The Washington times., 1913-06-07
WASTE Of GASOLINE
FOR CARS IS GREAT
Few Owners Run Their Cars
Without Loss of Fuel, Is
AIexander's Assertion.

How many automobile owners can
truthfully say that they run their cars
without any waste of fuel? The ans
Uer is. not many" says Harvey IS.
Alexander. a noted authority. who gives
a lot OF reasons why motorists use fuel
needlessly.
There is no doubt" says Alexander,
"a great deal of willful or obvious
waste. but the greater proportion must
be attributed to neglect of the seeming
ly unimportant or minor details. That
is to say. II is unintentional waste. If
a leakage of gas. however slight, occurs
at home, you are compelled. from mo-
tives of safety, to locate and stop the
leak Yet small leakages on the gaso-
lene supply system of a car are rarely
given a thought.
.ITnlcss there is a visible dripping of
sasolene from a connection, II Is too
generally assumed that there is nothing
arniss. Considering the number OF con-
nections on a gasolene suppl! system q.
each of which an almost imperceptible
leak of the costly fluid may occur. too
much care cannot be taken to insure
that each connection is gasolene tight.
Il must further be kept in mind that
gssolene will leak through joint that
would hold oil or any less mobile fluid
than gasolene, and as the liquod
evaporates almost as fast as II leaks
through, 1t requires close observation
to detect a leakage.
Never Dry.
"A defective connection. however.
would never be dry. SO that one can
get some sort of clew to the trouble.
In many instances the Tightening up of
the defective union will effect remedy,
but In a proportion of instances the
seatings must be ground in with crocus
powder and Oil. The absolute shutting
off of the gasolene at the tank on clos
ing the throttle is a plan that may yet
have to be generally adopted, even at
the cost of some slight extra complica-
ton.
Neglect to shut off the gasolene ow-
ing TO forgetfulpsss. when the car Is
out of service. is more general than is
usually supposed. 1t is safe to say that
evaporation, slight though II may be-
is always in progress at the carburetor.
and in the course OF. say, Twelve houfs
or so, the loss occasioned therep!. II
translated into lost mileage per gailon'
would represent An appreciable amount.
Nowadays, the vigorous hoodlns OF
printing of the carburetor every time a
start up has to be made Is Tar TOO cx-
pensive a proceeding to be INDUCED in.
To anv one who has closely watched the
average car owner flooding the car !
buretor,' IL must surely seem a prodigal
waste of fuel, AS rule. 1t is flooding
with a vengeance, as II means Verlta-
bic swamring of the carburetor. Even
an ounce or two of fuel lost. say, halI
a dozen times on a trip. takes lot on
the mileage per gallon for the run.
To Similar Cause.
The extraordinary low mileage which
one frequently hears of surely must be
attributable to some such cause as this.
as it is impossiblt that any engine would
run with a mixture which. calculated on
the amount OF gasolene consumed, would
have about three times the proper pro-
portion of gasolene in it to give an ex-
plosion. With a suitable air control On
a well-adjusted carburetor, there should
not nowadays be any need for the old
time tickling the carburetor' process.
The greatest preventable source OF
waste OF gasolene has yet TO be touched
upon; and that is the want of proper
care in filling up the tank. particularly
when this is not done by the car owner
himself The general method Is lest
described as the slap-dash' one. In
which a funnel. often too small for the
purpose. IS inserted in the tank opening
and a can of gasolene inverted. thence
trusting to luck If one gets all the gsso-
lene into the tank or not: usually It IS
a case OF not, and the pint or two of
fuel splashed over is gone for good! As
lheie are various Hoh-spidsh dtIdSH-
ments on the market, Il would seem
economically worth while to adopt one
or other of them and always see that II
is used
The overfilling of the tank is another
piece cf Carclessness that should be
carefully guarded against. The car
owner generally sees TO this II he does
the filing up himself. but It is often
otherwise If he trust the operation to
the garage boy. who has usually line
scorn for such a trife as the loss Of a
pint or two OF fuel