The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-02

A great majority or manufacturers are using metal to metal brakes;
 some Of them have adopted cast alum
 mum lined with cast-iron working
 against iron shoes.
 On the first engines, which could be
 styled internal combustion motors, the
 ignition of the charge, whether pow
 der Or some sort Ot a gasoline mix
 ture, the builders met with many ob-
 stac-es in their efforts to get quick
 ly burning mixture. Until the time
 the hot tube was tried, the ignition
 Of the charge was far from reliable,
 and many discontinued their experi-
 ments with internal combustion mo-
 tors, being unable to devise means of
 exploding the charge
 The touring car holds a long lead
 over the runabout in the estimation of
 Southern buyers, and when there is a choice between 5-paSenger and 7-pas-
 senger cars, the latter usually gets the
 ma jor part of the attention.
 This is not a year when Southern
 farmers are buying many cars. It is
 a poor year for farmers, with the cot
 ton crop bringing SO little; though in
 Florida, Virginia, Tennessee and Ken
 tukcy-the farmers are buying auto-
 mobiles in rapidly increasing num-
 bers.
 Recent European regulations have
 tended to make the formaiities to be
 observed in crossing the boundaries of
 the different countries more onerous than they were before, and as re- suit an agitation has been set on foot
 among tlie automobile publica tions for
 the issuance Of international drivin g
 permits and a radical abolition of red
 tape. It is proposed to call a. con- ference in France to obtain a basis for
 Siy, r,li fxyir ha conditions 1S n tained that, apart from the customs
 regulations, the home driving permit should be honored in the foreign country.
 Chains can be used in New Jersey on automobile tires as soon as Governor Legislature. It provides that non- skid chains may be used where neces- sary to save life, a sufficiently broad condition to include pA ty general use
 where the roads are ippery. The re- ciprocity measure, with no reference to power of attorney, has had "easy sailing in the Lower House, passing by a vote of A to 13 The measure
 calls for 15 days a year of toul ing privilege to non-residents, which is practically the length of time asked for by the various automobile organ iZations.
 Bad roads make automobile touring along the banks of the Mississippi al- 1 most out of the question, especially in poor weather, but Major Lee Richard | son, of Vicksburg, Va, has a project which, should it mat erialize, would be i of great benefit to the motorist. His idea is to use the levee which extends along either bank of the river, from the northern States to the gulf, as a highway, and it could be improved at very little cost The 1evee Is un-
 der the charge of the Government, whose consent would have to be had for the use of the levee as a road, but joined Major Richardson and will | make a strong bid to gain what they are after.
 Recommendations by the building in- spector and th' assistant engineer commissioner have prompted the com miss'oners of the District of Colum- bia to amend the building regulations so as to remove many present diff culties in the way of the establish ment of public garages in alleys. The present building regulations require that two-thfrds of the owners of bus | mess property within a radius of 90 feet of the proposed garage shall be
 corr+nd as corsenting. Under the
 amended regulations al prope~tv, with in the necessary radius, occupied and used as a private stable Or private ga rage, and all alley lots not occups ed by alley dwellings, and on which un- der the law no alley dwellings could be built, shall be counted as consent ing
 When a car is on the road there are many changes in conditions which af- feet the motor, and are not nOticea ble to any of the five senses of the driver.
 Tn one case it may be slight grade; in another a sandy rode, or slightly increased or decreased speed. Even l were the senses acute enough to mo- tice these differences, it would be i'm possible for the operator to change the
 advance enough. but not too much/ to
 meet the theoretical and practical re- quirements. And yet, to get the per- feet result, such change is indispen-
 sable There is no question but that the correct timing of the spark is
 greatly to be desired.
 In the service of the Kansas City Street Department are three two-ton trucks and three three-ton machines.