MOTOR & CYCLING

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1932, Page 16 (Supplement)

MOTOR & CYCLING

SHOULD CARS BE NAMED?

COLLISIONS AND CONFUSION.

A JUDGE’S SUGGESTION.

(London Motoring Correspondent.) c Members of the judicial bench when dealing with motoring matters are prone at times to enunciate opinions and make suggestions which, to say the least, display surprising ingenuousness.. There was the case the other day, for instance, of the English judge who, in the course of a collision action, gave it as his view that motor-cars should all be named, in order to prevent confusion when the respective positions of each of the cars involved in the collision were discussed and their respective contribution to the accident analysed. What the learned judge apparently desired was that motoring cases coming before him should be capable of analysis In somewhat the following way.—Mr. Blank Jones’ car, “Little Devil,” was coming out of a side-turning on to the main so-and-so road when he saw “Scarlet Angel” driven by Miss Jane Simper coming along at over 40 miles per hour. When within a few yards of Little Devil, Scarlet Angel swerved to. the 'wrong side of the road. Little Devil at once steered slightly to the right, but was unable to avoid the impact of ScarJet Angel, which knocked Little Devil into the ditch. For myself, I do not see why calling a car by a name is an improvement on the current practice of referring to the vehicle as Mr. Jones’ car or Miss Simper’s car, but assuming for the learned judge’s suggestion a merit which it does not too clearly reveal, there is the difficulty that many motorists would probably give their cars similar names. In my own small circle of motoring friends -J know three who call their car “Molly.” ONE OF THE FAMILY. For the purpose of illustrating the Judge’s suggestion I have picked upon two fairly unlikely names, but the probability is that if each motorist were forced by law to register the name of his car we should find at least as great a similarity in car’ names as in dog names, and in cases of collision there would be even greater confusion than the learned Judge alleges to exist under the present system. So lam afraid the Judge’s suggestion will not do. As a matter of fact I think that most car owners have a pet name for their car. I do; not mean , the flashy little sports cars that are to -’be seen with some name emblazoned on the side which' the car itself cannot probably live up to. When I see a car labelled “Pip Squeak” I feel more ready ;to. concede to it the squeak than the effortless flight, which that projectile suggests. The person who bestows a name on his car through affectionate regard for the vehicle does not usually publish it any more than he hangs placards on himself with his Christian name. The average family motorist, who is the backbone of the motoring movement, likes to give his car a name because he looks upon it almost as one of the family. I myself have given my car a name which I would die rather than reveal publicly. We all use it quite naturally and none of us would dream of referring to the car as "the car.” She is one of us. t new; model nomenclature. While on the subject of names, it may be worth while suggesting to manufacturers that they should curb their output somewhat of extravagant nomenclature for new models. When the motoring world was jogging along comfortably on four-cylinders and “sixes” were the exception rather than the rule, cars were given their conventional description and the word “super” was unknown. But with the advent of the flood of “sixes” and “eights” each maker tried his best to suggest by the name of a new model that it was rather better or faster than the models of other manufacturers. So the description "Super” came into use and was worked to death until somebody thought of the word “Hyper,” which in turn became so popular that it was applied even to ordinary sports cars that had nothing specially “hyper” or “super” about them. In the result few discerning motorists attach any importance nowadays to descriptions like hyper, super, super-hyper, optimum, maximum or any other name intended to suggest supreme quality or supreme speed. If some manufacturer, determined to eschaw high-falutin’ nomenclature, brought out a car at £3OO, which embodied the technical achievements of a car of £lOOO, its qualities would soon become known without the aid of an impressive name. He would only have to advertise the claims made for it in plain language and welcome demonstrations through the local dealers. Personally, I think it is an admirable idea to. give new models some appropriate name chosen from among animals or birds. The Alvis/’Silver Eagle,” the Humber "Snipe” and the S.'S. “Swallow” are three that come readily to mind as embodying a sense of grace and effortless movement, though admittedly many other attractive names can be found outside our fauna. There is nothing the matter, for instance, with “The New Phantom.” Even as I write I have before me the announcement of a new Triumph sports car which seemed to me at first glance to break new ground in nomenclature by the designation of “Southern Cross.” But this search of the firmament for ® car names is not, of course, new, for have we not had now for many years that excellent make of ear, the “Star”? Still, the choice of “Southern Cross” for a new model is a pleasing one and does not err on the side of immodesty, for I am told by the makers that the ear is capable of speeds approaching 70 miles per hour.

