CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3714, 19 May 1925, Page 62

CYCLING & MOTOR NOTES

BY

“DEMON.”

At Flint, Michigan, says The Motor, a new law has been instituted which, in part, reads:—“lt shall bo unlawful for any person to drive an automobile on the streets of Flint while being subjected to the embraces of any other person j it shall be unlawful to embrace tne driver.” A •uoces&ful charge of driving to the common danger was recently secured in the North of England against a motorist for a similar procedure. LEARN REVERSING. Don’t shirk reversing whenever it cannot be avoided. The novice should use the reverse gear at every reasonable opportunity until he becomes proficient and sure of himself in manoeuvring his oar backwards. Because they have shirked practising, a great many drivers consider reversing a positive nightmare. If they would but take their cars on to some quiet toad on two or three special occasions and

practise driving backwards and turning at gateways, they would lose that dread of finding themselves compelled to use the reverse gear—and would avoid the risk of a crumpled wing on occasion without end. WOMEN DRIVERS. Although French wpmen were slow In taking up the active side of motoring, they appear to be making up for lost time. During 1924 no fewer than 4000 now licenses were issued to women drivers in Paris alone. Nearly 40 women ore already driving taxi cabs in the French capital, while among domestic servant* the female counterpart of the ohauffeur-handy-inan has already made her appearance. It should be said in justice to the French women drivers that they appear to drive far more carefully than men. The expression “Women and safety la&t” could have no meaning in Paris, so far as motoring is concerned. HOW TO TAKE POT-HOLES. The straddling of pot-holes is a practice to be recommended at all timos • it not only spares the springs and the chassis generally but adds appreciably to the comfort of the rear passengers, even where vibration from such, road inequalities is not noticed bv the driver. But for worse than bumping into potholos, from every point of view, ia driving heedlessly over wav, and corduroy surfaces; lHe word “heodkjssty” ia used in thia connection for the reaaon that at a alow apeod over auch aurfacoa the vibration may be far more pronounced than when the car it running five or 10 miles per hour faster.

That is because at the lower speed the periodicity of tne springs and the frequency of the road waves may coincide and givs rise to violent and extensive spring reaction. Nevertheless, a driver requires to know his car, and have experience with the individual stretch of wavy road before he can realise whether, for instance, 25 mile* per hour gives smoother running or more violent shocks than 15 miles per hour, so the safest policy on strange roads of that kind is to drive slowly. COMEDY MOTOR CARS. Motor cars are not merely being made better and cheaper. Numbers of acute brains all over the world are wrestling with the problem of making them funnier says a writer in the Daily Mail. The best things, to my mind, in the great fair held every winter in the Madison Square Garden (New York’s “Olympia”) are the capers and vicissitudes of the clowns’ cars, that go on intermittently around the stages of the three-ringed circus. One car has a steering-wheel at the rear as well as in front. With elaborate bowing, a party of visitors are packed in. Then the car will not go. A guest in the rear turns round in his seat and drives the car backward with the greatest ease and skill, while the driver in front sits solemnly at his wheel. Tbe body of iho car, you see, has been lifted off and put on back to front. Another car ; s so adroitly balanced that, by a shift of a lever, as it runs, it tilts up like a rearing horse and continues to run on its hind wheels, with the front wheels a couple of feet up in the .air. Then there is a car that sounds liko a busy phase of the Battle of Ypres. Deafening explosions in a dozen keys take place in its sorely-afflicted vitals every few seconds. There is a great deal to be said for another car which has six wheels. It develops interior trouble. Clown driver and clown guest get out to see what is the mattter. After a brief inspection, they decide that medicine will not do. It is a case for the surgeon. The driver takes out and puts on a white operating robe, ostentatiously washes his hands in a sterilising tra f, and proceeds to saw the body of the car in two. This done, the driver fumbles for a moment in the mysterious recesses of the car, gets in again with his passenger, and drives off—leaving half the car and the third pair of wheels lying amputated and derelict in the middle of the road. Hollywood uses quantities of comic cars for its film plays. Not the least amusing ~is an elastic car, devised in the first place to act as the bone of contention of two rival garages on opposite sides of the street, each of which wants to repair it. Just os it is being towed into one door the other garage’s towing car flings an anchor over tne stern and tries to haul it back. Then and thore, under your amazed eyes, that car stretches to about double its length! This effect was obtained by making the body of telescopio plates. ELECTRIC IGNITION. An English writer interestingly traces the origin and development of electrical ignition. Firstly, wo had tne non-trembler coil with vibratory contact on the camshaft, the electrical energy boing supplied by a dry battery. The prototype of thia system was the Do Dion olectrioal ignition, as fitted to the tricycles and quads turned out by thia famous French firm a quarter of a century ago. At the time a fierce con-

