The Washington times., 1923-11-17
SAY | I WI I h
BRAKES, IS
SLOGAN
Bills 3 efore legislatures to
Compel In
spection.

with the Sherman act. the Clay.
ton act, the Volstead, etc, it would
seem as IL the country should be
safe for autocracy, but apparently
such is not the case. Behold we
have now q. bill before several State
legislatures which reads. in part:
THE brakes OF every motor
vehicle operated or driven within the
State shall, no less than every ninety
days, be examined and tested II
shall be unlawful to drive or operate
any motor vehicle without the
examination and testing of brakes
herein provided"
And that isn't all. The Depart,
ment of Public Safety in New YORK
and several other cities have flying
squadrons whose chief duty it is 70
stop unsuspecting motorists, appro-
pirate the wheel and proceed forth
with to test the brakes. In one
month 1000 brakes were so treated
and something more than 700 were
requested to fix the brakes or see
the judge or both.
Signs OF the times. The, hand
writing is on the wall to say moth
ing of the police bl0tter. 1t be-
hooves you and Mr.. Lay Mann to
investigate this subject Of brakes
before a blue coated, brass buttoned
specialist does it for US.
To put it more scientifically, the
potential energy, or force accumu-
lated at the top Of the hill, plus the
kinetic energy or that Of motion, was
overcome by the rubbing of the
stick. That brings us to that nice
sounding term, the tco-efficient OF
friction" When two surfaces are
rubbed together. there is friction. It
takes force to move the two surfaces
or one, If the other is at rest. The
ratio of these two forces Is the CO.
efficient of friction. For example.
an eight-pound weight resting on a
flat concrete surface may require
two pounds to pull 1t along. The
co-efficient in this case Is 2-8, or, as
usually written, rs. If the surface
were rougher, it might require four
pounds to move the weight. thus
making the co-efficient 80. It will
be seen that this factor will vary
with the nature Of the rubbing
surfaces and the amount of pressure
exerted.
Today the metal to metal brake
is rapidly becoming extinct for au.
tomobile purposes. The chief objec.
tions are noise, and the difficulty
and expense attendant on repairs,
the cost of metal blocks being ex-
cessive.
Early substitute materials used as
brake Innings included lea h e r
camel's hair, jute and cotton. All
lacked the necessary qualities to
stand up under the tremendous heat
developed by John D. Friction and
our forefathers had to squeak"
along as best they could with the
metallic brake. Early in this cen
fury a lining was produced from
that queen of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
With true femininity 1t was cold to
heated advances of steel, yet pos
sessed sufficient temper to cling
when the victim was slipping.
Motorists should know that their
lfnkages, toggle joints, lining, ETC.,
are in perfect working condition.
Then when some inquisitive traffic
policeman, State trooper or brake in
spection movement advocate stops
you, you can say:
Yes, officer, have a perfect
braking system of the external con-
tracing type. With a mechanical
advantage of 80 to /, properly ad.
tusted bands and a lining of the
highest quality, I have an ample CO.
efficient of friction of point forty"