A NOVEL STOPLIGHT SWITCH.
Page 74
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WHEN visiting the works of Dodge Brothers (Britain), Ltd., Park Royal Road, North • Acton, London, W.19, recently, we noticed that a very clever arrangement is now being employed on all Dodge Brothers chassis for the purpose of interconnecting the warning light at the rear of the chassis with the brake pedal, so that application of the foot brake causes the warning light to be illuminated.
These stop-lights, as they have come to be called, are nowadays a standard fitting on practically all American passenger and goods chassis and are becoming increasingly popular in this country, because, without involving expensive equipment, they undoubtedly serve as a very useful driving signal.
Our readers will be familiar with the ordinary method of linking up the stoplight switch to the pedal by means of wire, but, for vehicles equipped with hydraulic braking of the Lockheed type, the switch now standardized on Dodge Brothers chassis is simpler by far.
It consists of a hollow stud, which is screwed into the master cylinder of the Lockheed brake equinment, so that depression of the brake pedal causes a small quantity of oil to be forced into the stud. This stud is sealed at the top with a disc of non-conducting material, in which two electric terminals are fixed, and lying loosely within the cylindrical interior of the stud is another disc, the upper surface of which carries a metal plate. This loose disc
B40 is forced upward by the inflow of oil, so that its metal plate bridges the gap between the lower ends of the two terminals, making electrical contact between them and so completing the circuit between the battery and the stop-light.
Obviously, there is hardly anything that can go wrong with the device; it is cheap, unobtrusive and effective. Such large numbers of the American commercial chassis are now equipped with hydraulic braking gear that this switch should become an almost universal fitment.
CORRECTING WORN CRANKPINS.
ANEW type of truing tool for engine crankshafts has been placed upon the British market by Frederick J. Gordon and Co., Ltd., 92, Charlotte Street, London, W.1. It is known as the Armco IlaLee.
Big-end journals can be trued without removing the shaft from the engine.
A mechanic holds the tool in position, once it has been set to give the required diameter, and an assistant turns the crankshaft by means of the starting handle.
It is claimed that the tool automatically finds the correct cutting position for the blade, irrespective of the size of the crankpin and that it cannot digin or chatter. It is useful for correcting worn, tapered or oval crankpins and can remove scores of a reasonable depth. The price is £15 5s, 6d. for cutting journals from l in. to 2-72
Another type cuts pins up to 21 ins. and costs the same sum whilst the largest pattern can be used for cuts from in. to 3 ins. fillet is priced at £18 is.