The New York herald., 1921-12-25

Somewhere on your car-probably under
the floorboard where It can be conveniently
forgotten ard neglected-is little boxhke
device, which does tremendous service anu
an unbelievable amount of hard work Tor
you; and all 1t asks In return for this work
is that you feed 1t. that you keep 1t ciean'
and that you give 1t drink once week.
refer to your storage battery.
There probably has been no other ihven-
tion to which the Tremendous ,ch saie a o. TO the
storage battery. The weakest woman ca,,
now crank the largest car. and can 90 ~
while the road Is muddy without soiling nea
shoes or gown. At the same time, there
is no part of the automobile so little unaer-
stood and so much neglected as II Is. t.
It must be kept charged. II you take some
OF the current out of your battery by using
your starting motor or your iisn.ss &c 20
have some the next time you want 10 use
the starter the lights. In other WORDS.
IL you discharge the battery, you must AGAIN
this recharging automatically. put theIe aae
times when the battery Is discharged iaster
than the generator can recharge IL.
In order that you can Judge whether o.. or
not you are using the current from the
battery quicker than you are sending ~ ~
back again. you must understand what 20
meant by the ampere-hour. the name by
which the size of the battery Is known; .,
Batteries are said to be OF oV, oo, iuV 49, 49,
6O-ampere hour battery. when iuily
| charged. can have drawn from IT % amperes
for one hour or one smpere lor snsres ss for
one-thrd of an hour. &C., the amperes tlow
ing, multiplied by the hours OF flowing oeihs
When YOUR starting motor is cranking the
engine II Is taking In the neighborhooo OF
| $50 amperes. and in many cases much more.
Thus a 60-ampere-hour battery. when 1uiiy
charged, would be completely discharged In
twenty minutes II the starter were used con-
tinually for this time. The generator, when
the car is travelling about fifteen miles an
hour, charges at about 6-ampere rate
so that 1t would take ten hours 10 COM
pletely charge a 6O-ampere-nour oat.1ry. ,ts.
thirty minutes of engine running TO repiace
the current taken from the battery by tne
will take nearly all the current made by the
generator. there VIII be no charging Oh
| the battery. -. A.,
| battery on car which is driven Tor a
very short distance. and whose selt-starter
is often used. may be discharged inuch
| faster than II can be recharged again. 80
II you find your battery runs down often
and must be taken to u charging station.
before condemning the battery and and c.lrSs thus
| thereof, ask yourself II the discharge Is not
due 10 the condition of running.
Many misunderstandings occur between
owners and charging station owner about
| the charge for the rental of batteries useo
while the owners is being charged. A
A man brought battery to a service
station TO be charged. and rented a battery
| in its place. Three days afterward he de-
cided to have his car overhauled ana re
| painted, and without returning the rented
battery and getting his own. put his car
out of commission. More than month
| afterward he called for his battery. and
| when he received bill at 10 cents DAY
| for the rental of the battery became very
| indignant, claiming that he should not be
charged for more than three days. the Time
| his car was In service.
| When you consider that the battery man
| has invested large sums OF money In bat
| teries OF many different shapes and sizes.
and when you consider that the life OF a
battery is only in the neghborhood OF
| fifteen months-when In use or lying IDLE
you will see that this rental services has
| been established more for the convenience
| of the customers than for profits. The
| man mentioned above failed to consider that
the battery man was without the service
| of the battery while the car was being
| painted, and may even have had TO buy
| another of that particular shape ana size
| to supply other customers.
| I believe that owners have now pecome
| educated to the great Importance OF giving
their car a drink: that Is. OF filling with
| distilled water about once week. IL is
| extremely important that this be done IL
| the battery Is 10 enjoy a long life-
| No part OF the car demands cleanliness
so much as the storage battery. II the
smallest particle Of mineral matter gets Into