Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
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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. Workshop tips and smart repairs ; long and successful runs ; interesting photographs : all are suitable subjects. Send a post-card, or a letter, OP a sketch to us—no matter low 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 dms not disqualify for is prize. When writing, use one side of the paper only and men'ion your employer's some as a guarant,e of bona fides. Neither your own nor your employer's name will be disclosed. Payment will be made imniedialeiv after publication. Address your letters to The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, 7-15, kosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
[958] " J.P.G." (Linkworth, R.S.0.).—We agree with you that the motor-driver's union question is not on a satisfactory basis. The Association of Amalgamated Motor Drivers is not a trade union.
Short and Sweet.
[959] "AG!' (Stratford) writes.—" I think the following tip may be of some use to your 1). and M.' columns.
" If your needle-valve gear in the float-feed chamber becomes worn, so that the needle remains seated when it should lift, a good and quick adjustment may be effected by folding a suitably-shaped piece of paper—say two or three thicknesses—and by placing it under the cover of the float-feed chamber so as to raise the needle."
Broken Drill Shank.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the los. prize this week.
[960] " P.P." (Leeds) writes :—" I send you particulars herewith of a useful method which was employed to drive a 2i-in. twist drill of which the shank was broken. As this is a frequent mishap in ordinary shops, your readers may be glad to adopt a similar wheeze ' at some time or other.
"We first of all drilled a i-in. hole in the shank to a depth of in., and in this hole we inserted a small steel pin, taking care that it fitted well. We next cat
a slot a-in. wide in the socket and at an angle of
45 degrees to the axis. This slot was so formed relatively to the peg in the drill shank, that the taper was well home before the pin was at the end of the slot. The effect of this arrangement was that the harder the drill was driven the tighter it was held. This was found to be very effective, and I think any reader who tries it will agree that it is a very good way of getting further work out of an expensive twist drill of which the shank has become damaged."
A Wheel on Skates.
[961]" A.L." (Mile End) writes :—" I send you herewith a description of a device, which I hope is suitable for insertion in your D. and M.' columns. It was recently necessary for me to take off a hind wheel of a large two-ton lorry, owing to the breakage of a ball race. The wheel weighed 3 cwt., and as I was single-handed I had rather a heavy job on hand, you will admit. I had got as far as jacking up the axle and was about to try and get the wheel away from the journal, when a small boy came along on roller skates. The idea immediately struck me that might use one of the skates as a little trolley upon which to roll away the heavy wheel. The boy, who was interested, made no objection to my borrowing one of his skates. I lifted the wheel, by the aid of my jack, up on to the skate, so that the axle was relieved of its weight. All I had to do then was to roll the wheel away. I have since made a little trolley for the same purpose, and I used the four rollers from an old skate for the job.
"It may, now I am writing, interest your readers to hear of an incident I saw recently on a wet day. A house-breaker's motor lorry was being loaded with the wooden refuse from a demolished house. While the loading was proceeding, a labourer brought out an ordinary glass window. When the driver spotted this, he commandeered it and, by the aid of the sashlines, tied it up to his canopy. He thus secured a first-class wind and rain screen."
Shift It with Molten Lead.
[932] "Tony" (Cardiff) writes : "The following may he of interest to some of my fellow-readers. If it should fall to the lot of any mechanic to have to remove a flywheel, a brake drum, or similar fitting, which has been shrunk or keyed on to a shaft, and is, on that account, so tight as to resist all ordinary methods of removal, he will be quite wise to attempt
the job on the lines suggested in this letter. The sledge hammer is, as a rule, the last resource when a man has any difficulties of this nature. Before, however, burrs are raised on the end of the shaft, owing to recourse to such rough and ready procedure, I would suggest that my way of doing the job be tied. We will suppose that it is a flywheel that is the offerider, and that this has been shrunk on and keyed into position. Two pieces of plank, of a length a little greater than that of the crankshaft, should be obtained ; they should be stout pieces and of equal length. These should be placed in a perpendicular position, with the flywheel resting on the top ends and the shaft hanging down between them. A little clay should then be packed round the end of the shaft which projects through the boss of the wheel. Next, a pot, of molten lead should be prepared ; sufficient lead should be heated almost to fill that part of the wheel inside the rim. The molten metal should be poured into this cavity, as shown in the. sketch. [We have had this redrawn.---End If the shaft does not drop out of position when the flywheel has been
subjected to this heat treatment, a slight blow with a copper mallet on the end of the shaft will almost invariably be found effectively to detach the two pieces. I would only add that it is essential that the lead should be very hot before being used. -Whenever I have been able to employ this method it has never failed in its object."
The Engine as a Brake. Saving the Driver's Legs.
[933] " D RI VER " (Barnsley) writes : —I have been a reader of your journal for two years, and I have always taken a great interest in the drivers'
1:ages I have recently seen some comment in the paper with regard to the possibility of reversing a petrol engine 3n hen it is desired to put a brake on the car down bad hills. Even if it were a possible thing to do, I consider it would be certain to mean a serious smash, as the Sudden change of direction the driving gear would be hound to cause a break somewhere. It is a different thing, as your readers know, to reversing the steam engine. If a petrol car were actually running away down hill after its brakes had failed, I should certainly have a shot at dropping into low gear, and should try to rub the back wheels against the side of the kerb or against the bank at the side of the road.
" With regard to reversing steam engines down hill, it is not always wise to do this too much, as have found that it gets the pistons hot, and burns all the packing out of the glands. Some drivers have a system of holding their engines in by pulling the reversing lever up, in order to steady the machine, when it is too greasy to use the brakes. This method, of course, shortens the travel of the valve, and if constantly used I find gives trouble with the glands again.
"I have a complaint against steam wagons, and I am familiar both with that class of machine and v..ith petrol wagons. The steam wagon is very severe, as a rule, on the driver's legs : it is so terribly hot in front of the fire-box, especially in the summer-time. This could be largely avoided if makers would arrange to put a in. plate all over the face of the fire-box, and to pack behind this with asbestos. It would save drivers of such machines a very great deal of inconvenience. Seine form of ventilator might also be useful."
[Our correspondent will find that it is a practical impossilaity to engage the reverse gear of a pctrol-drivun wagon when the gear is of the sliding type and, once the machine is running forward ; neither will he be able, in all ordinary circumstances, to engage a lower gear than the one ripen which he has been running, when the maeLne has once got ite head clown hill, lie will probably find he will get the lever in neutral he. tween two gears. The proper way is, of course, to engage a low gear before ,,:tarting down it lull about which there is any doubt.---En.]