A
HONG KONG "DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY 18, 1931.
MOTOR NOTES
MECHANICAL
TRANSPORT.
RELATION TO OVERSEA TRADE.
Mr. G. M. Gillett, Parliamentary peretary to the Department of Civersons Trade in England, has written an appreciative article on The importance of mechanical trann- | port in relation to overaon trade, in which he points out that no one can say what are the limits to this
form of traffic. The first three de
exdes of the present century, which have just closed have been marked 'dy the introduction, of road vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines; and the complete remodell- jug of the road system of the British Isles, with a volume of trafic which ntinually demande additional measures designed to relieve con- gestion, and to facilitate road pro-
KIERS.
A STORY OF CONTRASTS.
RAILWAYMEN WANTED ON THE JOB.
[BY A LONDON CORRESPONDENT. ),
__ON_STARTING UP.
THE PRACTICE MOSTLY ADOPTED.
AND SOME THEORIES
CONTROVERT IT.
That being the case, is it not advisable to reviso our engine- starting procedure?
gme
NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE.
A GARAGE DANGER..
For the past year, when starting au engine from cold, I have always to work in the following man, hor: Having first retarded the Car owners are warned of the ignition-fully-I-have-pulled-up-the serions risks of · carbon-monoxide strangler wire and then stepped on starter switch. After the starter has been in operation no time to time the N.RL.A. safety. less than three seconds, and the department, points out, motorists engine is turning over at a fairly fast
the
poisoning in closed garages. From
сласн
3re
rate, I have switched on and almost are fatally poisoned by earhop WHICHnedintely opened the strangler, I monoxide given off by the exhaust In every enso the engine has fired gases of motor vehicles, and many immediately, and during the whole
others escape the same fate only year I have never experienced the slightest trouble, not even a run-
because they are discovered (often down battery. The two important in an unconsvicus condition), re- items in this procedure are that the moved from the dangerous "atmos. spark is fully retarded and that the starter has had time to get the intelligently. the ignition is not switched on until phere, and treated promptly, and
Those engine turning over at a fairly more numerous during the winter rapid rate.
months, because of the unnecessary and extremely dangerous (but quite common) practice of "warming up" engines in small garages, with all doors and windows closed. Per- haps the motorist may take the opportunity during this warming-up period to clean the windshield, or wipe the mud or dust from the body of the car. In the meantime, the proportion of deadly carbon mon oxide in the air in the garage is constantly terenaing, and within a few minutes. the motorist is likely to fall unconscious and smother, unless somebody discovers him and takes him outside to the fresh air.
dozen revolutions. After that, one
[DY AN OWNER-DRIVER.) I have an old friend who is an engine-driver in the "top link"
When I frat became acquainted of one of the big railway groups.
with motor-wars, engine starting To make it the more intereating he expecially on a cold mirning, was is also the owner of a four-seater something of an adventure. One breed. We will refer to him as buretter, stuffed a petrol-soaked touring car of quite respectable opened the bonnet, tickled the par
Suggested Advantages. Tom, though his real Christian rag into the air intake, and wound.
If my method is exathined critic, me is a Biblical one of great the starting handle round half ally, I will, I feel stre, be found length and very rare, and used to switched on, withdrow the rag from correst. By retarding the spark to look very well painted inside the the air intake, and, if all was well, the full extent all risks of back cab of bin locomotive in the days the engine would start on an early firing and a bent starter motor armature-shaft are avoided. There swing.
is also the assurance that the pres- when each man had his own engine..
Even after the electric starter Old Tom drives the crack trains
sure rise in the cylinder will not was invented there was the same take pace until the piston is on the of this particular company, and it ritual with the starting handle and down stroke. As the starter is act has been my privilege to trave! petrol-soaked rag every morning, in motion before I switch
on the with him on the fastplate, as well for the early electric batteries ignition I am assured of at least could not be expected to stand the three' desirable factors: I am cer as qn the road in his sturdy strain of breaking down the guro-tain, frst, that the lubricating oil bas comnienced to circulate before Where these experiences have not twelve-horge, The contrast han ming oil film that heid cast-iron
the engine fires, and that, the cylin w exactly paralled in Australia, bren, so curious that both of us pistons when the engine was conld.
have often laughed over it, for my that they could be relied upon to
When batteries grow so robust der oil film has been carried the they have been accompanied by a
complete length of the cylinder revolutionary development, particu-fricad in possessed of that wonder- kbari a cold engine without buck, bores by the pistons; the three or Jarly as regards the coming of the ful faculty of being able to see a ling their plates, the recognised four seconds that clapse before the He is at starting procedure was as follows: ignition is switched on the engino mptor-vehicle on the roads. As far joke, against himself.
