Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 20
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Ten Shillings Weekly for the Best Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for anything else published.
Drivers of commercial motor vehicles and tractors, and mechanics and foremen of garages or shops, are invited to send short contributions on any subject which is likely to prove of interest to our readers. Long and successful runs; services with no "lost journeys'' ; workshop tips and smart repairs : all are suitable subjects. Send a post-card, or a letter, or a sketch to us—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. We will "knock it into shape" before publication. When writing you must mention your employer's name as a guarantee of bona fides (not for publication), and you should state whether you wish your own name, or initials only, to be published. Payment will be made immediately after publication. Address your letters to he Editor," THE COMMERCIAL
Moroa," 7 15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
We Acknowledge Receipt,
Selected from a number a communications which are 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.H." (Chepstow), " H.A." (Cardiff), P. MAc.i." (Tighnabruaich), "R.C." (Leyton), "5.0.11." (Regent's Park), " (Upton Park), " YORKSHIREMAN " (Halifax), " R.S." (Newcastle-on-Tyne), " A..T.C."
(Thame), " (Bermondsey), " W.A.W." (Sunderland), and " R.G.A." (S. Woodford).
A Quickly-inserted Joint.
[573] " A.W." (Bath) submits the following account:— " I am sending you a rough sketch of a simple joint which I have used on the exhaust pipe of a petrol engine, whenever I have wanted to make a rapid replacement and have not wished to take the exhaust pipe down— always a troublesome business and generally a very hot one. When I made the first joint of this pattern I was in charge of a Milnes-Daimler bus for the week-end. Whilst on one of my journeys, about 10 or 11 miles from home, one of the exhaust joints blew right out ; the nuts on the two bolts through the exhaust flanges had slacked back and had allowed the copper-and-asbestos joint to blow out completely. I tightened the bolts and pulled the flanges together, as best I could, in order to get to the end of the journey, but I then decided to make a better job of it. I had no suitable material from which to make a joint, but I eventually found a strip of tin which I hammered out flat and cut out to the shape I wanted with a hammer and chisel, as shown in the sketch. You will notice that it is possible to insert this joint without the necessity of removing the bolts and nuts holding the flanges together. I cut the hole in the centre of it square, as it is a quicker and easier job than making a neat round hole. It is a matter of only a few minutes' work to slide this joint, into position, and. when I had bolted it all up tight again, I found a very good job bad been made and that there was no sign of any exhaust blowing. Of course there is nothing very startling about this arrangement, but I thought it might be useful to point out that, instead of struggling to dismantle the exhaust pipes, it is very often a simple matter just to slack back the nuts and to push in a joint of the type described.
A Lathe Job on the Road.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the I0s. prize this week.
[574] Ingenuity was displayed by our correspondent " J.L." (Birmingham) in the manner in which he went to work on a job, as described in his letter which we now publish:—" A few days ago I was told off to pick up a load of furniture in the suburbs of Birmingham and to be prepared to start early the next morning for Manchester. I was in charge of a motor pantechnicon, the chassis of which had originally done a lot of hard work as a motAarbus; it is of an old pattern. We soon had the load stowed all rightabout 50 cwt.—and were ready to make a start early in the morning—about 3.30 a.m. Shortly after 6 a.m., we reached Stafford—about 30 miles away. While having a look round, I noticed that the off hind wheel had a very worried look.' Upon closer examination, I found that. the whole weight of the load, on that side, was being carried by the hub bolts. It was useless to attempt to make a temporary repair at that period of the journey, so I decided to push along steadily and to keep a very open eye on this wheel on the way. We arrived without further incident at Manchester at 1.30 p.m., and. when I had disposed of the load, I had the faulty wheel off, and upon removing the flange, we saw that the bases of the wooden spokes were as rotten as touchwood, and that they had no bearing on the hub at all. We, however, managed to make a fairly-effective repair by shrinking a wrought-iron ring, 2:1 in. by 11 in, section, over the barrel of the hub. This arrangement gave some foundation to the spokes, and, with the aid of a number of steel wedges forced in between the spokes, we were able to make the wheel moderately stiff again. " We soon had the wheel back in its place, but then noticed that the thread for the hub cap was rather badly knocked about, and, as I have a distinct aversion to either the salmon-tin or tarpaulin method of making a temporary hub cap, we tried to clean up the thread with a file: we soon had to own ourselves beaten on this score. I never like to giVe up a job after the first try, so, after a few minutes' consideration. I went out and invested in a sixpenny, No. 10. inside chasing tool. We jacked up the wheel and, with the gear in low speed, I was able to turn the wheel as nicely as if it had been swung in a lathe, by throttling the engine down. I rigged up a rest of suitable height with some packing, and, holding the chaser firmly with both hands, I managed to clean out the remaining threads nicely and to cut up one or two new ones. The hub-cap fitted well."