Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-15
SPEED OF MOTORS
SUBJECT OF STUDY
ENGINES of Ten Manufacture
ers Weighed in Considera-
ton of AcceIeration.
BY e: Y. WATSON.

DETROIT, Mich, September IA
(N.ANA0.-Enginee of 10 automo.
bile companies under the guidance OF
the Bureau of Standards at Washing
ton are engaged in cooperative ef1ort
to learn what makes some cars pick up
speed faster than others and the scien-
tific reasons for engine acceleration.
In the operation of modern auto
mobiles no factor is so eagerly sought
as acceleration and the ability to get
under way as soon as the trafdc signal
turns Go" The improvement in mod
ern engines as compared with those OF
five or six years ago consists largely III
the ability to attain speeds up 10 40
miles an hour or more in second gear,
whereas the engines we formerly used
could barely reach 20 to % miles an
hour before they went into high.
Variety Of Factors.
Acceleration, generally considered,
depends on variety OF factors, the
chief of which is reserve power with
f1exibility. Some makers build this INTO
new models, while others use hlgn
compression to bring about the same
result.
Beyond that there are numerous
phases of carburetion credited with pe-
ing responsible for the differences be-
tween the slow and the fast car. To-
Qetner WlGn eIlRule uCoABh 6CACAoA1J
these are the divisions In which the
research is being made.
The program was instituted by the
Society of Automotive Engineers at o
national session in Detroit early this
wear. The aim is to obtain the desired
scientific data on ten kinds OF engines
built by as many companies. one OF
the machines being used for the tests
is an accelerometer. 1t records engine
speed by a continuous line Of pertora-
lions on a paper tape. From the tape
it is possible to make both graph ana
numerical calculations.
When the data Is compiled 1t Will
be assembled into findings ana mace
public for the benefit Of the industry.
Research, now topping obstacles IN
the way of progress faster IMAM Ever
comfort The engineers have TINS mat
ter under clinical examination. Up 70
this wear there was no fundamental
knowledge or yardstick by which 10
measure it. The Society OF AutomotiVe
Engineers is sponsoring program by
which the scientific inquiry Is being
conducted.
DIR. Moss Report.
Already DR.. F. A. Moss. George WASH
inpton University, physician and pSy.
chologist, has made the first OF series
of reports to the engineering society on
the nature of tests he Is carrying on.
These involve observation of 10 per-
sons after each had ridden $50 miles.
The reports indicate that muscular
fatigue was not marked after the rides
but that nerve fatigue was. This led to
a decision to continue the tests along
lines which include equilibrium. mental
multiplication, speed OF reaction ana
metabolism, the latter being the con-
sumption of oxygen by the subject as
compared with the amount he should
normally consume.
Testing cars for discomfort they
cause, Prof M. L. Fox, Iowa University,
has utilized a machine called the gyro-
accelerometer, which records angular
total angle turned. This device can be
made to trace on a paper tape with q
pencil the force exerted by q bump
when q car passes over 1t at varying
speeds.
other uses of the gyro-accelerometer
make it guide in selecting the proper
spring and shock absorber equipment.
Build New Unit.
An industrial move significant of the
expansion of custom body building Is
the establishment in Detroit of an adj
ditional manufacturing unit by the
Fleetwood Body Corporation. Hereto
lore Cne COnpanyS operations nave
been confined to Fleetwood, Pa. The
plant there is to be continued. The
Detroit plant is to employ 1000 men
under the supervision Of o. L. Currier,
resident manager. Many of the crafts
men in the new plant have been brought
here from Pennsylvania, and these will
be supplemented by picked men from
the Fisher custom building divisions,
the Fisher Body Corporation having be-
come Fleetwood unit in 1925.
Copyright, 1929. by North American News
paper AllianceD