Passing Comments THE pollution of the atmosphere by exhaust fumes
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1 is a matter of considerable importance in congested areas, but it can be diminished by attention to efficient carburation. In this connection, Godfrey Davis, Ltd., 7, Eccleston Street, London, S.W.1, has installed an ingenious and somewhat expensive mechanism to analyse the exhaust gases on its large fleet of hire cars. Thus every carburetter can be adjusted to obviate unnecessary waste and the overrich mixture which produces carbon monoxide. THE effect of developing a market overseas is that problems unusual to our British makers often have
to be faced. For instance, in the laboratory of Morris Motors at Cowley, special tests are conducted as to the effects of various fungi in causing dry rot of the woodwork of motor vehicles. Morris chemists keep a number of jars in which they preserve and stimulate The growth of these fungi by feeding them with malt extract. The tests take the form of isolating specimens of the wood with the fungi.
LOW bridges sometimes constitute traps for drivers of commercial vehicles which are above the average height. The example which we illustrate is on a section of the Doncaster-Goole-Hull road, near Thorne. The bridge clearance is only 8 ft. 6 ins., and the sole warning is a not-too-clear sign at a point where the road forks, the upper prong leading to a level crossing. Not only is the bridge low, but there is room for only single-file traffic.
SPEAKING last Friday at the Hore-Belisha Hall, Devonport, the Minister of Transport said that he was seeing to it that drivers of vehicles • shall be qualified to handle the complicated mechanisms over which they assume control. He was trying to discover a way of ensuring that the brakes and tyres of every 'car on the road are in proper condition. In respect of speed, he said it was better to live not quite so fast than not live at all. In referring to insurance, he mentioned that one important company has spent much money in newspapers and on hoardings in advertising principles of caution, and he asked the others to do likewise and to use every avenue open to them.
VUE wonder how English bus conductors would " appreciate some of the tickets used in Germany. One we received while travelling in Berlin had to be punched in four places, to give the time, day, month and service. It is of thin, poor-quality paper, and measures 4 ins. by 2 ins.
WE have made further v, inquiries into the possibilities of poisoning by
trichlorethylene, the material used in certain degreasing plants. It appears that a number of fatal cases occurred some years ago, but these were occasioned by the use of a paint containing the chemical, which was ern ployed on some brewery vats, and, consequently, in a confined space. Trichlorethylene acts as an ansthetic, like chloroform, and if inhalation be continued after unconsciousness, the result may prove fatal. The precaution to avoid this danger is efficient ventilation. At a temperature of 700 degrees C., the vapour is decomposed into phosgene, and is formed by inhalation through a lighted cigarette. The unpleasant taste produced by phosgene would, it is thought, be sufficient to prevent a normal individual from continuing to smoke.