MOTORING

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1933, Page 15 (Supplement)

MOTORING

CYLINDER WEAR

RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS. CORROSION OF COLD METAL. (By Our Motoring Correspondent.) London, July 20. My reference recently to the results of experiments carried out by the Institute of Automobile Engineers to try to ascertain the causes of cylinder wear has brought a letter from a correspondent which is of general interest. Taking first the conclusion reaphed, as a result of these experiments, that cylinder wear, is due, not to petrol dilution or lack of lubrication, but to corrosion of cold metal, my correspondent asks whether this means that upper cylinder lubrication does not, as generally imagined, prevent cylinder wear. The reply is that the experiments were initiated to throw light on the causes of cylinder wear, not to establish the efficacy of certain palliatives. Under certain conditions upper-cylinder lubrication no doubt acts as a deterrent to cylinder wear, but I do not imagine any expert will be prepared to assert definitely that it abolishes cylinder wear. The problem is much more deep rooted and what the experimenters have sought to establish is that corrosion is an important factor and that it is due to cold cylinder walls. If their contention is right, rapid warming up from cold is of great importance in preventing cylinder wear. •This brings me to my correspondent’s second query. He asks me if I can suggest a reason why (1) the most expensive British cars and (2) almost all American cars are free from cylinder wear. These are general statements ■Which I cannot accept with the same unquestioning faith as my correspondent. But assuming his statements to be based on irrefutable evidence, it must be emphasised at once that such freedom from cylinder wear has nothing to do with the metal itself.

The cylinder walls of even the low-est-priced car are made of metal admirably suited for the purpose and it need not be imagined that because a car is cheap the cylinders are made of shoddy stuff. Expensive cars and American cars—l am merely adopting my correspondent’s classification without ulterior motive—usually possess big engines, and as it is generally accepted by engineers that the rate of cylinder wear is governed by the task the engine has to perform it follows that in the case of a bigger engine the rate of cylinder wear must be less. This would apply, of course, only to a private car engine and not a bus engine which has to work ,much harder than a car engine. But as I have said, it has yet to be proved that the most expensive British cars and almost all American cars are free from cylinder wear. The question of cylinder wear is. a problem which affects the whole motor industry. It is not confined to manufacturers of medium-priced and low-priced cars. Arising from the same article comes a query from another correspondent as to whether the lesson to be drawn from the investigations is not that a car should never be driven out .of the .garage until the engine itself has warmed up properly. As I interpret the report of the Institution of Automobile Engineers, such • a deduction is certainly to be drawn. - Cold cylinder walls are claimed to be the cause of cylinder wear and it therefore follows that if the lubricant is warmed up before the car is run, the chances of cylinder wear are greatly reduced. ' In this connection it is, however, necessary to point out that a gentle ticking over of the engine may not be enough to send the lubricant into full circulation. It ought to be rather, more than that in the case of the average car. The engine should be fairly well “verved” up, but not excessively so.

BLENDED SPIRIT. FRANCE FINDING TROUBLE. The petrol-alcohol situation in . France is somewhat chaotic at the moment, and very many complaints are heard, as to the quality of fuels distributed to the public (say's “The Motor.”) By Government decree wholesale dealers are required to buy from the State, for blending purposes, a quantity of commercial alcohol equal to 10 per cent, of their petrol requirements for the previous month. The idea is to absdrb some of the enormous surplus stocks of commercial alcohol produced in certain agricultural industries. The alcohol is purchased by the State at 250 francs per hectolitre, and sold to petrol dealers at only 112 francs per hectolitre—the loss being regarded as a subsidy to agriculture. A hectolitre is about twenty-two gallons. The Government has to dispose of some one and a half million hectolitres of alcohol annually. The blend of motor spirit now distributed contains from 11 per cent, to 20 per cent, of alcohol, and, in theory, it should give excellent results. But the fact remains that complaints of bad starting and poor acceleration are heard on every hand. The causes are probably to be found in bad blending and a high water content in the alcohol. The blending operation is a delicate one, and lack of care on the part of wholesalers may account for the trouble. In Sweden a mixture of petrol and alcohol in the proportion of 75 per cent, to 25 per cent, respectively has been marketed for a long time past. THE ROBOT PILOT. Many people will be interested to know something of the nature of the automatic control used by Wiley Post —it is known as the Sperry Automatic Pilot— in his recent aeroplane dash around the world. The pilot is composed of two mam units, the gyro control and the servo unit. The controls of these units are mounted on the instrument panel, together with indicators which show the pilot the relation of the aeroplane to the ground so that while resting and not operating his controls in a manual sense, he can quickly perceive any alteration in the path of flight of the machine and is thereby relieved of a considerable amount of mental and physical fatigue, particularly when flying in bad weather or thick fog. The gyroscopes which operate the control unit are air driven and require only a few inches of vacuum for their operation. The air is provided by an engine-driven vacuum pump, or should this fail, the necessary air pressure can be received from the atmosphere by a venturi tube projecting from the wing. Two gyroscopes are used and while these are in operation the pilot, should he desire, can still operate the normal controls of the aeroplane. The gyroscopes operate the servo or relay units which are connected with the controls of the aeroplane, which operate the rudder, ailerons, and elevators. The device is a decided step forward and should do much to relieve pilots of mental and physical stress when flying through rain, fog. and clouds, and in enabling the machine to bekept to its course. -----

