Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
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TEN SHILLINGS WEEKLY for the Best Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for any thing else published.
Drivers of commercial motor vehicles and tractors, and mechanics and foremen of garaees or shops, are invitid to send shore contributions on any subject which is likely to prove ol interest tc our readers. IlloPkshop tips and smart repairs ; long and successful runs ; interesting photographs : all are suitable subjects. Send a post-card, or a letter, or a sketch to us—ItO matter how short, f,r hove/ written, or how worded. We will "knock it into shape" and prepare sketches, where necessary, before publicatilm. The absence of a sketch does not disqualify for a prize. When writing se one side of the paper only and mention your employer's name as a euarantee of bona files. Neither your own ncr your employer's name will be disclosed. Payment will be made imme diately after phi r Address. your !otters to he Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOCOR, 7 15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
We Acknowledge Receipt.
Selected from a number of communications intended for these columns, and which we are unable to acknowledge individually, we have letters from the following correspondents under consideration with a view to publication :—" J.McK." (Canning Town), " T.D." (Keighley), " W.H.W." (Castle Bromwich), " All." (Cardiff),
" F.P." (Sutton), "A.B." (Hull), and " (Strood).
An Adjustable Seating for a Carburetter Needle.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the /Os. prize this meek.
[587] " P.M.I." (Tighnabruaich) sends the following account of an improvement which he has made to a type of carburetter with which he has had some amount of trouble:—" Since I submitted to you my last contribution, I have had some trouble with my carburetter. It occurred to me that my method of remedying it might interest some of your readers. The float appeared, upon examination, to have been soldered up at various points, somewhat carelessly, from time to time, especially round the needle where it enters the float and where it is fixed
in the particular type of carburetter of which I um speaking. There was also a goodly coating of solder at various points on the top and bottom; it was evident, therefore, that some trouble had been experienced, on previous occasions with the puncturing of this float. At the time of which I am writing the carburetter was constantly flooding. I eventually found that this was due to the solder's giving way, probably owing to vibration. The result of a punctured float are too well known to need recounting here. To make matters worse, I found that the jet, which was of the single-spray type, had been opened out by the fellow who was in charge before I
came on. I afterwards heard that the float had been soldered up by the local plumber, whose experience of motor-vehicle requirements was not vast.
" My first task, in my attempt to put things right, was to melt off a lot of the superfluous solder, and, at the same time, I took the opportunity to make the float quite tight. I found, however, that I could not remove anything like enough to get back to the makers' standard weight for copper floats, and since the jet was also enlarged, as I lave mentioned, the engine would never run longer than half-an-hour before it stopped through flooding; even this was only possible because I ran with the petrol cock half turned off. I decided, eventually, that the only thing to do was to try and make the needle or its seating adjustable. No provision for this had been made by the makers, for the needle was fixed in the float at a definite height, and the seating was above it in the ordinary float-chamber cover itself. I, therefore, decided to fix up an adjustable seat for the needle, for ff Mahomet would not go to the mountain, the mountain /Ad to take the initiative. I removed the cover and bored out a hole in the centre, where the seating had previously been, and tapped it to I inch; this was the same thread as that on the petrol-pipe coupling. I next procured a piece of brass rod about 2 in. long, and I turned and screwed this to go into the prepared hole in the cover. I bored up the centre of this piece, 3-16 in. to take the needle and 3-32 in., at the other end, for the petrol feed. It was only then necessary to grind the needle on to the seating a-nd to screw the fitting into the cover. With a brass lock nut on each side of the cover, it was then possible to adjust, and to lock in position, the seat just where it would give best results. it was quite simple to make the necessary adjustment in order to stop the flooding. " Since I made this alteration, the engine always starts at the first turn. I think it would be wise for any driver who has one of these fixed-point float chambers on his engine to alter it to take an adjustable fitting like I have described."
"Making do" with a Broken Exhaust Valve.
[588] " H.A." (Cardiff) describes how he patched up a broken exhaust valve and did a good day's work with it subsequently :—" I was driving a 40 h.p. motorbus, a few days ago, to take a special party to the country for their annual outing. After picking up my load, I started on my journey, but found that my engine was pulling badly. This caused me to stop and to look round and see whav was the matter. I quickly found out that I had a broken exhaust valve. This was when I was in a very busy part of the town. I removed the valve head to prevent it getting into the cylinder. By this time the crowd began to. gather round and to make the usual foolish enquiries, so I quickly started up my engine again to avoid being ' collared ' for obstruction. I was then only pulling on three cylinders, of course, but I kept going quietly through the town, sometimes only on second speed, because of the heavy load I was carrying. I was not afraid of getting stopped for exceeding the speed limit, I can tell you. I managed to get through the town all right, whilst giving my party plenty of time to view the surroundings as well as the different styles of ancient and modern dress, which were being worn by those who were taking part in a local pageant. All the while, however, I was thinking how to repair my valve. I eventually got out of the town and came td a small smith's shop, where I borrowed a in. stock and die. I then cut a thread close up under the head of the broken exhaust valve and another on the end of the stem. I found, in my kit bag, a in. steel nut, so I screwed both the broken ends into the nut as tightly as possible. This left the valve stem about the correct length, so I put it back into place. I found that it had a fairly-good seating and that the tappet needed no adjustment: there was plenty of room between the seating and the valve guide for the nut which held the two ends together. then started up the engine and ran all day with-out any further trouble."
A Club Outing on a Vanguard.
[589) "J.W." (Dalston) sends the following account and a photograph which we reproduce :—" Week by week the use of the commercial motor for the conveyance of outing' parties to and from their destination is becoming more popular. Not only is there the exhilaration of speedy transit to commend this application, but parties are enabled, in the same time, to get further into the country than is the case with horse-drawn vehicles. A typical case is illustrated by the photograph which I send to you. It is a picture of the start of a trip to the Chiltern Hills, Oxfordshire, by a party of the Prince of
Wales ' Sports and Games Club, Dalston. A 'Van
guard ' motorbus was the vehicle chartered, and it was ably handled by Chauffeur Wakeham, who suocessfully negotiated the whole of the journey without a single mishap. Dashwood Hill—the venue of many hill-climb ing contests—formed part of the route which was followed. The gentleman in the photograph, seated on the off-side mudguard, and dressed in fancy costume, is not a huge mascot, but an individual who, full of fun, was the life and soul of the party throughout the day. In the photograph it will be seen that a lady temporarily occupied the driver's seat while the picture was taken."