1926-07-07 — Page 8

THE HONGKONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 7TH, 1926

'MADE IN ENGLAND'

We put these words

They

DUNLOP TYRES

for your protection.

are made at Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, and they are recognised to-day as the

Standard by which all Tyres are judged.

114

Local Distributors: Hongkong Hotel Garage. Tel. C. 4759.

Local Branch Office: 16a, Des Voeux Road Central. Tel. C. 4554

[4.P.L.]

DEMAG ELECTRIC HOIST,

The ideal form of hoist Repair for Garages, shops, and any places. where weights "have to be moved vertically or horizontally,

Can be used with all voltages

Sole Agents:

ווי.

LEYSECO CHINA CO., LTD.

BANK OF CANTON BUILDINGS (4TH FLOOR).

SHE

SHELL

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DELIVERED BY OUR OWN LORRIES "Direct into CERTIFIED

SHELL PUMPS

IS ALWAYS THE SAME

PERFECT QUALITY AND

CORRECT MEASURE

The Linus Projami Co. 18.0.7.14€ (Incorporated is England)

TEL. C. 1221.

{A,P.B.]

SOCONY

MOTOR OILS -

AND

GASOLINE

Motoring Notes:

A Weekly

Review dealing with matters of interest to all local motorists. -The Silent-Car-A Well tuned Engine.

(BY AN OWNER-DRIVER:]

It has often been said that " familiarity breeds contempt." It is remarkable that, in this mechanical age, many people should be so afraid of the mechanism of a car. They should try to become more familiar with it.

LEAKAGES.

Speaking roughly, the size of bay mechanism for producing power varies inversely as the specd.

A petrol engine running at 4,000 revolu-

Another cause of noise is the escape of ions gives twice as much power as an engine running at 2,000 revolutions per gas from the engine cylinder.

minute.

It must be remembered that during the working stroke the gas is under a very high pressure.

At forty we are all supposed to be either. There are joints that may leak. The doctors or foola. The younger generation escape of the gas causes a noise that may in England and America at the age of easily be mistaken for something metallic twenty either know something about

out If the 3

If the sparking plugs are not screwed motor-cars or are not very intelligent down firmly the aoise will appear. Just The dificult individual is the middle-aged try leaving one plug a bit loose and start man who says the machine is too com- up the engine. It will be easy to recog- plicated;" of course it is quite simple for nise the noise next time if you locate it ham to understand if only he will take a in this way, little trouble.

-Now-a-days the engine of a car is usually so silent that there is practically no noise when it runs. If a noise develops it is as well to ascertain the cause. Only it is foolish to make a panic about it.

The extremes of carelessness and over- anxiety are difficult to avoid. The man who stolidly refuses to take any interest in the mechanism becomes alarmed at the Srst sign of trouble."

NOT EVERLASTING.

The machinery that will not wear out has yet to be invented. Motor-car mechanism wears dat in time. The actual useful life depends on two factors. One is the quality of the machinery and the other is the care and attention given

to it.

SLEEVE VALVES.

Many years ago an inventor named Knight journeyed to London in the hope of selling his invention. So many inven- tors do that.

Knight was of a mechanical bent. of mind. He had the idea that the ordinary tappet valve would always make some noise. So he made up his mind to build an engine with a noiseless valve arrange

ment.

The maximum speed for a petrol en- gino, so iar, it about 8,000 revolutions per minute. If that is increased up to 65,000 we may expect the size of a twenty horse unit to be about one-tenth the size of the present type of engine.

In addition we shall have much less wear sad tear of working parts There will also be less noise. For wear and tear always produces noise. In other words noise has to be paid for.

PROGRESS CONTINUES.

It does not seem certain what type of 'bus will be used, but we are informed that at least three firms manufacturing in England are making efforts to secure this

order

Brobably the light 'buses that will be displaced will be used in the New Terri- tory. The country folk out there seem willing to use this form of transport They appear to travel poveral miles to market.

The roads near Fanling are good and being fairly level the cost of running the 'buses should be quite reasonable.

We may look forward to the time when there will be a regular motor 'bus service between Kowloon and Canton.

Perhaps it would have been wiser to have built a road rather than a railway. On the other hand it is a fact that motor traffic facilities.often increase the receipts of railways

THE WEIGHBRIDGE.

%

The experience of many an owner who has seen or driven his car to the head- quarters of the police during the past few weeks has been depressing. lost have now pay an increased tax. A friend who owns a car listed at sixteen hundred- weight has an amusing story. He lett about ball a gallon of petrol in the tank, empted the tool box and a good deal of the water from the radiator. He even It is premature to build hopes for in removed the spare wheel. The latter was so noticeable that he turned back when mediate change because of the announce- ment that a new steel alloy has been dis-on his way to the police station and re- covered. However, we have seen so many placed it, very reluctantly.

