High Road and By-Road |

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19052, 16 September 1933, Page 20 (Supplement)

High Road and By-Road |

A COLUMN FOR MOTORISTS. I

TEMPERATURE AND TYRES.

BEATING THE CLOCK. The men who race cars on th< speedway are always trying to' devise new ways of building up speec and.adding safety as a compensatinf factor. Each year brings its nev way of helping the car to beat th< clock. Experts have recently been maklnf research studies on the heat set ui in tyres travelling over the bricks o: the Indianapolis speedway at ar average rate of approximately 12( miles an hour, and at 160 miles an hour in the straigh stretches of the track. As each car completes Its 25-mllf trial two men in white overalls gc out with boxed instruments to measure the heat generated on the rubbei tread by the high speed run. While one applies a tube not unlike that ol a stethoscope to the surface of each tyre the other manipulates controls and watches dials from . which exact temperatures are taken. What they have been seeking is differences in the heat shown between front and rear “shoes” after the contact of rubber against bricks. The temperatures thus found are taken back Into headquarters and recorded, it may take weeks, or even months, to isolate the scientific facts the research men are seeking, but when found they are passed along to the production department for such practical applications as may be possible. Experience of years has taught the pilots and mechanics that trouble Is more likely to develop in right rear yres than in any of the others on a acer’s wheels. The reason is that he right rear being on the outside, t is subjected to greater strains In naking the turns, because Its revoutions are somewhat faster than the yres on both left wheels. The tracion is more severe and the conse[uent wear on the tread is greater, due tij, weight transference caused by centrifugal force plus driving .stress. Nitrogen gas was used this year to inflate the tyres for the Indianapolis "500” race. Previously both air and oxygen have been used, and fires have been known to result when blowouts have happened at the same precise instant that there was a backfire from exhaust or cylinders. Both air and oxygen are more likely than the nitrogen to cause fire. Under these conditions, and for that reason, the nitrogen was used.

NEW GAS FULE.

POWER FOR MOTOR-CARS. RESULT OF EXPERIMENTS. The substitution of gas for petrol in the running of motor vehioles and a miner’s gas-measuring electric lamp were among the/subjects discussed at the summer meeting of the Institute of Mining Engineers at Edinburgh recently. Sir Thomas Holland, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University, who was the first president of the institution, in extending a vveloome to the members, said they had come to a district which must always remain in the minds of the students of geology a place recognised as classical ground! Although science w r as not in earlier days a strong line in the university, since 1868 they had had six principals, four of whom had been presidents of the British Association —two before coming into office as principal one during his term of office, and one afterwards. Geology was not recognised as a sclenoe worthy of a separate professorship until 1870, and engineering became a special Chair In 1868. Since then they had developed in the direction of applied soienoe, and nine years ago, through the generosity of one of the members of that institution, Dr. James Hood, a Chair of Mining was endowed. Towns Gas for Motors. Dr. C. M. Walter read a paper on “The Application of Town’s Gas for the Running of High-speed Internal Combustion Engines," which he had practically illustrated by running a car from Birmingham to Edinburgh with oompressed gas as a fuel, and had obtained from it a perfeot performance. From the results of the experimental work at Birmingham which Dr. Walter described in his paper there seemed, he said, little doubt that town’s gas could be employed with distinct advantage as a substitute for petrol, particularly In the case of the heavier types of vehicles, the advantages to be obtained resulting in reduced running costs where gas could be obtained at approximately 4d per therm, and also in considerably increased flexibility, which had been so pronounced in. the case of all engines so far experimented with. While- the experimental work had been carried out with engines primarily designed to run on petrol there seemed little doubt . that it .vould be possible from the experimce now obtained to design engines ‘or running on town’s gas which .vould show very considerable insreases of efficiency over those ob-

