Evening star., 1950-02-19
Silence Is Safer; 1t Helps Catch
Troubles Before They Get Bad
The big noise in motordom to-

The big noise in motordom to-
day is noise abatement.
Anyway you look at it the en-
phasis is on silence in motor car
operation. Silence not only is
golden, it's modern. Ever since
John @. Motorist decided to grow
up and forget about the exhaust
cutout, the emphasis has been on
increasing silence of operation.
Today it's approaching a peak
Noises now are evidence of trou-
BILE. Even the noise of the auto
mobile clock is coming in for at
tention.
Great impetus to the process of
noise abatement is the develop
ment in transmissions. Automatic
gears are extremely quiet, and
some cars do not use gears for
some 95 per cent of operation, the
exception being for reversing or
using an emergency low gear. A
slight whine is heard in some cars
with torque converters, but this
noise could never have been heard
over the once pleasant hum of
conventional gears. This whine
will also be licked. 1t is the law.
Engineers are pleased. but by no
means satisfied. Your car still
makes a lot of noise which they
propose to eliminate. Some of the
trouble spots are the tires, exhaust
system and the motor fan. Use of
f1ve-blade fan seems to provide
increased silence of operation.
Belt squeal has a lot of service
men puzzled. Belts and pulleys
will have to be redesigned.
Hypoid rear axle gears have
been great boon to silence in
the transmission line as have
spiral transmission gears. Many
motorists are currently enjoying
freedom from valve tappet noises,
the hydraulic litter maintaining
clearances at zero regardless of
engine temperature or speed. The
fluid clutch has put an end to
both clutch and drive line chatter
as well as to grabbing and shud-
dering. Wheel and tire balancing
has ended wheel tramp and
shimmy, both of which can set up
noisy shaking of the entire car.
Insulation of the chassis is damp
ing out road noises to a remark
able degree. On some cars it is
also used to help silence the
motor.
Safety students are noting that
where a car is extremely quiet the
driver is more likely to catch evi-
dences of brewing trouble. The
story is told of one driver who
heard a ticking noise as his car
rolled along. Stopping to investi-
gate he found a roofing nail in
one of the rear tires. He would
have gone on to a fiat tire had
his car been noiser. \
The fact that more and more
drivers are aware of irregularities
In the motors behavior again
serves as evidence that silence
helps. More attention to the mo-
tor means better assurance of
power when needed in an emer-
gency. 1t is getting to be rare
to have motor bearings pound
out and rods go through the
crankcase. Owners catch evi-
dences of trouble in ample time
to do something about it.
What Next in Silence?
With so much progress to It's
credit, naturally, engineers are
looking to new ways and means
of smoothing out the automobile.
It is odd that the starter motor
still makes SO much racket. How
come that this little motor and
its drive pinion make more noise
than the main engine itself? How
come that the starter motors
noise is cheap and grating when
1t could be pleasing as the very
least contribution to progress?