Cycling and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3193, 26 May 1915, Page 58

Cycling and Motor Notes

BY DEMON

The United States army engineers have recently completed a remarkable expedition aboard a motor waggon, driving half-way across Alaska to a point within 2deg of the Arctic Circle, the farthest northern point ever attained by a motor vehicle and officially confirmed. Fording scores of glacial streams, running through canyons and crevasses of solid ice from 800 ft to 1000 ft in depth, crossing the Alaska and Chugach Mountain Ranges on steep and icy trails over unused passes, blasting their way through forests and giant boulders, the party drove from Valdez to Fairbanks and returned, a distance of 826 miles in 19 days. Thrilling experiences with snow-slides, washouts, and quicksands were reported by the party. In places steel wire cable had to be wound around the driving solid tyres to enable steep and slipping grades to be surmounted. A quantity of supplies and mail matter were carried throughout the journey, a load of over IScwt being transported on the return trip. Although the trip -was undertaken primarily to determine the possibility and practicability of motor transportation in Alaska, the engineers mapped out a route which reduces by at least one month the time required to reach the larger inland towns, particularly those on the” Upper Yukon and the headwaters of the Tanana River.

An enormous amount of English and French money is pouring into the United States for American motor lorries, ole. One 1 J.’go concern has a contract for 1200 twoton" lorries fitted with bodies, and many others have orders ranging from 300 to 200 motors each of from five to two tons capacity. In December last over £600,000 worth of commercial lorries were shipped to Franco and England. Another of the big American motor track races will bo held oh tho 31st mst.

The “ Indianapolis 500 ” —the richest race of its kind in the world—will be decided on the Indianapolis speedway. Last year’s event was won bj R. Thomas, with a Delate car, his time for the 500 miles being 6hr 3min 45sgo. The value of the prize money and special bonuses offered in this contest aggregates very closely £IO,OOO. Much interest attaches to this year’s competition, as several of the crack drivers are desirous of wresting from Do Rcsta the ascendancy ho has gained in motor car racing by winning the great double recently—the Vanderbilt Cup and the American Grand Prize.

The English Government has taken over the whole output of Sunbeam cars, thereby adding another first-class car to the list of motors that will bo “cut off” from the Australasian market during the war. At the rate the English authorities are taking over the output of the leading English car manufacturers, the importation of highgrade English cars to Australasia will soon cease. MOTOR BATHROOMS. A travelling motor bathroom for the British army is one of the latest uses that the motor car is being put to in Europe. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining fairly frequent baths, the soldiers have to put up with very serious discomforts. Particularly in the case of wounded men removed from the trenches, it is often difficult for proper medical attention to bo given promptly without washing facilities being first made available. To partly overcome this difficulty, an English manufacturer has now designed a ear with a special body and equipment for supplying 12 hot baths at a time. The baths arc constructed of stout proofed canvas capable of withstanding hot water. These are mounted on a double iron frame. When folded up they can bo carried in a very small space in the van-like body of the _ car. When in use, the bathsorc laid put six on each side of the car in- tents formed by drawing out substantial canvases, which are secured to tent-poles, forming two compartments of about 18ft by 10ft each, with the car in the centre. Canvases are also stretched on the ground under the baths and fitted to eyelets under the tent-polos. V/hon the car is travelling the tent canvases are rolled up under fchelvcs on each side of the vehicle and strapped in position. The poles and gratings are carried on the roof, which is fitted with a luggagerail. Hot wafer is supplied by taps projecting on each side of the forward part of

the car-body. Hoses are secured to their nozzles. The Treating apparatus, which is in duplicate, and is placed forward inside the, body,- consists of two circulating boilers containing coiled copper tubes capable of supplying two gallons of hot water per minute to each hath tap. Paraffin is used as fuel. Sixty gallons of water is carried, and extra supplies arc pumped up or taken aboard by a semi-rotary hand-pump outside the back of the car. The bath-body can be fitted to any good strong chassis of about 20 to 30 h.p., and already subscriptions are being called for in England to enable a largo number of cars so fitted to be. sent to the front, and thus assist in maintaining the army’s welfare. WOODEN OR WIRE WHEELS? Few motorists realise the different physical properties of the two popular types of motor car wheels —wooden and wired. A wooden wheel is built entirely in compression, duo to the fact that it is assembled as a unit and drawn into shape and held there by the application of a steel band shrunk into position to hold the wheel together. Any load placed on a wooden wheel is carried bv the spokes below the centre of the wheel to the hub, and in a direct line from the point of contact with the road to the centre of the wheel. A wire wheel is built with the spokes in tension and the rim in compression the whole beinw held together as a unit by the tension "of the spokes. Any load carried on a wire wheel is carried by spokes above the centre of the wheel, which adds to the initial tension duo to tightening up the spokes. Consider a wooden wheel in service fitted complete with tyre. Every time the wheel drops into a rut or strikes an obstacle on the road the shock is transmitted directly to the hub of the wheel through the spokes below the centre of the wheel, eauaino- a blow at that point. Realising fully that “for every action there ) must be an equal and opposite reaction, this blow is returned directly to the tyre at t point of contact, which has its effect on the cover. Consider a wive wheel under the same conditions. The shock cannot reach the hub until it Ras passed through the rim below the centre of the wheel, and must be further transmitted through the spokes above the centre of the wheel before it can reach the hub. Buffing through any solid material absorbs shock: consequently the shock received at the centre of the wire wheel* 0 is much reduced. The reactionmuch reducod-has to pass through the same path before reaching the point ot contact, with the result that the shock is partially absorbed in the wheel itself, and the reaction at the point of contact with the road is materially reduced. In other words, the wire wheel is a shock-ateorbcr, placed at the very lowest point in the var, and also benefiting the tyres.

