MANUFACTURE OF CARS

NZ Truth, Issue 1274, 1 May 1930, Page 14

MANUFACTURE OF CARS

Uses For New Metals Frequently Being Discovered CARBON STEELS AND ALLOYS

Many of the materials that go into motor-cars to-day are different from those of even so short a time as twelve or eighteen months ago, when the 1929 models were introduced.

MANY of the changes are just beginning to be recognised by the car buyer. An illustration of this is found m brightly plated exterior parts. The motorist's first thought is chromium plating. He is right m most instances, but breaks m the »line here and there find car makers using stainless steel for parts previously treated with chromium. , • The manufacturer of two popular sixes, for example, is using a hood hinge of stainless steel m spite of the fact that chromium plating was largely developed by the corporation of which this company is a unit. ■In the. products of other" car manufacturers, stainless steel is being used, to an. even larger extent for exterior parts likely to feel the effects of weather. Despite the fact that this type of steel is four times as expenr sive as ordinary grades, the maker of one fine car is using it for virtually all bright exterior parts. Others are considering it for various units. Another member of the same family that is coming into wider use is rustless iron. Its first application to a motor-car was m the form of running board moldings. The first user was. the manufacturer of a line of sixes and eights. Others how are looking into it. In three of the largest motor-car laboratories, experiments are being conducted with an entirely new type of steel for use m crankshafts. While details of the new metal are not yet available, it is known it eliminates the process of heat treatment/ EXPLOITED METAL The recent introduction of a series of new models by the maker of one of the x most expensive cars marked the first use m the United States of hitrided steel m motor-car fabrication. This metal has been much exploited m Europe, and its progress 'is being watched with special attention by American engineers and metallurgists. ■ • , A great deal of case-hardened I steel, of course, is employed m motor-cars, and many feel that something still harder, less corrosive, less easily distorted and capable of withstanding heavier impact <is to be desired. It is this fact that has foeussed so much attention on hitrided steel, which

! is claimed •to possess these desirable virtues. The nitriding process was developed at the Krupp Works m Germany. It was introduced m America by Adolphe Aubert, a. French steel maker, who holds the rights to the process outside of Germany. While it has failed so far to find an application m America outside of the steering gear of the car referred to above, it has caught on more strongly, m Europe, where it has been longer known. One of the most expensive European cars uses nitrided steel for cylinder walls, crankshafts, timing gears, camshaft gears, clutch disc, valve tappets, water pump, and other engine parts. TENDENCY TO RUMBLE A new ingredient that has recently gone into the making of automobiles is asphaltum. A coating of this substance is being applied to the inner side of the steel body panel to remove its tendency to rumble. Several of .the more expensive cars are using it. 1 Rubber having displaced metal m so many parts of the average automobile, it is of note that one instance has recently developed Jn which metal has displaced rubber. That is m the clutch. When the 1929 cars were introduced, rubber inserts were to be found' in virtually all clutches. Their purpose' was to prevent the matching of engine and drive mechanism vibrations. Recently, 'after months of experiment, the maker of one of the most popular sixes decided the same end could better be achieved by using a small coiled spring instead of a rubber insert. One continuing discussion with regard to the metals used m car-mak-xmx is that/ relating to the springs. \*frtually, all laboratories have considered, and continue to consider, the relative superiority of a carbon or i\\loy steel for spring material. The final word on the subject hos not been spoken. Some have chosen a carbon steel, ethers an alloy. Carbon steels are Uess expensive but more material is necessary, which makes them as costly m the final analysis as one of the alloys, some declare. \ In such ways, as these are the ingredients of automobiles undergoing changes. The trend is o"C for which most observers can see no *?.nti. for as one of the- greatest engineers declares: "We are just beginning lo learn how to use metals."