A USEFUL MISCELLANY.
Page 71
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Interesting Contributions From Our Driver and Readers. Mechanic
An Oven on the Exhaust Pipe.
THE convenience of warming food on the exhaust pipe has been fully recognized by one of our correspondents, "AR.," of Bootle, who sends us a sketch, with full dimensions, of the oven he has made. The vehicle to which ho has fitted this is a 1924 Scammell. The oven is made from thin sheet steel, and is, we presume, only intended for warming up food that has been already cooked.
Considering the convenience such a contrivance might be to drivers who have to travel long distancea at night, we are rather surprised that more has not been done in this direction before. An oven on these lines was shown at the Inventions Exhibition recently held at Westminster, We shall be glad if "AR." will send his full name and address.
Removing a Damaged Axle.
HOW a difficulty in removing a rear axle was overcome is related in the letter of " of Barnsley, who says :— " Having received a call to a Lancia bus with rear-axle trouble, I found the hub was turning on the axle shaft. On dismantling it I found only one key had been doing the work, owing to some careless fitter leaving out the other, with the result that the one key had sheared.
" The hub and shaft were badly damaged, so, having another vehicle of the same make and type in for engine overhaul, it was decided to use the axle and hub from it. After a big effort a 'hub was got off, thanks to the excellent drawer sent out with every chassis of this make; but further trouble was 'waiting, as after removing the collar over the bahrace, neither the race nor shaft would move.
"At last I decided to make a drawer. First I obtained a piece of steel plate about 2 ft. 3 ins, by in. Through the centre of this I drilled a hole large enough to fit over the threaded end of
the axle shaft. Then I drilled and tapped a fin. hole near each end of the plate, in line with the brake-shoe fulcrum pins. It only required two old fin, rear-spring holding-down bolts screwed right down (the writer used some of .Guy make).
"The bar was then fastened on to the axle shaft by means of the axleshaft nut, and the bolts screwed through the holes in the bar until their ends were against the fulcrum pin and cam of the brake. Now, by continuing to screw down the bolts, the race and shaft came away at once."
Recovering Lost Power in an Old Engine.
AN old engine, which would probably have been better scrapped, appears to have given a correspondent, " J.W.T." of Runcorn, some trouble, by gradually losing its original power. He seems to have tried several means for regaining its power, such as grinding in valves, cleaning out the exhaust and fitting new piston rings, but these only helped slightly towards putting matters right. He then examined the timing and lift of the valves and found that the exhaust cams had worn to the extent of 3-64th in., and as the engine was of an old pattern he could not get a new camshaft. To have had the cams built up by welding might only have meant that the trouble would soon come again, As the metal built up would probably have been soft, and he would have had tronble in straightening the shaft after welding. lie then decided" to grind from the cams sufficient metal to bring them back to their original shape. This he did as shown, and by readjusting the tappets he made the old engine pull as
well as ever.
We do not recommend others 'to try to improve their engines by grinding the cams to different shapes, as this is likely to reduce the thickness of the hardened skin and cause wear through
the tappet coming in contact with soft metal, but in the present instance the mechanic had no alternative.
A Warning in Cases of Breakdown.
FROM West Bromwich we have had
the following account of what might have been a very serious accident. We give the narrative as we have received it from "H.M.," with all its local colour and its moral :— " A six-wheeled lorry from Liverpool, laden with 10 tons of oranges and lemons destined for the Birmingham market, when within a stone's throw of its destination, had the misfortune to break its rear axle while crossing the tramlines in Moor Street, which runs into the Bull Ring, and it completely blocked the way for tramcars. The accident happened in the early hours of the morning. The trams at once began to pile up in a long line. In order to clear the way the tram immediately behind the lorry gave it a push; this was done without making any provision for keeping the lorry under control while descending the steep incline of the Bull Ring. "As soon as the lorry had turned out of Moor Street into the Bull Ring it began to run away, the brakes which should have acted on the wheels on the broken axle being inoperative. Gathering speed, the lorry dashed away down the incline in the direction of Digbeth, the driver all the time trying to controt it. When it had gained a speed of between 20 and 30 miles an hour it collided with a motor van," damaging it, then it caught a horsed van and crushed it up. The next minute it came in contact with a 1-ton Ford, almost wrecking it.
"The driver, however, stuck to his wheel, and in trying to bring it to a standstill turned it into Park Street, uprooting two iron posts, but finally bringing it to a standstill. Fortunately no one was hurt seriously, although considerable damage was done.
"The lesson to be learnt from this chapter of accidents is, 'Never allow anyone to interfere with a broken-down lorry until the load has been removed, and never allow it to be pushed while on a hill unless some precaution be taken to prevent it from running away."