One wanted oneself in the driving will run through several revolu as the remodelling of the roads is home on the big four-cylinder sent, retarded the spark halfway, and each cylinder will, by the time concerned, writes a correspondent monsters which he usually handles switched on, pulled up the strang. that it is on the firing stroke, have inhaled a charge of gas that has in an Australian paper, we are now
--in fact, as he himself expressesler wire, and then stepped on the
Btarter switch. This is still the been compressed, and in the pro it the throes of a great road build-it, "more at hous there than round method of the majority of car ress of compression has become
the parlour-fire with the old wo- ing era, especially in New South | mat."
owners, even in these days of but least partially vaporised by the tery ignition. But is it correct? the that I do switch on, the en- Wales, Victoria, and · Queensland.
The Happy Warrior.
About five or six years ago no
Ring is turning round sufficiently Victoria, the smallest and most com-
magneto could be expected to give swiftly to obviate the slightest risk pact. 'State on the mainland in the
a spark strong enough to fire the
of back-fire, even if the ignition does take place a few degrees be- Commonwealth, made the earliest
mixture until it had attaínëd “a
fore the top dead coutre. speed of at least 40-revs, per slart, and for about 10 years has
minute, and therefore, of necessity.
gas, too, has by this time con- been engaged in remodelling and
two or three seconds elapsed be
menced to move sufficiently fast in reconstructing her country road A stormy and wet night, a heavy tween the time when the starter,he induction pipe to make starting Hystem; New South Wales has only train and tight schedule, perhaps button was pressed and the instant certain and to assure that the en gine will continue to fire regularly during the past seven or eight years
an engine that does not steam quite when the engine had attained a so freely as she should, or a new sufficient speed for the magneto to and not stop again almost immedi
ately after it has started. engaged in an active policy of the fireman-these are conditions feu-fire the charge in the cylinders., kind, and her greatest move for-ough to worry the average conscien ward has been during the past fivo tious driver. Nut au our friend, years, during which the Main however, for then he is in his ele ment. His weather-beaten face Reade Board has placed road mak- has a constant grin on it, and he ing on a really scientific and pro cannot resist coming over to the other side from time to time,' there gressive basis.
to yell out amid the speed and din some comic story he has recently heard. This ability to keep his hond (and, incidentally, for keep ing time) has earned for him a splendid reputation.
Work for Thousands.
As Mr. Gillett points out, how ever, the dawning of the motor and road making era does not stop at this stage. Motor transport has created many new occupations and revitalised others, and in Australia ng well as in Britain has enabled
And the worse conditions are the more self-possessed Tom be- comes, for it would be difficult to 'describe how bad things can be at times even on the best organised lince.
On the rond, however, Tom is all at sea," and the man who loves and glories in his two thousand horsepower steed doing eighty uiles an hour, with bun dreds of people behind it, is actun)- ae army of people, to obtain in-ly rather afraid of the little twelve teresting and profitable employ-horse-power machine that has a ment. The operation of motor cuting capacity of four. If only his "missus" would drive it he transport involves drivers, servico would give up the job altogether stations, repair depots, and wayside and become a passenger, but the accommodation for the vehicle itsus" declines to have anything
to do with the "works" self, as well as for the human bur- den. In the manufacture of the vehicle an oxtraordinary number of occupations and industries это affected. In England, the supply of material or plant to the motor industry is regarded as the one bright spot in the ster, leather, machine tool, glass, timber, paint, rubber,
electrical trades. Building and reconditioning of roads provide employment for an army of labourers, as well as en- gineers, surveyors, overseers, clerks, anri office staffs, and others.
Mr. Gillett points out that oven if the limit of development appears to be near at hand in Britain, there is an altuvat unlimited market awaitif British goods overseas, During a period between 1928 and 1920, marked by one of the worst and most sustained commercial de- pressions over known, the hungor for mechanical transport was, such that the world consumption for "commercial, road vehicles, increased
fiom 3,000,000 to 5,300,000, while in: the British Empire Alone the in- grensa wna 100,000 The Department
of Overseas Trade was devoting close "attention, to the very largo, poton- til market for more British goods, and the fact, that exports of com- plete commercial motor-vehicles from England have shown a steady Therease during the past three years was regarded as an outstanding achievement. According to trade estimates, the prediction of com- mercial vehicles in the United Kingdom last your was 24 per cent. the total number of reticles pro duced; but the number of commer oin vehicles and chassis, exported ras less than 20 per cent of the total vehicles exported. It was the department's quibition to improve this proportion considerably."
|
The
FORD SUCCESSES,
The Ford Motor Company held the lead in the sale of automobiles last July, according to registration figures just made public. In that month Fords accounted for 43 per cent. of all the new passenger cars registered better than two out of every, five. In the first seven months: 41.6 per cent. of all new cars registered were Fords,
In Wayne County, Michigan, which includes Detroit, the home of the automobile industry, 51.9 per
cent more than half-of the new cars registered in August were Fords
This is exclusive of 178 Fords delivered to the city of Detroit. In the first eight months of this year more than three out of cars registered in Wayne County were Fords.
