, 1917-08-02
Care FOR MACHINE
Many Owners Ignorant of Every
thing Save the Control.
OIL and GREASE IMPORTANT
II Drivers Had More knowledge Of
Cars and Applied It Much Of Re-
pair Business Would Fizzle-
fabrication Abused.

It is deplorable but true that for
each motor owner who really under
stands his car in its multiple details
there are dozens ignorant Of every
thing save the control. They know
how to start it and stop it. But they
know almost nothing about the proper
care of the machine. Only the other
day, for instance, a dealer told a man
who had bought a powerful n and
who was totally ignorant of the fact
that oil and grease played important
parts in its running.
When he was towed in n few days
later with a badly damaged engine he
said he had thought that little things
such as fabrication were arranged be-
fore the car left the factory, and that
all he had to do was to keep the tank
full of gasoline. Repair men state
hat If private drivers had more real
knowledge of their cars, and applied 1t,
more than three-fourths of the repair
business would fall away
Motorcar Abuses.
OF motorcar abuses, improper lubri-
cation is probably the most common,
which is n little strange, considering
that keeping a car oiled and creased
is one of the easiest of the attentions
it requires. The motor is a mechanism
which runs at high speed n high
temperature. 1t contains many rub
bling surfaces. In order to keep these
surfaces from burning each other, 1t
is necessary to separate them by a film
of oil.
If the lubricating system is in good
condition and the oil of the right con-
%sistency, this protective film will be au-
tomatically provided. This applies to
all the surfaces, such as pistons, cylin-
der walls, crank shafts, rod pins,
bearing, %crankshaft bearings, push
rods, push rod guides, and even to
the gears. The teeth of the meshing
gears, of course, are not spaced to rub
against each other, but to have simply
a rolling contact. However, it is i'm
possible to attain this degree of per-
lection in practice, and a certain
amount of rubbing does take place,
due to the fact that the teeth cannot
be scientifically correct.
Severe Test of Oil.
The severest test of a ~lubricating oil
is found in l~ubricating the pistOns and
cylinder walls, especially at the up
per end of the stroke. AT the moment
of the combustion the temperature is
above 5000 degrees Fahrenheit, and
both pistons and cylinder walls are ex-
ceedingly hot therefore it is necessary
to use an oil which will stand this
fny,rarof,rrA nathan uannrfZfn0 NOR
burning.
If the oil is too thin or has a ten
dency to vaporize or burn, these high
surfaces will be improperly fabricated,
increased friction will result and
finally the film of oil may disappear
entirely, with the result that rubbing
between the two surfaces will occur and
the parts shortly will be ruined. There
also is a possibility when the piston
becomes heated that it will expand I'M
til 1t fills the cylinder bore and be-
comes sealed.
If the oil is not clean, If 1t contains
grit or dirt of any sort, 1t will rapidly
wear away the metal parts, the grit
acting as an abrasive. Oil is liable to
contain not only grit and free carbon,
but also u certain amount of gaso-
line, and in many cases, water. The
gasoline thins the oil, making 1t in
capable of resisting the pressure be-
tween the rubbing surfaces, and wear
increases. Water may form an emul-
sion and produce the same effect, while
in winter there Is always some danger