MOTOR CYCLISTS AND THEIR TYRES. , , Careful observation rovoa's that motor cyclists, more than car-users, au- ca^* css to tyro inflation, with the result that the mileage obtained is unsatisfactory. To „et the best results from the tyres, with the minimum of troublo-for slackness is conducive to punctures and nips,—the . mot ° cvclists should bo careful to maintain the proper air-pressure. With many riders it is £ common practice to disregard pressures entirely, and to judge the resistance by nothing if the rim bumps m passing over ruts or stones. Thumping with the fist and even lacking the tyre are other methods freely used of testing the air-pressiue in the tyres The motor cyclist wno desnes keep his tyro bill down must gauge the pressure as accurately as possible—4olb to 501 b per square inch, according to the weight to be borne, being the accepted figures When any added weight is put on to the tyre, as when tandem-ndmg is indulged in, further application of the pump is necessary. In most cases where the bead or tno cover is cut bv the rim, the primary cause was riding with a slack tyre; and the same applies to stone bruises, when the coyer suffers because there is insufficient resistance, while the tyre is racked by lateral strain. Manufacturers recommend periodical examination of the rims for rust and distortion, which might reveal other things, such as foreign substances embedded in the cover. Tyro experts have pointed out the evil that arises from opening wide the throttle for rapid acceleration and ot letting in the clutch too suddenly; they have explained what follows the rise of a rear wheel on striking a road obstruction ; how it spins in the air, and tnen suddenly strikes the road, to the detriment of the tread. The practice of applying the brake too fiercely Brings about rapid destruction of the casing, especially when the wheel is made to skid. When the studs are worn off the rear cover, it is advantageous to change about the tyres on the wheels. HOW TO FALL. Not everj body knows that there is a vio-fit and a wrong way of falling. Ask any old footballer, and he will toll you that there is. The reason why old athletes so rarelv injure themselves in an accident, save of the most serious character, is that they have learnt the first rule of falling. It is protect the head. Never mind about the limbs. You can mend a broken arm or log. You cannot mend a broken nock. Therefore, if you find yourself irretrievably falling, let go the handles and throw out your hands. Protect the head. Do not try to protect the trunk. One of the worst forms of accidents is that which one often sees described as “internal injury. An attempt to save the body usually results in contortionate exertions. you fall uglv and nmv cause a lifelong or fatal injury. The‘'trunk is well covered with flesh—especially the part, you are most likely to fall on. I have had many a tall off a bicycle, but never a serious injury due, 1 believe, largely to the fact that I acqmrea the habit of “letting myself_ go early m life Let the machine go its own way. Jump clear if you can, and throw out your arms to protect tiro head, and beyond erosion , of cuticle T doubt whether you will be any the worse. In your learning stage remember that the faster you travel the less liability there is to fall' The balancing becomes automatic. Therefore your first efforts will be your hardest. Once master the secret and the rest is simple.

