The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-25
Geniuses Sumbit Many Sure Ways To Make Autos Run More Cheaply

WASHINGTON, Now 24.-Owners of automobiles really ought to be told about the thousands of men who are working for them--working so hard. working to make their cars give more miles per gallon, to take the bumns in the road in R less jar ring fashion, to make tires wear longer, to make Fords go up the steeper grades more smoothly ana with less anguish There is just one spot to which the complete informa- tion about these helpful efforts upon the part of the native lnNeIit3ls t,ss flows. This is the laboratory or the Automotive Power Plant Section or inc Bureau of Standards in Wash ington.
 There are several reasons why the Bureau of Standards laboratory re- cefves information about these ue-' vices In the first place. most IT. Nentors are honest men and are Will ing to submit their inventions to most elaborate investigation secondly, the the Inventors usually do not have the facilities for making elaborate tests of their own, and thirdly, Ii an m Ventor can get report from the bu- reau of Standards saying his oeNlce is 4 good and useful one he will have much less trouble in getting capital for manufacturing and less suspicion from the prospective buyer of the device.
 American inventors are pretty much in agreement that American automobile owners should use smaller quantities of gasoline for the distance covered in their daily goings about; they believe that American motorists send their cars to repair shops too often; they believe that there are too many accidents; that cars do not climb hills with| sufficient ease; that they do not move with sufficient speed: that they cannot be stopped quickly enough. and to general ana complete elimination of these ana other difficulties the inventors pledge their devoted efforts.
 Ways Of Increasing Mileage.
 Take the perpleXing matter of more miles per gallon. There are various ways of getting at it. One IS to ln- troduce some mysterious chemicals into the fuel. Another is to put moth balls-or something that looks and smells like mothballs-into the fuel tank: a third and fourth are to take off the manufacturers old carburetor and put on the inventors new one or to make a similar change in valves. Still another is to paint the walls Of the combustion chamber with sub stance which accelerates the rate of the explosion, and sixth is to introduce water vapor into the mix ture of gas and air. There are yet more, too numerous to mention.
 The inventor, after he has com pleted his model, tries it out upon his own or his neighbours car and draws his gaze away from the mil lions he is about 10 make long enough to carefully pack his model and take it or send it to Washington. The staff of engineers at the laboratory of the automotive power plants sec tion receives it, reads the careful in- structtons sent by the inventor and puts the device through it's paces. Testers Are Tremendous skeptics.
 They are a rather cold blooded lot, these engineers. They are jealous seekers after truth and tremendous skeptics. If the device survives one test and shows a result favorable to itself, the engineer looks grave. To the inventor he seems to look dis appointed. At any rate, he does not appear to be highly delighted. as the inventor hoped he would. He calmly goes on to another test; and another, and another. By the time he finishes. the inventor is usually lost in despair. His vision of millions has diminished and. become a thin, far off cloud which may be dissipated at the next puff of wind.
 The beauty of most of such inven- tions is their simplicity. You simply" make a change in your car buretor-do it yourself in ten minutes or have the garage man do it for you for 50 centsi or you simply" put half pint of Peppo into the gasoline tank, or perform some other perfectly simple operation. Then all you have to do is to adjust your carburetor so as to get the thinnest possible flow of fuel into the combustion cham bers of the motor. You find that where you were getting only four teen miles to the gallon you are now setting 22 miles per gallon.
 The difficulty, in the case of hav- ing such inventions tested at the bu- reau of standards, is that the soulless engineers who make the tests adjust the carburetor before they try the invention. And they show that with a nice adjustment of the carburetor the average Ford car will make 22 miles per gallon without the inven- tion Then, when the invention is af- fixed to the ear or the mystery stuff is put into the gasoline tank. the Ford car still makes it's 22 miles per gallon-no better, no worse.
 Few Cases Of Dishonesty.
 ". $. James, who is chief of the section, says there are very few cases of dishonesty among inventors, but that occasionally some person will endeavor to deceive the engineers. We had case here some time ago." he said, where a man told us he was able t. get 50 miles out of quart of gasoline. lie had a Hudson car equip ped with his device and he wanted its to make 9 test. We found cou-