tained up to the present. Substitute for Petrol. The possibilities of the use of gas as a substitute for petrol must be oi extreme importance to the mining industry, and from the experimental work referred to it would appear that at any rate for certain types ol vehicles, town’s gas, one of the most important derivatives of coal, would be able to compete satisfactorily with many imported liquid hydro-carbon fuels, both from the point of view ol efficiency and of economy. Dr. Walter afterwards gave a demonstration of his car. Interviewed as to his run from Birmingham to Edinburgh he said such a car as his, a 20 horse-power Rolls-Royce, was usually very quiet, but there was a tremendous difference running on gas. It was more flexible and dead silent. The running of the car was marvellous. For a mile 10 feet of gas was used, which was a better result thffl had been obtained with heavy vehicles run by Birmingham Corporation. This consumption was equal fo 250 cubic feet of gas to one gallor of petrol. For the 85 miles run on gas the approximate cost was Is Fd, as against. 5s for petrol for the same distance. A New Safety Lamp. Professor W. M. Thornton, D.Sc., contributed a paper on '‘A Miner’s Gas-measuring Electric Lamp." The chief drawback urged ajainst the miner’s portable all-eleciric lamp was, he said, that it could lot be employed to detect the presence of firedamp. Many attempts had been made to remedy this, but all had defects that, had prevented their approval or acceptance in mining practice. Some devices had been too sensitive for pit conditions, others too sluggish or inaccurate. The lamp he described was, he said, the outcome of many years of research and pit trials on the best means of dealing with this difficult problem. It worked on the principle of estimating gas by the difference in brightness on two surfaces, one of which had a fixed illumination, the other being exposed to light from a hot wire glowing more brightly when gas was present. Other papers read were “Investigations of Mining Subsidence at Barbauchlaw Mine, West Lothian,” by Professor Henry Briggs and Dr. William Ferguson; “The Application of Metal Sheets for Surveying Plans," by R. Adam, B.Sc., John R. Reid, and .lames K. Templeton; a report by the Safely Committee of the Mining Institute of Scotland on “The Resistance of Props”; and a report on “Lighting in and about Mines” by the Joint Committee.

THE STEERING WHEEL.

Attention was recently directed to the fact that many Australian drivers of motor-cars and trucks were adopting an imgtini’y and Ineffective method of holding the steering wheel. A recent check of 100 men and 100 women drivers (Inclosed that only 'ii males held (he steering wheel in its lower half, wlile sf> gripped the upper and wrong lalf (states the Ilunlop-Per-driau lullelin). In a number of j cases comped room behind the wheel | appeared to he the cause of the I wrongposfurc. hut lack of knowledge of Ihe rigid, way lo grip a steering i wheel or rank carelessness were ap- j pa roil i V responsible for the incorrect | driving position of a large percentage of Hr observed motorists. The number >f drivers of both sexes who grip the vhcel by hooking their two hands ovi" the top of rim of wheel-dim mol ungainly and worst possible portion for correcting a skid or sk'ful handling of vehicle (n ease of an emergency—is surprisingly high.

SPARKS

“A motorist’s life isn't all honey,” -s-ay-s a headline. Quite so; lots of It’s “jam."

The Automobile Association Great Britain membership has now passed the 500,000 mark.

There are now 2,130,043 motor vehicles licensed and in use on the roads in Great Britain.

Motorist (trying to start -car, to friend singing inside): “I say, do be quiet. People will think this is a barrel organ.”

Blackpool (England) Is -considering building a test hill for motor trials out of ashes which have been obtained from a local refuse works.' The sea front has been suggested as a possible site.

A small police car -stolen in England on October 19 last year was fished out -of Southampton Dock recently, -sadly damaged owing to several liners having rested on it.

A team of -racing cars entered for a race at Brooklands recently was equipped with wireless receivers wit which to keep in touch with the pits, where a transmitter was installed.

The greatest cure should be taken when applying brakes on wet streets. At corners there is a tendency for the car to skid, and it is never wise lo apply hrakes at corners except in emergencies. -Speed should he {reduced before the corner is readied.

Much inconvenience and danger are caused to all classes of traffic -by faulty methods of cornering. There is a tendency on the part of many drivers t-o take left-hand corners far too sharply, with the result that the calls carried out into the middle of the road.

“In addition to the driver,” -said the coroner for Mid-Warwickshire, “the pedestrians must be taught to -cooperate with all other users of the road to ensure safety. Traffic signals are designed to control all (raffle, whether vehicular or pedestrian."

One -hundred -years ago Joseph Aloysius Hansom Invented Ills patent safel y -cab, possibly I lie most popular menus of locomotion ever offered to the public. To-day -some of the latest London taxis have the entry and exit -arranged on much Hic same lines as Hansom employed.

If Hie motorist keeps to the lefthand side of the road, takes proper earn at. all intersections, does not overlake another vehicle when any risk might, arise from his doing so, does no| "drive beyond liis brakes,” gives signals •correctly, and gives war in any vehicle approaching from his right, lie can regard himself as a good driver.