Try this procedure on your own Inside the Cylinders,
enr and see if it is not an improve- During that comparatively briefment on the old "switch-on-and-five
start" method, interval of time a number of things happened; the engine had made at least half a dozen reyolutions and the pistons were free by the time" that they came under load; ench cylinder had gone through at least one complete gvels of operations, and was therefore filled with ex- plosive charge; the flywheel had acquired a certain amount of momentuni so that when one cylin. der fired the flywheel could carry the crankshaft.over top dead centre despite the fact that the firing hand taken place a little in advance of
the dead centre.
Now let us consider the matter from the angle of ignition timing. It 0 deg. is the correct ignition advance for 3,000. r.p.m., then it follows that 9 deg. is correct for 300 and that even one degree spark advance is a degree too much when the engine is stationary. There fore, if we start an engine with the ignition lover in the half-advance position we are certainly firing the charge too early.
six years ago no harm was done by On the engines in vogue five or this procedure, for, by the time that the magneto got under way suficiently to produce a sizablo spark, the engine was turning fairly brisky.
Perils of the Road. His expression on the road is very grin and stern, while a bit changing keep his face as red us of hilly country and constant gear a prony. A rod triangle will pull him up to a crawl, while Cross- ronds are positive nightmare only to ko negotiated with a cease lessly sounding horn.
His usual
With modern battery ignition, speed is round about twenty-two miles an hour, which he explains however, the case is altered, for the is quite good enough for "seeing battery delivers a full-power spark' at the lowest speed that the start- the country." Not that Tom ever stes any country; he is far too busying motor is capable of rotating Right from the watching the road and the controls, the crankshaft.
"I like my steering done for me,' inatant that you press the starter button the ignition system com. he said one day; "a couple of good steel rails, and you know mences to function, and, which is your road's right as long as the more, the strength of the spark is sticks' um set for you. You can't unaffected by the position of the get damaged on my job by some spark-timing lever. The old mag- idiot roming out of a side turning. netos would not deliver a hot spark No, the darned roads'll never be in the retard position," and, in fact, safe until you got some sort of a some of them would not produce a block system going. You want a spark at all when they were fully railwayman on the job, I can tell retarded. The modern battery set So that gettion that parti. in unaffected by timing or by any you." cular little worry of the Ministry | engine apred normally experienced of Transport.
in starting.
HIRE A CAR TO DRIVE YOURSELF
WHEN ON LEAVE
Or if you require a car for more than 8 weeks, we will supply any make new or used, with guaranteed repurchase price.
Write for. Tariff..
L. F. DOVE LTD. Automobile Engineers,
115, Addiscombe Road, AMCHOYDON,
LONDON:
GOING
HOME ON
LEAVE ?
If so, The following will interest you?
EXAMPLE OF CAR ON THE DEFERRED PAYMENT SYSTEM
"OVER EIGHTEEN MONTHS
To now car, say
Deposit une quarter.
Interest
£200.0, 0. C. 0. D.
£150.
U
15. 76.
£166. 7. 8.
Balasco of £165. 7. 6, to be paid in 18 monthly instalment.
To Deposit paid
of £9, 3. 9.
5 instalments of £9. 8. 9...
FINAL ADJUSTMENT To re-purchase prico–65% of £200,
Rebate on interest
Lesa 13 instalments still due
Cash handed to Purchaser
ACTUAL COST OF MOTORING FOR SIX To Deposit and five instalments paid
Thirteen instalments still duo
Tess re-purchase and rebate on interest Cost of motoring for six months
I
or £18. 3. 1. per mouth.
£50.0.0.
45. 18. 9.
95, 18. 9.
Le130. 0, U
6. 8. 11
£190. 8. 11. 119. 8. 9.
£ 17.9.12.
MONTHS
95. 18. .9. 119. 8. 9. -£215.-7. 6. 188. 8. 11.
78. 18. 7.
The above proposition-applies to any "make of, car, new or Bocond-hand. We can also arrange to have a car and chauffeur to meet you at the docks, to take you and your luggage anywhere, moro réusonably and more comfortably than by rail.
All our cara both new and used are sold under a repurchase guarantee..
LEAVE CARS, LTD.,
7, Upper St. Martin's Lane, London, W.0. 2,
WRITE FOR BOOKLET.
|| Tacol Agents :, JAMES H. BACKHOUSE, LTD., 14, Chater Road.
THE NEW FIATS.
I
1931
F you think that automobiles have pretty nearly reached their limit of development, a surprise awaits you!
If you think that cars are still to be re- garded as luxuries, prepare to readjust your viewpoint completely.
The NEW FIAT slides through gears as... silently as an arrow cleaves the air; the NEW FIAT rides the road as smoothly at fifty as we formerly travelled at twenty.
CYLINGER
521
FIAT
PHONE:
6-CYLINDER
AGENTS:
A. GOEKE & Co.
SPARE PART DEPARTMENT:: CHINA BUILDING, 4TH FLOOR,