SPRING MOTORING

PREPARING THE CAR. HINTS FOR OWNER-DRIVERS. The recent spell of ideal spring weather has been more than welcome to motorists and, particularly at weekends, the increase in the number of people driving solely for pleasure has been remarkable. Owners of open cars have dared to drop their hoods and stow away side-curtains after the winter and drivers of the more popular closed types have taken full advantage of their “sunshine tops” and wide windows. Most of the cars, however, have not been overhauled since the winter, and in many instances a general slackness in performance and appearance is noticeable. With the commencement of generally better weather, owners would be -well advised to subject their cars to a rigorous inspection, and give them a general tightening-up. Small defects noticed during the winter, but neglected on account of the inconvenience of lying on wet ground or paths to carry out adjustments or repairs, should be given immediate attention, and the improvement in performance and general behaviour will more than repay owners for the time and effort expended. It is generally wise to decarbonise the motor and touch-up the valves, check water-pump glands, oil-pumps for pressure, clean filters in the vacuumtank and carburettor, clean the starter pinion, check the brakes and examine all electrical equipment, before looking forward to a trouble-free seasons motoring. The list may appear formidable, but one or two Saturday afternoons should be sufficient to bring the car into good running order. In addition, such routine tasks as/ attending to the battery and using the grease or oil-gun should not be . neglected. Annoying squeaks or rattles that have developed during the winter may often be traced to the doors. Owners should tighten up the various locks and other fittings, and after cleaning, apply a little thin oil to any rusty places. The windscreen and its mountings may require similar treatment, while all bodybolts at all accessible will probably need attention. It is likely that the shock-absorbers will be improved by adjustment, • and that the body will appear much more pleasing after a thorough polish followed by a coat of protective wax or other similar preparation. BODY BUILDING. THE LOCAL POSITION. For the nine years ended March 31, x 932, the number of bodies -built in New Zealand for motor vehicles of all sorts, according to the tables prepared by the Government Statistician, was 30,036. Of these 22,975 were fitted to chassis of commercial motor vehicles imported for the transport of goods, and over 2250 were fitted to chassis imported as “chassis for .passenger vehicles" but used for light delivery goods vans. This leaves 4811 bodies built for passenger cars during this period, an average of 3.9 per cent of the passenger cars imported complete. If the amount paid by motor owners as body duty is divided by the number of cars locally built to which this duty applies, it shows, according to the case presented to the Tariff Commission by the motor trade, that there was paid on an average £467 in duty for every passenger car body built in New Zealand. The statement went/on:— “From the foregoing figures it must be agreed that the attempts to establish motor body building so far as passenger car bodies are concerned has not been successful. With the wide margin of protection that has been given, the industry should have succeeded if it were economically sound. In our opinion the principal factors which have prevented an industry of this kind from being successfully established are:—(l) A limited market; (2) competition from manufacturers who have a world market and produce in large quantities; (3) change of chassis design; (4) cost of local distribution. “The average number of passenger cars sold in New Zealand over the last ten years is 12,280 per annum. These are manufactured by approximately 40 different manufacturers. Each maker has on an average four different models, and each model has on an average four different styles of bodies. On an average this would mean twenty bodies of each particular style. Such small numbers would make it impossible to install plant and equipment to enable New Zealand manufacturers with only a domestic market to cater for, to compete with the large manufacturers overseas.' If New Zealanders were satisfied to confine themselves to one make of car of one model and a uniform type of body, the annual requirements of the New Zealand market could be filled in about three days by one of the large manufacturing concerns.” Regarding commercial vehicles, the statement said: — “The building of bodies for commercial motor vehicles is on an entirely different footing from the building of bodies for passenger cars. This type of body is not produced in quantities, is more varied in its styles, and is usually so bulky as to make freight and charges prohibitive. This type of body is not afforded the protection of special body duties, yet practically the whole of these are built in New Zealand.” TESTING SOUND BY SIGHT. The fitting of twin horns that produce a harmonious chord is becoming increasingly popular with motorists abroad. The two-note combination gives a warning signal which is particularly distinctive and at the same time harmonious. The latter feature is obtained by carefully grading the horns so that there is a musical interval between the two notes. In one factory the horns, whether they are to be supplied as single or twin models, are graded after assembly, according to the pitch, or frequency of vibration, of the note. The measurement of the frequency is carried out by a visual method which does not depend in any way on the musical ear of the tester. The testing apparatus consists of. a motor running at a fixed speed, which carries a disc marked in several concentric rings, each ring having a number of alternate black and white spaces. Connected in series with the horn is the primary winding of a transformer, a lamp being connected across the secondary winding. When the horn is blowing the lamp lights intermittently, the rate of successive flashes corresponding to the frequency of the horn. According to this frequency a particular ring of marks on the disc appears to be stationary. The disc is so calibrated that, from noting which ring appears to be stationary, the actual fre- ■ quency can be obtained.

