Cycling & Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 3315, 26 September 1917, Page 44

Cycling & Motor Notes

BY DEMON.

The gas engine, which, of course, includes the petrol engine, is often regarded by motorists as being more or less on all fours with a gun, the propellant taking the place of the compressed explosive mixture, and the projectile the place of the piston. It is true there are a good many things in common between the gun and the engine cylinder, and partly because of this there has been a tendency to imagine (says the Autocar) that the happenings in the cylinder of a petrol engine arc to all intents < and purposes the same as they would be if an explosive mixture were introduced into a closed case or drum and there compressed and exploded. It is imagined that all one has to do is to get an explosive mixture, compress it, and ''touch it off." As a matter of fact, the rate of explosion m a olosed vessel devoid of moving piston and of the swirling eddies of the suction stroke is so slow that it would be impossible to make an engine worth using in a motor car, or even possible to use in a motor car, if the burning of the mixture were so slow. Indeed, such an engine would not run above 30 revolutions a minute.

About 100 duly qualified chauffeurs are being registered in the New York State daily, where there are more than 100,000 licensed drivers, or one for every 100 inhabitants. Classes having 50 to 100 students, ofttimes with a fair sprinkling of women, are common. Eighty per cent, qualify at examinations. In the same State upwards of £22,000,000 has been pledged and partly spent on highway construction during the past 20 years; while the annual expenditure for repairs exceeds £1,600,000. Of the 60,000 miles of roads in the State, about one-third has been improved. ——Mechanical lubrication for ordinary riding is advancing into popularity, and relieves the motor cyclist to a very great extent, but not altogether, since, while it delivers oil at a predetermined rate, according to the speed of the engine, it oannot allow for more oil when, to maintain a given speed, the engine has to develop more Dower _literally, it has to work harder, lo provide more oil in such cases, an auxiliary hand pump is fitted, to be operated by the rider at his discretion. Here, again, guesswork creeps in, to say nothing _ of neglect or oversight. But the mechanical lubricator is generally regarded as a step forward towards effectual lubrication, provided it is designed on correct lines and oarefully mado and fitted. Clogging of the silencer is hastened when too much oil is fed to the engine. The unburncd oil is forced back into the silencer, where it covers the parts, permitting them to hold carbon and dirt. A thorough cleaning is possible when the silencer ti removed and partly dismantled, but often lumps of oil-soaked dirt may bo loosened by tapping the sides of the silencer lightly with a hammer. After cleaning, the driver will at once notice a marked difference in the performance of the car. F. Birtlcs has reached Western Australia per motor car from Victoria, The trip was negotiated in easy stages, as tho overlander was selecting his _ route and making arrangements for his proposed attempt on tho Perth-Sydney record of 2959 miles m eight days 2o hours 35 minutes, standing to the credit of Messrs Fraser and Armstrong. According to a recent interview with the well-known overlander in Perth, ho has now travelled close on 100,000 miles' in and around Australia. On two occasions ho rode around the rim of Australia on a Dunlop-shod bicycle. He has crossed from Broomo (W.A.) to Brisbane twice, tho Darwin-Adelaide route and lias crossed and re-crossed the continent from coat to west nine times. Birtles pro-

poses to leave on his record jaunt across the continent in about a couple of months' time. has at last declared an embargo on the importation of motor tyres and rubber goods into Great Britain. American tyres are now permitted to be imported into England only under a special license from the Government. Had this embargo been declared a year or two back it would have meant millions to the British tyro and rubber goods manufacturers, and those whose capital is invested in those concerns. Motorists will be amazed to hear that if the gigantic concern that makes and markets the Ford motor .car had to stop its production for 30 days, the wealthy Ford Company would be forced to close its doors indefinitely. This is a statement made by the vice-president and treasurer of the company in a recent law suit in America. It appears that the running expenses of this stupendous business reach upwards of from £160,000 to £IBO,OOO a day, equal to about £53,210,000 per year of 313 working days. cyclist can get out of his tyres if he rides with ordinary care and pays due attention to inflation. A Melbourne motor cyclist, who is a travelling representative of a wellknown commercial house, has written to the Dunlop Rubber Company, stating that a 26in x 3in white tread cover, which was fitted to rthe driving -wheel of his 8 h.p. Twin motor cycle in May, 1916, has been in constant use until recently removed. The cover travelled 8754 miles on the back wheel, was then removed to the front wheel, finishing up with a total of 16,842 miles, during which it was rot re-treaded. The rider weighed 14£ stone, and the machine was a heavy twin. The performance was a particularly sterling one. BATTERY OR MAGNETO IGNITION. Duo probably to the incidence of the war, which led to the scarcity of magnetos, even in America, it seems that the battery system of ignition has made considerable headway in the States, and to such an extent that it has been predicted that the magneto might bo superseded. Still, the relative merits of the two ignition systems form a very debatable question in America to-day, and there aro many motorists who are firmly convinced that the magneto possesses some peculiar quality of spark that cannot be imitated by means of an induction coil, and therefore Has a distinct value for ignition purposes. With the magneto the first spark which jumps from point to point of the plug is followed by a flame, which is maintained for a considerable period. The question .is, whether or not it is of any particular value, and when the solution is sought by discussion, the matter becomes involved in all sorts of complications as regards the turbulence of the mixture, its density, and a number of ether considerations. It is probably safer to argue from practice rather than from theory, and several experts, after lengthy experience on the road under nil conditions, backed up by results noticed in a number of workshop tests, have come to the conclusion that the magneto is the most efficient known form of ignition, assuming that the timing of the spark by the driver is not always absolutely perfect, having regard to engine speed. With perfect timiag there does not appear to be anything to choose between tho two systems, but perfection is seldom attainable, and the magneto limits appear to have tho faculty of correcting imperfections, or, at any > rate, of rendering their effects less noticeable than with coil ignition. ,