The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-15
MAN WHO PAYS THE
BILLS is Careful
Some Pointers on Proper Driv-
ing and Care of Car

There are many things for the own
er to remember to which the hired
chauffeur ordinarily pays no attention.
Perhaps this fought not to be so, but
1t is so; the owner who pays the bills
and their insurance premiums will not
ordinarily take the chances of even a
crumpled-up mudguard unless it Us to
avoid the possibility of a greater at
tendant risk and expense.
Careful driving and more careful
scanning of the road ahead will often
result in the prolonged lease of life
Of tire shoe 500 miles; that's 10 per
cent. on 5000 miles. and 10 per cent.
on the cost of tires in a year, which
may be anywhere between S25 and 800
You can count ON saving like
amount by transferring the back tires
to the front rims before the former are
too far gone. and you cam certainly
save much on inner tubes if you will
run those that are perilously near the
end of their lives inside a seriously
damag ed shoe which you have been
obliged to put on in an emergency in
order to run home the last fifty miles.
Three new tubes hopelessly blown out
and requiring INFLAMMATION and the
insertion of half a foot length of new
rubber are obviously more expensive
a proposition than three old patched
tubes which would doubtless have got
ten you home.
Don't ever think to repair blow
out in your last available shoe with
a plaster too small in section; it is
almost sure to move out of place I'M
der friction when the thin rubber tube
will force itself out of the hole in the
shape of a hernia, Or at any rate be
so abraded by contact with the road
surface that it will go to pieces in
a very short run.
In the absence of anything better
it is possible by putting many folds
of gunny Sacking inside a blowout
shoe, winding some more lengths out
side and binding the half inflated tire
with a clothes line, afterward inf1at-
ing to the usual pressure, to run in
fifty or 100 miles even on a tire which
was seemingly hopeless.
The chauffeur, If he is mechanician
and not only a driver, often beats out
the private owner in the care he gives
his engine, regardless of his deficien-
cies in conserving tires. He is more
careful to see that the engine is get
ting it's full quota of oil rather than
too little, drives on as weak a mix
ture as will give good results and out
of sheer love for his job-provided, as
before, he is a mechanic-win avail
himself Of the opportunity of cooling
down his engine at every long run
down hill, cutting out the ignition and
pumping cool air into the cylinders.
In the early days of the bicycle
coaster brake it was estimated that
one saved from 10 to 80 per cent. of
pedaling by availing themselves of
the gravity of down grades. If the
automobilist could save even the lat
ter percentage of wear and tear on
the motor, and it's equivalent in gaso-
line, his bills at the end of the year
would be appreciably lowered enough
so, perhaps, to be able to buy that
speedometer which he has hitherto
been without.
Here's an idea for the preservation
of inner tubes: Wash your spares oc-
casiona1ly in an alkaline solution zone
part ammonia and two parts water)
and they will be prevented, or at
least delayed, from becoming hard and
liable to crack. Many tightly rolled
unused tubes are SO brittle that when
finally pumped up under pressure they
give way in a seemingly inexplicable
manner. Had the same tube been
kept pliable-rolled out and hung up
occasionally for a week or soft would
cedure is simple, costs nothing and
pays big dividends for the time in
volved.
If the owner-at least i'm the begin
ning-knew his motor as we'll as does
the decentralization it would not
be SO costly a job running the first
couple of thousand miles. The point
is to know thy steed, know that
whereas with a horse it is hay that
makes him go, that with eas"f-e
motor it is the fluid administered in
rarified doses that accomplishes the
same result.
Be sure that you get your mixture
right; the horse works best under such
conditions and hens lay best under
such conditions, man works best, too,
under such conditions; so why is it not
as reasonable to suppose that a gas