OLD CAIR PROBLEM

AMERICAN JUNK YARDS. AN IMPROVED SYSTEM. Manufacturers and dealers in America to whom the obsolescent car has been a growing source of distress, have made considerable progress this year in solving the problem. The salvage division of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce has named 72 junk yards in 44 cities of the country as official repositories. These yards, -under bond to the chamber, take old cars from dealers and guarantee that the vehicles will not be resold as such. A certificate of demolition issued to the dealer entitles him to a bounty from the manufacturer, plus the small amount due from the junk yard for the scrap metal. Participation by manufacturers in the plan is voluntary. This system replaces a previous arrangement under which cars were stored by the dealer until a manufacturer’s representative arrived to witness smashing of the vehicles. Now, instead of receiving mutilated cars in tow, the junk yards get vehicles from which usable parts may be salvaged. The dealer thus gets a higher price for junk material and manufacturers are saved the trouble of stocking parts for old-model cars. Since the disposal of “crocks” is made easier, the flow of vintage vehicles from public to junker is expected to increase. Under the old system the dealer was tempted to patch up a wheezy trade-in and resell it to exuberant chance-takers whose financial position was about equal to the car’s safety rating of zero. Junk yards, too, found ready customers for decrepit vehicles which could be used in bargaining with car retailers. These undesirable practices, it is held, will be lessened considerably by the current increase in co-operative dealersalvage yards. The yards are operating as an extension of the older “highwaysafety plan,” whereby the cars for junking had to be kept until the coup de grace was witnessed.

PETROL FROM COAL. BIG PLANT TO BE ERECTED. Details of a big new plant to be built by Imperial Chemical Industries at Bil-lingham-on-Tees, Co., Durham, for making petrol from coal have been given by Sir Harry McGowan, chairman of the company. The building of the plant has been made possible by the decision of the Government to guarantee a preference of at least 4d a gallon to Bri-tish-produced petrol. Sir Harry McGowan said that Imperial Chemical Industries have conducted research on the hydrogenation of. coal, tar, and other materials for six years. In view of the Government’s undertaking the directors had authorised a scheme for the erection of a large commercial plant at the company’s works, Billingham, where special facilities are available. “An initial output of 100,000 tons a year of first-grade petrol is' aimed at by processing 400 tons of coal a day, and using altogether about 1000 tons a day of coal,” he added. “The operation of the plant will give permanent direct employment to 2500 miners and other workers, as well as much indirect employment. The construction of the plant itself, estimated to take about one and a half years, will call for much activity in the iron and steel and heavy industries. Seven thousand men will find direct employment during this period, and it is expected that there will be indirect employment for a further 5000 men. The necessary new capital of about £2,500,000 sterling will be furnished by Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., from their own resources, which are ample for the enterprise, and for the general business of the company.” NOISE IN GREAT CITIES. Although London’s traffic roar, with many types of vehicle contributing their quota, produces a note almost as deep as that of Niagara Falls, New York easily shouts London down, according to an article in The Motor. Acoustical experts declare that New York streets are usually 10 decibels noisier than their counterparts in London. (A decibel is the unit of soundmeasurement.) Whereas London, they say, has streets where at 20 paces you could not hear a dog bark. New York has streets where at the same distance you could not hear a tiger roar. The Embankment, it is said further, has the loudest noise in central London. A tramcar travelling there at high speed, when heard at a distance of 18ft. produces a noise greater than that of a lion roaring. But New York in addition to the hum incidental to motoring, suffers incessantly from the din created by riveting girders in the construction of steel buildings, from the clanging of tramcars, unique in this respect, and from the inferno of elevated railways. Dr. William Braid White, an American acoustical expert, has by means of a recording device, reduced all this riot of sound to a kind of formula which is useful to remember. “The pitch of London’s voice is low’ C,” he states. “New York’s voice is like the singing of a wire carrying an alternating current, while Chicago’s is like the hum of a motor running without engine knocks.” SAFETY GLASS.

A paragraph in the “Australasian” reads:—“Although the fitting of safety glass to motor-vehicles will be compulsory before registration can be obtained throughout Great Britain, France, and the United States after 1934, little encouragement has been given to its use in Australia. It has been estimated, moreover, that more than 40 per cent, of the victims of motor-car accidents are injured by flying glass. The disinclination for motor distributors and owners to fit safety glass in the past has been explained by the high tariff on this material. Now that the Federal Government has wisely removed it, however, the fitting of safety glass should be strongly advocated, and legislation making its use compulsory, should, in the interests of motorists and passengers, be considered in the near future.”