Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-11-19
W7HEN you invest dollar in the
w purchase of gasolene you get il

exchange for your money about
four gallons or so of what the chemist,
IN his light and airy way, terms a
hydrocarbon fuel, consisting mainly of
pentane and heXane. You, on the other
hand, will probably call it something else
on several occasions; basing your remarks
as to its past, present, and probable future
on the fact that to-day gasolene isn't
really gasolene as we knew it few years
ago, but variable mixture in which the
cheaper and less volatile crudes form a
not uncomfortable part.
Ignore, for the moment, the quantity
of fuel purchasable with your dollar, and
direct your attention to what happens to
your one hundred cents as represented
by actual service and otherwise. Recent
tests with standard automobile engines
run under normal conditions tend to show
that approximately one fifth of the dollar
twenty-one cents, to be accurate) actu-
ally produces power at the driving wheels
of your automobile, and that the remain
ing seventy-nine cents are absorbed land
lost by friction and in the exhaust gas
The work of heating the water used for
the cooling system also uses up quite big
proportion of the remainder of the dollar;
but this seems to be necessary, in order to
obtain effective service from your engine.
Some of your dollar has also paid the cost
of the carbon formations in the COM
bustion chambers of your engine, and
YOU have to pay again for their removal.
This is due to the fact that the alleged
gasoene of to-day contains an undue pro-
portion of kerosene. which fails to vapor-
vNflx- Il Df
carbon on the hot cylinder walls.
OF the many factors that, individually
or in combination, contribute to increase
your gasolene bill, it is obvious that the
particular one that occupies your atten-
ton is the carburetor and its work of
Transforming the liquid gasolene into
combustible mixture. In fact, the SUBJ
ject of efficient carburetion is so very
important that it too often causes the mo-
torist either to ignore or to neglect the
less apparent but nevertheless almost
equally vital little things that possess
powers for gasolene-good or gasolene-evl.
AS it may reasonably be presumed that
you have studied the idiosyncrasies of
your individual carburetor, and have
finally set it for economy rather than to
produce maximum power, it may be
profitable to refer to the lesser evils first.
Since anything calculated to increase
friction means additional loss of trans
mitted power with consequent increase
in your gasolene bill, it is good plan to
go over the power plant. the transmission,
and the running gear, item by item, and
carefully to readjust or otherwise elimi-
nate the following faults:
differentiated tires, by reason of their
increased bearing surface on the road and
the additional suction caused thereby, are
prolific cause of lost power. The remedy
is obvious; and in this connection en-
anime your wheels for alignment, and see
that front and rear aXles are parallel.
Your next care should be the brake sys-
tenn. Examine both service and emer-
gency brake bands and assure yourself
that they do not drag or bear on the brake
drums when not in actual use. The equal
i2ers should also be looked over carefully,
as, if they are not fulfilling their functions,
your brakes are not acting simultaneously,
although they may be otherwise all right.
Proceeding backwards, so to speak,
along your transmission system, the next
point of possible loss of power is in the