Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 23
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TEN SHILLINGS WEEKLY for the Best Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for any thing else published.
Drivers of commercial-motor vehic.'es and tractors, and mechanics and foremen of garages or shops, are invited to send short contributions on any subject which is likely to prove of interest to our readers. Workshl tips and smart repairs ; long and successful runs; interesting photographs : all ore suitable subjects. Send a post-card, or a letter, or a sketch to us—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded, We will "knock it into shape" and prepare sketches, where necessary, before publication. The absence of a sketch does not disqualify for a prize. When writing use one side of the paper only and mention your employer's name as a guaranice of bona fides. Neither your own nor your employer's name will be disclosed. Payment will be made imme. diately after publication. Address your letters to The Editor, Tire COMMERCIAL MOTOR, 7-15, kosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
[09] " E.B.G.G." writes "Would you kindly ask
the correspondent who wrote to you, in your issue for the 21st September, about Thos. Harry and Co.'s steamer [page 51.—En.] to send some of us Ioden drivers in the north a small pinch of salt. Although we have salt works in our vicinity we cannot swallow the. statement that. his engine can do its journey of 50 miles on 2 cwt. of coals. He must have thought it or dreamt it. He certainly has never performed it."
A Dirty Jam Jar as a Tail Lamp.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the los. prize this week.
[940] " AL." (Mile End, E.) writes :—" Perhaps the few following tips may be useful in the 'D. and M.' columns. They might be called 'Do you know ' lines.
"Do you know that, when your petrol pipe breaks on the road, and you arc unable to make a permanent repair to it, the stem of your wooden smoking pipe pointed at each end and driven home into the petrol pipe, will very often see you safely to the nearest garage, or oven, perhaps, all the way home. " That a little linseed oil, applied upon a soft rag, will remove any stains from your paint-work. "That, should you have the misfortune to lose your back lamp, a glass jam jar—which has not been washed out—tied up with a piece of string, will get you out of police troubles, as a rule. A candle inside will show a red light through the jam smears.
"That an old felt hat can be cut to shape, and made into a cover for your magneto, in order to protect it from water during the winter weather.
" And that a fierce clutch can be temporarily remedied on the road—when no castor oil is obtainable— by washing the surfaces with petrol and then adding a little lubricating oil."
From an Old Bit of Saw Blade, [941] " S.C." (Glasgow) writes : —" Front a length of old band-saw steel I have made a simple but extremely useful little tool, The idea of the contraption' of which I speak came to me when trying to think of a way of utilizing a piece of band-saw steel which came my way: this is not the usual manner in which 'gadgets' are contrived, as it is the opportunity as a rule which creates the remedy. I was loath to discard that piece of band steel, and I stuck at it until I was able to do something useful with it. It will generally be found that. a fitter of any ability pounces upon any odd bits of cast steel which he may come across, puts them in his toolbox, and preserves them against the day when he may find a purpose for their use. Cast steel has quite a fascination for the fitter who is clever in contriving dodges. "With a spanner that is too big for the job, every mechanic has, at some time or other tightened up, or attempted to tighten up, a nut on a bolt by the method of inserting a packing piece of metal between the spanner jaws and the nut. The sketch which T enclose —[We have had this redrawn.---FD.]--Chows four short
strips of steel hinged together at one end, so that one or more of the thicknesses could be used for packing up spanner jaws, in the manner suggested."
Our correspondent may b.e interested to know that there is a spanner on the market whitih has an idea something similar to this embodied in
it, we think it is called the " Niagara." The hinged ,,trip, , case are part and parcel of the spanner,—Ed.]
When the Magneto Comes Down.
[9121 " J.T." (Paddington) writes :—" I send you herewith a tip with regard to the timing of magnetos. It is possible that this will prove useful to many of your driver readers who do not happen to know much about the setting of magnetos. Drivers who happen to take down their magnetos to clean them, or fa locate a fault, will find it useful to remember how to replace them, if by chance they have forgotten the exact setting which existed before. The engine should first he turned round until No. 1 cylinder is on its dead centre on the. compression stroke ; the distributor brush of the magneto should then be put on to the No. 1 segment, and the magneto should be retarded as far as possible. The platinum points of the make-and-break should then just be beginning to open. If these fixed points are carefully regarded, and the setting is made accordingly, it will be found that the engine is timed, as a rule, quite correctly."
'Our correspondent encloses to us a print from a snapshot which hr took at the Commercial Vehicle Parade, and we are intmented to rFeeive this, 13,Tit it is, of course, :mtnewhat late in the day to bring, it to our notice.--En.]