Middletown transcript., 1922-04-08
MUFFLER IS NOT
WATCHED CLOSE
Cleaning Up Process Is Over
looked or Delayed Until Open
ings Become CIogged.
INCREASES USE OF GASOLINE
Very Important Part Of Automobile
Is Located Under Car and Out Of
Sight, and is Rarely Given
Attention Needed.

One Of the parts Of an automobile
most neglected by many owners and
drivers Is the muffler. AS a boy with
a dirty face puts off the cleaning up
process just as long as possible, so
the motoriSt with q mufiler that needs
attention procrastinates and thinks
perhaps he will fix it up tomorrow.
And tomorrow never comes. But to-
day is always here with it's greater
use Of gasoline and various other COM
plications that a dirty muffier causes.
The muffler is located under the car,
and being out of sight Is usually out
of mind. 1t Is therefore often neg
lected or misuSed. And yet it ought
not to be. The muffler is placed on
the end Of the exhaust pipe Of the en-
gine so that the driver Of an automo-
bile while taking pleasure himself
does not wholly deprive others of 1t.
Let us consider the use Of the muf-
fler. The exhaust valve opens while
the burned gas Is still under pres
sure of from 25 to 80 pounds per
square inch. If this were exhausted
directly into the air the resulting
noise would stifle conversation In the
car, annoy everybody along the street
and quickly get the driver into trouble
with the police. The muffier prevents
all this. 1t provides chamber in which
| these exhaust gases may expand and
cool somewhat and at the same time
breaks up the pressure by allowing II
| to leak out slowly through a number OF
very small holes, instead Of letting II
loose in one "big noise"
The "cut-out" Valve.
In the early history of the automo
bile mufflers were not used and every
body for blocks around knew when ar
auto was coming. AS the automobile:
increased In number this became {
nuisance and was stopped by law
Then they sought, indeed had beer
seeking, means Of sitting the sound
In the early muffler there was trouble
because the gas would back up in thu
cylinder and decrease the power o
the motor. 1t was thought there wa!
no way to decrease the sound withou
decreasing the power; therefore tn
manufacturers devised valve to Ecu
out" the mufflar on the car wheneve
extra power was desired.
Sometimes the back pressure was 81
great as to interfere when driving
through heavy roads or up hills. Th
"cut out" let the gas exhaust directl,
into the air instead Of going through
the muller. At the present time near
ly every city has law prohibiting tn
use Of "cut OUTS"
The average driver does not know
that his muffler needs as careful al
tention as any other part of the mech
anism, and so he neglects 1t. In thes
days of noiseless cars 1t requires
great number of very small holes In
side muffler. These become clogge
with SCOT or carbon from the exhaust
The deposit collects very rapidly
especially when the grade Of oil use
Is poor or too much oil is used.
also results when the carburetor
adjusted to give too rich mixture.
Openings Become cIogged.
When these small openings becom
clogged the exhaust gases cannot es
cape readily, and naturally the cy
inder of the engine is not cleaned
the exhaust stroke. Result: 1t is In
possible to bring in full cylinder
new gas on the next intake strok'
There is not full charge to explode
and this means loss Of power to tn
engine.
Cases are known where the throttl
was opened wide without any increas
in power. Trying to find out what tn
matter was, the driver opened the "c'
out" and this caused the machine
accelerate very RAPIDLY.