The Washington times., 1912-08-17
GASOLINE WASTE
FOCUSESATTENT|0N
OF MANUFACTURERS
The Question Becomes More
Important AS Price of the
Fuel Goes Up.

How many miles do you get to the
gallon of gasolene with your car?
This question Is becoming more and
more important since gasolcne retasls
at IS and 20 cents per gallon, and in
many places as high as Is cents. With
the old-time low rates of fuel little at
tention was paid to the gasolene bill;
the cost of fuel per mile was low COM
pared with the cost of tires other
car expenses. Today there 10 a change
Tires have been improved, tire mileage
has been Increased, but gasolene cost
has risen. This has turned the owners 8
attention to the question, and 1t has
also turned the attention of carburetor
makers to the problem involved, says
Motor Age.
Heretofore with carburetor makers
the big aim has been to give speed and
Ifiexibility without regard to the cost.
Scarcely a driver who tours has not
been impressed with the odor of burned
| fuel given off by cars met on the high
ways Occasionally one or two cars will
pass without pungent odor behind 1t,
strong, pungent odor Is an example of
poor carburation; an example of too
mitch fuel for the amount of air used
an example of useless expense to the
autOmoDlle owner.
Accelerator Abused.
With many car owners the extrava-
CANT use of gasolene is frequently at.
tributed to the pedal accelerator, which
I is used almost exclusively for supply
ing the mixture to the cylinders. The
| accelerator Is greatly abused and Is
| directly responsible for much of the
overconsumption of fuel and also to the
cost Of motor maintenance. On rough
| roads the drivers foot, controlling the
accelerator, is constantly vibrating, and
| every vibration means a change In
motor speed. This gives anything but
ideal motor conditions With the motor
speed altered nearly every consecutive
second unnecessary strain is placed
upon the crankshaft and the other
motor parts. At one time the pedal is
depressed to the full, placing enormous
strains on the motor parts, and perhaps
a second later the entire fuel supply is
| as suddenly cut Off.
This situation has led many owners
to criticise the accelerator, and 1t Is
using the accelerator only in emer'
gency cases, when the hands are oc.
cupied in other duties There are many
drivers who use the steering wheel con-
troll exclusively for road driving, and ir
every case the motor performance ant
condition Is one to attract special atten
ton Of the oniookers.
There is not any reason why the ac'
celerator condition cannot be- improved
With a host of cars its construction car
be improved so that its action Is mor'
constant and not so at the mercy Of th'
road irregularities. One or two maker
have used such designs in the past, ant
the wonder is that they have not beei
generally initiated by other makers. a.
nothing patentable was connected witt
their makeup. With such designs. o
wedges shaped contour, the drivers foo
rests firmly on the car floor and in
creases in speed are accomplished b.
sliding the foot forward on the floor an
decreases by moving 1t backward. True
, It is not so easy to move the foot in thi
!, way as it Is to raise and lower 1t b.
pivoting on the heel but for the extr
. work the results obtained are important
Other commendable pedal design
have been brought out which call for
. side movement of the foot, but their FOL
lowing has not grown very much TIL
accelerator pedal has come into genera
use and is here to stay. but 1t will hav
to be improved II for no other reaso
than the extra fuel It uses and the ur
necessary strains it places on tn
, motors.