LAND SPEED RECORD. A car that is, of course, being very much discussed at the.moment is '‘Blue Bird,” in which Sir Malcolm Campbell has succeeded in breaking his own record, thus raising the land speed record to over 253 miles per hour. I see that Sir Malcolm has expressed his disappointment with the result he achieved and it is perhaps easy to understand it, for despite the remarkable speed attained, it must hardly have seemed -worth while to go to all the expense of taking "Blue Bird” across the Atlantic only to raise the existing record, which was not threatened, by eight miles per hour. What he was after was something much more spectacular—something that would bring within the bounds of possibility the attainment of a speed on land of 300 miles per hour. I do not suggest that Sir Malcolm Campbell had in mind any such speed, but it is clear that the adding of a few miles more per hour did not in itself attract him. A war of attrition on time and space

does not appeal to him. He is after a much more ambitious offensive, and knowing the determination of the man and his .complete absence of nerves I have no doubt that sooner or later he will bring it off. Before the late Sir Henry Segrave. invaded the realms of the higher land speeds, nobody dreamed that 200 miles per hour in a motor-car was possible. In the same way, a land speed of 300 miles per hour may seem fantastic at the moment, but few will be prepared to say that it is impossible. It is improbable that such a- speed can "be reached with the'“Blue 'Bird,” but given the man who has the physical ability to steer and control a car travelling at 300 miles per* hour, there is little doubt that 'British designers will be able to supply him with the requisite machine. TYRES KEEP RECORD. MARKS OF BAD DRIVER. There is no part of a car which gives you away quite so surely as your tyres. Each expresses how you drive, the attention you give, the care you take. If you are a driver who leaves it to the last moment before applying your brakes and who must be at the head of the column when the policeman’s hand falls, then you must expect your tyres to wear quickly. If rapid acceleration and deceleration is your only fault, this wear will be found to be evenly disr tributed around the tread and all four tvres will be in much t'he same condition.

You may neglect that little weekly job of checking and correcting the tyre pressure. If you do your tyres will tell the tale; excessive wear on the tread edges with the centre worn normally always denotes the tyre’s' biggest enemy —too little air; for you may be satisfied to dispense with a pressure gauge and judge the inflation with the toe of your shoe. Well, if you do, the results will probably be the same. Pressure cannot accurately be judged by this slipshod method, and : you will either run them too hard—in which case you will suffer discomfort and the car will suffer from unnecessary vibration —or they will be too soft, with the result mentioned above. Should you not have the alignment of your front wheels of your steering checked regularly, your tyres may tell you that the front-wheel "toe in” is excessive by the outside edges of their tread being rounded whilst the inner ones are frayed. Too little “toe in” produces exactly the opposite result. ■Bumping against the keflb may have bent the steering connections or altered the camber of the wheels. Irregular patches of the wear- around the tread indicate . the former, ■ uneven wear on each side of the tyre proves the latter, which may to some extent be combated by reversal of the wheels; the only real cure, however, is to have the wheels properly aligned with the aid of the right tools. Your tyres, too, will tell you of that brake drum which needs readjusting by showing very rapid wear in one or two places only, of that binding brake by premature wear evenly all round, and of incorrectly adjusted brakes by big discrepancies of wear between the four of them. Cuts and bruises are evidence of careless driving over bad roads and newly laid flints. Cracked walls tell of fast cornering on under-inflated covers. Give your tyres a chance. They tell you quite plainly of their troubles and they will react astonishingly to a x little patient understanding.—“Garageman,” in the Light Car. AFTER THE TOUR. CARE OF THE CAR. If you have used the car for a long country tour during holidays, it should 'be given some attention on returning, to prevent undue wear developing and to keep it in good general condition. Country roads are often dusty, and fine dust is likely to increase tyre wear very materially if it has found its way to bearing surfaces. Coachwork should be thoroughly cleaned and all bearings well lubricated. A great deal of dust will probably have penetrated between the spring leaves, increasing friction, so that the car rides noticeably harder. This can be eliminated by having them sprayed with penetrating oil. Gearbox, rear axle, and engine should be drained after returning from a run, when the oil is warm, and will flow quickly, and be refilled with fresh lubricant. The carburetter air cleaner, unless it is of the self-cleaning type, should be cleaned out, and if it has been necessary to refill the radiator with doubtful water during the tour the cooling system should be flushed out. Wheel bearings should be given fresh lubricant. If there is any sign of the front wheel bearings leaking, it is likely that the grease has thinned out, and they should be removed, cleaned, and regreased. Adjust them carefully to remove slack. Test the brakes and have them adjusted or relined if necessary.

