"GADGETS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19376, 10 July 1926, Page 10 (Supplement)

"GADGETS."

AN ORGY OF INVENTION. The automobile has given inventors more scope, more success and more failure than any of the multifarious machines in daily use. Wireless, shipbuilding, the construction of deadly war material, have not. exercised as many minds in the last decade as the ordinary motor-car. As long as the automobile remains imperfect there will be thousands of enthusiasts with and without material knowledge who will devote time and money to the exploitation of ideas. The merest germ of merit in an invention connected with automobiles will often involve the expenditure of futile thousands. Patent offices throughout the world are the repository of innumerable notions which have been committed to paper in an enthusiastic moment and allowed to pass into the limbo of impracticable devices when better counsels have prevailed. Of 35,000 patents filed in the British Patents Office in 1925, 12,250 were concerned with motor vehicles. Ten years ago the automobile had many failings, and almost all patents were aimed to improve some inefficient part. Twenty years ago, the motor-car was such a tricky piece of machinery that few inventors bothered with refinements and accessories on account of their small value compared with some invention which would improve the reliability of the car. The modern gearbox is the evolution of a dozen tried-inventions. Scores of patents have brought the modern magneto to its present efficiency. Floating axles, steering. gears and carburetters have all received advancement from the pooling of the best features of scores of patents. The modern car is such a satisfactory machine in the clumsiest hands that advancement is slowing down and fewer patents are deserving of incorporation in a design. Consequently thousands of inventors confine their researches to the ) production of some "gadget" which will attract the fancy of car owners even if automobile manufacturers reject it as a useless oddment. Some gadgets are merely made to sell. They are forgotten after a few days on the car. Patents of this type are swamping the patent offices, and only a few in many hundreds are destined to prove popular or even practicable. Quite the most prolific source of patents is the headlight. Anti-dazzle devices are legion and yet the dazzle problem has not been solved to universal satisfaction. It is surprising what varying patents identical ideas have produced. Many years ago an experimenter claimed to have improved the efficiency of an automobile engine by injecting water into the cylinders with the charge. The notion was exploited by many, and handsome little cylinders to furnish the precious fluid , were sold for attachment. Needless to say such inventions were rejected by leading automobile manufacturers. Then chemical preparations for doping the petrol have attracted some notice. If these had any merit oil companies would have used them long ago to improve their products.

Hundreds, of " ideal " carburettors have been patented, and yet there is not one make of carburetter in the world which gives a perfectly proportioned mixture at all times and speeds. . Some are very flexible and are nearing perfection, but the mere fact that such attention is given to tuning up the carburettion of racing machines, is proof that these units have their eccentricities still. A carburetter which extracted hundreds of pounds from the pockets of New Zealand investors proved to be based on a miscalculation. Its function was to vaporise the fuel direct from the benzine tank. By the suction of a fan, the volatile vapours were drawn from the surface of the benzine. Certainly remarkable economy was obtained from the first evaporations. The inventor, however, could not explain why the useless elements in the-spirit were left behind, gradually concentrating as the efficient composites were evaporated, until the last few gallons in the tank were not worth using. As long as there are inventors there will be financial i backers willing to risk money .for the tempting bait which the automobile industry holds out to anyone who can offer a genuine improvement.

MURIWAI BEACH. Muriwai Beach is still inaccessible on account of the washout of the approach. The question of repairs has not been settled on account of the Motutara Domain Board's small revenue. The Government has made a grant toward'the restoration of the road, but further assistance is required. Muriwai Beach has become such a popular summer resort for campers and motorists that the aid of the Tourist Department is warranted. " WApEI-TATJRANGA ROAD. The unmetalled portion of the WaihiTauranga Road is in a very bad state at present for motor traffic. From Waihi to Katikati the surface is good, but about seven or eight miles beyond Katikati the road commences to bo simply a mass of deep mud. Two cars were bogged on Monday afternoon at almost the same spot, both having to be towed out. Two other cars were abandoned nearby. Service cars are maintaining their programme, but for cars with low clearances the road is not passable. ACCESS TO 310T0RUA. Practically no cars are entering Rotorua from side at present, nearly all motorists preferring to rail their cars from Putaruru. The Mamaku Road is impassable, while the Putaruru-Atiamuri route is also very bad. The worst section if from Tokoroa to Atiamuri, and although one or two. .cars have been, getting through during the fine weather, motorists are advised not to risk the journey. Lorries, engaged on afforestation work are largely responsible for the present state of tho road. ' ~ f ~~ ■' ■ Motor-cycling, Page 12.