ROADSIDE AND GARAGE.
Page 67
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Interesting Contributions from Our Driver and Mechanic Readers.
The Electric Lighting of the Garage.
IT is pointed out by " Cs.G.G.," of Norwich, that, in winter, the matter of lights, their position and condition should receive attention. Daylight is the best and cheapest of all lights, so he suggests that a garage should have all its windows cleaned at regular intervals, walls and ceilings whitewashed and the parts surrounding thewindows kept white, as they reflect the light into the garage.
In garages that were originally built for some other purpose one has to take things as one finds them, but in buildings that are put up for the purpose of a garage one still discovere the matter of daylight sadly neglected.
Our correspondent gives some useful tips regarding electric lighting. He points out that the lights usually found over the workbenches are merely hung from n ceilingrose, or from a bracket extending from the wall. When such articles as gearboxes have to be dealt with it is necessary to shift the position of the hanging light so that the interior of the box can be examined, but with the usual arrangement this is not possible. A plan he has found to answer well is to fix a wire aloneb the benchee at a convenient height and to support it at intervals as shown. Before fixing the wire he slips along it some insulating bobbins, one to each vice. He then takes the flexible wire and wraps it round the bobbin, and secures it with adhesive tape. By this means a light can be brought to any desired position, within certain limits, along the bench.
More Tips on Starting.
A BUS driver, " T.E.J.," of Whitby, tells us that he has to start different engines every morning, although of the same make. He is allowed only half an hour for filling up and doing all that is necessary for him to report himself
ready for duty. He is not a heavyweight, and has only a boy to help him, so he has to take every precaution. His method is, when nearing home at night, to place a newspaper in front of the radiator so that when he arrives his water is nearly boiling. He then runs this water off into what he terms a " thermo " tank, or what the average housewife knows as a haybox. This consists of any convenient barrel placed inside a sack and well packed with waste, hay, or any non-conductor of heat ; he also covers the lid with more non-conducting material.
By this means he is able to fill up in the morning with warm water, as he finds this device very efficient for the storage of heated water. He then allows the engine time to warm up and gives it a few swings with the switch off. Should the engine not respond to the warm water treatment he pours a small quantity of petrol into a tin with a
spout and sets light to it. When it begins to boil he extinguishes the flame and pours the rapidly vaporizing fuel into the engine through the compression taps. This he finds always ensures a start, as the hot petrol gives a good rich mixture.
Replacing a Heavy Roller Chain.
THE replacing of a chain, especially if it be of the heavier type, is often a very troublesome job, particularly if no help be at hand. " H.K.," of Newcastle-on-Tyne, says that he does not agree with those who suggest placing one end of the chain on a, sprocket wheel and then trying to get the other and in place, as if the sprocket be worn the teeth will not support the chain sufficiently to allow the connecting pin to be put in place, and it will often be found that the step up from the threaded part to the plain part of the pin will not allow the latter to enter
its hole.
He suggests that a chain is best joined on the straight part which lies between the two sprockets' providing that the plan he describes be followed. For chains of ordinary weight he says that the best way to join them up is to bring the ends together, and enter a taper-ended punch in one pair of links, then the chain can be pressed sideways to enable the connecting pin to be put through its hole. the punch can then be removed. and a sideways pressure brought to bear in the opposite direction. This will bring the holes in line. and so the pin can be tapped gently into its place.
For very heavy chains, such as those used on the Foden, he adopts a method which is shown in hie sketch. A strong cord is attached to one link by forming a knot as shown, and passing a crossbar through it, then bringing the cord through several links as shown, thus forming a kind of pulley block, by means of which the ends can be brought together by the accumulated force .gained by the number
of rollers over which the cord passes, and the pin inserted.
This device will be found effective in dealing with the most obstinate chain.
An Unusual Trouble and Its Remedy.
IT is not unusual to find in cylinders brass plugs that have been used to fill holes in the cylinder casting that base been made to support the sand cores which form the water spaces in the jackets. It is true that these plugs seldom give any trouble, but in the case of " S.V.M.," of Bristol, he appears to have had one of these drop out while on the road, and he was not able to find it. As he had to finish his journey, he had to improvise some kind of ping that would hold water.
He was lucky enough to find a piece
of old solid tyre, from which he cut a disc slightly Jess in diameter than the hole and thicker than the wall of the cylinder. Through the centre of this he made a hole, and, using a 5-id-in. bolt and washers, he passed the plug into the hole, and by screwing up the nut he was able to expand the rubber and make a watertight joint. The hole in the rubber being smaller than the bolt, prevented the latter from turning round while the nut was tightened