Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 22
Page 23
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
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 vehicles 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, or a sketch to us—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. 1.17e will "knock it into shape" and prepare sketches, where necessary, before publication. The absence of a sketch does not disqualify for a prize. IV hen writing use one side of the paper only and mention your employer's name as a guarantee of bona fides. Neither your own nor your employer's name will be disclosed. Payment will be made immediately after publication. Address your letters to The Editor, TILE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, 7-75, kosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
An Extemporized Gravity-feed System.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 1Us. prize this week.
[115] " J.C." (Bath) writes:—" I am sending you a model LWe have had a drawing prepared from this.—En.] of an arrangement of piping which I invariably carry with ins on my wagon, which is a petrol-driven one. Some while ago I was hung up on the road, owing to a breakdown in the pressure-feed system of the machine which I was driving. The only way I was able to get home on that occasion was to block the inlet of the float chamber, and to get a mate to feed the carburetter by . hand. This, of course, was a terrible job, and we only managed to struggle back to the garage after a lot of difficulty. It was on my way home from that memorable trip that I thought out a little scheme about which I am writing to you now. I collected together few suitnble lengths of spare copper and brass tubing, and found the cap of an old petrol can and also a union, which latter 1 took from an old float chamber. I drilled a hole through the can cap, so that I could easily fit to it tx‘o pieces of ill piping. One of these was three inches long. and this I soldered carefully to the side of a length of copper piping so that the two of them together would fit the lode in the cap. The longer piece of pipe. which was to act as an air release, was of such a length and was so beet suitably as to rise to just over the top of an ordinary petrol can when it was standing on its side. T soldered a hit of brass piping into the carburetter union which I have mentioned, and I put a leather washer both in the union and in the petrol cap. I purchased about 1, yards of flexible tubing, and with two rubber connections I fixed to it the two fittings which I had made—as shown in the rough sketch. If I gct any trouble nowadays with the pressure feed, all I have to do is to put my spare can of petrol well above the carburetter, and to fix the cap on to the ordinary hole in the can and to connect the union to the float chamber. Although mishaps of this sort do not happen often, it is usually the custom, for drivers of petrol-wagons who are going any distance, to carry a spare two-gallon can of petrol; it is no trouble to keep a connection of the kind which I have described in the kit box. I have had to use it once or twice since T. made it, and have found that I have been able to get along quite as well when I have fixed it—a matter of a few minutes only—as with the ordinary pressure feed."
A Puzzling Magneto Failure. Another Bush-withdrawing Tool.
[71C] " R.Q.P." (Dartford) writes. --" I am sending you an account of a dodge I used some while ago, which was the result of my finding an electrical fault which took me some time to locate. The engine that I was driving was fitted with low-tension magneto, and, to all appearances, this part was all right. The engine would start without any trouble, but, after running a second or two, I would always get bad explosions in the exhaust box. I tried altering the setting of the magneto and re-timing the plugs, but this was all to no purpose. Eventually I decided to take the magneto down, as I was convinced that it must be something inside its mechanism which was giving me so much trouble. And I was correct, for I found that the main armature-winding wire had been screwed to the end plate, and had then been soldered, in order to stop the screw from loosening. The solder on the wire seemed to have weakened it, and vibration had then caused this to break off dose to the screw. It was now quite clear what had happened. When the engine was first started, the wire was touching the screw, but,, as the engine gained speed, the armature wire commenced to vibrate, causing a sort of make-and-break, so that the explosions were intermittent. To effect a repair. I undid a small portion a the winding, cut off the old end of the wire, and got about four strands of fine lead wire, which I twisted up rope fashion, and then joined on to the end of the armature wire. I covered this with insulation tape. got the terminal screw out of tine end plate, fixed on the a ire. replaced the end plate. and then set the magneto again. The whole job was as good as new, and never gave any more trouble. "A few further words about another tip which may be useful to the readers of the D. and M.' page. recently noticed a paragraph which showed a neat little tool for withdrawing a tight bush, and it struck me, in this connection, that a tool which I have used for a similar purpose might prove more -useful, where the bush has worn too thin for the tip of the device, shown in letter No. 706, to hold. I would suggest, in such places as flywheels, etc., behind which there is little or no clearance for such a lip, that the arrangement which I use would be su ito dc. In consists of a bolt or altout the same size as the hole in the bush, but it is tapered; it is drilled and tapped to take a ;1 in. or 1in. setscrew; the setscrew should be about as long again as the bolt. I get hold of a tap of a suitable size for the bore of the bush, and I tap a thread inside the bush. I screw in the bolt, whose thread is slightly taper, as far as possible, and as tightly as can be managed. The setscrew, which passes through the centre of the bolt, should then be screwed up against any convenient packing, and the bush, will come out with no very-great difficulty; a few turns of a spanner will be neeessary to dislodge it."
