The Purchase Department.
Page 18
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Where to Buy your Supplies. 4
The Brown Oil-box for Springs.
We have recently had brought to our notice yet another device for automatically supplying lubricant to the leaves of elliptic springs. It is known as the Brown oil-box and is handled in this country by Markt and Co. (London), Ltd., 98-100, Clerkenwell Road, London, E.C. Each lubricator consists of two parts, which can be clamped to either side of the springs, and thick pads of felt-like material which are bolted to the casing. A disc is fitted on the outside of the casing ; when it is rotated it uncovers a small hole through which lubricant, can be injected on to the pad. Sufficient oil is absorbed by the pads to keep the springs well lubricated for about a month.
Brown oil-boxes are made in various sizes, and can be easily fitted to the road-springs of any type of commercial vehicle. If the pads be kept well saturated with lubricant, the intermediate surfaces of the springs will be automatically oiled, owing to the vibration set up by the vehicle, so that not only should noise be obviated but the life of the springs should be materially lengthened.
A British-made Sparking Plug.
Users will read with interest of the marketing of yet another British-made sparking plug, which is manufactured by the Robinhood Engineering Works, Kingston Works, Putney Vale, London, S.W. After a considerable amount of experimenting, the manufacturers have come to the conclusion that mica is one of the best forms of insulating material for use in the making of sparking plugs, as it can be thoroughly relied upon when subjected to the high degree of heat and pressure of the modern internal-combustion engine.
During a series of tests which this firm has carried out it was eventually found, however, that the use of mica necessitated the fitting of a. comparatively small central electrode or pin in order to hold the layers of B12 the non-conductive material together and make a perfectly gas-tight joint.
One of the disadvantages of this construction was that when the electrode or pin became excessively heated it stretched and allowed oil and deposit to creep between the washers and thus -to impair the service of the plug.
In producing the K.L.G. device, however, a novel process has been utilized to overcome this tendency. Layers of mica are compressed into the body of the plug under hydraulic pressure, and consequently the compressed mica washers become practically one solid mass. This plug of mica has a double conical hole through its centre ; in the ton cone is fitted the electrode, whilst the lower cone forms the insulating surface. To guard against the possibility of pre-ignition, the central electrode is left with as large a body of metal as possible in contact with the comparatively cool mica, and the section of the metal gradually becomes smaller towards the sparking points, so that the heat is conducted away in a most efficient manner. The top of this central electrode also serves to hold the external insulation in position. and even if the nut holding this should be removed, the plug would still continue to work perfectly owing to the fact that all the mica washers exposed to heat or pressure are held by the body of the plug itself, and these in turn hold the electrode by means of the coned seating. This design of plug provides a large pocket above the sparking points, which feature, so the makers claim, affords even firing at slow speed:s, together with flexibility and power by ensuring that fresh mixture surrounds the Points on each compression stroke.
The K.L.G. sparking plug has undergone exhaustive tests and is British-made throughout
You Can Get It At " M.A." (Willesden).—You can obtain the standard W.D. front and rear towing hooks from the makers, Jas. Bartle and Co., Western Works, Notting Hill, W. Typical examples are illustrated below.