MOTORING NOTES

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19117, 9 July 1930, Page 14

MOTORING NOTES

“MAGNETO."

Elimination of Branch Lines. The elimination of various branch railway lines throughout the country will serve to bring home to the farmer how valuable the roads are to him. A little while ago we had a farmer stating that farm produce should be carried on the railway, wherfe it belonged. Now the same farmer will be faced with the prospect of not having a railway to carry the goods. After the wonderful defence put up for the railways by the farmers it must be rather humiliating to be let down. So the prospects are that the farmer will have to depend on road traffic to an even greater extent. If the petrol tax does go on then the man on the land will pay higher freight charges than he did before, and then perhaps he will think again about the statement that good roads and motor transport are of no use. to him. The Tramway Tafiic Report. The contention of the Tramway Board that a tramcar carries 50 passengers and a motor-car four has been used many times previously as a means of getting more privileges for their type of vehicle. However, when one considers that tramcars are scarcely ever full, save at rush periods, and that motorcars arid motor-cycles outnumber tramcars as a rule, the question of whether the tram has the majority is still open for discussion. Again the traffic inspectors holding a point more often than not give the tram right-of-way. It must be remembered, too, that the tram has already a fixed right-of-way, its lines, and is tantamount to an obstruction, especially on the busier streets of the city. Quite part from additional privileges there still remains the matter of tramway control over unwatched intersections. The drivers of trams do not observe the limitations of speed over street crossings. Twtenty-five miles an hour is the usual speed at which a car dashes over a crossing. Manchester Street, particularly, is a bad street for “speeding” tramcars, and, like trains, the motorist never gets any sympathy when an accident occurs. Trams do not observe the rule of the right, and at obscured intersections it is the good brakes of modern cars, not those of the trams, which avtert collisions. Since the tram is a road user, and since every year motor traffic , in our city increases, some system of traffic control which will include tramcars is necessary. When, and only when, that control obtains should the question of further privileges to the trams be considered. Speed Trap. Dunsandel was once again the scene of a speed trap on Saturday, when thte Selwyn -County Council decided that the test traffic would be an excellent opportunity of raising revenue. It caught a number of the motorists, but once the trap became known a thoughtful driver went down the road and warned approaching cars. A rather unsportsmanlike thing to do to trap motorists coming from, in many cases, outside Canterbury, strange to our roads and lacking local knowledge. A New Petrol Saver. Various petrol-saving devices have been submitted lor test from time to time, with a varying range of success and failure. The latest petrol-saving device, the Duo-Vaporator, gave excellent results on actual road tests. The Duo-Vaporator consists of two separate units and works in two ways, with one object—to increase the efficiency of the carburettor. The parts are: (1) The accelerator valve. The purpose of this valve is automatically to admit air in the exact proportion needed. As the speed of the engine increases, the double-seating valve opens in propor-

tion, and the suction of the pistons causes a spray of oxygen to be drawn into the induction system with great force. In this way the exact proportion of air necessary for efficient carburation of the ptetrol is provided at all engine speeds. (2) The alternator. The purpose of the alternator is to set up a whirling action in the intake manifold, which ensures that a perfectly vaporised charge will pass to the cylinders. The liquid particles of petrol are churned up, and the charge passes in the form of a highly explosive gas. Summed up, it may bo said that the Duo-Vaporator applies in a modified form the principle of the supercharger to any car to which it is fitted. Testimonials affect practically every make of car on the Australian market and come from various places throughout the Commonwealth and the Dominion. In every case the owner states that the fitting of the Duo-Vaporator has given him an increased petrol mileage, the amount of increase varying from three to ten miles a gallon. The device is easily fitted by any man. of average mechanical ability, and once "fitted there is absolutely nothing to get out of order. The National Distributing Company, of 250, Pitt Street, Sydney, are the manufacturers and distributors of this entirely Australian invention, and they are distributing the DuoVaporator under a very novel and successful plan, covered by a guarantee to the motorist that if the Duo-Vapor-ator is not entirely satisfactory after a trial on his own car all moneys paid will be refunded without question. News and Views. Last week-end Christchurch was the destination of cars coming from as far away as the West Coast, Nelson and Invercargill. The Main North and the Main South roads carried a maximum of traffic. On Friday alone 300 cars passed through Kaikoura on the way south. The introduction of motor transport has undoubtedly been a great boon to the country community. ♦.* I suppose the cost of bringing a car from, say, Nelson and returning would be about £6. Forty gallons of petrol would bo consumed in covering the 600 miles (the average five-seater car can; do 15 miles to the gallon), so the cost of petrol would be £4 13s 4d for fuel (that is working on a mean price of: 2s 4d a gallon). The charge should cover the oil and the extra pound some of the tyre wear. P'or five persons £6 seems a very reasonable amount to pay for transport; it only amounts to about 25 d a mile, or Id a mile for each perOut of a total passenger car registration in the United States at the close of 1929 of 22,599,701, General Motors Corporation had manufactured 6,356,901. This means that 25.13 per cent of alii cars registered are General Motors products. This figure is almost equal to the total number of cars registered ten years a "°‘ A turntable is built flush with a narrow str<*et in Paris, France, to facilitate the turning around of motor-cars. It is operated by an electric motor. The plan is expected to speed traffic and prevent congestion of vehicles. The most costly and luxurious motorcar ever brought to China was built for the President of the Nanking Government. The whole of the metal work on the body of the limousine, and even the hood, is of half-inch thick navy steel plate, which is designed to shed the bullets or bombs of woulcf-be assassins. Two extra seats project from the back of the car, built high enough to permit the occupants to see forward over the hood. These will be occupied by special guards with machine-guns. The running-boards are unusually long, for guards to stand on, each with a pistol in hand.