The Washington times., 1918-09-21

tribute to the same end. Power
that is wasted represents fuel
burned to no purpose, and IL that
isn't wasting gasolene. don't
know what is. For instance,
muffler clogged with SCOT cuts
down the power of the engine.
Carbon deposits in the cylinders
eat up a lot of power. Incident
ally, it should be noted that when
too rich a mixture is being used
unusually heavy deposits of car
bon result and quantities of SCOT
are deposited in the muller, to
cause further and cumulative
waste.
Another location to watch for
power losses is the valve system.
When the valves do not seat prop
erly, they permit power to get
away without contributing any
thing to the actual propulsion of
the vehicle. For this reason the
careful owner will take care to
grind valves as they need 1t, even
IL the job is not the most pleasant
in the world.
The gasolene that we are get
ting today is almost the same as
the kerosene OF yesterday. 1t is.
comparatively speaking, a heavy
fuel, and for its efficient vaporiza-
ton there is need OF much heat.
Most engines today are provided
with some means OF conducting
heat from the exhaust to the inlet
manifold, so that II will be applied
to vaporizing the fuel on its way
to the combustion chamber. The
car owner whose vehicle is not
equipped in this way should GER
tainly have heating equipment in
stalled. The cost Is not great, and
it is impossible to get all the
power out of present-day fuel with
out the application of heat in
some way. In this class Of devices
fall the hot Spots" of which we
heard so much last winter; they
are worth their cost in the i'm
proved operating conditions they
induce.
None Of my readers. II he knows
anything about the car he drives,
needs to be told that no matter
what may be the conditions in the
rest of the mechanism, efficient
ignition is necessary IL he is to. get
efficient operation. The storage
battery must be kept fully charged,
the ignition unit and coil must
be kept clean and all connections
must be tight and clean. Unless
there is a good hot spark to fire
the charge. the best carburetor in
the world is only partly successful.
But the owners duty does not
end here. There are many other
parts of the mechanism that ara
rnfn-ffa1 w Tor
instance, the clutch, IL IL slips or
grabs. is a prodigious waster OF
power. II the wheels ara allowed
TO get out OF alignment. power is
wasted in addition to the loss OF
good rubber tires, which are
ground of in the dragging action
thus set up. Brakes adjusted too
tightly. will drag and the friction
thus set up inevitably means
power
fabrication is a very important
matter in this campaign to reduce
fuel losses. II all the various
parts of the mechanism are kept
properly fabricated. excessive fric-
tion will be obviated and power
losses will be held at the mini
mum.
All these various lessons must
be taken to heart by the car owner
who wants to do his patriotic duty
by making every gallon of motor
fuel deliver up its maximum Of
power.
1t has long been = habit with
car owners to wash various small
parts in gasoline after they have
been taken out OF the mechanism
for some purpose. Gasoline is
used also fori many cleaning OPP
crations on the car and in the
garage generally. This must be
stopped. Kerosene serves just as
well for washing and cleaning
purposes, costs less and has not
the wide sphere of usefulness that
gasoline has.
And while we are talking about
kerosene, 1t is well to remember
that kerosene can be used in mix
ture with gasoline as fuel