MOTOR NOTES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LI, Issue 16868, 24 October 1925, Page 11

MOTOR NOTES.

TRACKLESS TRAINS.' EXPERIMENT IN U.S.A. . NEW YORK TO LOS ANGELES. ’ 1 A now chapter in the progress of modern transportation was written when the first trackless train, consisting of a locomotive with tender and Pullman car, started opt from New' York City early in May. The loco-, motive houses two 90-horse power motors. ; l

The trackless'train is sponsored by I the Metro-Goldwyn-Muyer Film Goinj party. It will.make a-20,000 mile tour I over the highways of the United States ending at Los Angeles, and will then go to Europe for'another long tour. 1

The train has opened up ' a new possibility in motor transportation. The Pullman car is equipped luxuriously. it Ims dining and sleeping accommodation for five passengers, and ; its conveniences include a kitchen and i bullet', a shower bath, comfortable chairs, a 1 radio receiving set) hot and cold running water, electrically supplied heat, light, and ventilation. Many Governors and Mayors have enjoyed short rides in it, and have marvelled at its elegance and completeness. When the train visited the i White House recently President and Mrs Coolidge inspected it with great j interest.

Extraordinary enthusiasm has been aroused in every city the train has visited—thousands of people turning out to welcome it at every stop. . Although tlie locomotive. is 'petrol, driven, every effort has been made to simulate a railroad locomotive —the big engine has a whistle and a bell, and by artificial means smoke can be made to pour out from' the smoke stack. The train cost 7f>,000 dollars. It is 7(1 feet long overall, It ' carries a. crow of five, including a conductor, chief engineer, and a handsome colored porter. Is it too much to expect that some time in the near future millionaires will have luxurious private motor trains just as now they have private cars on the railroads?

TRAFFIC PROBLEMS. NEW YORK'S OPINION. SMALLER CARS WANTED. A New York authority on transport problems has postulated that traffic congestion in New York and other big American cities cannot be materially improved until cars arc made smaller. This statement, has been ridiculed in many directions, yet in my opinion it: is worthy of considerable thought and attention.

Obviously the roads of cities already planned and built cannot be lengthened, nor can they be widened at will to accommodate a greater number of lines of traffic. Yet on these roads wo must bo prepared for an ever-increas-ing number of automobiles. How aro they to be accommodated? Surely not' by making two-deck automobiles! Some little improvement can, of course, bo made by better traffic control. thus increasing the average speed of the traffic flow. Saturation point in this direction will, however, soon bo reached, and future improvements must lie in the direction of smaller vehicles generally.

THE LIGHT CAR IN LONDON STREETS. If can easily be demonstrated, that in London cars are, on the average, 10 per cent, shorter than is the caso in New York, because tho excellentlymade, sturdy and reliable light cars have obtained a tremendous grip on the British market, and have proved themselves so' extremely capablo that they are now being exported in everincreasing quantities to a large number of overseas territories where motoring conditions arc anything but easy. It must be admitted that London has materially assisted New York and other foreign capitals by demonstrating to them its method of traffic control, but not a little of its success is due to tho fact that tho major proportion of its traffic consists of motor-driven vehicles • appreciably shorter on the average than those in New York.

Again, the power of acceleration and the “nippiness" of these small cars, resulting in a quick get-away and the ability to swiftly make uso of an opportunity to slip into an open space in the traffic line ahead, must necessarily be of great assistance to tho police who control tho traffic, and to road, users in general, because such cars can be equally easily and quickly decelerated, and thus constitute a lesser danger than the bigger and heavier automobiles.

AVo must get out of our minds at tho commencement any suggestion that these cars are not comfortable. They compare favorably in this respect with the biggest and heaviest automobiles in America, and many English light cars, with an overall length of 10ft. provide ample accommodation for two 6ft. passengers, and have an occasional or dicky scat at the rear for two other passengers when required.

ENGLISHMAN MOTORS 1100 MILES IN 67 HOURS. Mr. W. S. Roberts, a Liverpool business man, who for a small wager set out to motor to John o’Groats and back in 68 hours, has returned over one hour before his time; He drove a two-seater six-cylinder car the whole journey of 1100 miles, and was delayed five hours by a breakdown near Inverness. .

MAKING ROADS SAFER. ' PROPOSED "STOP’' SIGNAL. LONDON, Sept. 10—Several English local authorities are considering the general adoption of the white lino at all dangerous turnings in the town, and also the "boulevard stop.’’ The "boulevard stop" is a suggestion brought, to England by Councillor Blue, on his return from .a business trip to California. At all dangerous corners a broad white-line, with tho word "stop" is marked across the road, and all cars come to a dead stop before negotiating tho turning. It is stated that no one thinks of ignoring the sign in California, where ’ it has the universal approval 'of motorists, and accidents aro reduced to a minimum without the aid of traffic control police. This particular'"stop" has already been adopted with success at Hammersmith just before the busy crossing at the Broadway is reached. GROWTH OF MOTOR TRAFFIC. Mr. K. G. Fcncion . (Edinburgh), illustrating before the .enquiry section of the British Association, the rapid growth of motor traffic, said that the motor vehicles on the roads of .Great Britain had increased from- 850,000 in

