MOTORING and CYCLING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1423, 2 August 1917, Page 26

MOTORING an d CYCLING

The American Government is already buying up motor cars by the thousand for use with its contingent in the fighting line in France. All the large car manufacturers have been asked to submit prices according to a set schedule as regards class, power and price. Already the U.tS.A. has purchased 4000 cars from one maker, 2000 from another, and 1000 of another make, all touring cars. ♦ * * * The 5 per cent, war tax levied on all cars sold in the United States has been amended to a degree. This tax is now to be only collected from manufacturers who show a profit more than £lOOO in excess of S per cent, on their capital. In Detroit alone, 214,500 cars were delivered by six factories only since April 6th (when the tax came into operation) till May 20th, of a total value of £72,400,000. The tax on this output alone reached £3,620,000, equal to £l7 per car. This war tax means a certain increase in the selling price of American cars in this country. * * * » Judging by a statement made by an important English official in the Ministry of >Muriitionis, Women, are now capable of doing well nigh every class of work in the production of aerial engines. The fact that there will be a great reserve of skilled labour for motor work after the war points to the fact that the British industry will be in a position to produce cars on a very much greater scale than heretofore.

What is termed an electro-pneu-matic gear shift has been introduced in. the States. In this device the gears are changed by compressed air, the valves of the air chamber being operated electrically. The air is also used for operating the clutch, so that all the driver has to do to change from one gear into another is to move the switch lever on the steering column. • • * • Two types of motor cycles are extensively used on the western war front, viz., the low-powered lightweight for despatch riders and the big heavy-powered models for machine gun and side-car work. It has been found that the heavy 6 or 7 h.p. machine is unsuitable and unnecessary for despatch work. In a day’s work, the despatch rider may be compelled to lift his machine or pull it out of ditches, shell holes, etc., dozens of times, and it did not take long for the military authorities to drop the

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heavy 300-pounder for the lighter and easier handled small twin or singlecylinder 3 h.p. engine. On most of the heavier outfits a spare wheel is now carried, as the machine gun crews have no time for roadside tyre repairs. • • ♦ * Very few motorists appear to realise that prolonged exposure of rubber to sunlight has a deteriorating action ■on rubber by reason of the slow chemical action on the complex structure of the rubber which takes place. This is the reason why motorists should always carry their “spare” fitted with a light and air-proof cover. When rubber is in constant movement, says the Dunlop Rubber Company, it helps to prevent deterioration, and that is the reason why a tyre that is in use shows less effect of perishing than a cover strapped on to the side of a car. ♦ • ♦ ♦ While there is no real solvent for carbon, save heating metal to a considerable degree, there are several liquids which tend toward the removal of carbon deposit because they soften and dissolve the gummy oil which acts as a binder and holds the accumulated particles of carbon in a compact, almost solid mass. About the most efficacious of these is strong acetic acid. This liquid, of course, cannot be used in the motor. For removing the last trace of deposit from fouled sparking plugs, however, it leaves little to be desired. The treatment should be followed by soaking the plug in petrol and then drying them off to remove moisture.

Abner Doble, vice-president of the General Engineering Co., Detroit, U.S.A., believes that steam as a motive power for airplanes may be used in the near future. The power plant of the Doble steam car, which is manufactured by the above-men-tioned 'firm, develops 1 h.p. to 101 b. weight, which is a better ratio, according to Mr. Doble, than that of a complete power plant of a gasolene car, and when used in an airplane is not encumbered with clutch,- change speed transmission and starting apparatus, and the ratio of weight to power is greatly reduced. Mr. Doble is experimenting on his power plant for aerial purposes in an endeavour to reduce the weight, and expects to lighten the boiler and engine by careful adaptation of design and the use of special materials. The electrical apparatus may be eliminated virtually by taking advantage of the draft supplied by the propeller and the velocity of the plane.

A motor ambulance, the first in Christchurch, is nearing completion in the factory of Stevens and Sons, to the order of the St. John Ambulance Association, says the Christchurch “Star.” Up to the present the city has only had two horse ambulances, which are considered to be out of date not only in design, but in propulsion. They will be maintained as a stand-by, but the new ambulance will be used as much as possible. It will not only be able to travel quickly on outward journeys, but will be of use for going into the country for medical cases for removal to hospital, and will also be able to cover the ground more quickly with the patient. The new ambulance will be fitted to take any kind of stretcher, or even a bed in cases where the patient cannot be moved. The interior will be in white enamel, with no square corners to retain dust or germs. The outside will be in wal-nut-stained kauri panels on a clearvarnished ash framework. There will be a long overhanging roof coming well out over the bonnet, a feature which will lend distinction to the new conveyance. The chassis, which of course was not built in Christchurch, was selected for its length and ease of springing. * * * “The automobile is no longer for pleasure alone, but to do the world’s work, quicker and more economically than before it came,” says a prominent American business man. “-It has set a new pace for business, decreasing effort and increasing volume at the same moment. It has annihilated distance and by so doing brought people closer together. Due to it the farmer no longer considers a trip to town a burdensome duty. Due to it the manufacturer and the merchant meet oftener. Due to it the physician reaches more and further. Due to

it the land owner is enriched beyond his fondest dreams. Thus, more things are raised or made because more things can be moved. Speed brings men together and that creates trade. Health is promoted. Lives are saved.” There is such a shortage of new cars in America just now that even second-hand Fords in good condition are being readily bought up at nearly their original selling figure. Premiums are being paid in many instances for delivery of new cars. * Passenger cars, motor trucks, and even airplanes may yet be propelled by heavy oil, high compression engines such as the Diesel. In fact, an engine of this type already has been constructed in Germany, and has given one horse power for every 3 lb. of weight. A number of stories illustrating the daring type of men in the Royal Flying Corps were told by Lieut. E. T. Shand, R.F.C., in the course of his twenty minutes’ “Talk on the War” in Wellington last week. During operations at El Arish, he said, it was decided to make a raid on enemy hangars at the Wadi. Several flights of aeroplanes were sent out first thing in the morning, and, the attacks being in the nature of a surprise, the first Flights did excellent work without provoking the “Archies,” but the subsequent Flights got it hot. One aviator had his tank perforated by a bullet, and was faced with the problem of his fuel rapidly giving out. The only thing left for him to do was to make for the sea, where patrol boats had been stationed in view of such an emergency. He did so. As he approached the salt water his engine flew to pieces, but he nevertheless managed to descend within 500 yards of a patrol boat. He was fortunate in this, as the machine rapidly sank, and he was going under with it when the patrol boat managed to save him in the nick of time. Another aviator engaged in the same raid was placed in a like predicament. He was forced to descend on the sea shore in full view of an enemy battery, which was half a mile away. Another British aeroplane, 10,000 ft. up, noticed his plight, and descended.

The -riddled machine was destroyed, leaving only the good machine, which was only capable of “Carrying two men—the observer and the pilot. Could it carry the third man? But this was not the greatest difficulty. They could not get the machine to rise on the sand. They were forced to flatten out a surface first, and with

only one passenger managed to fly the machine on to an adjacent paddock. There the three men got into it, rose into the air, and flew a record d'stance of 90 miles to the British lines in a machine that had never before been known to carry more than two. Luckily the Turks did not fire on them until it was too late.