For DRIVERS. MECHANICS & FOREMEN.
Page 24
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A PRIZE OF TEN SEILLI1VG8 is awarded each week to the sender of the best letter which we publish on this page ; all others are paid for at the rate at a penny a line, with an allowance for photographs. All twtes are edited before being published. Mention, year employer's name, in confidence, as evidence of good faith. . Address, "D., 31: anti F., "The Commercial 411-otor," 7-15, Roschery Avenue, London, E.C. 1.
Lamps Alight.
On Saturday, October 11th, light your lamps at 6.16 in London, 6.22 in Edinburgh, 6.17 in Newcastle, 6.25 in Liverpool, 621 in Birmingham, 6.26 in Bristol, and 6.38 in Dublin.
Tip in Time Saves Telephone Call.
2'he sender of the following communication has been awarded the 10s. prize this week.
[2020] " W.G.C." (Brixton) writes : —" I take considerable interest in your D.M. and F.' Page, and gather many useful hints from it, and I feel that I should like to help others in the same way as I have been helped, which is the principal reason for my sending the following notes, although I feel that perhaps their intrinsic value may not be very great. On a recent journey, I was bound for Brighton from Blackfriars. The journey usually takes from 21 to 3 hours, but on this particular occasion I started out at half-past eight in the morning, and did not arrive until four o'clock in the evening-61 hours travelling time, and an hour for lunch. The pause of the delay was faulty ignition. It took me some time to find the source of the trouble, and then I was unable to effect a permanent repair, but had to keep stopping and resetting. . "The trouble started by frequent mis-firing of two sparking plugs, and finally they went out of commission altogether. I examined the plugs : they were all right. The wiring was in order, and connections ditto • finally I traced the trouble to the contact breaker Of the magneto. The brass timing ring was much worn, and loose on its bearing to such an extent that when the trouble occurred the lower half of the brass ring had dropped so far down that it did not operate to break contact when the make-and-break mechanism was at its lowest point. I had not a thing in the tool box or spares box that I could use as packing, and ultimately I had to use a couple of tram tickets for this purpose. I slipped them underneath the ring so as to lift it into a truly central position and after considerable trouble finding the right position for the paekinga so as to get even firing in the cylinders, I secured the magneto advance and retard mechanism so that it did not move, and so that there would be no risk of the tram tickets being worn or cut. Having got this in order we set off again and ran quite merrily for a while, the trouble making itself evident again after about six or seven miles, when I discovered that the tram tickets had
slipped out of place and had to be reset. This occurred every six or• seven miles throughout the whole journey., but eventually I arrived at my destination, where .I was able fortunately to get a spare and to make a good job of the repair.
I have often wondered why something has never been devised to enable a driver to flood his carburetter without lifting the engine bonnet every time he needs to start up. The fitting on the Ford which enables a man to get an easy start has always appealed to me in this respect. It should not be very difficult, so far as I can see, to cut a, thread round the top of the needle and fit it with a small _nut, secure a piece of wire below the nut, carry it vertically above the needle for a short distanee, and then over a roller and through the radiator, fixing a ririg on the end so that it will not slip back again. To flood, all that is necessary is to pull on the cord. Maybe some reader has tried an expedient of this kind, and could Write and explain it to us." -B52
More Loose Wheel Trouble.
. .1,2021j " A.'W." (Dewsbury) writes :—" In a recent letter which appeared on the Drivers' page, a corre
spondent, writing under the described how he temporarily refixed a driving wheel of which the securing bolts were sheared. The incident reminded me of a similar experience which I had myself with a steel-tyred steam wagon several yearn ago, whilst on a journey from Huddersfield to Newcastle with a steam wagon and trailer, both heavily loaded. with furniture. In those days—at least, cm that particular wagon—the method of locking the differential gear was by means of a strap, and this was kept in the toolbox ready for emergencies. The method more generally popular nowadays of putting a locking pin through from a flange on the axle to a suitably bored hole in the wheel was not used.
"We were getting near to Durham, when the cap which held the loose *heel in place en the axle must have stripped ts thread and dropped eff, for we sad
denly found the engine racing, without any corresponding increase in speed of the wagon. I therefore stopped it, and get down only just in time to discover that the wheel was ha'f off the axle and had drawn its sun wheel oPthe differential gear out of engagement with the remaindsr. The first thing I did was to jack up the axle and push the wheel back into its correct position. The problem was how to secure it there. We had a look through the toolbox and through a few spares that we carried, but could see nothing at all that was likely to be of any use, with the exception of the differential locking strap. This was, of course, much too large in diameter, but eventually we made use of it by filling it up with four substantial wooden packing pieces. These were placed within the locking cap and round the screwed end of the axle, the locking strap then being tightened securely in place. Happily the bolts of the strap were .1 in. diameter, which gave us some scope for the use of a substantial spanner. With this substitute for a: hub cap we were able to proceed on our way and satisfactorily to complete our journey, as well as returning home, a distance of nearly 100 miles, without fiirther mishap, giving an occasional eye to the strap bolts to make sure that they kept tight.
"To make sure that there was no risk of the same thing happening again, instead of purchasing a new screwed cap, we made a solid collar, screwed it on to the axle, and fastened it in place with a substantial f-in. pin."