Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-12
MILADY'S MOTORING
BY Frederick C. Russell.

Cars that change colors may seem to
be the newest thing in fine finish, but
many a careless driver has succeeded
| in changing flesh color to black and
blue.
Every now and again nailady's own
personal car needs service, and it falls
to her lot to drive the bigger, heavier
machine usually reserved fol. friend
husband. She takes the wheel conf
IDENTIFY and finds that even the biggest
| of todays machines handles easily, out
| she may head for some difncultieS
through overlooking that size itself
makes a difference.
She may find that she bumps the
| curb by turning corners without proper
regard for the length of the machine.
| She may not know that while heavier
car does not skid as easily as a light
one, it skids more distressingly once 1t
starts. If she sets forth on a shopping
expedition. forgetting about the In
creased wfeelbase, she may be caused
delays trying to place the car in i'm
possible parking spaces.
The second person to start out a-wheel
in the two-car family should De par
| ticuIarly careful to guard against car
| bon nonoxide. In Winter the first one
out smokes UP the garage and then
closes the doors. When the second car
is taken out a little while later there
| is likely to be a good deal OF poison
| lurking about.
The gay nineties may be history, but
| there still is a thought In the song
after the Ball" Nowadays we mod
ernie it by pointing out some special
a. Haf "A
over" Many women seem to have too
, much trouble with the car following
completion of turn.
Perhaps it would help them to know
that steering gears are OF two KINDS
those that straighten out OF their own
accord and those that must be straight
ened out by the driver. In the former
type the best rule Is to accelerate q
little and let the steering wheel slip
through the fingers until the front
wheels are straight again, while with
the latter type the steering wheel should
be turned rather rapidly back to the
| ahead position, but without accelerat-
ing as much.
| Women who feel that they are not
[ "cut out" for driving may derive some
I encouragement from the fact that a
New York millionairess well up in the
sixties drives a convertible coupe with
top down all around the town, even
| though she is to be seen evenings sit
| ting her life away In Westminster
| County hotel. She scarcely ever walks,
cannot stand her Park avenue apart
ment because it is too noisy, and
is considered by her friends as being on
the shelf. But she is one Of the crowd
with q foot on the accelerator.
When a mechanic starts discussing
piston rings he often is talking over the
| heads of his woman customers, but 1t
need not be SO. Pistons and rings are
complicated from the service stand
point, but not in principle.
A piston Is the moving mechanism OF
a cylinder. It is a round cast-iron or
aluminium part, somewhat on the order
Of tin can. The pressure Of ignited
gas forces the piston to go downward
and since it is connected to throw OF
the crankshaft through rod, 1t serves
to rotate the engine shaft. On its way
up the piston either pushes out the
burned gas or congresses gas that Is
ready to be ignited, doing one or the
other on every other upward trip. Or
every other downward trip 1t sucks II
fresh gas vapor.
Slots are cut around the sides Of thu
piston, and into these At the piston
to make better seal. II it were not
for the rings, the piston either would
have to be made so loose as to rattle
when cold or seize in its cylinder wher
hot. The rings also control the amount
Of oil that is fed to the cylinder walls
Naturally, when the rings are not ir
good shape there Is loss of compressed
gas and too much oil working up pas
them The rings also help the piston
y1,v, di,iofly without knocking
Let the repairman worry over tn,
Job Of selecting proper rings and fitting
them. Your part of misunderstanding
the principles intellectually is the
simplest of all.
One is well on the road to knowing
how to drive car once one has mas
! tered the art of cranking the engin,
and operating it. wonder how man,
women have ever thought of this TT
the ability to handle the engine, t,
!, keep 1t running at the right speed ant
, to recrank it if 1t stalls that mean 81
! much in actual driving.
Have you ever noticed that rear-sea
passengers often note conditions aheat
better than the driver? It is an OBJ
, servation we'll worth making becaus
it suggests a useful idea in driving.
The driver is so close to the lef
: front body post that it becomes a NOR
: effective blind spot than it is to thos
! sitting farther back. Usually whel
y such blind spot lis pronounced you Sc
, the driver trying to look around tn
, post, whereas her best bet Is to hol
her head back as far as possible. TIL
( farther back the less the post obscure
> the road.
! AS rule women do not press as Wig
: orously on the brake pedal as their NAL
. contemporaries at the wheel. Usual
= this is an advantage. but not in Win
: ter At this season brakes need to b
y ! applied with a vim in order to war;
: them up and get them working equal.
This brake exercise, however, should b
taken Immediately after starting ou
and not when an emergency arises.