SLIDING DOOR.

EXPERIMENTS IN FRANCE.

Several of the leading French car manufacturers are conducting experiments with a new type of car body which, if it proves practicable, has much to commend it. The difference between this body and the standard type is that, instead of opening outwards in the ordinary way, the doors are sliding ones. In the past the need for employing swinging doors on closed cars has introduced many difficulties, and has not been the least of the factors which cause body depreciation. Owing to the forces of inertia which heavy-moving doors impose upon their frames when opened and closed carelessly, the supporting members have necessarily been made very robust. This has added to the weight of bodies and the cost of building them. Even so, carelessness in the opening and closing of swinging doors imposes considerable strains on the body, and promotes the development of rattles and squeaks. Considerable ingenuity has been shown in the design of the new sliding door. It does not slide directly back into the eide of the car, as is the case with the ordinary sliding type of door on trams and railway carriages, because, obviously, such a. type of construction would involve the use of a wastefujly thick body side, as well as impairing the lines of the car by the presence of a recessed door. Instead the door fits neatly into the frame and flush with the side of the car. To open it the catch is first released, and the whole door can then be moved a few inches out from the side of the car. It then slides back along the side of the car on a special guide on the valances, providing means of comfortable admittance to the interior of the car.

COMFORTABLE CARS.

IMPROVED SHOOK ABSORBERS.

The. riding comfort of motor-cars is now far in advance of what it was even only a few years back. Balloon tyres, better springing, and improved- shock absorbers have all helped in this regard. The development made in shock absorbers has been very marked, and a further step towards even greater efficiency in damping out road shocks has been the introduction by some car manufacturers in their latest models of shock absorbers capable, of adjustment to suit road conditions by the drivers whilst the vehicle is in motion. Some manufacturers are experimenting with the idea of controlling the action of shock absorbers by thermostatic compensation, so that the correct tension to ensure maximum riding comfort would 'be automatically controlled. In hot weather, or after prolonged driving on rough roads, the oil fluid in shock absorbers has a ■tendency to thin, thereby giving the fitment too muck freedom for maximum checking action. With thermostatic control to take up any fluctuations in the oil viscosity it is thought that better action would be obtainable at all times, inasmuch as the human element would be eliminated as regards either adjustment of the fixed type or manipulation of the manually controlled shock absorber. If such an application can be effectively applied, then the efficiency of these already effective shock absorbers would be increased. SQUEAKING BRAKES. A SIMPLE REMEDY. Squeaking brakes can be cured in the following way: Drill a small hole—’about 3-lfiths of an inch in diameterin the brake-drum, as near to the inside shoe as possible. Inject a small quantity of kerosene through the hole from time to time. This makes little difference to the efficiency of the brakes and. cures with a little trouble a very irritating noise. The kerosene can be applied to external contracting, brake bands, without making any special provision. Another simple remedy not generally known by the majority of motorists: Mix a Tittle powdered graphite with petrol, and put a small quantity on the brake linings. After a while the squeak will vanish. There will be no loss of braking power, and in many cases the brakes will become slightly more efficient-. In’ most cases the screeching of the brakes when, slowing down the car is due to the oil or grease, or road particles picked up by the brake-lining during the first 1000 miles of operation. These foreign substances give the surface of the brake-lining a glaze or a hard scale, causing the brake to be noisy. It also results in unevep application. Remove the rear wheels every two or three months and clean the lining. The glazed spots can be roughened by rubbing the surface with a half-round rasp. All brake troubles, including squeaking, will be avoided if the brake drums are regularly inspected. Another way of overcoming this annoyance is to take off all brake shoes and thoroughly clean them with petrol, afterwards scraping the working surfaces of the linings lightly with a sharp knife or a piece of glass to remove the glaze. Make certain that all rivet heads are counter sunk below the surface of the fabric. Then heat shoes to near the boiling point of water and apply a dressing of carron oil to the surface of the linings. 'When this has soaked in apply a second dressing, keeping the shoes heated while it is being absorbed. Wiien the shoes are refitted and the brakes applied the squeak will have disappeared.