1921 to 1,420,000 in May, 1925. There Was brie motor vehicle for every forty of the population, but in the United States of 'America there was one for every throe.'inhabitants. *

DOES A CAR RUN BETTER AT NIGHT? A inueh diseussod problem for.many years has been “Does a motor car run better at night?'" There are several schools ot thought on this subject; one of which holds that nightfall'has no effect on an engine at'all, but maintains, that a oar-merely seems to'run bettor at-night, due to a physical or psychological effect that darkness has upon one. . . ■ This theory has been proved to bo erroneous by a test which showed definitely that night conditions have a beneficial effect upon the efficiency of internal combustion engines. ■ Homo tests, says’ the .“Autocar" (England), were being carried out on two 225 h.p. aero engines which worn to be run continuously for twenty-four hours, one om patrol mid. the other on. coal gas. AVhen night.fell, the r.p.iii. as recorded by. a revolution indicator, increased on both engines and the throttles had to be slightly closed in order to keep the revolutions down to the scheduled figure. About an hour and a half after 'sunrise, however, the r.p.m. commenced to fall,, and the throttles had,to he re-opened to their

respective positions of the evening belore. . Since both engines behaved in a'similar manner, night conditions may safely be assumed to have a beneficial effect upop efficiency, particularly gs the phenomenon.mentioned has been recorded several) tinica/since, e

Wlial factor, then, it is that is present in night,,conditions to enhance engine performance? One theory which has been put forward bv several engineers who agree that engine efficiency varies with night and day conditions, is that the greater percentage of water vapor, present: in. the atmosphere at night is the responsible factor. This, hoyvever, is very doubtful, since'the, amount of water vapour present would bo insufficient to bring about an increase in efficiency that could be detected. In fact, actual experiments have been made with an engine running in an atmosphere containing different percentages of water vapour, and no variation in efficiency could be recorded by methods which were not abnormally sensitive.

Wo must look, then, for some other factor which might be responsible. One very important point, which must bo remembered when considering this problem, is that the variation in efficiency between night and day running is far more pronounced during the summer than during the winter months.

Tho most outstanding difference between summer and winter conditions, other than temperature,-' is the greater amount of foliage present during the summer, and possibly this is where the solution of the problem lies. At first sight, perhaps, the quantity of foliage present may pot appear to have any bearing on the matter at all, . but, nevertheless, quite a feasible theory can be built up on this basis. Due to tho breathing arrangements of animals and tho chemical reactions which take place during combustion, a large quantity of carbon dioxide (CQ2) is introduced into the atmosphere, and, unless nature provided some means of restoring in an uncombined state tho oxygen which goes to form the carbon dioxide, wo should perish from a lacK of oxygen and an excess of carbon dioxide. Nature levels up affairs for us by the way in which she lias constructed the organs of all vegetation. During the day all vegetables absorb or “breathe in" carbon dioxide through their foliage, whereupon chemical action ensues internally, and the gas is divided into its two constituents —carbon and oxygen.

The plant, now retains, and makes use of, the carbon, and finally exudes the oxygen, in a free and uncombined state at night. It follows, therefore, that, since all vegetation is giving out oxygen at night, and since oxygen is absolutely necessary for combustion — which is only very fierce oxidation—tho more oxygen present in tho atmosphere tho more perfect will be tho combustion of the petrol vapour in tho cylinders. The combustion will be more complete and the rate of flame propagation will bo higher, from which will follow an increase in efficiency.

It is not intended that this theory should be taken ns irrefutable, but; it is feasible, and further investigation might be carried out to prove its worth.

THE NEW CAR. The necessity for care in driving a new car slowly for the first 500 miles has been mentioned in these columns on several occasions. Many new cars, also motor cycles, owing to being driven too fast before tho bearings are properly “run in," never have a chance of giving their best. The largest manufacturers of cars in England —the Morris Motors Ltd., have recently taken a wise step to prevent buyers of “Morris" cars overdriving them for the first few hundred miles.

The company have now adopted a simple, but. effective, means of ensuring that the warning as to reasonably slow driving at the outset of the car’s career .shall be heeded. It consists merely in the insertion between the carburetter and the intake port of a scaled washer with an orifice of only 3.Sin. diameter. This washer effectively limits the maximum speed of new cars to 27-30 m.p.h. on top gear on a level road. It is inserted after the engine has undergone three tests, the first of four, hours on the bench in tho factory, the second in the course of a chassis test, and the third during the final road test.

• After driving the new car for a few weeks it is a simple matter to remove the washer, when the car may be driven at its maximum speed without harmful effects. The latest move by tho Morris C 0.,, is one that could and probably will be followed by many other car manufacturers. PETROL 1 VAPOR. It is seldom realised that-.thc' vapor produced by petrol can How for considerable distances. It is of a heavy nature, and it is. consequently, usually found close to the ground, ..and it is quite possible for it flame, to flow back Several yards tQ tho source from which the vapor is being omitted. I'll a recent case tho driver of a dualpurpose vehicle was filling the tank under tho driver’s seat with petrol while an assistant was fitting steps at the back of the body, for the convenience of passengers, by the light from a candle. It appears that the exhaust pipe was warm, and some of the petrol, spilling on *o this, was rapidly turned into vapor; which flowed to tho back of the vehicle. iiflcV was there ignited by the candle,, with fatal results to the driver.