A CENTRIFUGAL OIL SEPARATOR.
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A Résumé of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
THE Albion Motor Car Co., Ltd., and J. D. Parkes, in specification No. 251,761, describe a centrifugal oil separator which can be fitted to engines for the purpose of arresting those particks of foreign matter in the oil circulation that would pass an ordinary filter.
It is well known that when too fine a mesh of strainer is used it will soon clog up with the particles it is intended to arrest. It is also now well known that minute particles of metal, such as these that are formed by the wearing away of parts in frictional contact, are most dangerous to bearings. Centrifugal separation of such particles has for some time been recognized as the most efficient means of dealing with such particles hi oil, so the present invention should go far to lengthen the life of an engine. The vertical shaft shown is driven at a high rate of speed by any convenient means such as that shown at its upper end. The lower end of the shaft forms the drive for one of the pinions of a gear pump, the suction side of which is shown at A. If the course of the arrows be followed, the path of the oil can be traced through the pump, up the hollow shaft until it is forced to leave at the point B, then down the skirt, and through the rapidly revolving centrifugal chamber, then upwards and into the hollow shaft again above B, than out to the chamber (C), which leads to the parts of the engine that require lubrication. Any sludge that may form is retained in the centrifugal chamber, which has to be cleaned out from time to time.
A New Method of Treating Fuels for Internal-combustion Engines.
A GERMAN company, the Allgemeine Gesellschaft Fur Chemische, in specification No. 245,072, say as follows :— " For years past efforts have been made to supplement the available quan
1346 tities of motor fuel by decomposing hydrocarbons of higher boiling point either by employing pressure and heat only or by utilizing catalytically acting substances. The fuel obtained according to „this process has, however, certain undesirable properties when used in internal-combnstion engines ; for instance, such fuel is liable to produce knocking. Motor fuels which are obtained by condensing the 9o-called casing head ga-ses also exhibited this objectionable knocking. Various suggestions have been made with a view to overcoming this undesirable property of such fuels. Their principal claim is for a process of improving volatile hydrocarbon fuels for internal-combustion engines, characterized in this that to the volatile fuels hitherto used in the operation of internal-combustion engines are added materials boiling at temperatures up to 200 degrees C., which are obtained by extracting by means of liquid sulphur dioxide mineral oil or lignite tar distillates boiling between 150 degrees and 300 degrees C. and containing constituents soluble in liquid sulphur dioxide, sufficient to prevent knocking and to yield fuels which are differentiated from the corresponding natural or untreated fuels by reason of their higher content of materials soluble in liquid sulphur dioxide. It is worth noting . that America also is trying anti-knock " dopes."
A Novel Steering Gear.
PERCY MARTIN and the Daimler Co., Ltd., in specification No. 151,742, show a novel arrangement of steering box and its connections to the steering wheels. As will be seen from
he illustration, the steering box, with its form and sector, is fixed to the dash, above the footboards. The arm from this box lies nearly in a horizontal position and is connected to a bell crank by means of a link. From the drop arm of the bell crank a connecting rod goes to the steering arm on the stub axle. This arrangement might be very useful in those commercial vehicles where the driver sits by the side of the engine.
A New Lock-nut.
PECIFICATION No. 251,867 shows Othe details of a lock-nut which attracted considerable attention in the Inventors' Section of the last Commercial Motor Show at Olympia. The nut is formed in two parts, the outer one being bored taper and provided with a shoulder at its smaller end and a keyway, as shown on the left of the left view.
The inner part is tapped to fit the bolt it is intended to work on, and is split so that it can contract as it is drawn into the conical outer part. A portion of the inner part is forced outwards, so as to form a key, which engages the keyway on the outer part.
When the nut is tightened on its bolt the inner part is compressed so that it grips the bolt tightly and cannot jar loose. Even when turned by a spanner to loosen it the nut will remain spannertight on its bolt, but if the outer member is given a tap with a hammer it will free the outer part from the inner, so that the nut will then become fingertight only and can be easily removed.
A New Form of Roller Bearing.
KARL OSK.A.R LEON, of Lidkiiping, Sweden, in specification No. 249,806, describes a new form of roller bearing. The left-hand view shows the position of the rollers in their tracks when journal load only is being taken by the bearing. It will be seen that the radius which forms the curve of the roller is slightly less than that which forms the race, consequently the roller bears Only in the centre of its track, a slight clearance being allowed at each Aide.
The specification says that when axial load comes on to such a bearing the rollers will assume the position shown in the right-hand view. The arrow shown in the body of one ring indicates the direction of axial load, and it is said that under these conditions the roller will shift its axis so that its bevelled edges come in contact with the flanges of the tracks as shown and that, therefore, the bearing will be able to sustain an axial load better than bearings made according to usual practice. The specification does not, however, make it clear how this result is obtained.