The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-01-27

65,000 tons a year. The total pro
 duction of the world is less than that
 amount annually. The American tire
 industry will require nearly 10000 tons of high-grade crude rubber this year At a dollar a pound this will mean an expenditure of $40. GOO for crude
 rubber that goes into tires.
 The now very general crusade against the open muffler is due to two-fo-d defect of this device: The
 noise ard the bad smell. As regards
 the noise, this can hardly be obviated
 il the muffler is cut out. It, there
 fore, remains to do away with the often-abUsed cut-out. Referring to the smells, however, it must be said
 that cutting out the silencer only ac-
 cent1latcs tho odors, and that an or
 oiEary muffler, even if not cut out,
 is unable to fully prevent them.
 The cCoIInE system should be thor
 oUgh y flushed out about every month
 or after the car has been run about
 500 miles. This is on account of the lime deposit which gradually forms
 in the water. If the water is only
 replenished from time to time, as the supply is evaporated the supply which
 remains will become more and more
 foul until the efficiency of the radfa-
 tor is greatly lessened, owing to the
 amount of sea e which will have ac-
 cumulated upon the surf-vco of the metal
 During the last year there has been much activity in the wholesale tire business. Some tire maQers have
 been opening tire depots throughout the entire country in cities of medium size, the object of this system being
 to give better service to the tire deal
 CT. It is also I fact that during the
 past year certain of the tire makers
 have been particularly active in Se- curing large contracts with car man
 lfacturers, and this price reduction
 to tire dealers is in some quarters consumer through other channels than by the car manufacturer.
 There are sIxt cen companies of na- tiOnal size and importance engaged in
 1i.e manufa cture of pneumatic tires for automobiles in the United States. There are at least as many more con of tires, an1 the small fry number possibly two-sccre. The total pro ducTion Of tires in this country is not far from $500, 900 annually, basfng the estimate on the use of 600,000 automo- piles at a consumption rate of six tires a year for each car. In money terms this means about $65, 100000 for inner tubes, or close to $200, ,000,0 co all told.
 A leading British engineer, in a re- cent paper on efficiency of motors, took occasion to point out that mo- matter of carburetion as of engine construction. In this statement he struck a dominant chord. In recent races 1t has been demonstrated that d change of carburetor has meant as much as to 10 miles per hour in the speed of the car. This is particu ar Iy true with the present high-speed motors. If a motor will generate a given horsepower at 1,200 revolutions Fer minute 1t will practically double this at 2,400 revolutions per minute. This extra speed is largely a problem of supplying the necessary exp oslve mixture. To do this valves have been enlarged, the cam contour has been altered, pistons have been frightened and a multitude of other details at tended to, but with all of this there 1 has been a demand for improved car buretfon. The carbureter makers have 1 been trying to provide this.--
 Ore Of the points on which trouble l some deposits of carbon are apt to l gather is on the sparkling points of the l spark-plug electrodes. The flakes of | carbon are very apt to gather on the l irregularities of the plugs and inter l fere with their functions. The spark ] cannot be expected to leap the gap | between the two electrodes if there Is 1 a flake of carbon between them, and | it is for this reason that they should l be given occa sional inspection and | cleaning, if such a step is found nec- l essary. They may be cleaned very | readily with 8 rag and a little ker- l osene and then wiped dry. When re- the plugs from the cylinder | great care should be exercised that | they are not broken, as a crack in the | Insulation will be coincident with the | departure of all usefulness of the plug. | Tbere are many plugs so constructed that they are 10 large extent self E cleaning.