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LEAVES FROM THE INSPECTOR'S NOTEBOOK.

14th November 1918
Page 16
Page 16, 14th November 1918 — LEAVES FROM THE INSPECTOR'S NOTEBOOK.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A Greasy Subject. Unfamiliar• War-work.

AFEW WEEKS ago I wrote an article entitled "What Makes the Wheels Go Round? " and I then suggested that there was still a great deal of room for improvement in connection with the lubricating systems of modern chassis, good as many of them were. We have been reminded recently that it is not only in connection with that principal problem of lubricathig the engine, and perhaps also of the gearbox and the back axle, that we might hope to see further economy and more effective distribution, but that the many small joints throughout a chassite whether it be petrol-driven, steam or electric, are all more or less insufficiently lubricated even to-day. They depend as a rule on the grease cup or the oil cup, and the former particularly is liable, to prove ineffective under many ordinary and normal working conditions.

Grease cups are at the best a nuisance. It is frequently necessary, if they must be used, for the designer to arrange them in such positions that the driver or mechanic can only with difficulty attend to them. If they be.provided at joints on the chassis which involve a considerable gymnastic effort in order to reach them, they have no mare chance of attention at the hands of the ordinary driver than a snowball has of continued existence inside a Tank. In any case it is a lengthy job to go round them all and refill them, and it is a messy one—a job that most of us have postponed time after time and not a few of us have neglected altogether. Oil cups are easy to replenish if they are accessible, but they need more frequent attention, and theoretically it is not so easy to "set out an oilcan and fill a cup" as it is "to give a twist to the greasers." Whether it be greasers or oil cups, however, it is a disadvantage of the type that they are liable frequently to be knocked off by accident or, alternatively, to come unscrewed, and unless periodic inspection and replacement are enforced as the result of systematic maintenance methods, the part which is to depend on them remains ualubricated until seizure and fracture draw attention to their absence.

All sorts of ingenious devices have been embodied from time to time to make the oil and grease in the gearbox or in the back axle serve a number of other purposes than to lubricate the gears. a Attempts have been made, and many of .them, of course, have been quite satisfactory by means of skilfully-conceived and located channels to lead the lubricant away to more or less distant bearings. I particularly remember having my attention drawn, at one of the big Motor Shows, to a remarkably elaborate arrangement on these lines. In this particular instance, for which one of the best-known designers of motor chassis was responsible, i believe that I am correct in Writing that the scheme was quite successful. But I also know of at least one such case in which, after the System had been in the not too discriminating or tender hands of the repairer, it not only refused to function—to use a horrible piece of patentese—but it actually had the opposite effect of starving of oil the bearing which it wits intended to lubricate. At the subsequent inquest it was discovered that the reputed repairer, in rebuilding the axle, which was the part concerned, had placed the right-hand bush in the lefthand sleeve, and the left-hand one in the right-hand sleeve, so that the normal rotation of the shafts, as it were, "unwound" the grease or oil instead of "winding it up" to its proper destination, a result which was comparable in a way with a case of design which many of the " CM." readers may recall, namely, that of the itangent-spoked wooden road wheel.

o36 It seems a, very little thing on which to concentrate —the effective oiling of pins and joints. If a new chassis is well provided with grooves and holes, grease cups or oilers, everything appears to be all right, and generally is so. . But once the bearings have begun to wear and there is adequate chance of leakage, or when the grease caps or other covers begin to get knocked off, effective lubrication very soon ceases. The best attempt that has been made to get over this difficulty, so far as I am aware, is that in. which the grease cup has been combined with the shackle pin, a quite common practice nowadays, but there are still lots of little places all over the chassis where there is room for ingenuity, in order to ensure continued supply of lubricant.

Unfamiliar War-work.

As time has gone on and tribunals have stiffened their insistence on workers in many crafts "taking up work of 'national importanee," large numbers of men—and women, too, of course—have dropped their normal peace time occupations and have adapted their skill and special knowledge to some war-time need. Pianoforte makers, for instance, have proved excellent builders of aeroplane framework ; watch and clock makers have, in considerable numbers, taken on work in connection with small electrical contrivances and surgical paraphernalia, shop-fitters in their hundreds are 'building lorry bodies, and so On. But one is left guessing as to what has become of many another class of craftsman. How, for instance, is the man now occupied who was responsible for all the elaborate signwriting and lettering on industrial coachw,ork—in these days of universal shop grey and plain white lettering ? What has become of all the upholsterers? Where are all the salesmen? Where's the 'man who used to make trombones ?

It is interesting to speculate as to whether the majority of these new recruits to new occupations will ever return to their old loves—and their old wages. Not in many cases, I venture to think, particularly if the oonditions of their new activities have proved snore attractive. Thousands of motor drivers, for instance, war trained, will hope to retain their newfound occupations. The war will send back to our own industry scores of men who, through war-time association, will consider themselves sufficiently experienced tojustify their offer of services as mechanics, maintenance experts, organizers of staff, and so on. " Particulars of experience " in future

will, as a rule, include three or four years -of something quite foreign to that to be found elsewhere on the application for employment. Perhaps this gigantic national shuffling will have unearthed much unswapected skill mid talent.

Not the least important war-time occupation with which previous experience will have had little to do is that of temporary civil servant, and in a great many cases he's going to try and stick to his job like glue. In such instances we must see to it that his job dis: appears as quickly as possible in all but a few exceptional cases. We can do with the new blood in industry, and we could equally benefit from it in Government bureaucratic circles, but one of the first tasks of recentruction is to put baek in their proper places the thousand and one controllers, directors, examiners and inspectors, and regain our industrial freedom. These are war-time occupationa that it will not benefit the nation to perpetuate. But quite a lot of them, to my knowledge, are now devoting a lot of public time to schemes to prove how important it will be for their services to be retained.

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