1931-05-19 — Page 2

CHANGE IN CAR DESIGN.

ADJUSTMENTS ON THE

NEAR SIDE.

P

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1931.

SPARKS

FROM THE PLUGS

If a designer decins the raagueta or the commutator of the battery ignition outfit more liable to re quiró service on the road than the carburettor, this item is placed on the near side. Then secure by tive footpath or guarded by the car Time was when the automobileitwolf, the,operator can work in designer paid little heed to the peace.

The Ideal Lay-out. niceties of design in regard to the convenience of the user, writes H. To the layman it may seem a

London easy affar to so design the chassis Thornton Rutter the Morning

Cor that ang vulnerable part can be Post Motoring respondent,

The technical out. arranged in such a position of look, however, has greatly chang safely. As a matter of fact there ed, since the density of traffic are so many other items that are cities, towns and even affected in the positioning of car- villages has made it essential to burettor and dynamo, ignition mag provide better safety to the driver nete-cumstarter arrangement that wishing to refill the oil sump or.

the automobile engineer is still petrol tank or adjust the carburet. searching for the ideal lay-out.

in

tor.

Safely and simplicity for the user are the keynotes of present-day motors, due to the increasing dens-

mechanical ignorance of the aver age motor-owner.

To-day the motor, engineer en. deavours to arrange the design of the up-to-date car so that the rearity of the traffic and to the greater tank-filling orifice and the oil-filler of the sump are placed on the near side of the chassis, in order that the operator can effect such refilling af fuel with less risk of being run down by other passing vehicles.

At the moment, the technical ex- pert is undecided in regard to the position of the carburettor and this ignition apparatus. Those who he lieve the carburettor is likely to re quire little or no aflention on the

· road ard ́apt to fit this part of the equipment of the engine on the offside

HUMOURS OF FIRST

AID.

"Recently a constable found n young man lying on a'country road and groaning vigorously.. With Samaritan-like tenderness he bent over him and tried to extract from hin the reason for his recumbent position and for his apparent woe. All the young man could reply, was:

I ate one, ton; I ate nag, too."

Poisoned" was the constable's immediate diagnosis; and remem hering his ambulance training he nt once procured and administered an emetic. Then between his convul- are attacks the patient managed to On being told and on being further pressed to tell what he had eaten, he became most unkind in the man ner of his reply to the constable, "Eali What did I eat 1" he said. I have eaten nothing! The num- ber of the car which knocked me down was 181,2.”

ask the reason for such treatment.

1 man

This is all to the good, as it makes molor-cupineers provide equipment which will not fail. An example of the desire of the designer to One evening, while walking along provide safe cars is that even old

a dark road; two girls who were traditions and customs are now be ing cast aside. For instance, the studying first aid" saw newest car to enter the highly com lying face downwards on the pave petitive American market is the Dement, writhing in agony, they Vanx. One of its major charac teristics is the added safety factor thought. Both went to the man. of a wider trend. The distance be One enught hold of his feet and the other tried for an arm, bat a voice tween the rear wheels is 4ft 10in, as opposed to the conventional 4ft,

exclaimed: What's up, missne? sin, the cart track of centuries.

·

NEWS FROM EVERYWHERE.

AN INTERESTING NEWCOMER.

U

1, when testing, there are no hills in the vicinity, similar results

DIRECTION INDICATORS.

THE ITALIAN 1,000-MILE RACE.

BABY AUSTIN'S FINE EFFORT

·

SHORT SHRIFT FOR SHORT-SIGHTED.

MOTORISTS LOSE LICENCES.

Recent decisions by magistrates in different counties have enused con- siderable disquiet to short-sighted motorista.

In three separate cages within the space of ten days motorists who had heen driving for years with clean records were refused renewal of their driving licences because they could not pass the eyesight Lost Inid down by the regulations under the

Road Traffic Act.

