A PRIZE OF TEN SHILLINGS is awarded each week to
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the sender of the best letter which we publith, on this pag e all others paid for at the rate of a penny a line, with an allowance for photo graphs. All notes are edited before being publizhed. Mention your employer's 1147ne, in confidence, as evidence of good faith. Address D., 31, and F., "The Commercial Motor," 7-15, Poseberli Avenue, London, EX,
Lamps Alight.
Light your lamps at 9.2 in London, 10.0 in Fdinburgh, 9.20.in NeWcastle, 9.20 in Liverpool, 9.12 in Birmingham, 9.12 in Bristol, and 10.4 in Dublin.
Two Emergency Repairs.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 103. prize dais week.
[1767] " P.S." (Newhaven) writes :—" I venture to submit the following notes' which are descriptive of two emergency repair jobs which I have recently executed. They are, I think, suitable for inclusion on your 'D. M. and F.' page. " The first of these jobs was in connection with a 'steam wagon which is in my charge. I had the mis fortune to break the flange off the eopper pipe which conveys steam to the injector. I have no brazing appliances, and therefore had to devise what may be termed a makeshift repair. I effected this in the following manner :— "I first of all annealed both pipe and flange. I then squared up the broken end of the pipe and fitted a wooden plug -inside the end of it, HO pipe, I
could grip it tightly in the vice without fear of injuring it. On the outside I formed, by means of a suitable set of dies, a taper thread. This thread was cut for a distance exceeding slightly the thickness of the pipe flange. The flange I cleaned out internally, tapped it to fit. the thread on the pipe, an counter sunk it slightly on the face side ; the threads were left a tight fit, one inside the other. I heated the
flange, screwed it tightly in place, and hammered the protruding end of the, pipe into the countersink. It only remained to finish the job alt square with the file. The object of heating the, flange before screwing it in place was to ensure a shrinking effect; countersinking the bore of the flange and riveting the end of the pipe into it prevented loosening by
vibration. •
"The second repair was a roadside one. I came across a driver of a tractor who Was stranded owing
to the lead having melted from the fusible plug of
his machine. He had no spare plug, and was at a loss to know what to do. I Suggested, more as a forlorn hope than because I thought it would really
be successful, that he should try the effect of plugging the hole with wood: " He agreed, and together we cut a suitable plug from a 'tree by the wayside, and forced it into the hole. The experiment was without doubt a marked success.
"I have since been told of the adoption of a similar expedient by a marine engineer ; in that case a leak boiler seam was temporarily repaired by the insertion of a number of wooden wedges. In that case, too, the remedy proved effective, and the vessel of which the boiler was part crossed the channel with the wedges in place. They held, in fact, until the fires were drawn, when they fell out."
A Spanner for Splined Circular Nuts and a Gasholder Suggestion.
[1768] " J.C.H." (Newcastle) writes :—" There are many examples, in motor-vehicle construction, of the use of. circular nuts. As a rule, they have splines formed, or keyways cut on the outside to afford means of maziiptikiting them. In a garage, or approved depot' where all types of vehicles may have to be handled, the provision of a set of spanners to accommodate all the sizes that are likely te be met with is not practicable, if only in consideration of the expense which such provision would involve. "That being the case, some other 51ternative becomes necessary. The use of a hammer and chisel for this or any similar purpose is not calculated to inspire the observant and disceinainating client with respect for the garage owner who countenances such a proceeding. At the best, it is a Clumsy measure ; generally it results in irreparable damage to the nut.
"My own practice is to. use a tool of special design ; it s a modification of a common form of pipe wrench. The sketch which I enclose is almost selfexplanatory. [We have had the sketch redrawn and it is reproduced herewith.—En.] Two or three sizes of this spanner it is adjusta,ble—will suffice to meet all repirements. It is essential that the jaw be made long enough to allow of the end of the lever passing to its correct position in the corner of the keyway on the nut.
"A small point has occurred to me in connection with the fastenings of flexible coal-gas holders. They are usually provided with projecting bands of sundae material to. that employed for the container itself. Various methods of attaching these bands to the framework of the vehicle may suggest themselves, and no doubt the sket6h I enclose [we have also had
• this redrawn and it is reproduced herewith.—ED-], which ,..hows the method of gripping eimilar fabric when it is undergoing tests, will be of interest. The material is gripped between jaws which are corrugated so as to prevent slip."