MOTOR MATTERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 270, 18 December 1914, Page 3

MOTOR MATTERS.

NEWS AND NOTES. A motorman who recently took a heavy load from South Taranaki to New Plymouth had a good word for Taranaki oil. It was the heaviest load taken out of the district, and the fuel used was petroleum from the New Plymouth wells. This motorman had driven in Russia, Prussia, Germany, England, Scotland, Canada, and the United States, but he declared that the heavy Taranaki oil he burnt that day was the finest oil he had ever used.

The engine-strokes favoured to-day are longer than those of a few years ago, mainly for the reason that it has been found that' there is no disadvantage in; operating at higher pistonspeeds than were formerly believed to be desirable. The ; piston-speed is equal: to the number of'resolutions per minute multiplied by twice the and in designing a motor these three factors—length of stroke, piston-speed, and revolutions per minute —are to be considered together, and the final design must be a compromise in which these are combined to best advantage for the conditions under which the motor is to operate. A few years ago the maximum allowable piston-speed was considered to be one thousand feet per minute, with six hundred feet per minute as a "conservative figure.. Such practice was in imitation of steam-engine practice; but as the knowledge concerning automobile engine design has increased it has been found that the above figures can safely be exceeded, and, therefore, not only has the motor-speed been increased somewhat, but the length of the stroke also; which latter called for much greater precision in the balancing of the moving parts.

association, and there is also a sum of about £6OO in hand from other contests played in Australia. The Australasian body wisely recognises that, in view of the heavy expenses which must always be incurred in sending teams to foreign countries in quest of the cup, the doubt whether the Davis Cup will remain very long in Australasia, and the contingency that in some future years the receipts may not cover the expenses, it is very advisable and necessary to retain a fair sum. It, however, also recognises that one of its objects is to assist and to strengthen its component parts, and with this end in view it has decided to divide £l3lOO between the seven associations of which it. is composed—viz., Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, West Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. The association distributed about £370 in 1913 to the affiliated bodies as a result of the British team's tour in 1912. "Recorder" will, perhaps, have the grace to retract his erroneous statements, and to acknowledge that what he mistook for a "bronze hue" was in reality a "golden sheen."