MOTORS AND MOTORING.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3794, 16 July 1917, Page 3

MOTORS AND MOTORING.

Substitute Fuels. Acceding to the "Times of India" a new source of motor spirit has been discovered in the flower of the mahua tree, which abounds in all parts of India. In Hyderabad alone, it is stated, the authorities gather about 25,----000 tons of these flowers e-very year, some 10,000 tons of which are used for liquor, the remainder being at present a drug on the market. It is also stated -.that several makes of motor-cars have been tun successfully on spirit prepared from these flowers at half the cost of petrol. Word of another substitute fuel comes from South Africa. - It is stated that experiments there have shown that a type of motor fluid wlhich gives practically the same results as petrol can be made from sugar-cane. It is said that in the test of this fluid (or natalite, as it is termed by the manufacturers) a 3600-pound car on a 500-mile trip over all conditions of roads averaged 16.4 miles per gallon. A company has been formed to manufacture the fuel, and! it is planing to produce 2,000,000 gallons per year. The new motor spirit, it! is claimed, will be much cheaper than petrol. British Magnetos. * r Before the war the German magneto manufacturers practically monopolised this business throughout the world. At the outbreak af hostilities the British Government set to work to remedy this matter, with the result that English firms are now able to more than cope with magneto requirements. Over 200,000 have already been supplied to the war authorities, mostly for aero work, and: it is pleasing to learn that the British product is giving the greatest satisfaction, even under the severest conditions imposed by aeroplane work, winch calls for even greater reliability than ordinary motor-car work. Here and There. It seldom occurs to a man that he ought to strain the lubricating oil, but this should be done, nevertheless. I Most people rely on the strainer in the funnel, and many give it no | thought at all. But foreign matter carried into the pump may clog or cause it to fail, besides clogging the strainer in the pump. What is termed an electro-pneu-matic gear shift has been introduced in the United States. In this devise the gears are changed by conpressed air, the Valves of the air chamber being operated electrically. The air is also used for operating the cluch, so that all tftie driver has to do to change from one gear into, another is to move the switch lever on the steering column. Much of the carbon deposit in most engines which suffer. from it is due to overheating of lubricating oil. To build and market the 1,648,586 motor-cars that statistics show were disposed of by the American automobile industry in 1916 required the labour of 575 manufacturers of complete cars (there were 512 in 1915), 26,000 automobile dealers, 24,000 garages, and. 20,000 machine shops. The total capital obligations of all American railways are nearly ■ £4,000,000,----000, while similar obligations outstanding against the automobile industry amount in the aggregate to about £100,000,000. This is a remarkable commentary on the inherent stability of the motor industry.