The Motor Drivers News.
Page 23
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Hints on Lubrication.
" G.G." (Yorks) writes :—" In answer to the letter of T.D.' (Ipswich), I had myself a great deal of trouble owing to the oil-bath leaking, so, perhaps, my remedy will be of some use to him. I tried a lot of different oils, and, in the end, I decided that the oil which I am now using is the best. It is manufactured by the Vacuum Oil Company, Limited, and is called Viscolite. To look at it, it does not appear to be different to other lubricating oils.
" I advise T. I).' to clean his oil-bath out, and fill it with Viscolite; that is, let the big-ends have about an inch dip, and then make the cover joint of tarred string, and tighten it well down. The glands in the oil-bath require attention from time to time, but I think he will get over his trouble by following my advice. The oil, after being churned up in the bath for a time, becomes thick, and heavy, and does not work its way through the joints like the other oils I have tried. This is only one of its qualities, as I find that I do not have to pay half the attention to my engine brasses and bearings as was, formerly, the case. I may say that I do not use it for anything but the oil-bath, as I do not believe it is meant for any other kind of lubrication.
" During the recent bad weather I had a little experience which I think will interest my fellow-drivers.
"While on a journey, I had to leave my wagon in a yard upon the roadside, as I could neither go on nor return home, owing to the snow lying so thickly upon the ground. The weather broke, and I went to fetch the wagon borne, and I naturally inspected everything carefully. Everything was in order, excepting the sight-feed lubricator, and the bottom of that was lying on the foot-plate with the glass unbroken. I never thought of draining the water out of the lubricator before leaving the wagon, but the next time I am in the same position—which I hope will not be for a long time—I shall be careful to draw off every drop of water."
How to Remove a Seized Road Wheel.
" S.O.B." (London) sends this letter The following
experience will, I think, interest your readers :—A motorbus had to stop and transfer its passengers recently, owing to the tightening up of a back wheel, and I was sent out to try and get the wheel off and fit a new bush, and, if necessary, a fresh wheel. I had plenty of men with me, and we soon reached the bus and got to work. We tried hard, but could not move the wheel the least bit by any means that we could think of. At last I came to the conclusion that time would be saved by taking the complete axle down, and fitting a new one in its place. I sent a couple of the men, and the lorry, back to the depot to get a new axle and wheel, whilst the bus driver, conductor, and myself started to disconnect the axle and get the sound wheel off, etc. We had not done much, when another idea came into my head, which was, that if we could heat the boss of the wheel only, it would expand sufficiently to enable us to get it off. The idea came to me through seeing a blacksmith's shop about 20 yards away. I made a friend of the blacksmith, and he raked out some heavy collars, big enough to go over the boss of the wheel, and allowed me to use his forge. We heated the collars, and ran with them to the bus, one at a time, and clapped them on the boss of the wheel. As scon as one was cool we put another hot one in its place, and so on, keeping the poor driver and his mate running backwards and forwards as fast as they could go. &lore putting the first collar on, we sprayed a little liquid over the petrol tank and the adjacent woodwork, from the chemical fire engine, to prevent a flare up, as the collars were white-hot when we put them on the wheel, and the petrol tank was pretty close to the part where we were working. However, the dodge was successful, and just as the lorry arrived with a new axle, the wheel showed signs of moving, and, all hands getting to work, we got it off. It was not a big job to cut the damaged bush out, and, as that was the only thing that was damaged, we soon had a new one on, and the wheel back again in its place. Many of these road repairs are very interesting, and they make a man self-reliant, as well as giving him invaluable experience in repair work of a rough and ready type."
Magneto and Exhaust Valve Troubles.
W.P." (Kentish Town) asks us to insert this letter :— " I think the following account of some of my experiences on the road will interest some of my fellow drivers. One day last week, I was called to a breakdown, and on arriving upon the scene of action I asked the driver of the vehicle what the matter was. He told me that the engine lost power, and gradually stopped, without apparent reason. I had a look at the carburetter and found that there was plenty of petrol in it. Then I tested the bus-bar by holding it, getting the driver to turn the starting handle at the same time, and I found that the ignition was all right. Then I had a look at the carburetter jet, to see if it was clear and not choked up, but it was quite in order Next, I examined the armature of the magneto, and I found that the fibre wheel had become loose, and had slipped round upon the spindle, so I took a fine punch and roughened the surface. Then I put the wheel back and got up beside the driver to see how the vehicle ran. Everything was all right for a short time, when the fibre wheel started to slip again. I did not know what to do, and had one hand in my pocket, when I felt some paper there. I pulled it out and wrapped it round the spindle, and drove the wheel hard up, and found it acted splendidly. I saw the same vehicle three days afterwards, and the same piece of paper was still on the spindle. "Another time, a new exhaust-valve was fitted to an engine, and after it had run a short time it was found that all other buses passed it on the road. The valve was examined, and it was found that enough clearance had not been left between the bottom of the valve stem and the top of the tappet rod. When the valve got hot, the stem lengthened so much that the valve could not close upon its seating. A little more clearance was made, and the engine pulled very well afterwards."
Ingenious Water-tube Repairs.
" B.C." (Poplar) writes:—" I am a regular reader of THE Commaernt. MOTOR,' and, being interested in the ' Drivers News,' I send an account of the following experience which I had one day last week. I was doing a 12mile journey with a steam wagon and trailer, and had about 7 tons on board. My vehicle is a 5-ton one of a well-known make, having a water-tube boiler. I left the yard at 6 a.m., and all went well until I got within a mile of my destination, when, all at once, something went bang, and I could not see anything for steam. I told my mate to draw the fire as quickly as possible, and, after the steam had cleared, I took the top of my smoke-box off and found that two of my tubes in the top row had burst. I examined the tubes with the aid of an old file, and found the bottoms of them were good, with the exception of the parts which had given way; there, they were eaten away in a circle about the size of a pea. I had some very small bolts in my box, and amongst them I found two snap-headed I inch bolts. I tried to get the head of one of them through the hole in the tube, which I did after slightly splitting the tube longitudinally. Then, I took some asbestos, and packed the head of the bolt in the tube, then I caulked the tube around the head, and put two, or three, washers of asbestos around the bolt. I next put washers up to the thread, put the nut on, afterwards screwing up as tight as I could get it. I found it held all right, so I did the other tube the same. I next filled my boiler with water, and lit the fire, hoping the repair would stand, if only to get the wagon home to the yard. To my surprise, it held splendidly, and I was able to proceed on to the end of my journey ; I had two very bad hills to climb before getting there. I was only delayed for 31 hours with packing and caulking the two tubes, and getting up steam again. I reached home without any further accident. I have been driving this class of wagon for 3?, years. This is the first time T have experienced two tubes bursting, and I hope this little experiment may be interesting to some of your readers who drive a steam vehicle. I am always interested to read how drivers try, on the road, repairs to enable them to get home without the aid of the tow rope. Tow ropes are, fortunately, not so frequently required as they used to be in the old days of the 3-ton tare."