Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-14
.PUNCTURE HAZARDS
DAILY INCREASING
Destruction of Condemned
Buildings Add to Troubles
of Motoring.

How many punctures have you had
in your tires lately?
Do you ever stop to think of the
miracle of gliding over smooth pave
mentS day after day, mile after mile,
week after week, without a puncture,
without picking up a nail or a big piece
OF broken glass to cause you to rear up
in anger and cuSS the guy who left
that nail in the street? Do YOU ever
ponder over the fact that night and
day, year in and year out, at least three
agencies of the District of Columbia
are watching your interests, keeping the
pavements free of puncture- producing
nails and glass, and that without the
aid OF these agencies your tire pune
ture percentage would mount far higher
than 1t does?
An automobile tire spins around an
axis over pavement that usually is
smooth. But 1t has considerable adj
heSive power what the engineers call
traction, and this traction becomes sue
ton by the force of the spinning of
the tire. The rubber, comparatively
soft, has the flendish old American Gus
tom OF picking up sharp objects, such
as nails. glass and what not. And you
would be surprised at some Of the
things automobile tires pick up in their
spinning motion over the smooth high
ways of the District of Columbia.
Pick-ups by Tires.
Many motorists have run in to a serv-
ice station on fiat, with a valve stem
sticking through the casing and inner
tube OF one of their tires Others have
run in with roller skate parts sticking
right through casing and tube, while
others have come in with pieces of
broken spring leaves rammed right
through the tough rubber Of the Shoe"
one OF the queerest cases on the rec
ord happened just the other day, when
a motorist picked up In one of his rear
tires the entire frame of large monkey
wrench which had damned right
through the casing Of the tire and
caused blowout. Others have picked
up telegraph-pole spikes, wooden dow
els, thumb tacks, screws and what not
Almost anything that has fairly
sharp point will puncture an automo-
pile tire revolving at any speed. with
the pressure of a ton and q half of
moving vehicle above it.
That most annoying Of all punctures
the puncture in rear wheel-seems
to be most common. 1t is no fun to
get out and get under with a lack to
nsh around and finally find the rear
axle with the Jack head, sometimes on
slippery ice and frequently In cold
weather, while the Internal jack slips
and plunges around as If to defy the
Efforts CT the operator to place it at the
right spot under the rear axle. Tire
changing, as an art, has made consid-
cradle strides in late years. but the
annoyance and bother Of changing cas-
1ngs will remain forever, unless some in
ventor gets busy and puts on the mar
ket real punctureproof tire at a price
within the means Of the average mo-
torist
Just now the likelihood of a punc-
ture from nails in the streets has been
magnifed, in the downtown areas at
least by the tearing down Of 50 many
buildings 70 make way for the impos-
ing new edifices that are going I'D
under the Government building pro-
gram This is because the waste ma
lar.al left over from the razing Of these
old buildings is carted away in trucks
or wagons, usually overloaded, with
their ends sticking out from the body
OF the vehicle, dropping nails and
pieces of wood all over the pavements.
There orter be law" against the
owners OF these vehicles loading them
SO That pieces Of these nail-infested
boards stick out beyond the bodies of
the wagons or trucks to shower nails
and what not down on the streets.
AHCAG OILcT De Jaw WHICH WOulQ
force them not To overload their We
hicles so that nails could be showered
down on the pavementS from the loose
planks Jolting in SpringlesS vehicles
over the pavementS.
Glass Hazards.
Glass does not do SO much harm I'M
less 1t Is present In large and strong
pieces, where 1t can cut a nice deep
cash in any casing. Scattered around
the pavement in small doses, easily d.
geatlble by tire in good condition, it
does little harm at the moment The
rub comes months later after water
mas had chance TO get in the cut
mace by the glass and rot gets in its
work, resulting in a puncture perhaps
o,O0O tire miles later. The District Of
Columbia has strict law against break
ing OF glass on the public highways,
which is rigidly enforced by the Police
department. Unless you have the hard
luck to run your tires over a big piece
OF broken glass. you will have little |
trouble from glass punctures.
But nails, valve stems and all metallic |
objects left lying on the street pave
ments are another and far more serious
problem That is where the police, the |
tire protection service of the American |
automobile Association and the street |
cleaners employed by the District gov
eminent come in. The menace of the |
nan or other metallic object on the |
street mas become so bad that in one |
OF TWO cities trucks equipped with enor-
Mous magnets patrol the streets with |