Motor Car for Babies.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 9, 2 July 1906, Page 241

Motor Car for Babies.

Every baby now can have his or her own motor car ; a new era in perambulators has begun, and Mr. Dunkley, of Birmingham, one of the leading manufacturers of perambulators in England, has invented a little vehicle which he calls the pramotor. It consists of a comfortably upholstered bassinette with a folding hood and pneumatic tyres, worked by a little electric motor of less than a i h.p. and capable of attaining any speed up to five miles an hour. The nurse can either walk behind if she wishes exercise, or sit on a bicycle seat which can be drawn out by means of collapsible tubes from under the

car. The driving-lever and steering-wheel are fixed at the back of the car well out of reach of the erratic occupant. The charge is guaranteed to last for five hours.

Autogenous Soldering. — Many of the defects ot soldering are due to the employment in the solder of some metal different to that or those which have to be united. Uniting metal by means of a " solder " of the same composition has, however, been in use for many years. It is known to the workman as "burning," to the engineer as "autogenous soldering." Hitherto it has been practically limited to lead. It is believed to be occasionally employed m high-class plumbing work, but it is most commonly seen in factories where sulphuric acid is made. In lead burning a stick of " solder," which is pure lead, is caused to melt by the heat of a blow-pipe, usually consuming hydrogen and air. The process is somewhat expensive, because the hydrogen has to be generated from zinc and acid on the spot, while a boy is needed to work the air pump. Coal gas and air do not give a sufficiently hot flame to melt the lead stick. With acetylene, however, it is claimed that a temperature is obtained exceeding that of the hydrogen air, oxy-coal gas, or even oxy-hydrogen blow-pipes — , in fact, a temperature but little short of that of an electric furnace. Therefore, by means of the oxyacetylene blow-pipe, not only lead, but also iron or steel, and probably copper, can now be " burned." Chemically speaking, the joints are permanent, because, if made with due skill, there is no " joint " — the two pieces are made one, just as in welding, but without the blows.