MOTORS AND MOTORING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13202, 13 June 1906, Page 9

MOTORS AND MOTORING.

The American records established on the Florida .'sands are being questioned, even protested against, ■ by the Automobile Club of Great Britain, because the 8-cylinder Darracq: car which reached the record speed of 122 miles per hour was riot fitted with " a differential gear on, the axle, as required by; the racing rules of the British Club. 11l several races in France a 4-cylinfler Darracq, also without a differential, successfully competed, and experienced no difficulty on the turns, the outer wheel taking the drive while the inner on© slipped. The American Club, in replying to the protest, stated that it has arrived too late to be entertained,. and the awards will stand as allotted. A new invention emanating from America provides for' a motor-car axle to be made without a differential gear, the compensating action oil the wheels when Jurning being secured by means of cones working on screw threads placed at the extremities of a solid axle. These cones engage with "similar cones inside the wheel hubs, and . their action is as follows:—When the car is travelling straight ahead the cones are engaged and held up to their work by means of the screws, and both wheels receive equal driving effort/ When turning the outer wheel tends to revolve faster and overruns its cone in a similar way to the free wheel device employed on cycles, the whole drive being temporarily taken by the inner wheel. A car fitted with this axle, has recently undergone a long road trial under A.C-G..8. and I. Rules with a great amount of success, one of the additional advantages observed being immunity from side-slip, and as it' runs more freely than a differential gear the car is enabled to take curves at a higher speed. Reversing is provided for by the fitting of outer and inner cones in each hub, one set being used for forward running and the other for reverse. ■ •

A company to be known as the Newman I Hydraulio Motor Car Company, Limited, is j to bo formed in Sydney, with a capital of £10,000 in £1 shares, to purchase the rights of an Australian invention for propelling by hydraulic pressure ' motor vehicles of every description, from the very small car to the traction waggon, including motor 'buses and trams, with the object of selling or otherwise dealing . with such rights in London or some other large manufacturing centre. Applications for patents have been lodged in Great Britain, 1 the United States of - America, France, Germany, and* elsewhere. The invention is said to entirely do away with the present inefficient transmission mechanism, comprising the clutch, --shafts, and change speed gears,' with' their complicated attachments, and -substitutes an hydraulic piston gear of extreme simplicity, which Mr; Henry . Deane, M.lnst. C.E., Sydney, the well-known • engineer, states in his report on the invention has considerable advantages over the | present system, starting being particularly ; j easy, and any change of speed from zero to the maximum obtainable, forward or reverse,, being affected without jerk. Should the invention bo all it is claimed to be there willbo a tremendous future for it. ' .

Tho cost of tyre up-kcep is one of the heaviest items in a -year's- running, but this can be kept , within reasonable limits by careful treatment. In the first place, a ear should always be fitted with tyres large enough to allow of : carrying a good margin over its ordinary load. - Then the tyres should always bo pumped up. hard: nothing tends to wear, out a tyre more quickly than, running it not fully inflated. All cuts one the cover should be. cleaned and plugged with tyre cement/as ; soon as the car lias been garaged, so that the repair may have plenty of time to set and harden before the car is again -used. A small portable vulcanising apparatus is now obtainable with which these repairs can be made of a permanent character. Bv * means of - a steam heater, which is attached to the wheel by straps, the rubber and solution placed in a' gash is so vulcanised on to the existing rubber that it is impossible to tell where the repair has been made. This apparatus is of a size which permits it- to be carried on a car when touring, and should form by no means the lea'fc important portion of the repair outfit. . It is the general rule to nowadays carry-a spare tyre cover and inner tube attached to brackets placed at the driver's side of a. car, which owing to the gear and brake levers has never to be used as a means for entrance. The tourist is thus rendered independent of local assistance in case of trouble, and when called on to use the spare tyre- can telegraph to have another one sent on to await his arrival at a distant point of the tour.' . A challenge has been issued in America by a Mr. W. J. Morgan to match .Demegeot and his Dtinlbp shod 200-h.p. Darracq against any locomotive in America on any railway road track from one up to. 1000 miles, for the supreme speed championship of the world. The idea of the challenge is to fit light metal-flanged wheels to the two miles a minute Darracq, and race it either on parallel rails with a railway engine or on the same track, for Mr. Morgan is ciuite agreeable -to either start' the car ahead or behind the locomotive, and make a pursuit race of it. The challenger suggests that the race should take place in May or June, the loser to pay for a £100 cup, emblematic of the speed championship of the world. Although such a match would be full of interest it is doubtful whether any of the American railway companies will accept the challenge. In the first place there is" a big doubt whether a locomotive by itself would stay on the rails at a speed of 125 miles an hour, the pace ' attained by Demegeot and his Datracri on Florida "Beach - last January. Tho same , risk, if n't a greater one, would also applv to the car, which would weigh onlv slightly over one ton. and would be inclined to fly off the rails. There is. no doubt that if a racing automobile could be kept on the rails a very high soeed could be attained, for, during Mr. C.'J. Glidden's motor tour across the United States, ho f,billed the consent of one of the railway complines to drive his car along the track, Steel-flanged wheels were substituted for his Dusiiop-snod ones, and the car acted with great success: and although only a touring Napier car, fitted with a heavy,, body, Mr. midden found that lie could more than hold his own with the express trains, one of which he overtook. " "

An exhibit at the recent European motor shows that ■excited much curiosity was a contrivance known- as a motor-skate, the invention of a Frenchman, who has adapted the petrol engine to n pair of wheel skates. A lji-h.p. fan-cooled- motor provides the power, the petrol tank (carrying enough for about 50 miles' running) and ignition details' being supported by a belt worn round the skater's waist. Holding the commutator in his right hand, the skater opens the patrol inlet _ tap, and strikes, forward with ins foot as in ordinary skating. When the motor begins ,to work each foot is allowed to f:hoot forward in turn. A speed of over 30 miles an -hour is said to he attainable. ' It is doubtful whether the contrivance will prove practicable, or that the invention will prove a mechanical or commercial success. ' '• Ltxx.