The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-19
THE AUTOMOBILE WORLD.


 in ordering replacements
 In the old days steel that would stand up to half million of vibrations under the stress of half the elastic limit was said to be good enough to place in a safe deposit vault. but the automobile makers of to-day are mak- ing strenuous efforts to exceed one million six hundred thousand vibra- tions at half the elastic limit.
 Among the improvements of the past year in the making of power plants for automobiles is the use of aluminium in the crankcase and bearings For years makers have used manganese bronze because it was considered stronger. Improved testings of aluminium. how ever. have enabled it to be utilized. giving the advantage of lightness and less noise.
 The best types of single cylinder run- abOuts will make from 20 to 30 mile on gallon of gasoline, and the auan- tity of lubrica ting oil required per mile is almost negligible. Increasing the number of cylinders seems to have the effect of increasing the fuel consump- tion for a given travel. the reason for which lies very largely in the fact that with increasing power the obtainabie speed is greater.
 Under the proposed new automobile law for Massachusetts. all persons re- ceiving compensation in connection
 with automobiles. such as salesmen. repairmen. etc.. shall be considered as ohauffeurs.. It is required that in every
 garage record shall be kept of the
 entrance and exit of every car. and the
 word garage is defined to include club and private garages where fee is
 charged as we'll as public garages. l An opening for a professional motor racing manager-somewhat similar to
 the professional retained by many golf 1 clubs-is rapidly developing. Numerous
 automobile clubs are anxious to hold
 racing meets. but find 1t difficult to obtain officials or members who can devote time to arrange the details and manage the events. Hence the need for an expert who can travel from city to city and assist clubs with his time and knowledge.
 l All horses have been ordered dis missed from the city of Paris fire bri- gade and their places taken by gaso- line motors. There are at present 76 Ihorse-drawn fire engines in the city of Paris. costing annually sum of SEA- GOO: if they could all be immediately transformed into gasoline engines the annual unkeeD cost to the city would
 not exceed $17 400, The cost of trans formation. about $320000 will be spread over period of six years. successful test of an automobile consuming napthaline instead of petrol
 was recently made before the Technical Committee of the Automobile Club of France. A large omnibus fitted with a special carbureter made the trip from Paris to Versailles and back in about four hours. Napthaline costs barely g , third of the price of petrol and can be handled with safety and with mucf greater ease. The main disadvantage
 is that small amount of petrol has tc
 be carried for the starting.
 T When motor cars were first made and designers wanted to know how high to make the seats. they measured
 the height of 8 chair from the floor
 Tn the course of time it dawned on the
 designers of bodies that racing drivers
 insisted upon seats very close to the : deck. and they seemed to be able te uous conditions for hours at a time whereas autoists perched l1ioh in thu seats were much fatigued in a hundred miles of travel. The influence of rae } ing is to be seen in bodies at every
 hand.
 7 The rim speed of wheel of an auto mobile reaches the high maximum O , approximately two and a half mile:
 per minute. Tn comparison the r'n speed on the fywheel on 0n0- horse power steam engine would be limited . to one mile per minute. Wheels for au
 tomobiles must be nearly devoid of f1v
 wheel effect. and this is an evtromeI. difficult ma tier. unless the felloes ar of wood and of sn,all section For+u , nately, wood exhibits rare oualitie under the condition in which it is u~e, , in wheels. and the felloes and spoke , lean be of small cross-section withou .I tresnassing upon the desired factor 0 lsafety