The Purchase Department.
Page 19
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Where to Buy Your Necessary Supplies and Accessories.
You Can Get It At " Engineering" (Clapham).—You can get the solid tires of your steam wagon retreaded by Almagam, Ltd., 172, Great Portland Street, London, W.
" T.G." (Sittingbourne).—We understand that you can obtain refills for New Era fire extinguishers from A. W. Gamage, Ltd., Holborn, London, E.G.
"Berrage" Radiator Guard.
For some time past many commercial vehicles have been fitted with a guard in front of the radiator with a view to minimizing, if not altogether preventing, damage which may be caused to this vital part of the chassis as a result of collision. A notable example of this fitting is to be seen on many of the buses run by the L.G.O. Co.
Various designs of guard have been used, some of them with considerable success ; but, in several instances, due to the fact that the device is often connected to the radiator, the guard does not prevent the radiator from sustaining damage.
If a guard is to be effective in use it must be isolateefrom the radiator, and on this account it is interesting to note that Mr. C. H. Sowerby, 56-58, Eagle Street, Southampton Row, London, W.C., is marketing a guard protector which fulfils this requirement and also possesses other interesting features.
The illustration we reproduce herewith will give our readers a good idea of the general design of the " Berrage ' guard, as it is named. It will be seen that the actual guard is mounted some distance in front of the radiator, and is hinged to an arm on each side of the bonnet which is attached to the main chassis frame. Stays, which are also connected to the frame, keep the front piece rigid. A spring in an enclosed casing is provided on each stay for the purpose of absorbing the shock of impact. Adjustment of each stay can be made if desired. From the foregoing description of the construction of the guard its action will be obvious.
We are given to understand that several well-known commercial-vehicle makera are making arrangements to adopt the " Berrage " radiator guard on the machines which they manufacture.
A Sparking Plug with Some New Features.
The P.D.Q. sparking plug, which is being manufactured and marketed by the Wolverine Spark Plug Co., Inc., of Detroit, Michigan, embodies a number of new features.
This plug is constructed with the insulator and the body as two distinctly separate units. The insulator can be instantly removed from the spark plug shell without the use of a tool or wrench. Our illustration shows the plug as complete, and also gives a view showing the insulator lifted from the shell. The removal of the insulator from the plug body is accomplished by simply pulling up on the bail, thereby releasing the pressure between insulator and body,. thus allowing the former to be rotated slightly and enable it to be lifted out of the shell.
In the P.D.Q. plug no gasket is necessary at the point where the insulator and the body form the joint. A convex ground seat in the shell is forced against a ground surface on the porcelain, making the joint leak-proof. It is claimed by the manufacturers that in the most severe tests given the plug has failed to show a compression leak.
It is apparent that the quick detachable feature of this plug has many advantages. Inasmuch as both electrodes are carried in the insulator, it makes the plus an exceptionally easy one to clean. For priming the cylinders in cold weather, nothing could be more convenient than simply slipping out the insulator in order to put a few drops of petrol for starting. This feature is especially important, in connection with a car such as the Ford, where there are no priming cocks on the engine, and it is quite possible that many motor manufacturers will be interested in a plug of this kind because it would allow the designing of a motor with every necessity for priming cocks eliminated. Still another fact of importance is that the porcelains themselves may be purchased separately, consequently when renewal is necessary the car owner is only obliged to buy a new porcelain which is procurable at a price about 25 per cent. lower than the original complete plug.