The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-09
Valuable Hints
 For Auto Owners
Things Which Owners and Operators of Motor Cars
 Should Know

| Many taxicab drivers appear to have little concern whether or not they make trouble or collide with oth- CT cars. In New York they are even l said to have succeeded in dis couraging any general increase in the number of women drivers.
 A number of farmers in the vicinity of Raymond. Wash, have made an unusual request to the Board OI Equalization. They have petitioned that bottom lands in that section be taxed $5 instead of s1. as they now appear on the rolls. This was in or der that greater fund for road building might be available.
 Two more automobiles have been added to it's string by Portland, Ore, which brings the total of automobiles ling been purchased in the past three years Three automobiles are now being used by the fire department, besides two combination chemical ana hose trucks. The chief and the battalion heads use the cars.
 From The Foreign Touring Bureau of the American Automobile Associa- ton comes information that the rule of the road in France will be chang ed this month to correspond with that of Great Britain. What new developments and arguments have appeared in favor of driving on the left and passing on the right are held preferable to the procedure of America, and indeed pretty much ev- anywhere else except in the British Isles, is not explained.
 In supplying touring information, the surprise of the year in the Tour ing Information Board of the Amer ican Autom obile Association has been the exceptional demand for transcon- tinental material. On a conservative I,1 1,car <I1 one party a day crossing the conti- nent since early in June. Possibly the most noted cross-country partici pant was William M. Garland, of the Automobile Club of Southern Cali fornia, who drove from his home in Los Angeles to Moosehead Lake, Me-, in 180 running hours.
 Probably the first instance of It's kind in Wisconsin was the arrest and conviction at La Crosse of a farmer who obstructed a public highway and refused to allow motor vehicle to pass. The farmer was fined $100 and costs under the Wisconsin law prohibiting such obstruction. The plaintiff was obliged to drive three miles on low gear behind @ wagon on a road of average width. but which was obstructed by the farmer driving in a zigzag manner At Hartford, Wis, several weeks ago, farmer was fined $5 and costs, amounting to $1I.- 95, for using abusive and objection able language to a motorist who de- sired his share of the road.
 Burns, Ore, and the city of Port land are to be brought eight days nearer to each other as the result Of the establishment of automobile freight trucks between the cities of Bend and Burns. The total distance run is 13S miles, practically all or which is desert country as access sible in winter as in summer. Prac- tically all of the freight received by the Burns merchants will now be routed through Bend, where it win be taken over by the trucks and car ried over 138 miles of>desert country into Burns The coming of the au- tomobile truck is watched for by the people with almost the same expec- tancy with which transcontinental railroad would be greeted.
 In selecting goggles irregular re- fraction of the lenses is easily dis covered by moving them before the eye and noticing if the things seen through the glass seem distorted. If one would start his motor lon the spark" he should speed his motor up just before stopping it, by opening the throttle wide. Then if the spark is cut off full charge is left in a cyl finder to be .ignited when another start is to be made.
 
 to remove any mud which may have collected thereon, 1t is a good plan to place a tarpaulin or some similar object across the rear side of the apparatus; i;r4, This will aprevent arean the the tubes and becoming splashed on the carburetor or magnetO.
 Inlet valves do not get nearly as hot, and. consequently, do, not expand as much as exhaust valves. For this reason less clearance should be ai- lowed between the stems and push rods of mechanically-op operated inlet valves than would be allowed between the stems and push-rods of exhaust valves.
 Whenever goggles are not required and have to be put on one side, they should not be suspended for a con- siderable time by their rubber bands. If this is done the bands will stretch by the weight of the glasses and frames, and when they are to be used again they are usually found to be too long and have to be adjusted.
 Cooling fans, the blades of which are rivited to metal hub, should be examined occasionally to see that they are securely fastened. The high speed at which they revolve may re> suit in a blade working loose and in time making hurried exit through the radiator or bonnet with accom- panying disastrous effects.
 It not infrequently happens that in filling up the gasoline tank some of the fluid finds it's way to the ground. To start an engine while the car stands over a puddle of gasoline is at- tended with considerable danger, par ticularly when the muffler is sooty, as it may emit sparks, which may 1g- mite the gasoline under the vehicle and cause an expensive conf1agration.
 Occasionally an unusual scrapfng noise is heard a motor and The r. ter runs sluggishly, not developing the power it should. This trouble often occurs in motors having fibre gears for driving the. cam shafts which have been in service for somt length of time. The cause is tn, swelling of the gear wheels, due u the absorption of oil, the gears ex- banding and meshing too closely witt the steel driving pinion, and at thi same time swelling laterally.
 "I'm glad to see more and more au, tomobiles and fewer carriages in front of our church at the Sunday services" remarked the pastor of :. fashionable uptown church in New York. 'The reason for this preference is that there's no reason why the chauffeurs shouldn't come in during the service and sit in one of the back seats, ready to be called out if needed. In the case of coachmen with horses to look after this was of course impossible, but with auto mobiles it's quite another thing. We have caretaker who keeps a sharp watch on all machines belonging to,