troversy raged as to the necessity or otherwise of providing a stream of sparks at the plug as against one “fat” spark. Tns Do Dion contact maker was designed to impart a vibratory motion to the spring blade, which was intended to make a rapidlyinterrupted contact between the platinum points, and thus cause a stream of sparks at the plug. As this system was protected by patents, valid or otherwise, an alternative was employed by other makers in the trembler ooif, which was timed to deliver a stream of sparks at the plug by a contact suitably placed on the timing gear. Yet another system employed a contact maker comprising a spring blade fitted with a platinum contact which, by means of a cam, made momentary contact with a platinum-pointed and insulated screw. The great thing in the system was to have a cam which not only allowed sufficient “dwell” on the contact to enable the core of the coil to become saturated, but effected a quick break, thus producing a single “fat” spark at the plug. This system has survived to the present dav. and is to bo seen in such devices as the Rotax combined lighting and ignition unit, used to-day on many of the leading British cars. The old trouble of run-down accumulators or exhausted dry batteries no longer exists, as the car battery, which is fully charged by the dynamo, offers an almost unlimited supply of energy for the ignition gear The next advance in ignition, barring a few more or less experimental devioes, was the introduction of the low-tension magneto, in which a current was generated by mechanical means, on the principle of the dynamo, and led to a make-and-break contact in the cylinder head. Suitably-timed mechanism caused the contacts to open at the time when the magneto was generating at maximum pressure, thus causing a flash at the moment of breaking contact.

Various troubles attended this form of ignition, either as a stand-by or as an aid ternal combustion motors, the chief difficulty being in the moving contact, which had to bo insulated, gas-tight, and properly timed to function regularly. After a year or two of this system we had the introduction of the high-tension magneto, which speedily superseded the moving contact with tho self-contained sparking-plug. This saw, in many cases, the re-introduction of coil ignition, either as a stand-by or as aid in in starting, the two systems existing side by side and boing capable of simultaneous use if required. HINTS AND NEW IDEAS. When a motor car brake squeaks it shows that it is not doing its work efficiently, as correct braking operation consists of a smooth, gripping action without squeaks or chatter. Chatter is the result of an alternative gripping and releasing of the bands on the drums. This is caused partly by the design of tho bands, and partly by tho mothod of fastening the linings. As tho bands are open on one side, they cannot conform to the shape of the drums unless they are of tho right shapo. If, when tho pedal is pressed, the bands start to warp from the bottom and continue upwards on both sides, the chances of chatter are not so groat, but if the bands take hold first at the top the slack on both sides must first he taken up before they will lav flat on tho drums. If the bands are Dent or kinked when the linings are attached, they will not grip the drums evenly, producing chatter and uneven wear. Squeaks aro caused by tho linings becoming hard and glased, due to the friction and tho application of pressure which presses the grit into the linings. Roughing the surfaoe of the lining! with a saw-blade

or coarse file will usually remedy the trouble. Probably an easier way is to apply a mixture of castor oil and powdered resin to the linings. The former acts as a softener, while the latter increases the frictional resistance. Many cases of tyre trouble ure due to the fact that the tube has not been properly inserted. Before a tube is placed in the cover, the nut above the metal plate at the base of the stem should be tightened. Many elusive leaks are caused by tho looseness of this nut, and should the tyre be used deflated the valve stem will be torn from the tube. When the tube has been placed in the cover, it is a good practice to shake or knock the tyre a few times to seat it firmly. After the tyre has been mounted and inflated, the rim nut, ■which seta above the rim, should be placed In position and securely tigntened. If care Is taken in replacing the tube, many of the Inconveniences due to pinches and leaky tubes will bo avoided. MELBOURNE MOTOR SHOW. A good crowd awaited the opening of the doors at the international exhibition in Melbourne (says the Argus), and throughout the day and evening the stream of ■ighi9oers through the main entrance was continuous. In all 14,000 people attended. A noticeable leaturo is tho interost shown by children—the future motorists. Some special attractions were, of course, arranged for tho opening day. Thero was a flight of more than 6000 pigeons from the arena, and in the afternoon a procession of commercial motors, passed through the city. To some extent tho idea of the procession was the same as that underlying the exhibition —to demonstrate the extent to which the motor has established itself in the industrial •nd commercial life of all the nations. In

