For DRIVERS MECHANICS & FOREMEN.
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A PRIZE OF TEN ShILLINGS is awarded each week to the sender of the best letter which we :pubtish an this page ; allothers are paid for at thigrate ot a' penny a tine, with art allowamce far photographs. All notes are edited before being published. Mention your employer's name, ir confidence, as eMdenoe of good faith, Address, D., 112, and F., "The Commercial Motor," 7-15, itosebery:Avenue, London, E.G. 1.
Lamps Alight.
On Saturday, September 20th, light your lamps at 8.4 in London, 8.21 in Ed:oburgh, 8.13 in Newcastle, b.17 in Liverpool. 8.12 in Birmingham, 8.14 in BristO,' and 8.30 in Dublin. •
Irnproving a Wheel-Drive Connection.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the Ws. prize this week.
[2013] " (Hanarnerstnith) writes : We had experienced continual trouble witlethe road wheels of a lorry .which was.in.my care, owing to the breakage of the bolts through which the drive was transmitted to the wheels. As may• be gatheredfrom the rough sketch which I nelose—[which we have had redrawn.—ED.]--what may be termed a driving plate was secured to the hub of the wheel by filo eo-in, studs. This driving plate was squared internally, and fitted on a correspondingly-shaped portion of the driving axle. It was these #in..studs that were continually breaking, so finally it was decided to try the effect of a couple. of additional driving pins. There was no room at the back of the wheel for any heads to these pins, so that they had to be made a driving fit. Two a-in. holes were drilled through the driving plate into the hub, and were reame red out. A couple of studs were then turned up aid polished, and made a very good driving fit in. the holes. A groove had to be cut around them so as to prevent airlock when they were being driven in place. The plain part should be made a little less in length than the depth of the hole. They are screwed at ihe end for the reception of a. nut for removing them, but for no other purpose."
Care of Sparking Plugs.
[2014] " W.G.H." (Victoria) writes am of
opinion that a considerable wastage occurs. in COM-KT-. ti011 with sparking. plugs, Not only are these 'frequently renewed, when the application of a little petrol and an old tooth 'brush would :render them fit • for good service again, but plugs Which have become. somewhat out of repair are thrown away without any cOnsideration' as to whether they maybe put to some good Use or even, with a little ingenuity, completely
repaired.' •• . • '
"For example, a frequent cause of the failure of a plug is the burning' of one of the electrodes, or points ; even this is usually the result of carelessness, owing to the ,points not having been maintained at the rig 'it distance apart, or not being cleaned frequently enough. Sometimes, however, one of the points is mode of softer metal than the other, and burns away one that aecount. Now the point which burns on one plug may not be the one corresponding to that on another, and if the driver takes the trouble to pull discarded plugs to pieces., he can generally manage to build one good plug out of two damaged ones. Another use for a discarded plug is to use it as a template upon which to make a suitable box spanner. This idea is, of course, only-of value when the same type of plug is always used, and in this connection my advice is: fix upon a goon plug, .andealways use the one kind, as, if it saves you nothing else, it relieves you of the anxiety of carrying more than one size of box spanner. Moreover, it facilitates such repairs as 1. have suggested above.
" An unusual repair, but one which I have carried cut successfully more than once, is that of a cracked porcelain. This I have made good by filling the crack with fine plaster of Paris, previously opening out the crack so as to allow the new material to enter."
A Stone Pick.
[2015] "M.T. Officer " writes :—" A difficulty I have often experienced viith twin solid tyres is the wedging of stones between. the tyres. These, if not removed, have the effect of breaking the rubber portion of the tyre away from its hard vulcanized foundation, thus completely ruining the tyres, which nowadays cost a considerable sum.
" The usual practice in removing these stones is to force them out with a straight steel bar or some similar device.
"I enclose a sketch [Which we have had redrawn.— En.] and a description of-a:neat stone pick which I devised for removing these stones. The lorries under my charge were on road-mending work and naturally had to do a .considerable amount of their travelling over loose road metal so that the picking up of stones between the tyres was one of the most usual troubles experienced.
" The tool is off-set 12 ins., so that it may be used under the mudguards in either a right-handed or lefthanded direction. As the length of the short arm is 6 ins, and that.of the long arm 18 ins., a leverage Of three-to-one is obtained, and it is much easier to remove the wedged stones in this way than with a straight bar or similar tool."