Passing Comments
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Searching for Spare rIFFICIALS of both the
Paris for Vehicle A.R.O. and the C.M.U.A.
Repairs are energetically striving to assist operators who are in
difficulties because they cannot obtain spare parts needed for the repair of their vehicles. Hauliers can, however, help themselves if they appreciate the fact that it is not so ranch actually shortage of supplies of parts as the lack of knowledge, on the part of repairers doing the work, as to where to obtain them. It is not enough for a repairer to say that he cannot get spares when all that he has done has been to send an order to the manufacturer. The probability is that supplies of the kind he requires are available in the stocks of other repairers, and it is only by energetic exploration of that avenue that success is likely to be achieved. The search can be facilitated by referring to the numerous units and parts specified in small advertisements in this journal.
Big Producer-gas Plant for Making Small Engines OR some 25 years, 250 I b.h.p. of the power used in the main machine shop at the works of J. A. Prestwich and
Co., Ltd., well known as the maker of J.A.P. power units, has been generated by two Crossley engines running on producer gas. We understand that, in this establishment, where efficiency seems to be a keynote, it is regarded as an extremely satisfactory source of power. The gas is made from anthracite in a producer employing a continuous steam blast, the steam being generated by the heat from, the gas as it leaves the furnace. The gas is also enriched by water, fed in at a number of points around the base of the producer, but the primary purpose of this is to afford local temperature control. This plant struck us as of special interest, because it appears to be of a type fairly closely resembling certain vehicle apparatus. The Transcontinental I N view of the present situa Road in North tion, interest attaches to the Africa transcontinental road travers ing Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Libya and Egypt. Almost the whole of the western portion, built by France, has a bituminous surfacing. In Morocco, the opposing traffic lanes are often distinctively coloured, whilst curves are superelevated and have guard rails consisting of wire mesh attached to concrete posts. The hilly Algerian section has exceptional superelevation and special signs on portions slippery in wet weather. The design and construction of the Italian section through Libya are admirable, but the section in Egypt is considered to be mostly inferior, some parts consisting of a sandy track and ottiers being formed of a mixture of sand
and bitumen. After two years' service the latter are in poor condition, breaking at the margins, where sand tends to become hollowed out. It was thought, until recently, that the entire length would be completed during 1940.
Making Oil Pump IN an interesting article which Gears in Iron Powder A appeased some months ago by Sintering . . . in automotive Industries, a
description was given of how oil-pump gears are being made by porous powder metallurgy, the Moraine Products Division, of General Motors, being responsible for this innovation. Each gear is formed in a polished steel mould, using Swedish iron powder sintered at 1,093 degrees C. The tooth form requires no machining, although improved by lapping. -The finishing operations are limited to chamfering, drilling, grinding to length, grinding outside diameter and burnishing the bore. The method permits the forming of perfect involutes without undercut. The Durex iron employed, after sintering, resembles high-carbon steel, but, being porous, it has self-lubricating properties, good wear resistance and gives quiet running.. Material is saved, because, taking one type, this weighs 0.21 lb., whereas a similar cast-iron gear would weigh 0.28 lb., being machined from a blank weighing 0.8 lb.