"An encouraging friend advised him to new inventions suddenly become commen take out his battery and self-starter. The later is awkwardly placed-but-be-spent ple-that we may well hope, las the best-

There has been steady prograss during a couple of hours in getting it out. His a quarter of century in motor mechanism pluck failed him when it came to the battery-visions of what the police do, in Perhaps we are at last to have what en- gineers have been longing for--a petrol

casce of conspiracy and fraud came to him. driven turbine.

cially successful broadcasting for exam

RACING EVENTS.

It is to be hoped that the efforts to stimulate interest in motor-cycles made by the enthusiasts attached to the section

He produced a petrol engine with what are technically known as "sleeve valves "yvehicles will be a success. and he called it the Silent. Knight”. It was a good name. --

of local volunteers. with mechanical

It is to be held on Saturday next and is well worth the attention of all motor ists.

It is not an engine that can be manu In Great Britain there are various factured as cheaply as the ordinary ta-events of an entertaining nature organised

by motor clubs. per valve engine. It is, however, silent and simple: It is a design that saves periodical adjustments.

The good driver knows his motor's voice. There comes the day in the life- of every car when the voice uttera.a.acte (many years and obwarning. What is to be done?

First of all locate the noise. Make up your mind as to whether it is produced! by the engine, the transmission or the body parts of the car.

It has been running in some cars for we may hope that Mr. Knight has made a fortune out of his in- genious idea.

It is claimed that there is very little carbon deposit in the cylinders with this type of engine. Experience has shown that it lasts a long time.

Let the engine run free with the clutch in neutral, Manipulate the acceleration For many years car with such an

}:

Recent results have shown that the amatear is willing to take part in com- petitions which must take up a great deal of spare time.

BIG RACES.

..

At last his car was on the weighbridge. He thought it was 3lbs, bver the sixteen hundredweight, as he watched the beam- fail Surely you won't make me pay an extra eight dollars for just three pounds- over!" he said to the polite attendant st the weighbridge.

“Don't you worry, Sir, the weigh eighteen hundredweight three quarters and three pounds."

Collapse of the anxious owner,

A FAIR DEED.

I actual fact quite a number of small car owners have been "caught" by this latest police trap.

It is only common sense that a light car should pay a lower tax than a heavy vehicle. It does seem hard that a small two-seater must pay twenty-four dollars The French Grand Prix is a famous 2 year and a huge motor 'bus only about race, which arouses interest all over they be respectfully suggested to the

may

world.-

An efort has been made to limit the authorities that the tax should be one ultimate speed of a racing car so as to dollar for each hundredweight or fraction

of a hundredweight. make racing less dangerous.

There are, at present, three governing regulations for the purpose.

The car must be of a certain minimum definite capacity. The body must be not less than a certain width.

so as to vary the speeds of the engine.engine was run by the officials of the Tai-weight. The engine must be of a certain

If there is no result, then jack up bothkoo Dockyard. It originally belonged to rear wheels and run the engine with the Mr. David Landale and was one of the clutch in and first one gear and then first few cars to make its appearance in

Hongkong.

There is a story that it crashed into a lamp-post and smashed one of the cylin ders, It is said that the engineers of the Taikoo Dockyard repaired the engine. It was a tricky piece of work, but it was successful. »

another connected up.

A few weeks ago a local motorist cou plained to the writer that his car was rattling." ·We proceeded as, above. The noise was located at the differential, we examined it and found that a piece of one of the teeth of the wheel bad be- come Ipose. The pinion was also dam aged.

ENGINE "KNOCKS.”

A "six-cylinder model, with a Knight engine English rating., 20.7 horse power (tax £21), has been put on the market at the very reasonable price of £395. It is the price in England-That-is-for-a-five seater touring car. The saloon body on It may be due to worn bearings-big-the same chassis is priced (in England) end or judgeon pin

gat 2495.

If the engine makes à boise when run mng free, the next thing to do is to locate the noise in the engine itself

If the engine is turned round by hand the noise can be located, especially if the valve caps are removed. If the knock is due to worn bearings they must be re- nowed That is no job for the amateur.

A common cause of engine "knock" is advanced ignition. After the spark lever at the first sound of a rock.

It is also a good plan to change gears if there is a knock going up bill A heavy load will produce a knock, caused by overloading.

"Never" hang on until the last second gu top gear. The gear box is placed in the car for use. Nothing is worse for an engine than the thumping due to over- loading it. Now-a-days engines are design ed to run at high speeds. It is a mistake to wait until the engine is running slowly before changing gears.

