Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 19
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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 tra tors, and mechanics and foremen of garages or shops, are invited to send short contributions on any subject winch is likely to Prove of interest to our readers. Work. shot tips and smart repairs ; long and successful runs ; interesting photographs : all are suitable subjects. Send a post-card, or a letter, OY a sketch to us—no matter It'Jw 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 d ,es not disyualify for a prize. When writing use one side of the paper only and mention your employer's name as a guaranty of bona fides. Neither your own nor your employer's name will be disclosed. Payment will be made inintediatelv after publication. Address your letters to The Editor, THE Con NIL: Cc [AL Mows, 7-75, kosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
Fitting New Valve Guides to OldSastings.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 10s. prize this week.
[7,16] " W.0." (Perth) writes :—" Perhaps a. short account of how I repaired the valve casings of a — 11) b.h.p. engine may be of interest to your readers. This particular engine is fitted to a 42 in. lawn mower, which is very hard. worked all the summer, so that the engine has its work cut out. I have roughly sketched the repair, and you will be able to see what I did quite easily, without a lot of writing on my part. I found that, the inlet-valve springs were cutting into the tops of the cases pretty badly, and I thought that, if I let this go on, it would not be long before the spindle guides would be cut clean out. So I made a pattern for two new centre pieces, and got a couple cast off in a local foundry. I first of all cleaned up the casings, boring out the defective centres in such a way that T. could get a good register for the new pieces in the top of the casings. I bored out the new castings and recessed their tops suitably to take the springs. All I had to do, to complete the job after this, was to force each new fitting into its respective easing, and to hold each down with [ in. grub studs."
Repairing a Pipe with a Woodscrew.
1717] " 'I'D." (Canning Town) writes :—" I send you an account of a very-unusual repair which I carried out to a pump-delivery pipe on my steam wagon some while ago. Nly pump had chucked work ' and was not supplying the boiler properly, and when I got down to have a look round. I found there was a small hole in the delivery pipe, through which water was being forced like a fountain. The hole was in a portion of the pipe where it had been bent rather clumsily at some time or other. I -thought the simplest way would be to try and rivet up
the hole with the pane end of my hammer, but with the first blow I made the hole much worse. I eventually effected a temporary stop with an ordinary Nettlefold wood-screw and a suitably-shaped block of wood. I forced the wood-screw into the hole in the pipe, until its end touched the other side of the pipe. I had carefully measured the screw and the wood before I started operations. By the time the wood was fastened down tightly, the end of the screw was touching the other side and so forced out the part, which I had dented badly, into something like its original shape again."
A Wrench with False Teeth.
[748] " H.M." (Darlaston) writes:—" I send you a little sketch of a tool which I find quite indispensable, especially on any work connected with motor vehicles. It may be that this is quite a usual thing, but, personally, I do not happen to have seen it often. It simply consists of a wedge-jawed spanner made of mild steel, and in one of the jaws a dove-tailed groove is filed, in order to accommodate a strip of cast steel, upon which suitable grip teeth have been filed. This inserted portion was hardened. Most tools of this type are, as a rule, made of cast steel, and without the slightest provocation one of the jaws will break."