HIGHROAD & BY-ROAD.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17840, 12 October 1929, Page 23 (Supplement)

HIGHROAD & BY-ROAD.

KNIGHT SLEEVE-VALVE ENGINE. ELIMINATION OF NOISES. Ono of the major questions that confront motor engineers to-day is that of valves, which are the controls on the arteries and veins of the motor. One opens up the way for the passage of the fresh gases to give power to the engine, the other opens up the way for the discharge of the dead gases to make way for a new intake. It is a known fact that the simpler the operation of the valves can be made the greater the silence and efficiency of the engine. The goal of engineers is to eliminate valve noises, valve adjustments and to overcome any natural tendencies in valve construction to hamper the operation of the motor at any speed. The principle of two sleeves operation inside each cylinder wall, to control the inlet and outgoing gases, seemed a logical solution of many of the problems confronting the' designing engineer. These sleeves automatically eliminated a number of parts and furnished an opportunity to carry the valves or ports in the sleeves themselves and the operation of the sleeves was a simple matter. As general use of this type of motor on the part of the motor public built up the sources of information from which engineers could determine the efflcienoy of this type of construction, it was learned that not only did the sleeve-valve principle do away with all the usual valve problems but that the operation of the motor was such that even the usual carbon difficulties were largely eliminated and the life of the motor materially lengthened; The power and speed -developments of the Knight sleeve-valve engine, such as is used in all the Willys-Knight sixes, the exceptional life which they haye shown, and the fact that nothing else has yet been developed which approached this form in simplicity, has attracted the attention of the engineering world as well as the great army of motor-car users in steadily increasing numbers. NEW ATLANTIC UNION CHIEF. Mr James D. Jacobs, who has recently returned from a world business tour, lias been appointed managing director for the Atlantic Union Oil Company, Ltd., at Sydney. Since the company’s inception Mr Jacobs has played an active part in the phenomenal progress which has put them in a position of one of the leading petroleum product marketers in this country. As a director in charge of sales for Australia and New. Zealand Mr Jacobs showed Iris outstanding capacity for organisation and sales development. Prior to coming to Australia he was associated with the Atlantic Refining Company of Philadelphia for a number of years, breaking Iris service there to serve as a naval officer in the war. BE COURTEOUS. IT IS SAFER. OVERTAKING RULE. It is generally admitted that if we could bring Into being a greater measure of road courtesy amongst motorists we should concurrently make a forward step in road safety. Among the many incidents in which courtesy can be extended there is one which may be stressed—the “give-and-take" principle in cases where the right-of-way is not clearly defined by commonly-accepted viewpoints. Suppose a road thirty feet wide running north and south. Travelling upwards is Mr Smith with his car just to the left of the centre of the road, where it should be. Coming towards him is a big steam lorry followed by an overtaking private car.