For Gauging the Accuracy of Machine Work.
L717] " U.N." (Gateshead) writes :—" From time to time I have seen in your columns descriptions of little devices which your readers have found useful in the workshop and garage. I am sending you a description and sketch [We have had this redrawn.En.] of a handy little gauge which, although it can be purchased in something like the same form from most of the engineers'-supply merchants, I made at the cost of a few pence for my own use in the shops. The sketch practically explains itself, and will need very little in the way of description from me. The idea is, of course, that it can he clamped in the tool rest of an ordinary lathe, shaper, or planer, and, by bringing the shortend up against any machined surface aml hy moving the tool rest to suitable positions, the aepuracy of the machine work can be tested. Of course, by lengthening the pointer, and by further dividing the scale, it is possible to secure an increased indication of inaecuracy. The whols thing can conveniently be swung
round by suitable manipulation of the clamping bolt which is evident in the illustration. The two small springs should be so adjusted as to return the pointer to zero on the scale when the instrument is not in use. To go a.nd buy a little device like this would probably be beyond
the means of the ordinary mechanic, but, as he is, as a rule, very keen to make his own calipers, set square, depth gauges, and so on, it is quite possible. he may like to have a sketch of this arrangement so that he can add one to the contents of his tool-box."
Getting Home on a Skid-pan.
[718] " (Strood) writes :—" I think that a wheeze,' which I adopted recently in order to get a trailer, which I was hauling, home after I had broken a wheel, is worth a record in your valuable columns. It is surprising how many drivers are inclined to give up the ghost entirely if they get a. smashed wheel. If this happen on a trailer, the usual procedure is to shunt this vehicle somewhere off the road, and to leave it until anew wheel can be fetched. Recently, however, I had a load on a trailer which it was most important that I should deliver, in spite of the fact that one of the hind wheels had collapsed badly. I hit on the following method, which seems to me a good one, and which enabled me to get the machine home. Probably, however, I was running up against some local regulations with regard to skids on road surfaces. I procured a good stout piece of wood about 4 ft. 6 in. long, and I fastened one end of this to the Front spring hanger of the spring which belonged to the faulty wheel. I then let this short beam trail backwards under the axle and on to the ground, and the end that rested on the ground I mounted in the ordinary skid pan, which I fastened securely with a bolt. You will see that tho weight of the axle was quite well supported in about
its right position by the beam, which was held at either end by the spring shackle and the skid pan respectively. With this contrivance. I am able to drag the trailer to a. neighbouring town, where I borrowed a spare wheel,"
False Teeth for a Gear Ring.
17191 " J.I3." (Beeston) writes:—" We have in service several well-known types of petrol-driven chars-ii-banes. One night last year, we arrived back at the garage at the end or a journey with three teeth missing out of the internally-touthed gear ring on the hack wheel. As we were due out with a party on the followitig morning, I at once sent away to the makers for a spare gear ring, but they gave me a tremendous quotation for it, and told me it would take ten to fifteen days to supply it. As it was absolutely necessary that I kept the appointment in the morning, and as I could not go on the road with a toothless ring, I had to set my with to work to try to get out of the difficulty somehow. I eventually remembered that an old workmate of mine was now engaged on an acetylene welding apparatus, so I went straight away to the works and found this man, and told him my trouble. My suggestion to him was that be should try and burn in a new bit of metal where the old teeth had broken off, so that T could cut up some new ones. He wanted a lot of persuasion before I could get him to see the possibility of the scheme, but eventually the manager of the works kindly allowed him to make the experiment, which was carried out with great success. -We actually got the teeth reshaped the same evening, and we kept our appointment to take the party out, in the morning. That particular gearwheel is still at work, and it is nearly twelve months since the repair was made. The total. cost of the repair, including a tip for my friend's trouble, was 6s. IA. 1Vu! now have an acetylene welding plant of our 9WP,"