DEATH OF FLOYD MACFARLAND. The tragic death of cyclist Floyd Macfarland, at Newark, on April 18, as chronicled |n a recent cablegram, is a great blow to the sport, not onby in America, where ho was the controlling spirit, but also in Australia. It was Macfarland’s intention to bring out a team of riders including Frank Kramer, the best Australians who have been racing for seasons in

Yankeeland, and also the best French, Belgian and Italians, and promote meetings in Sydney next season. JMacfarland, in a letter to a Daily Telegraph scribe less than a fortnight prior to his death, declared his intention of arriving in January next, and promoting a Sydney Thousand and two six days’ races, as well as other big carnivals, providing the League of W heohnen would allow him to run the meeting his own way. This the governing body had agreed to do, and everything pointed to a revival of cycle racing here next summer. Whether the big company which employed the deceased cyclist will carry out fils plans remains to bo seen. Tiro League of Wheelmen will do its best to induce them to do so. Macfarland, who paid three visits to Australia, and won a great number of races, made many friends here, who wore shocked to hear of his tragic end. He was a wonderfully fine, performer in his day. As a handicap rider he stood alone. He was known as “The Handicap King.” Macfarland was a fine sprinter, too, and many will remember his defeat of Major Taylor on the Sydney Cricket Ground, when that ncgro_ was regarded as the world’s greatest sprinter. THE MOTOR CYCLE ENGINE. Most motor cycle engines, when cool, will pull well enough; but after running up to 50 miles per hour for eight to ten minutes, begin to slow down, until they reach a certain speed, at which the heating balances the cooling effects, and at that speed the engines will continue running almost indefinitely. Oveihcating is generally attributed to incorrect timing° of the spark and the valves, leakage at the valves, insufficient lubrication, and loss of compression past the piston rings. Overheating is accompanied not only by loss of power, but also by several conditions which are very detrimental to the engine, such as danger of seizing (thereby injuring the surface of the cylinder walls), annealing of valve-springs (especially the exhaust valve-springs), pitting of the valve-faces and seatings, and annealing of the piston rings. It is therefore, of the greatest importance that the cooling of the engines should bo equally efficient for racingf the petiectiytuned engine, and for the numerous trials to which an engine is liable when driven by a beginner. It is an axiom with experienced motorists that overheating is the greatest cause of loss of energy and enicicnt running, especially with motor cycles. CARS FOR AUSTRALASIA. effect of the war. SERIOUS SHORTAGE PROBABLE. Everything points to there being a seiious shortage of motor cars in Australasia, owing to the largo numbers being requisitioned for war purposes. Motor vehicles are practically carrying out the whole of the transport work of the various armies, and as they are kept running at high pressure over extremely bad roads, the life of a

vehicle is very short. A continuous supply of new motors is therefore necessary, in order that the services may bo maintained. Some idea of the number of motors being used may bo gained from the fact that a correspondent of a London motoring journal stood at one point and witnessed a string of motors five miles long, conveying the ammunition and supplies to only one section of the British army. No more than four yards separated each vehicle. Of course, the greatest demand is for commercial vehicles, which are now almost unprocurable in Australasia, but the more powerful types of pleasure cars are also being utilised, some for the carriage of goods, some as ambulances, and some p.s passenger and despatch carrying cars. The great importance of being able to move quickly from one part of the battle front to another has been realised by the officers, and for this purpose the horse is a bad second to the motor car. The result is that all of the more highly-placed officers visit their different commands in automobiles. As the roads in districts in which fighting has occurred arc usually pitted here and there with shell craters, breakdowns frequently occur through the vehicles dropping into those holes when going at high speed, and constant supplies of new cars arc necessary.

The obvious result is that the output of most of the European motor manufacturing firms is being taken over by the nations engaged in the war. Therefore, the number of vehicles available for export is small. There will also bo a difficulty in securing further supplies when the automobiles at present in -stock have been sold. Manufacturers’ prices in England and Franco have already been increased by 10 per cent. Many people will most likely hold the view that, the shortage will be mot by increased imports from the United States. No doubt wo will secure a larger number of ears than usual from that country, but it must be remembered that the United States firms are also working at high pressure turning out cars for the Allies, and the samples available for export to Australia may not he very large. Up to the end of January 6500 commercial vehicles. 40,000 motor cars and 200 armoured motor cars were supplied by America to Great Britain. France, and Belgium, while an order for 40 000 ears was placed bv Russia with one big American firm. This shows that the drain on the United States is also great, and ranch relief may not he expected from that quarter. Another factor is also operating against importing American cars. That is, the inability to secure space on some lines of steamers. Speaking on this question (savs n Melbourne writer) the manager of a Melbourne firm said that nearly all the exnort contracts for space expired on March 31, These were nof immediately renewed on account of the disturbed state of affairs, with the result, that a group of speculators came in and acquired the whole of the space. This they resell at their own prices. Leading cars, which are being largely

utilised by the military authorities, and which may bo difficult to obtain later on are Wolseley, Sunbeam, Renault, Deluge, Cotton-Dcsgouttcs, Daimler, Austin, Napier, Vauxhaull, and Siddeley-Deasy. It will be seen that most of these vehicles are of the heavy type. Light cars are not being used to a very great extent by the War Department, and, therefore, the interference with regular supplies should not bo so great.