THE “SHAKE TEST.”

ROUGH TREATMENT FOR BODIES.

Few motorists realise to what an extent automobile manufacturers carry out tests and research work, so that their products will stand up to the stresses incidental to present-day motoring. For instance, the largest motorcar manufacturer in England submits the various types of bodies made to what is known as a “shake test.” Periodically, one of the pressed steel bodies is taken at random from the production line, and in its finished state, upholstered, and fitted with safety glass windows. It is mounted on a chassis frame and conveyed to the “shaker,” an instrument capable of imparting 100 earthquake shocks per minute. Diagonal corners of the body are fixed solid, and the other diagonal's are twisted different amounts at varying speeds. Thus one corner will be lifted three inches very quickly, and the other four inches more slowly. Bodies are so tortured for 12 hours or more before they are released. One body was submitted to a million shakes and then fitted to a work’s chassis. Since then it has covered 30,000 miles without a semblance of a body squeak. Thus is ensured the silence that is a. feature of the modern motor-car.

NEW GEARBOX. AUSTRALIAN’S INVENTION. An automatic gearbox of original design Ims been produced by an Australian engineer, Mr. A. H. Pikett, and it is stated that practical tests have proved so satisfactory that a complete unit has been sent to one of the leading British car factories for test and experiment, with a view to its adoption commercially. The purpose of the invention is to obviate manual gear changing so that at all times the mechanism will automatically engage a, ratio suitable for the conditions of running. It should also be observed that free-wheeling effect is provided for together with a. manual locking device. The main shaft coming from the engine to the gearbox has only the low gear attached to it on'the sleeve principle. There is another shaft on the outside of the main shaft on the front end of which is a single disc clutch, and the other end has the second gear wheel on it. Outside this shaft is another shaft which has a single disc clutch on the front end with the gear on the opposite end. All power is thus transmitted through simultaneous gears on the lay shaft through the constant drive wheels out to the back axle. The patent attached to this gearbox is contained in the moving lay shaft, which is suspended in a frame which swings in pendulum fashion. The lay shaft is actuated by the torque reaction which becomes prevalent in the transmission when there is a difference in speed between the engine shaft and the tail shaft. All gears on the lay shaft are

in constant mesh with the three simultaneous gears on the main shaft, and to enable this to be done there is a series of over-running clutches in the first, second and constant drive gears on t'he lay shaft, the ’top gear being a positive drive.

