Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 21
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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 vehicles and tractors, and mechanics and foremen of garages OY 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(Fre suitable subjects. Send a Post-card, or a. letter, or a sketch to us—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. 1Ve will ' knock it into sine" and prepare sketches, where necessary, before publication. The absence of a sketch does nsf disqualify for a prize. When writing use one side of the Pater only and illeftri012 your employer's name as a guarantee of bona fides. Neither your own nor your employer's none will be disclosed. Payment mil be mode imme diately after huldicertion Address your lethrs to The Editor, THE Cow si ERCIA r. Moyne, 7-15, kosebery Avenue. Lon,l,m. E.C.
Bonuses for Drivers and Mechanics.
We draw the attention of our readers to the renewal. hn. 1911, of the bonus offer to contributors, which proved emir .1 neeful incentive during the year that is past.
A Home-made Lead-burning Plant.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 10s, prize this week.
L813_ " G.S.C." (Slough) write:;;—" Some considerable while ago, I had to undertake the charging and repairing of two sets of traction-type accumulators that had been in use on a 2-ton type of electric lorry. Each battery coesisted of 40 cells, in ebonite boxes, and all the connections were burnt together. 2%-ow, with this arrangement. it frequently happened that a box got broken, and. to replace i, it was necessary to saw the vonnections apart. and, as we had no hydrogen appararns., the only wily to make any•thittg like a repair was partly to bluer and eartly to solder the joints together again with a large soldering iron. This uaide a very unsatisfactory j01) of it, as the acid decomposed the solder, and so nor do the joint. ,.ortand spongy. Some better method then this obviously had to be found, so T. set to work to think out soms other scheme. Ilvdrogen being out of the rriestion. • I decided to try acetylene, and the manner in ehich carried this out 11 think you will find amply explained by tire sketches, which I enclose. [We have had these redrawn-4:m] I procured a 10-gallon gear-oil (haute and from this made a double-diving-bell type of generator. In the one tank. I fitted tbe usual cradle to ea ITy the err 'hide, while in the other I fitted an old pressure pump. Von will observe that the one tank would contain rieetylene, and, whenever the pressure pump was worked, the other tank was filled with air at the same pressure as the acetylene. The burner I constructed after the pattern of the usual mixed-jet lead-burning type, the only differenee being that 1 took care to prevent any possibility of a back-lire to the generator, by fitting a 4-in. length of pipe, tightly packed ivith fine wires, on the gas side of the 'f-piece. Ibis apparatus tras made from scrap in about 13 hours, and it gave absolute satisfactioe. In addition to its employment MI battery work, I soon found that it was ideal for removing damaged tubes from honeycomb radiators, and for this work it is still in use every day, although siece for radiator repair's a great heat is not required, We use coal gas in place of acetylene."
"Half-inch Mechanics."
[814] ONE Wino KNOWS A 1.1TILE " (Kent) writes:— •• As a regular reader of the ' C.11.: 1 am often amused to read the opinions that are expressed by some ef your correspondents; I think they often let themselves go without thinking over the subjeet about which they are writing. have been particularly amused at the suggestion dint it is always FICEW:Sary to know that a man hrie !wen apprenticed, in order that he should be fit to take rr job in the motor trade. Take the ordinary apprentice in humble eiretine starlet's, Ile goes into the erecting department as a rule, but, ill nine eases out of ten, lie never Ints the opportunity of learning to test an engine properly, he knows nothing of timing and preciens little with regard to the various patterns of carhutretters and ignitions. Rarely does he ever get the chance of driving a vehicle, and in that way of acquainting himself with the hundred-and-one adjnstmerits with which a good man should be familiar. My point is that the ' half-inch ' mechanic is more often a more-useful class of man, because he has picked up more generally-nseful information than has his strictly-trained mate. The apprenticed man may perhaps be able to work orrt problems by drawings anti theory, but very often Ire is left a long way 'behind by the half-inch ' mali when it comes to practical knowledge. 11. personally have been throngh every sort of imaginable breakdown to which petrol vehicles are subject. and I. do not think T shoeld very often he stuck in the mind. although, since I have not aetually been apprenticed. h. suppose 1 should be
classi
Iid by pair correspondent as ' half-inch ' fitter.'