FEEDING SIX-CYLINPERED ENGINES.
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A Resume of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
MEE feeding with fuel of engines baying more than four cylinders has 'always presented some 4 difficulty to the designer. Various ,attempts have been made so to design a manifold that an even flow of fuel will find its way to all cylinders under all conditions of speed.
The present invention, which is described in patent No. 292,576 Etablissements Lyonnais• Rochet-Schneider of Lyon (Rhone),,France, is,intended for use on engines with more than four cylinders, and two or'more carburetters. The specification points out that in power units of this kind the carburetters are usually arranged so that the suction takes effect on them On alternate strokes, as in the example given where the firing is arranged in the order 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 4. This means qhat each carburetter has to supply the requirements?of one cylinder at a time, and at noltime is there more than one carburetter in actin.
The specification also pointeout that ahigh speed, this arrangement produces.aaoss. of head in the carburetter: so
at certain ipmeetermined high speeds a valve in the manifohl is arranged to open, thus forming a communication between the parts of the manifold which have been separated at lower speeds.
The means employed for controlling this valve may be a diaphragm acted upon by the pressure of the cooling water, or it may be a centrifugal governor.
Individual Wheel Springing.
ONE usually expects good things in the way of design to
emanate from Italy, but in the case of specification 1to. 297,928, by Francesco Parisi, of Turin, we cannot see any outstanding features relating to novelty or otherwise in the invention described. Front wheels are mounted on steering heads which are supported from the frame by means of parallelogrammatic links, the lower horizontal one of which forms a bellcrank, one end of which acts to force a plunger into a cylinder containing a helical spring which acts in one direction, with a dashpot capable of action in both directions. The spring carries the weight, whilst the daslmot acts as a ddmper to prevent rebound. The upper links of the parallelogram are forked so as to prevent lateral movement, which is a good feature, but the lower member is not forked, which we consider to be' unsatisfactory. The specification claims that the invention would reduce noise produced through rattle of shackle joints, but our opinion is that the invention, necessitating five instead of two joints, would be likely to increase rattle rather than to reduce it.
Hydraulic Brakes for Trailers.
FROM Switzerland comes an invention for applying brakes to trailers, the brakes coming into action so soon as the trailer overruns the tractor, the means employed 250 being hydraulic cylinders with pistons. The specification is numbered 298,557, the invention emanating_from the Swiss Corporation A. Welti-Purrer A.G., of Zurich..
To -the drawbar of the trailer is attached a cylinder, the piston rod of which forms the means for connection to the tractor. The cylinder is provided with an inner al cove, which is perforated
so that .a certain amount of the fluid can by-pass the piston. A pipe leads from this cylinder to a smaller cylinder, which operates the cam of the brake. The idea appears to be a perfectly practicable one, but unless the Swiss are a far more careful people than our selves we cannot imagine any hydraulic apparatus being kept in order on a trailer, as our experience is that the trailer is usually the Cinderella of the fleet, inasmuch as, in many cases, these vehicles are maintained in a poor state of efficiency.
Heating \and Ventilating Motor Vehicles.
WI' are glad to see that the attention of inventors is being
turned towards the beating and ventilating of motor vedicles. as with the growth of the coach as a means for long-distance travel we feel sure that some form of heating will have to be devised. In the present instance, Patent No. 802,527, by W. P. Ure, J. S. McGregor and T.1Kay, ventilation is claimed as well as heating. The matter of better ventilation than that found in some coaches would appear to us to be merely the use of common-sense and the application of well-known principles; heating, however, presents a far more difficult problem, which we are afraid the present invention has hardly solved. The plan consists of drawing hot air from the radiator and 'distributing the currents through pipes to the body of the vehicle. The specification describes a chamber as being located at the rear of and in close proximity to•the upper part of the radiator and in front of or above the radiator fan.
It is not easy to see how a fan can work efficiently if there be anything between it and the radiator. The specification also describes the use of hot air as a means for keeping the windscreen clean by preventing condensation or snow from oh-. scoring the driver's view. We cannot look upon this IIS a very practical suggestion, as the main difficulty with windscreens is due to rain settling on the outside of the glass,and obviously this invention could not be made to obviate this form of obstruction to a clear view.