Evening star., 1933-01-01
MORE DRIVING EASE
seen IN 1888 AUTOS.
Automatic Controls Will Be
Found in Greater Numbers
Than Before.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
DETROIT, December 31-Automa-
tic controls on 1888 motor cars will be
found more numerous than ever before.
The engineers are making vacuum
actuated mechanisms do the work which
drivers once had to perform with hands
and feet.
The trend began years ago with the
first automatic windshield wiperS. Since
then, on different types of vehicles, the
engineers have been able to make So
called vacuum power operate the clutch
without touch of the foot, blow the
horn, retard the ignition spark and add
power to brakes.
New Vacuum Usage.
One of the more recent applications
to which vacuum has been brought is
q cut-out that releases starter gears in
the cars that combine starter and ac-
celerator in one pedal.
Vacuum tanks once were used to feed
gasoline from the supply tank to the
engine but these have been displaced
by mechanically operated pumps, be-
cause vacuum at certain times, notably
when ascending hills showed tagging
tendencies which detracted from posi-
tive operation when needed most.
The dictionary defines vacuum as
being derived from the Latin word
"vacuuS" meaning empty. Literally, 1t
means "a space devoid OF matter" In
motor car use such space is created
by pipeline connection with the intake
manifold
With the engine in operation, a sue
ton force is generated which engineers
have utilized in a variety of ways.
Vacuum made to function in this man
ner has limitations, but these do not
prevent 1t from performing the more
delicate of the automatic control tasks.
For instance, 1t can be made to blow
a trumpet-type horn by oscillating
reed and producing a musical note SIM
liar to that of a bassoon. or wind in
strument of that type. Acting as cut
out for the newer type of starters, the
force it exerts is little more than a man
would use in drawing smoke through a
tobacco pipe that is little clogged.
Best at Low Speed.
AS the intake manifold does this job
1t does its best work when the engine Is
idling or the car is moving at the lower
speeds The higher the speed attained,
the more the suction force diminishes.
For that reason windshield wipers often
stop dead when the car is climbing
steep hills. because the engine is under
a heavy power strain and the mani
folds power to exhaust the air from
the tube is down to minimum.
In mountain climbing, were it pos
sible to reach a height of 10000 feet
above sea level in a motor car, the
vacuum m-created force would fail alto
gether and be non-operative. For that
reason its use on aircraft is negatived.
A year ago on one make, then four
cylinder car, vacuum was actuating an
automatic retard for the spark. but now
the particular car has become a six
cylinder product and there no longer is
any use for it.
Needle bearings constitute another re-
finement that tends to make operation
easier in 1888 cars. They replace plain
bearings in steering shafts and univer-
sal joints and they build up efficiency
with less frictional loss. They are
formed of anti-friction rollers not much
thicker than needles, and from that the
name comes
They are new in motor cars, but not
in other vehicles, engineers will tell you.
The same type of bearing was used
years ago in the coaster wagons with
which small boys pushed themselves
along by foot power.
\ VI 0oO AL NdA0Y AlONCfELt tilC IlCCllC
bearings have been fabricated of mod
ernized, durable alloy metals that with
stand forces and strains under which
the former types would have given out.
In the universal joint Of the automo-
bile propeller shaft, the needle bearings
help fabrication efficiency. In the
steering mechanisms, they serve as a
compensating factor for the new type
of "doughnut" tires Is ease of operation.
New Pontiac Eight.
The new Pontiac straight eight has
been introduced this week, featuring
what is known as square bore to
stroke ratio" in engine cylinder vdimen-
sions. The bore is 8 3-l6 inches and
the stroke 3la inches. which makes the
stroke longer than the bore by frac-
tion only.
The argument for it is shorter piston
travel and therefore reduction in opera
tion stress and longer life.
1t is contended the shortened stroke
promotes reliability in two different
ways. First, it reduces to minimum
the orbit" of the moving parts within
the engine and consequently lessons the
internal stresses which they create.
This Is illustrated by swinging a
weight on the end of cord. A con-
siderable pull is felt when the weight is
swung the full length of the cord, but
when the cord is shortened, the pull
progressively becomes less.
The second reason given is that short
piston travel reduces the rate of wear
on pistons and cylinders. Calculations
show the piston of the average car trav-
els up and down in its cylinder about
2,400 feet for each mile car is driven.
The Pontiac piston travel is held to
1885 feet per mile. and in one season
of operation the difference mounts up
into thousands of miles in which the
excess wear is avoided altogether
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