THE MOTOR WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22790, 27 January 1936, Page 2

THE MOTOR WORLD

By ACCELERATOR.

Items of news—short descriptions etc., comment, or inquiries—wil

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. , From Broadway Parking and Petrol Station, Ltd., High and Maclaggan streets, their artistic wall calendar for the current year. * , . A. A. (Wanganui) has sent on the booklet containing all particulars of the second A.A. motor rally to be held in March. ■ MIDGETS IN CHRISTCHURCH. Work is going ahead in Christchurch on the construction of miniature cal's, which, it is hoped, will be seen racing on the Monica Park cinder track before the fctroadsiding season is finished. Mr Charles Roscoe, formerly a’ wellknown broadsider in Christchurch, and a brother of Jack Roscoe, a prominent rider now, completed one of these cars some little time ago, but it was not altogether satisfactory in its trials and he dismantled it. He hopes to have it together again in the near future, however, and it is likely that it will be given a trial run on the cinders very shortly. ANOTHER MOTOR RALLY. The first motor rally held in New Zealand, organised by the Automobile Association (Wanganui) in February last year was such a success that another similar event is to be held from March 7 to 9 this year. In future it will be an annual event. There will be three classes —for sports care of any horse-power; cars of 15 horsepower and over; and cars of 14.9 horsepower and under. At least £OO will be given in prize money, £2O being allocated to each class. Prizes will be given _ for the beat performance given by cars driven by women and there will be other special prizes. All competitors will have to cover between 550 and 600 miles, at an average speed of 20 to 30 miles an hour. The nine starting points will be Wellington, Palmerston North, Wanganui. New Plymouth, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Gisborne and Napier.

AN INGENIOUS INVENTION.

Every motorist has, at some time or other, suffered the annoyance of finding the car he has left parked at the side of the road securely bottled in by two other vehicles. A London doctor, who has perhaps had more of these exasperating experiences than most motorists, has patented a fitment which he claims entirely overcomes such difficulties. His experimental car will be the envy of every taxi driver in the world, for it provides what is to all intents and purposes a right-angle lock! Underneath the centre of the front axle is a pair of small wheels which cau be instantly lowered by orthodox jacking mechanism. Preferably, a hydraulic action is employed so that depression of a conveniently-situated pedal instantly jacks up the front of the car, which is then supported by the small wheels. The device -is linked up with the steering mechanism in such a way that these jacking wheels respond to it in the same way as the road wheels, except that they turn through a much greater angle—on full lock, nearly a right angle. With the front road wheels jacked up, it is, of course, easy enough to turn the steering wheel. So the owner of a car fitted with this device who finds Ills vehicle wedged in has only to depress the pedal a few times, turn the steering wheel to full lock, and drive out sideways. Once clear, a simple release allows the car to be lowered on to the road wheels again. Incidentally, this arrangement has another advantage. At a pinch, the car can be driven to the nearest garage on the jack wheels should one of the front tyres be punctured. As the mechanism can be produced cheaply, it would not be an expensive matter to equip both front and rear axles with the device, which would then serve for four-wheel jacking. In addition, it would make the car wonderfully easy to manoeuvre in a garage. STEAM CAES. From time to time the performance and i possibilities of steam-driyen cars forms an interesting topic of discussion. Here we have the latest contribution on the subject, in which a revival is prophesied:— Exactly 2065 years ago a man watched a spinning ball of copper, ringed Saturnlike by a halo of steam that whistled from the two projecting nozzles in its sides. Hero, the great Roman scientist, had invented the first steam engine. It was not until 1810 years later that Huyghens began exploding gunpowder in a cylinder with a piston, and the first internal combustion engine was born. Both types of engine have been developed, but even to-day, with all the concentrated attention that has been given to the perfection of the internal combustion engine, the flexibility and silence of the simplest of steam engines have never yet been approached. The modern motor car engine, no matter tow refined and silent, is not truly flexible, for the series of violent internal explosions from which it derives its power makes it necessary for it to run at high speeds in order that its best performance be Hence all sorts of complications, such as gear boxes, clutches, fluid flywheels and the like, have been added to it and are still being devised. But what of the steam car, which achieves in the simplest possible manner those results in order to obtain which designers are constantly complicating the internal combustion car? The average motorist, picturing something reminiscent of an old type of steam lorry with a grimy engineer shovelling coal into a maw with a glowing furnace, and blowing out a poisonous mixture of sparks, smoke, and steam, holds up his bands in horror. He is not to be blamed, for so very few people have ever seen a modern steam car; would not recognise one if they saw it. For if a steam car and a petrol car are placed side by side it is almost impossible to tell which is which, so similar in appearance are they. It is oniy by raising their respective bonnets that the steam car is revealed, for the casing of a small boiler can then be seen occupying the position of the more normal petrol engine. Wliat excuses has the steam car to offer in order that it may supplant the petroldriven car?