To procure absolute silence in this transmission, the top gears and the constant drive gears are made with helically shaped teeth instead of straight ones. The fact that the lay shaft is epicyclic in principle gives it a tendency to make a circle round the main shaft, but this is prevented by a series of cams attached to the front end of the lay shaft which are faced on the diagonal surface of another cam, which, when pressure is applied, slides on the main shaft and performs the action of declutching first of all the top gear, and then the second gear. When the process is in operation the thrust is pressing against a number of spiral clutch springs which are based on to the internal face the flywheel, so that as the torque action lessens the clutch springs perform their natural function, which is to expand to their normal position, thereby re-engaging the clutches in the second and top gear, which automatically brings the car to the gear desired. A TYRE HINT. KEEPING UP PRESSURE. Even if wo neglect the fact that the law of to-day demands that we use nothing 'but good, sound tyres, plain common sense must compel us to the habit. As a matter of fact, experience shows

that It does not pay to run tyres to death, and the carrying of a “dud” as a spare is, at best, a false economy. On the other hand, in these hard times, few of us can afford to spread ourselves on a fine new set of covers. If we can boast a couple of good ones, with sharp tread-patterns, let one of these be in front and the other behind. I do not think it matters whether they be diagonally arranged or no. But, what is of even more importance, all tyres must be kept up to their requisite pressure. With a decent footpump and a reliable pressure-gauge anybody can do this service with a weekly expenditure of five minutes and a negligible effort. The under-inflated tyre is a most effective introduction to a skid. That which is adequately pumped is an efficient contribution to stability.—Modern Motoring. LAND SPEED RECORD. AMERICAN MYSTERY CAR. According to an English authority an 1800 horse-power car is being built in America in deep secrecy to make an attempt on . the land speed record. The American designer hopes for a speed of 300 m.p.h. The car is super-streamlined •and fitted with a supercharged Miller engine of the same type that was built for Gar Wood’s speed boat. If the h.p. rating is correct, this is the highest powered engine that has ever been put into a car. The Napier engine fitted to the Blue Bird develops 1400 h.p. Although the design of the American challenger was prepared nearly two years

ago, very little has been said about the car, and the matter is still shrouded in mystery. The Americans arc very anxious to win back the land speed record,, for they realise its tremendous publicity value, and Miller, tho American manufacturer of racing cars, has been working on his design for some time.

CAR SHORTAGE.

A SYDNEY ESTIMATE.

A prominent car distributor in Sydney has suggested that the following estimate of the prospective demand for new automobiles in Australia is conservative. There are, he points out, approximately 500,000 motor vehicles in use in the Commonwealth to-day (excluding motor-cycles). But, he continues, if it is assumed that under revised economic conditions that total is more than Australia can employ; to arrive at a sound estimate of the number of new vehicles which the country can absorb annually to make good natural wastage some deduction must be made from the figures quoted. Suppose, for instance, that the present total were written down by 200,000, there would still be 300,000 vehicles requiring periodical replacement after the surplus transportation represented by the 200,000 superfluous units had been used up. Calculating on that extremely conservative basis, the fact then emerges that, if seven years is taken as the normal of car life, Australia will in ordinary times require more than 40,000 new units yearly, which, he observes, will mean “a healthy trade in due course.”

SLUGGISH STARTER.

GETTING BE'ST RESULTS.

Slavish action of the starting motoi : is a sign that the expensive battery needs renewal.. Those with some knowledge of electrical theory will realise that a six-volt starting system must be free from resistances caused by poor contacts if the necessary starting current of more than 100 amperes is to flow through the motor. Battery contacts often suffer, owing to the creeping action of the acid, and it may be necessary to fit new terminals on the cables, which is quite a cheap job. The terminal posts of the battery should be scraped bright and coated with heavy oil, while the cable •terminals are smothered with vaseline •before replacing.- \ - After the car has had a couple ofyears of use, the frame terminal should ■be removed, and both the terminal and - the portion of the frame against which it is bolted should be polished with emery cloth and slightly smeared with vaseline before replacing. Tighten- up all switch and motor terminals.

Inspect the commutator of the starting motor, reached by removing the thia metal band clamped around it. If oily, clean it with petrol. If the commutator appears to be burned or pitted, especially if the burning is patchy, it should be overhauled by an expert.