Racing history was made by the can be obtained, of course, by driv-Austin Seven on April 11, when in ing with the foot brake slightly on, the world's greatest road race, the In the otar-cycle indistry, it is

care being taken not to overheat Italian 1,000-Mile Race, it complet

ed the difficult course in 21 hrs. 46 interesting to observe that public the drums.

mins, nad secured second place in demand has resulted in the Ariel people entering the 350 cc. mar-

the 1,100 e.c. Clasa at an average ket. The little 250 c.c. 0.1.V. Colt')

speed of 46.8 miles per hour. The has earned an excellent reputation The prevailing use of saloon cars

"Baby was the solitary British and the new machine is, to all in-is bringing excellent business to the entrant and worthily upheld the Lents and purposes, a big brother, maker of direction indicators,

prestige of the industry, for al- In order to deal with the greater During the recent cold weather in though the other cars in the Class Europe owners of saloons found were of greater capacity, its small great relief from semaphore arus 750 e.e. engine never faltered and on either side of the front wind-nt various points of the race it led screen, which avoided the need of its decidedly more powerful rivn's engine, was the eventual winner of The Seven, a standard opening the window to give hand A Maserati ear, with a 1,100 cc. signals. Most of these devices are the race.

Is the Test Fair? splendidly driven by Francesco actuated by cfetricity from the supercharged sports mode!, uns. battery of the car, and are wired up Trevisan, the well-known driver of

These cases raise the doubt whe to the sparo electrical circuit, pro- Milan, and Charles Goodacre.

The Italian Mille Miglia (1,000 ther the test is fair. It is argued vided now 'on most cars for "own-

person may that, along-sighted" r's gadgets," is the trade style mies) in tightly described as the be perfectly able to distinguish ob- most gruelling road race in thejects 100 or 200 yards away, al- world, and the endurance of drivers though unable to read the letters and ears is put to a severe test. and numbers on a registration plato

at twenty-five yards, as the regula tions demand..

It is also claimed to be uninir

who that persona

refused licences because they cannot con-

power and speed, the machine has been strengthened, but otherwise the chief differences lie in the power unit. An inclined cylinder is used, the overhead rocker gear being all enclosed and rocker return prings employed. Instead of the push red springs on the lightweight, The unit has a bore of 72 mm. and in stroke of 93 mm., while the piston is of aluminium alloy,

4

them.

At the home price of £42 this

These semaphore arias give excel. machine will make a definite ap- peal to those who have been look-lent indication when the driver ing forward to the Selly Oak con- Eignals that he proposes to fura

twenty-five yards with prover right or left. In traffic, however, glasses was not fit to drive, whether cern's advent to the 250 field..

one must use hand-signals for slow-long-sighted" or not. !ing down and for stopping, in order to be sure of not being bumped by vehicles behind.

THE MOTORIST'S RESPON

SIBILITY,

It is for us, to nake the roads safe, as far as care and foresight] "AUTO-CARRIER'S

ran do so.

in passing, one might tention that I I'm only turning the water off?" though the track has been increase-i ly 2in, over the standard distance, When it is in this position, the whollase of this new Ameri any jet becomes choked and the can car is only oft, fin. driver seeks to clean it on the highway, he or she usually tries to get the var off a main road, en to a side turning, in order to avoid nervousness engendered by other vehicles rushing by. One feels that afalight mistake on the part of any driver and one's life is in danger, when performing the work on the offside of the car in an ar Sterial road, for instance, filled with

1raffic.

At a recent examination in a

After all, it is easier for us than village one of the candidates was

for any other road us; we are asked how he would treat a girl the most mobile, and yards and Here,again, one sees the effect of increased car-usage. The chassis is suffering from Hysteria. You may long enough for one to ride comporhaps imagine the fun that was fortably; yet it will occupy as sma) a space as possible on the caused when he replied: "Give her parking, rank.

the

Personally I am surprised that' any new motor manufacturer dare start in business in the U.S.A. in face of present competition, even though sales at the marang are a an upward trend, with middels built to suit the times.

a cold duck'

*

In a recent examination n candi date was asked how he would treat an insect bite. He upset the gravity of the surgeon-examiner hy replying:-"Scratch it like blazes when no one is looking i"

IF YOU

YOU ARE INTERESTED

IN

CARS

Look at this

The 'new FIATS have just arrived in the Colony, and are a real triumph of construction.. "Motoring in the Colony' writes a delighted owner, "is a real pleasure now, the climbs and hairpin bends are a joy to negotiate ! "

FIAT

LANCIA GARAGE: 948, flexnessy Roaden

AGENTS:

4 CYLINDER

6 CYLINDER

A. GOEKE & CO.

SPARE PART DEPARTMENT: CHINA BUILDING, 4TH FLOOR. TELEPHONE –25221.

FIAT GARAGE: 350, Hennessy Road.

VOYAGE.

