UNSIGHTLY SIGNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 12 (Supplement)

UNSIGHTLY SIGNS.

(LANDSCAPE EXPLOITED. The A.A. A. and several county councils are endeavouring to discourage the erection of unsightly signs in the country. The roads to many of our most picturesque resorts are being used liberally to advertiso motor-cars, oil products and <£• tale agents. Several of the oil companies have given the A. A.A. permission to remove their signs from posts to make room for A.A.A. direction boards. There arc, however, dozens of people who continue to advertise their wares on the highway Unsightly signs aro not the most inartistic affliction on the roads. Somebody has found a cheaper way of advertising by the simple expedient of daubing a few words on convenient fences and posts. These paint brush signs can be counted by the score on any 100-mile trip. In the absence of paint, tar has been used. A benevolent advertiser incorporated direction signs in his highway publicity, but even this is not a saving grace. In many cases the zeal of the advertiser has obscured his desire to bo useful to the motor traveller, and " danger signs have been lavishly distributed at the most in significant cornors and hills. This leads to contempt of really important signs. The countryside cannot be, expurgated in s few months, but it is time that a national regulation curtailed the distribution of roadside advertising. CYLINDER WEAR. Wear of automobile pistons after 2000 miles running of the car averages between one and two one-thousandths of an inch, according to figures compiled by the American Research Foundation. ■ " Original clearance in a new engine is from three to four one-thousandths of an inch," the bulletin states. " After running 2000 miles the space between the piston and the cylinder wall is increased 40 per cent. For economical running of the engine and preservation of the life of the "car an entirely different grade of lubricating oil must be nsed from this period on. " Wear inside the cylinder is constant, and the grade of oil must be, changed again after 10,000 to 12,000 ■miles, when the clearance has increased to, 100 per cent, more than the original space." While the figures may be accepted as J general experience, it is impossible to ay down a definite rate of wear for all engines. There will be differences according to whether aliminium or cast iron pistons are used, and a high speed motor most receive more wear through the additional number of piston strokes for it given mileage. If laboratory tests are accepted it seems certain that air ' filters will greatly reduce wear, -while it must cot be forgotten that thinned oil will increase the friction. ' i - v * * FAN BELTS. i f v-_ 'Although the fan belt is a small part iqf a motor-car, it can give , a great Amount of trouble. The General Motors xesearch laboratories some years ago decided. that, something should be done about it. . First, they had to devise a testing apparatus that would give a fart belt as much wear in a few hours as it ■would get in months and months of driving. ■/ Aad with this apparatus they found that they could wear out''in seven hours 'the best belt they could buy. : > Now, why did it give way ? That Is the first question a research main always asks himself. They went back and found out, and improved it so that they got eight hours wear. Then they improved it again and got nine—then again, and got ten honrs. Improving this one raised the time to seventy-five hours. Again they tried b different way, and the belt ran 120 hours. The research men broke that Belt avid more, tiD finally they .began to get the fundamentals of design, and pro duced a belt that ran over 350 hours on thia terrific test. This is fifty times, or 5000 percent.,63 long as the one that. stood through seven hours' test. Yet since that time the belt manufacturers have gone further, and, co-operating with General Motor's engineers, have developed belts that run over 500 hours, and still the end is not in -sight. MOTOR TRADE ITEMS. Sixty-nine per cent, of the artificial leather produced in the United States is absorbed by the automobile industry. ! The Lea Francis Company, of Coventry,.builders of fours and sixes, are experimenting with constant, mesh gearboxes of various types. These gearsets have been the subject of experiments by numerous car designers, and the Chandler Company of America introduced them on standard models about two years ago. The gears in sets of this nature can be changed at all Speeds without the necessity for double clutching or exercising any care to" prevent a noisy engagement. One of the most interesting English cars jnst introduced is .a new Morris product designed to supply the overseas demand lor something heavier than the well known Oxford and Cowley cars. It is a full five seater rated at 15.9 h.p.,. and the trice in New Zealand should be well elow £SOO The new Morris has a four cylinder engine of 2513 c.c. The bore is 80 m.m., and the stroke is 125 m.m. There is a four speed gearbox, force feed lubrication aiid half elliptic springs. The front seats are of the bucket type, and the four wheel brakes are internal expanding. In order to give a: good clearance the drive is by overhead worm, and all brake connections are con structed ;so that the vulnerable parts can {tot be damaged on rough ground.