In the first place, the steam engine is a more logical means of propulsion than the petrol engine, for the steam is let into the cylinders and exerts its pressure under complete control, as opposed to the uncontrollable explosions which take place inside its competitor. Hence to move away from a standstill, the driver of the steam car has only to depress the accelerator pedal slightly. Should he fully open the throttle, the maximum torque of the engine is instantly transmitted to the rear wheels, when acceleration is limited only by wheel spin. *lost motorists have seen an express engine spinning its driving wheels when its throttle is opened to haul its carriages out of a station. Here is an excellent example of the flexibility of steam power. In fact, the steam car has something of the Jekyll and Hyde in it. For it will slide, silent as a wraith, through the traffic and creep along at less than walking pace, and then, by the mere opening of the throttle, be instantly transformed into a high-speed sports car with the acceleration of & Brookland* tborough-

i of tours, the state of the roads, 11 be welcomed by Accelerator.

bred. In a country the roads of which are becoming more and more congested, it is the amazing acceleration of the steam car which will possibly be one of its greatest selling points in the future. The steam car is perfectly silent, its exhaust steam being passed into a condenser and returning as water to the boiler. Incidentally, the fact that the exhaust steam is condensed results in a gain in power as opposed to the loss of power, due to back pressure which is Occasioned by the silencing system of a patrol car. For tig the steam is condensed, a vacuum is formed in the pipe between the condenser and the cylinders. Thus the pistons tend to be " sucked up ” when the exhaust ports open, the exhaust stroke becoming a power stroke. Because of its simplicity and the low stresses it receives, the steam engine is infinitely reliable. It cannot overheat and can be driven at full thrtotle indefinitely. Further, since there are no internal explosions in its cylinders, there is no formation of carbon to entail more or less frequent top overhauls, lubrication is simplified, and all moving parts work under ideal conditions.

One of the main objections to the steam cars of the old days the time entailed in getting up a, sufficient head of steam to start —some 20 minutes in the case of the older types. This was entirely due to the use of a fire tube boiler, which, although it has its merits, is far more suitable for work in railway locomotives and ships than for road vehicles. Modern steam cars and aircraft make use of the flash boiler, by which very high steam pressure can be obtained in seconds. A flash boiler has very little water in it at any time. It consists of very many coils of steel tube of about half an inch diameter, which are exposed to the heat of the burner. Water enters the lower coils and is instantly flashed into steam. As the steam rises through the remaining coils, it is highly superheated, and enters the cylinders of the engine at a pressure of from 7001 b to 10001 b.

There is very little possibility of a flash boiler “ bursting,” but oven should it do so, no harm can bo done. If one of the boiler coils splits, which is what is meant by the term “ bursting,” the steam harmlessly escapes. The small quantity of water present in the boiler, being distributed through a long length of tube, cannot itself do any harm, i The most advanced design of steam car now in existence, starting with cold water, can get up a sufficient head of steam to move awmy in less than 90 seconds. In less than live minutes it can raise enough steam to develop its maximum brake-horse-power. It consumes fuel oil, and has an average consumption of about 12 miles per gallon, a figure which is comparable with that of the average petrol car of similar horse-power.

Every operation of the modern steam car’s boner is automatically taken care of by a group of solenoid magnets actuated by an expanding metal tube. These magnets control the rate at which water is pumped into the boiler. As the heat of the burner increases, the metal.tube expands, and, actuating the solenoids, allows the flow of water entering the boiler to increase. Thus the boiler delivers of its maximum efficiency under all conditions. The steam car is to all intents and purposes a one-control car. In other words, its driver can start from a standstill, run through its entire speed range and climb the steepest gradients, using the accelerator-pedal alone. Reversing is simply carried out by reversing the engine. In comparison with the hundreds of thousands of petrol cars, there is only a handful of steam cars in the world. And yet, these few cars have in them the germ of the perfect road vehicle. If only a fraction of the concentrated attention that has been given to the internal-combustion car during the past.,2o years had been applied to the development of the “ steamer,” we might to-day have the perfect car.

The possibilities of the steam car are being examined with renewed interest today, and there is a likelihood that a great deal may be heard of it in the not far distant future. NEW MODEL BUICK. The newest Buick, now available in New Zealand, is the result of two years of preparation involving complete redesign of the car and sweeping changes in manufacturing facilities. The Buick Series 40 Special is a 118-inch wheelbase car powered by a 93 horse-power straight eight engine of valve-in-head design. Somewhat heavier than last year’s Buick, it duplicates the exceptional performance of that ear. A top speed of 85 miles an hour is claimed.

