The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-11-03
ONE SHOULD MASTER
ELECTRIC SYSTEM.
Expert Explains Matters So
Novice Should Understand
Without Difficulty.
ny II. CLIFFORD BRoKAw.

Supervisor West Side =. ". c. A. Automobile
school.
What 40 you know about the electric
system on your ear? Have you IA
miliarized yourself with II or is 1t still
terra incognita? II the lights grow
dim or fall, IL the horn fails to honk.
or when you push the starter pedal
nothing happens. do you know just what
to do because you know how the pesky
thing works? Take heart, you may un-
derstand IL all by little patient study.
II Is a fact that the electric side OF the
-automobile is the hardest for most per-
~sons to understand There are many
good auto mechanics who can locate
troubles and fix anything OF me-
chsnical nature, but who fall down en-
iirely when trouble develops in the
electric system. Manufacturers realized
this. and until very recently limited
their electric equipment to magnetic,
which was very positive and de-
pendable and had only one wire for
each cylinder and one for the switch
TO stop the sparks when desired. This
made very simple electric outfit which
could hardly scare the veriest novice or
the greenest greenhorn. That was In
the days of the hand crank.
When 1t was found that the public
demanded some means OF cranking the
and when the suprlority OF electric over
oil lamps became apparent the manufac-
turer had to add these improvements
10 the car, and the result was null
Explicitly of wires and consequent COM
plication of the electric system.
Much OF the confusion occasloned by
the complex wiring will be Strengthened
out IL the owner will study the system
enough to learn the purpose of each part
II has long been the practice to conf
pare electricity to water In explaining
It's action. and this analogy may be car
rted out in the case of the auto cleo
trio system First we have tank for
storing water; this compares with the
storage battery OF the car. in which 1t
may be assumed that we store cleo
fricity. From the tank we may have
pipe. with n valve in IL connected to
n water wheel or water motor. II the
valve Is opened the water flows TO the
wheel and turns IT. II the wheel be
geared to machinery It will be operated
Likewise in the electric system n wire
may be run through switch (valve) to
an electric motor. When this switch Is
closed the current flows to the motor and
turns 1t II geared to a gas engine Il
Will revolve the crank shaft of the en-
CINE. This is popularity called a self
starter, hut 1t really is an electric
cranker.
The water wheel might be geared to a
gas engine. which when thus started
would drive a pump and this would
pump water back into the tank. replen-
fishing the supply: so in the electric sys-
tenn, when the gasolene engine Is started
1t drives electric generator which
may be termed an electricity pump and
this pumps electricity back into the stor-
age battery. Within certain limits this
makes a self-contained system
To prevent too much water going to
the tank and causing It to overflow
float might be rugged TO the valve so
that when the water reached a certain
level the valve on the supply pipe would
be closed and no more water be pumped.
So In the electricity system current
regulator may be installed to prevent
the battery from being overcharged
We might desire to take water from
the tank to washstand, bathtub or sink,
or elsewhere This may be done easily
Through spur pipes, each with valve
at the point where the water Is TO be
used. In the auto electric system we do
desire 10 use electric current for lights,
ignition, horn and possibly other de-
vices. This is done by attaching wires
which lead from the battery through
the switch TO the various devices to be
operated. In practice one wire is run
from the battery TO the switch and
branches run from there just as in a
water system a main pipe is run with
spur pipes to the several outlets In
the auto the switch box carries all the