VÁLVE ADJUSTMENTS, Sometimes the knock is due to hammer ing of the valves. The springs may be too strong of the tappet clearances EXUPERIVE

It is absurd to expect the coachwork of the cheaper models to be as good as that placed on a high priced car.. The coachwork sometimes, Some years ago a second-hand car was

squeaks"

As far as can be ascertained that is the lowest price at which a car with a Silent Knight" aleqve valve engine can be purchased.

A NEW INVENTION There are, for all practical purposes, only two types of petrol engine or the market, vi, the tappet-valve and the sleeve valve engine. Both have, pistons and reciprocating mechanism.

Intil about thirty years ago all steam engines had reciprocating mechanism. Then came the steam turbine.

Many motorists wonder why there is no turbine working with petrol and air. It is not because inventors have neglected the problem.

For a quarter of a century, in Europe and America, scientists and engineers have tried again and again to produce" an engine working on the turbine prin- ciple and atitable for ears.

The great stumbling block has been the high temperatures which arise when petrol gas is exploded. It seems essential to TOOve some of the beat from the metal in contact with the gas lest it melts. All sorts of materials have failed when tested for high temperatures...

It is not easy to cool anything that is whirling round and round in circle. The blade of a turbine might be made hollow. It is fairly simple to get the cooling water.

for sale. It was tried out by a number in the difficulty is to get it out.

A

of purchasers but none of them would NEW STEEL ALLOY take it. At last it dawned upon the owner that possibly a small squeak in the body work was the reason."

On enquiry one of people who had taken a trial run said: "We were alarmed by

#

16has recently been stated that a well-"" known firm of staal makers in England have produced a new steel alloy which is capable of withstanding very high tem peratures.

It is said that it has been used in the

that noise. We called, it" the canary construction of a gas turbine, which has

We felt sure that there was something wrong with the ear."

rotated at the incredible speed of $8,000, revolutions per minute.

The working temperature is 1,850 de- There have been very great improve-grees Fahrenheit. ments in the body work of cars since those days.

If the above statements can be confirm ed by official figures we may safely pro phgey-a revolution in the design of cars,

A word of praise is due to the attend- ants at the weighbridge. Those of us who have had any previous dealings with the always cheerful Sub-Inspector Alexander, who is in charge of traffic, knew that we should find our pathway, to the weigh- bridge made as smooth as possible.

It was almost worth having to pay a

---THE REVENUE.

racing. It is believed that the effect Wind resistance is an important factor of the wind only on a car with a body of a bigger tax than we expected to see his rertain area will in itself limit the ulti-face light up as be said "Just a bit mate speed. If more resistance is needed more for the Hongkong Government, Sir; screens of a definite area would rotard times haven't been any too good of late, each car by about the same amount they can do with a little help." Thank Drivere, for whom the regulations have goodness that our local police-have-a- been introduced in the hope of making sense of humour.. their work less dangerous, object to them It is probable that wherever a speed uf about 100 miles per hour or over is indulgea in there will be accidents.

The objection to any limitations or arti- ficial braking arrangement is that it is

One onlooker sergeant saw a "swank" likely to retard progress of design.

Racing has done a great deal to encour vehicle on the weighbridge with its proud age designers and manufacturers to intro-owner. As usual the owner protested duce new ideas. It is now a fact that in about the verdict He always had paid any of the big races the manufacturer has twenty-four dollars and it was an imposi- to meet heavy expenses and the driver tion to make him pay forty-eight, etc.

must be a man of iron nerve.

The police in the trafic department are not only invariably good tempered but most of them have a very keen sense of humour.

"One of the norer rich," said the ser geant's friend, making as valiant an effort as any cockney to get at the real French accent on the "noveau

In Hongkong there is no racing track but some day there may be one. In the meantime we may wish the promoters of next Saturday's entertainment every suc cess. Every local motorist should wit-up nese the show,

LOCAL, MOTOR-BUSES.

Aye,-bless 'in, bringin' a furrin car ere, and calls 'imself British, Well, he's one of the 'nover poor now and I wish he was more so."

The really sad part about the tax and the weighbridge is that, speaking gener-. ally, British cars are built more massively.. and weigh heavier than Continental or American C

It is said that a number of new buses are being purchased by the Kowloon bus companies. A correspondent informs

They say that, after paying for the us that by Jonary next the three com- panies in Kowloon will have to place weighbridge, a profit of about 83,000 has nine new thirty-seater 'buses on the road been made this year on the old licenses. in place of twenty-seven light buses now It was a good investment for the Govern tunning.

INSURE

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Purchasers of the following Machines

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