The Washington herald., 1919-11-16
GASOLINE BEST,
STARTING FLUID
Lighter Quality Than Fuel
Oil Is Found to Be
Best Of ALL

hDincuity in starting Is an Inherent
fault In the modern internal combus-
Ao1 engine This Is not altogether
the fault Of the engine, because the
inferior grades OF fuel that are now
cffered are In large degree to blame
for this condition However that may
be. the basic fact remains that difri-
Guilty In starting Is an almost univer-
tal trouble. and particularly is this so
In winter. II Is possible by taking
due precautions to eliminate much of
this starting difficulty. as We shall
attempt to explain In the course of
this article.
ID The most effective way of getting
the motor to start on a cold winter
morning Is to prime II with some
fuel that Is lighter and more volatile
than the grade OF gasoline that Is now
commonly sold. The old-fashioned way
- accomplishing this printing was to
cben each petcock In turn and DO Ir
IN a little OF the lighter fuel Ob-
viously this was a bothersome task
and the manufacturers. ever yatchful
for possible improvements. haYe given
rs printing equipment that eliminates
aIl-this trouble.
y, At the present time II Is possible for
the car owner to take his seat In the
car and by a simple movement ofyhis
hand prime the engine with a highly
volatile fuel that will give fire at
TIE first shot. This equipment consists
of small ltank which contains a pint
o. so OF the lighter fuel. This tank Is
Connected with the various cylinders
By means of pipes or leads A small
hunger pump Is placed on the dash,
by manipulating which the driver
sends a spray Of the lighter fuel into
he cylinders. where It Is fired oy the
spork and starts the engine. after
Ehich NE ordinary fuel Is able 10
care for continued operation.
Gasoline Best
= Now a word as to the best fluids to
sse for printing purposes. as this Is
most important IL satisfactory re-
suits are to be obtained. The COM
nonest priming medium Is probably
what Is known as &c degree gaso-
line. This is simply the higher gaso-
Hne that We used to obtain all the
time. but which Is now q rare lux
ury. Within recent years some of
the oil companies have been putting
Z Out what is known as petroleum
CN"~A- - - h6 uNoI Noh-
stituent derived from the crude oil
base With a tank of this fuel II Is
possible to get a frat time start.
even in zero weather. Some owners
have made a practice of using ether
for winter starting. but this has OBJ
yious disadvantages. Either the 70
degree gas or petroleum ether will
be the best starting medium.
OF course. IL is always possible TO
prime the engine with ordinary
gasoline. The assumption In this
case Is that enough of the lighter
products. OF the ordinary gasoline
will get into the cylinders to allow
the spark tb fire the charge. II the
lighter forms Of priming fluids are
not available. ordinary gasoline
should certainly be tried.
Almost all car owners know that
by applying heat to ordinary gaso-
line, vaporization is completed. or
rather accelerated, so that the fuel
- easily fired. This was the reason
behind the oId-fashioned custom of
filling the cooling system with boil
ing water on cold mornings. The
heat this impaired to the engine
served to vaporize the fuel a little
and insure an easy start This
method is too inconvenient to suit
modern devices now on the market
to secure heated fuel in a less both
orsOme way. The equipment to
which We refer embodies an cleo
trio heater. 50 placed that as the
fuel Is pumped into the manifold it
is passed over a heated coil. being
thereby vaporiZed so that easy start
ing is almost certain.
Starting Uncertain.
This question OF starting Is rather
uncertain at best. Some car owners
seem never to have any trouble. They
pull up the float In the carbureter, ap-
ply the choker and get a start the
first time. The choker Is left on for a
couple OF minutes and Is opened as
the engine warns up. To those for
tunate individuals. a scant m Nority.
our advice Is not directed, but for the
vast majority q little help win prove
welcome.
When the car Is equipped with cleo
trical starting apparatus. II Is vitality
important that this shall be main
tanned at maximum efficiency during
the winter months. This Is obviously
true; since the fuel is heavy and
sluggish with the cold. a good hot
spark is needed to fire it and this can
only be obtained from a battery in
perfect working order. II is vital that
the battery be kept fuzzy charged. or
nearly so and that the cells be filed
with distilled water an operation that
must be attended to once every two
weeks The spark plug gaps must
be carefully watched and kept prop
erly spaced.
And even after the start Is obtained
IL Is stin important In cold weather
70 give the engine as much heat as
possible. The carbureter should be
heated and should get hot air to make
sure OF well vaporized fuel. The hood
and radiator should be covered when
the car is left standing. Give the en-
Sine all the assistance you can in
cold weather. for IT will. need It with