the function of side lamps should be only to show the width of the vehicle to which they are fitted. One simple way of preventing their employment as supplementary, uncontrollable headlamps would be to lay it down that no side lamp should have a bulb exceeding six candle-power, and that all side lamp front glasses should be either frosted of coated with some form pf translucent material, such as tissue paper, which would prevent the filament being visible.

battery connections. AVOIDANCE OF sulphation. ■~tFor various reasons, the terminals of the battery used in connection with car lighting, engine-starting, and ignition are prone to become sulphated. The positive (plus) terminal is the one usually affected. Sulphation is the presence of a light green substance on the terminal to which the cable is secured; it commences as a mere film, but, if neglected, will increase continuously and rapidly until, in a bad case it completely encloses • the terminal and cable-end in the form of a bulbous growth of irregular shape.

With care and patience, the sulphate can be chipped off, but the process is not an to complete effectively, and if the faintest suspicion of sulphate be allowed to remain, the growth will soon redevelop.

Actually,, it is almost impossible to clean a sulphated terminal clip so thoroughly as to make the connection as good as new. That being so, it is advisable to fit a new one, and thereafter do what is needed to prevent the recurrence of sulphating. This implies three things; first; the top of the battery must be kept dry, viz., clear of the electrolyte that tends to “creep” out of the vents of the cells; second, the terminal post, the clip, and the exposed end of the cable must be kept continuously and generously coated with pure vaseline; third, the clip must be kept tight.

Every time the cells are replenished with distilled water, care should be taken to note whether these requirements are fulfilled.