The Supply Department.
Page 19
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Selected Information which is likely to be of Interest to Makers, Owners, and their Buyers.
Drip Trays for Niotorvans.
P. BRows (Brixton).—Certain types of vans of which we know are rather bad offenders in the matter of oil dropping from gearbox and engine, and the dirt which accumulates troni this cause while such a van is standing in the shed is objectionable. If you have difficulty in stopping the actual leakage front the engine and gearcasesit is quite possible that you will have with the particular machine in your possession—your best plan will be to get a tinsmith to knock you up a large tray which you can keep under the machine while it is in the shed. It only needs to be a rough job and to be made from good stout leaded sheet. You ought to get one of a suitable size for your purpose from a man like J. If Randall of Paddington Green, for example, for about 125. 6d. It might also interest you to refer to the description of a cheap and useful waste oil saving tank which is described by a correspondent in the Drivers' and Mechanics' columns of this journal in the issue for gth July, 1(0. By the use of some such contrivance as this, a considerable quantity of a poor quality of oil may be recovered, and this may be again used for a number of useful purposes.
Porcelains for Plugs.
J. E. EASTMAN (Manchester).---It is quite possible III:LI you will find it will pay you to repair the ignition plugs which you mention to us in your letter, provided, of course, that the quantities which you have through your hands are large enough to enable you to buy the necessary replacement parts at remunerative prices. We understand quite well that the chief cause of breakage, in the rough class of work upon which you are engaged, is due to clumsy handling on the part of drivers and mechanics. Although porcelains probably form the most reliable insulators when everything is taken into consideration, the fragility of this component of an ignition plug is a cause of considerable expense where rough handling is likely to be experienced. There is no difficulty about getting the metal portions of the plugs made at very low rates either in Birmingham or in London. You will not, of course, use platinum, for the points. It is to he feared that you may find some difficulty in obtaining suitable porcelains. at any rate in England; most of them are made either in Germany or in France. We were recently told, however, that a manufacturer in our own Pottery district was making progress in this direction. Taylor and Tunicliffe, and Company, Limited, of Hanley, Staffs., was the name we were given, and you might find it of advantage to write to them and make a few enquiries.
The Purchase of Taximeters.
" (Newcastle), " D.W.M." (Stoke-on-Trent) and " (Yarmouth).—Requests have come in from
several quarters that we should advise our Correspondents as to the purchase of one or more taxi'meters for employment on taxicabs that are to be run in small numbers by their owners. It is not the practice of manufacturers of these instruments to sell them outright, hut rather to hire them to users at a rate of about .L;7 per annum, and this sum covers the cost of upkeep and repair. The instruments, in this way, remain the property of their makers, and rapid exchange and repair of faulty taximeters can he effected with ease by men who have specialised in this work. The particular make of instrument mentioned by " L. p'' in his letter to us has been the subject of several complaints that we have received. There are seven or eight makers of taximeters who are doing business here in England. We should advise our correspondents in the first place to write for particulars to the General Electric Company, Limited, Taximeter branch, son, Salusbury Road, Kilburn, N.W., which company makes the Aron instrument, or to Bruhn's Taximeter. Limited, Gray's Inn Road,
For Mounting Blue Prints, I'. F. ATHERTON (DalSbln).--The method that you propose to adopt for the mounting of drawings and prints which are intended for use in the shops, gives, on the whole, mom satisfactory results than other plans which we have known to be adopted. Na properly trained draughtsman would agree to allow his original drawings to leave the drawing office, and only photo prints should be sent into the shops. Such reproductions as those produced by the ordinary Itemprussiate process are cheap and are easily replaced. if these are pasted on stout strawboards they will stand any amount of knocking about in the shops, and, providing the boards are stocked in one or two standard sizes, the convenience attending the employment of this system is remarkable. Prints when mounted should be sized and varnished, as onauthorised alterations to fissures, etc., cannot then he easily made without detection. This method is employed by most of the leading motor manufacturers; we can particularly instance the Wolseley„Austin and Thornycroft Companies as users. You can obtain low quotations for suitably sized strawboards from Cundell Eve and Company, Underwood Place, Shepherdess Walk, N. If you care to zo to the extra expense, sheet-metal corners will strengthen the boards.