Radiators are high and wedge-shaped with die-cast chromium grilles. Fenders, entirely new in design, are speedlined and attached to a flat running board. The long hood is carried forward to meet the grille, at which point is mounted an attractive modernistic radiator ornament. New bodies by Fisher are streamlined from cowl to tail, featuring sharply slanted split Vee-type windshields with double windshield wipers mounted at the bottom. The outstanding 1936 Buick body feature is Fisher all-steel “ turrettop,” with which all cars are equipped. Besides being an important structural and

safety factor, the “turret-top” is regarded as one of the major appearance features of the car. The interior matches its exterior. Here also the speed-line motif prevails in the design of door and ventilator handles, instrument panel, trim and all interior fittings. Buick makes its bow for 1936 with an entirel” new and modern emblem, a figure “8 ” superimposed upon an attractive Buick shield. This is carried just above the right centre of the radiator grille, and is to be found as an identifying mark .on the instrument panel and on the rear of the built-in trunk. The engine develops 93 horse-power at 3200 r.p.h. The S.A.E. rated horse-power is 30.63. Outstanding features are Anolite pistons, stifi'er crank-shafts, crankshaft torsional balancers, streamlined combustion chambers, improved valve mechanism, oil temperature control, unproved cooling, improved dual downdraught carburettion, new automatic choke, automatic heat control, cold idle control, vacuumatic spark control, and other aids to engine operation. Adding to efficient engine operation and easy starting are automatic dual starting control, Solenoid starter engagement, automatic choke, automatic idle control, and automatic heat control. The dual control feature hooks up the starting switch with both the foot accelerator pedal and the hand throttle button on the instrument board. The car driver has only to turn the ignition switch and step on the foot accelerator. The engine automatically does the rest. The gliding ride is improved through the retention of knee-action wheels of improved design, torque tube drive, improved weight distribution, a new ride stabiliser and low-pressure tyres. Changes in many of these features were made to meet the needs of changed car weights and new conditions. Centre point control steering is made possible by the use of knee-action wheels. The steering rods pivot from a central point of the front cross member, maintaining a constant steering geometry and resulting in unusual ease of handling and shockless steering control. The emergency brakes operate directly through cables on the rear wheels, with the brake handle conveniently attached under the instrument panel. Instrument panel lighting is indirect with a soft light that makes all instruments visible without an uncomfortable glare. Extremely bright tail lights have lenses so constructed that they will pick up and reflect the headlights of following motor cars. In addition to “ turret tops ” and modern streamlining, Fisher no-draught ventilation and a host of exterior and interior refinements are features of the new bodies. THE MOTOR CYCLE FIXTURES. February 1. —Run to Aerodrome. February 11.—-Monthly me’eting. CLUB NOTES. The death of King George V necessitated the postponement of the monthly meeting fixed for Tuesday last. It will now be held on February 11. The sporting fixture at the Taieri Aerodrome, which was fixed for Saturday last, was also postponed, and will be held on Saturday next, riders leaving the club rooms at 2 p.m. This run to the aero-

drome is at the invitation of the Otago Aero Club. Everyone is assured of_ an enjoyable time, there being various novelty events on the' programme. All motor cyclists are cordially invited to this first event of 1936. SPARKS The constable hurried across to the motorist, and pulled out his note book. “ Did you knock that man over? ” he demanded, pointing to the prostrate figure. “No, indeed, I pulled up to allow him to cross the road and he fainted." * * v Motor owners in California will, from the commencement of this year, be subject to arrest if they fail within 10 days in giving notice of change of address. The addresses of owners are shown on their •ownership certificates. Breach of the legal provision entails a penalty of up to six months’ imprisonment, or a fine uf up to 500 dollars, or both. * * Hi With battery and coil ignition, the only moving parts are the contact-breaker and distributor. Both these require very little lubrication, but it is important that the bearing below the distributor housing should be kept well lubricated. The con-tact-breaker points in the distributor must be kept clean and entirely free from oil. Two or three drops of oil at the fulcrumpin of the contact-breaker and also on the spindle of the distributor, every 1006 or so miles, is all that is required. * * * In 1919, 10.3 per cent, of all care produced in America were closed cars. This figure increased to 34 per cent, in 1923, and has since continually increased. In 1927 the figure was 84.9 per cent., 1930 90.4 per cent., and in 1934 98.8 per cent. * * * In no circumstances should chromiumplated parts be cleaned with an abrasive polish. If the car is cleaned and looked after regularly, rubbing such parte with a damp rag would be sufficient to remove all traces of travel stains, and a final polish with a soft cloth will restore its pristine appearance. iff * * In the car they had just turned the corner away from one of the most beautiful of steep valleys. She exclaimed: “ What a beautiful gorge that was! ” " Yes, it wasn’t bad,” he replied, his mind flashing back, unromantically, to the inn in the hollow, “ but I could have done with a bit more pudding.” * * * When celluloid side curtains lose some of their transparency through rubbing and scratching an application of ordinary metal polish will usually help to restore them. It they become very discoloured, however, a soft rag soaked in warm vinegar should be rubbed over them. Another suggestion is to dissolve two ounces of flexible collodion in a mixture of two ounces of methylated spirits, two ounces of acetone, and two ounces of amyl acetate, and rub over the celluloid.