SYDNEY MOTOR SHOW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20472, 25 January 1930, Page 14 (Supplement)

SYDNEY MOTOR SHOW.

DEVELOPMENT OP INDUSTRY. The seventh .Annual Motor Transport Show, which opened in Sydney on January 17, surpasses in general excellence of exhibits anything that has gono before. Over £1,000,000 in value is the mark estimated of tho products on view, covering 40 different makes of cars, 25 different kinds of commercial vehicles, and 25 types of motor-.cycles. In addition, 31 of the 80 stands are devoted to parts, equipment, accessories, electrical fittings, oils and petrols, bodies and incidentals. It is interesting ,lo note, also, tho extent to •which, local industries have been developed lollowing the motor transport's advent. Out of the seventy-ono components of the average motor-car, thirty-fivo are of Australian origin, illustrating tho steady and increasing adoption of Australian-made lines. In the Australian section the display is not an individual one, in that tho various exhibitors do not show their goods in competition with ono another. Manufacturers have submerged their identities in tho general interest of giving maximum publicity to tho Australian-made feature. It is, indeed, a, magnificent show, of which it promoters may well be

proud. ( Over tho past 12 years, the growth o! motoring New South Wtiles been enormous. In 1918 tliero were 30,077motor vehicles in that State, yielding in taxation £84,997, and for the year ending June 30 last they had increased to 278,780 Vehicles': and yielded £1,713,357 in registration and licensing fees for the twelve months. J ' ■ To those pioneer motorists who remember the- first Australian Interstate Motor- ->■ Gar Reliability Trial, from Sydney to Melbourne, promoted just 25 years ago "with a, view to demonstrating the possibilities of the motor-car for use oil Australian loads, these figures are amazing. At that time / tliero were probably not more than 500 cars in the Commonwealth.

IMPROVED CARBURATION. To anyone who has motored for a number of years it is obvious that there is still a great field for improvement in carburatiou. j Tho modern carburettor is a very perfect instrument of its kind, but .thei'o is still much to be done to get the last ounce of efficiency out of the fuel. Ail interesting invention has recently been tested by the American army authorities which, according to their report, gives excellent results. It is known Godward Gas Generator and is designed to. utilise petrol, paraffin, gas oil or fiiel oil. In the normal carburettor the ..fuel is vaporised by passing air through or over it at a high speed and in tho induction system much of this fuel recondensss on tho walls of the pipes. The Godward system provides for the slowing up of the charge, taking advantage of the dropping out of the wet particles which are delayed until they gassifv. This is done by a chamber, the capacity of which equals one cylinder in area. This chamber is so constructed that the incoming charge is subjected to centrifugal action which throws outward all wet particles contained in the charge rather on 7 the principle of a cream separator. There are, howaver, no-moving parts as tho speed of the vapour itself supplies the energy. The unvaporised fuel spreads itself on a. curved / vertical plate surface, heated from tho bottom of the chamber. The heat ascending tho plates by conduction, furnishes a varying temperature from a maximum at the bottom to a minimum at the top. The wet fuel spread in a thin film upon the plates by the action of the air toward the heat. In cold weather the whole range of wet fuel gravitates further toward the heat than in summer, and the less volatile the fuel, the further it has to descend the plates to find for itself the necessary lieafc and other factors for evaporation. The device can be attached to tho intake manifold of any internal combustion engine and it/is also provided with a flange

for. tho attachment of tho usual typo of carburettor. In the report it is stated that tho addition of the Godward apparatus to an internal combustion engine does

provide for the alternate use of a number /of fuels, snch as petrol, kerosene, fuel oil or alcohol, and that additional power with the added advantage of greater fuel economy results. NEW AMERICAN DIESEL. ( " / . r TJio application of engines of tho Diesel, or compression-ignition, typo to motor-car propulsion is brought a stage nearer by very enteresting American design upon which Mr. F. B. Stearns has been engaged for some years ; this has just completed a series of tests with con- " Eiderable success. This engine is a clean and compact unit notablo for the fact if hat the six cylinders are arranged in two banks placed at 60 degrees. A gear-driven countershaft is fitted, parallel to the three-throw crankshaft, .which carries balance weight. Two inclined ancj one fuel-injection valve are provided in the heads for each cylinder and one operated by overhead camshafts. Air is supplied under pressure <o the inlet manifolds by a Roots blower. MOTOR TRADE ITEMS. The rental car system originated centuries, ago in Rome. A group of enterprising Romans developed the idea of hiring out mule-drawn cars called cisiums, catering to thoso whose means precluded their owning a private vehicle.

A tablet is.to be eroded by the Dunlop Rubber Company, England, to porpetuaio the memory of the lato J. B. Dunlop, anil to mark tlie place of business in : May Street, Belfast, Ireland, (Where ho invented and manufactured the first pneumatic tyre.

Tho automobile industry in Italy is enjoying a wave of prosperity. Orders from tibroad are increasing with tho result that ft number of automobile factories are being (enlarged. _ The recent campaign to boycott foreign-built automobiles has been by Mussolini and the importation !>f foreign-built motors is again increasnS-

< Driving a stock model four-Cylinder (Austin 12 h.p. (1860 c.c.) touring car sealed in top gear, Messrs C. E. Dickason unci H. D. Burkill of Melbourne, recontly broke t!io existing record from Sydney Ito Melbourne for ;i car driven all Ljio way in top gear, and also created a new lightcar class record for the journey by covering the distance (565 miles) in I<s hours. 20 minutes, at .an average speed of 42.3 m.p.h. The previous record for the journey in 'top gear was created in 1926 , , by ,i powerful sLx-cylinder car, the time p . being 21 hours, which makes the present performance of the-four-cylinder " Austin" WM-i-jif a r ?ally outstanding one. The drivers J tad a clear run all the way with no tyre ST' t w>ubles Tlx. car was equipped with