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 any thing else published.
Drivers of commercial-motor vehic,es 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. Workshop 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—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. We wilt "knock it into shape" and prepare sketches, where necessary, before publication. The absence of a sketch does not disqualify for a prize. When writing use one side of the paper only and mention your employer's name as a guarantee of bona fides. Neither your own nor your employer's name will be disclosed. Payment will be made immediately after publication. Address your letters to The Editor, THE Coustaaczai. MOTOR, 7-15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
In Reply to Yours.
[932] "AG." (Holloway).—The description of the repair to the steering rod on your mail van is of interest, but the makeshift which you were enabled to effect is not of sufficient novelty to warrant the insertion of a description, of it in these columns. We shall be happy to consider any other contributions which you may submit to us.
A New End for a Crankshaft.
The sender of the following communication. has been awarded the Ws. prize this week.
[933] "Tony" (Cardiff) writes :—" Some little while ago, it fell to my duty to repair a crankshaft of which the end jiad broken clean off, carrying the fan driving pulley and the starting dog with it. As the fracture was close to the end journal, it was not an easy job to make a good repair. T enclose you a sketch which ivill probably illustrate the manner in which I did the job. [We have had this redrawn.—En.i. I mounted the crankshaft in the lathe. fixing the fly-wheel end in the chuck ; the other end I supported in a steady rest. I then bored a t-in. hole for a distance of about 21 in. up the shaft at the broken end. I coned out this hole for a depth of about lt in. ; at the largest bore of this cone it was within an I in. of the diameter of the journal itself. I next tapped the bottom part of the fin. hole. A piece of good tough steel was then obtained to suit the hole that I had made in the end of the crankshaft. I left enough on this new piece to enable it to take the place of the end which had been broken off. When I had finished all the machining. I packed the shaft up in a vertical position, with the broken end upwards. The plug was then entered for about two threads, and I brazed the new piece into position, quickly screwing it down as tightly as I could after the spelter began to flow freely. When everything was well fixed, I mounted the shaft in the lathe, and turned the new end between the centres in the usual way. The completed job was quite as strong as the original shaft. I have frequently repaired camshafts and similar parts in the same manner, and they have all stood up well afterwards."
The Trailer Terror.
1.934] " W.C.14/." (Canonbory) writes: "I read a paragraph in the issue of your paper for the 7th September about the Menace of the trailer tramcar.' Allow me to suggest that the L.C.C. should also try at the same time to obtain permission to close all the main thoroughfares to wheeled traffic. The trams as they are now are a nuisance to all light traffic. I drive a 14-16 h.p. Be/size light delivery van for a firm of well-known carriers ; the speed limit which I am forced to observe is 20 m.p.h. Very often, when I am going up Brixton Hill, I have to get on to the tram track, on account of the obstruction of horse-drawn vehicles which are travelling slowly up on the near side, and while I am climbing, at a speed of 12 m.p.h., a tramcar will come up behind me, and the driver will ring the bell violently for me to get out of the way, and at the top, more often than not, will talk glibly about summoning me for ' obstructing a tramcar.' On Streatham Hill, opposite Telford Avenue, there are always several cars stopped right close to one another in such a way that there is not even room for a pedestrian to walk between them, let alone passage-way for a van or small car. Both sides of the track are similarly affected. I think it is an outrageous shame that the L.C.C. does not enforce its own by-laws, and particularly should some action be taken to make the drivers observe the rule that they must not stop in close proximity to each other. I think the C.M.U.A., in the interest of van users generally, might advantageously issue a few summonses as an example. I travel on the Brixton road about six times a day, and I find that the trams are quite enough nuisance without any trailers. They race along at anything up to 20 m.p.h., and pull up dead without giving the slightest warning. "I have been a reader of your valuable paper for the past 2i years, and I frequently find some very useful hints in it. I trust, if you are able to insert this letter, it will have the result of producing some satisfactory suggestion with regard to the solution of this undoubted tramway nuisance. Something, of course, has got to be done before long: either the tramways are to be allowed to monopolize the whole of the road, or the tracks have got to come up. I personally think the latter is likely to take place."