Middletown transcript., 1922-10-14
keep BRAKES
IN CONDITION
Expert Advises Inspection Of All
Apparatus at Least Once
a Month.
MEANS BIG SAVING OF: TIRES
Whenever Possible, Sliding the Wheels
When Stopping Car Should Be
Avoided Lubrication of
High Importance.

The state laws of Ohio and many
other states require that the brakes |
and mechanism of every car driven on
the public highways shall be in good
working order. The reason for this Is
obvious and should be remembered at
all times by everyone who drives
car.
The proper adjustment Of the brakes
In order to make them work efficiently
at all times requires experience and
skill. If the brake bands are adjusted
a little too tight or close, they will
then drag, and besides using an excess
i've amount of gasoline to drive the
| car, will sometimes become hot enough
| to burn out the lining and in rare
| cases set the car on fire.
| If the bands are a little too loose
then the brake pedal will go clear
| against the floor board before produc-
ing the proper bralSing effect. If one
brake band be little tighter than the
other most of the braking effect is on
the wheel with the tighter band, which
means that this wheel will stop spin
ming and thus slide the tire with but
little braking effect on the other
wheel. This means, first, the spelling
Of the tire in a few hundred miles of
service, and, second. very poor brak-
ing or retarding effect.
Therefore, it is quite necessary that
each one of the two sets of brakes
on car should be so adjusted that it
| iC nncSihln fn c1tdn both X-bnals with
the action of either set of brakes
without the aid of the other At the
same time, the wheels should be per-
fectly free to turn when the brake Is
not in use.
Ordinarily when stopping the car, we
do not wish to slide the wheels. MS this
places unnecessary stress on the
brakes and braking mechanism and
also pulls or tears lot of rubber off
or the tread of the tires which are slid
ing.
Another reason is that a car will
not stop so quickly with the wheels
sliding as when the brakes are applied
Just hard enough to permit them to
turn. All of the brake mechanism.
|
rods, should be Inspected regularly at
least once a month to see whether
they are becoming worn enough to be
weakened. Many serious accidents
have been caused by a brake rod. yoke
or pin breaking at critical moment
when the brake was applied suddenly
and n little harder than usual writes
an auto expert. in the Cleveland Plain
Dealer.
1t may be true that the reserve
brake, or emergency brake, rs 1t Is
mere often called was at the time ir
perfect working condition. but the time
required to get this emergency brake
into action after the other had giver
away WAS too great TO prevent crash
There are usually several places or
the brake mechanism which require
periodical niling and lubricating, ant
the driver who cnnScientiously take
care of this luhrication and cheekin:
of the parts to see whether they ar,
worn, Is one nj least who goes a loni
way towards the prevention of acci
dents and the saving of human life.
A fact which very few people real
ize, perhaps is the distance coyere
by vehicle in one second of tim
when going at. say, 80 miles an houi
by little figuring with a pencil an
paper, you will find that when goin
80 miles an hour, the car is movin
distance of A feet in every seconl
When we think this over and cor
slider that so many drivers travel a
this rate of speed, we wonder tina
there are not more accidents, and W
can easily agree with the police d,
partment and the safety council in tr.
ing in every way possible to keep til
speed down within the legal limit.
Another point which Is interestin
to all drivers is the SPACE required
stop a car travelling at various speed