the head of tho procession was the 1902 model of a Ford, driven by a bewhiskered patriarch, who bowed acknowledgments to upp.ause of people along the route. A luxurious motor ’bus followed; and after it came several large lorries owned by Foy and Gibson, and showing wool in the various stages of - manufacture, from the “greasy” to the finished article. A massive form on a lorry was recognised by his beard and brawny arms as Vulcan, and thero was no difficulty in determining whose commodities he had come to advertise. More perplexing were six aul urn-haired, shingled young women, who dashed along in a car. Someone with a turn for puzzles picked them wit as the “Auburn Beauty Six.” One powerful-look-ing lorry rolling along like a dreadnought, confessed to being engaged in the delivery of ioe cream; tnen followod motor and ehipping agents, and the representations of various industries. And overhead two aeroplanes circled, as if to remind The onlookers that after all the future traffic problems and triumphs might be there. First prize r awarded to the British Imperial Oil Com- . ( is second prize being obtained by r ov and Gibson. Messrs J. M‘Alpin and Bon, flour manufacturers, received tho third award. THE OLD AND THE NEW. Comparison of the old and the new ap pears to bo an absorbing occupation to visitors. The strange thing appears to be the speed with which the new turns info the old. On the stand occupied by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in the arena is a photograph of the brigade and its equipment as it was in 1901. In the front is a comical little motor capable of seating seven men, and behind tha car are shown the horse teams, which were the pride of

the fire-fighters of the period. There is nothing in the appearance of the car to threaten the supremacy of the horse, but the horse lias gone. Will the tractors which the system of internal combustion is bringing into existence eventually drive the horse oft' the farm as it is already threatening to drive him off the streets? On the main track outside the builuuig a car equipped with wireless was providing a “listening-in” entertainment, and at the same time an interested pressed wound the old-time coach at the foot of the organ steps. Here, again, the spectators were mostly young people, to whom the names Berringa and Scarsdale on the coarh conjured no vision cf departed glory. There is much of remarkable interest in the gallery, but it would be worth a visit if only for tho view it affords of the display on the ground floor of the main building. The motors are shown in various stages of construction, and for that reason they are, of course, an open book to those beginners, whose aim is proficiency at the steering wheel and (in an emergency) on the damp ground beneath the engine. The purely Australian invention, the Hammond petrol system is shown at work in the gallery. The great international motor display is not merely a. display of motors. It shows the various oils and much of the machinery which the oiLs have made possible. Pessimists who cam see the end of the oil wells of the world will be heartened by a demonstration of a new process of extracting oil from shale. USE OF OILS. - The choice and use of oils is an important one to owners of motor cycles and motor cyclists in the novitiate stage may well be divided into two classes—those in whom the mechanical instinct is now about ,to blossom, and those, luckily by far the smaller class, to whom mechanical things make no appeal. On the question of lubrication, about which there is always great doubt in the mind of the novice, a member of the soccnd class should adhere rigidly to the advice given by the makers of his machine or engine, for, should he succumb to the temptation to experiment, the results may very well be disastrous. Tho mechanically-minded man, however, needs not consider himself bound to observe the advice given by the makers in quite so strict a sense. He will by instinct, no less than through warnings in the press, turn away from the temptation to use an unknown or unsealed oil on account of its lower cost. But he will probably also realise that in the matter of offering advice a manufacturer’s position is not a little difficult. No hard and fast rules can bo laid down at an.vrate as to the quantity of oil required by the engine, since this must obviously vary with the conditions; and. as a rule, the maker knows but little of the load carried by a rider, or the speed at which lie rides, or even the number and steepness of the hills daily encountered. In these circumstances the manufacturer is forced to recommend clients to give their engines normally an amount of oil which the testers have found sufficient for fairly arduous work, so that the risks of a seizure shall be minimised. Realising this, then, the intelligent rider may well take as a starting point the maker’s recommendation, and may then proceed to discover for himself the amount of oil best suited to his particular machine under his local conditions. Reverting again to the brand of oil, even a rider of long experience should not depart from the advice of the maker. It is a matter of considerable skill to blend an oil for an air-cooled petrol motor on account of the wide variations of temperature that occur in different parts of an engine. The lubricant must be so constituted that it is not too viscous when the engine is cold, nor too fluid when hot, and it must not easily turn to carbon, or lose any of its properties at high temperatures. The big oil concerns have a world-wide reputation for excellence in the blending of oils, and no doubt also many of the smallor companies produce an excellent lubricant; but the testing of such oils is obviously best left to the maker ,of the engine, for should they find that a certain oil decomposes or burns away very rapidly at high temperatures it would hardly be safe to use it on the road. Once a violent seizure has occurred in a petrol engine even the renewal of the parts immediately affected will not invariably restore the pristine silky running and flexibility. Over this question of lubrication we often feel that there hangs an unnecessary cloud of semi-mystery. The manufacturer, for his own protection, recommends a certain brand of oil, and sometimes places a small notice on the tank or elsewhere drawing attention to the oil that should be used. This does not mean that this is the only oil suited to the engine—on the contrary, the corresponding grade of another brand would do equally well, but it is important to remember that a different grade of the brand recommended might be quite unsuitable. In oils, the character of the lubricant is naramount, the make—so long as it is well known—being of secondary importance. ___________