FIRST

On the question whether a person refused a licence has a right of appeal, the Automobile Association, are taking counsel's opinion. They bold that the Act clearly provides this right for a person aggrieved,, whatever the reason for the refusal, and that in cases where the person aggrieved can prove long experience as a driver and a clean record, the The new Southern Railway court ought to take those facts into

Auto-carrier

its consideration. madc inaiden voyage between Dover and Cainis in the excellent time of thr. 45min. By its means motorists will be able to travel with their cars to and from the Continent at a reduced rate. A cars are carried ander cover as in a garage..

steamer

minutes mean far more vo them.

Pedestrians, who will step into the roadway as it still in Imperial China or who insist on strolling arm in art in the road when there is a

The feature that will have even perfectly good footpath, or (their latest trick) march hudly into a greater appeal to drivers is that on this boat it is necessary to stream of fast-moving cars with up drain the petrol tank of the car. lifted hand, like Canuto and Musso-The officials merely require one to

in in one, are very trying,

turn off the petrol and run the So, too, with the cyclists who ride engine long enough to empty the small quantity. left in the carburet with their hands off, or two and tor. This is a real boon, and this three abreast in narrow roads, or bont is now in daily service, winter flatly refuse to help the motorists leaving Dover at 12.13 p.m. and Bummer, Sundays included.

and

to save them from being run down | Calais at a p.m.

at night. Safety is the first con- sideration, and the safety of the roads depends first and last and all the time upon us motorists.

SIMPLE BRAKE

ADJUSTMENT.

She accommodates 33 cars, and Petrol, by the way, is now cheaper the passengers have great comfort. in France, as at Easter it cost visit ing motorists 7 francs 50 centimes per tin, instead of over 12 franes in the autumn för the standard "hide"

GETTING A MOVE ON.

A production mile stone 115 Although there is perhaps no reached at the Austin Works, Long- subject uppertaining to motor-cars, bridge," on March 25 when the which has been the source of se1,000th Twelve-Six left the factory. much discussion as brake adjust ment, it is probable that not one car in tep has the brakes properly adjusted.

The tremendous demand created by this Intest addition to the Austin line is being met successfully by the Austin Engineers and each week shows an incredulous increase in the number of cars produced.

MOTORISTS AND THE LAW.

This is not due to carelessness or ignorance, but because the adjust- ment is a tedious job. The trouble involved is jacking up all four No one would wish to se wheels when only one jack-is avail-motorist who had driven, dangerous. able is quite enough to make the fly or committed some real offence a technic- average notorist put off the evil escape punishment. on

ality, but, at the same time, so day, as long as possible, and when many motorists have in the past the work is finished it may lie only suffered fines for purely technical a matter of weeks before the brakes offences that it is interesting to record several cases where an insist. need further attention.

"enec on the letter of the law bas Here is a rough-and-ready method resulted in their acquittal, of adjustment:

After running downhill for some distance with the fout brake. on, feel each brake drum; it will be found that some are hotter than others, the difference in tempera ture indicating which of the brakes is out of adjustment) 17589 :

Tighten the adjusting puts where the drums are cold; this should b done by enay stages, say one or two turns after each run.

This procedure should be carried out on different runs until all drums warm up to approximately the same temperature. This method is very effective as the jammans are made under running conditions.

For example, a lorry driver wan ummoned for exceeding the enged limit. The constable gave evidence of the weight of the vehicle, parti culare of which he bad copied from the side of the lorry. The solicitor for the defence submitted that such a description constituted a written the lorry-of document-namely

which notice to produce had not been served upon the defendant. The magistrate allowed this objec-|-- tion,

In another instance à motorist defended by the A¡A!, was charged with an offence: The police admit- ted that the defendant was not stopped at the time of the alleged offence, that no written notice of intended prosecution had been served upon him, and the summons was not served within 14 days of el Bench therefore dismissed the summons.

The WISE

In two enses they appealed against the decision. but, in spits of years of anfe driving, were told

In another case the Court denied the right to appeal at all against they could never drive were tald

the licensing authority's decision,

aro

scientiously sign the eye-sight de elaration, cannot claim a practical test of their driving ability or fit- ness, as is allowed in, the ease of other physical defects.

The test prescribed was accepted by the moloring organisations on the amphatic testimony of expert oculists entled in by the Ministry of Transport that any person an able to read a number plate at (Continued on previous Colunur.i

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