The Haslingden Gazette. — 1904-01-30 (Haslingden, Lancashire, England)

OCCE.hoIS he is B,Verf. to striving the ear. Or JO b^ing in attendance whilst his master takes the wheel, miless the proposed trip happens to accord with his whim, he is most firmly opme,d to el:owing it to be taken out at all if such a step will clash with his private arrangements. The mechanicien has his eniployer completely at his mercy. Sometimes the gears are jammed and the work of restoring them to their normal comlition will involve hours of unremitting toil; sometimes both brakes will fail simultaneously and an endeavour to take the proposed run with neither in working order will Incaii merely a determined attempt at murder and suicide. Delays of a more temporary nature are arranged for easily; hut the fact remains that, whether they are to be of long or short duration, they always can be arranged. and. if the employer is not a motorist in the wider acceptance of tile I term, their fraudulent nature is not to be readily I detected.  Of course, the only remedy for this evil—whieh. unfortutiate!y. is a growing one—is that the owner of the car shall so thoroughly understand the mechanism of his engine that imposition shall be imposible. The man who knows exactly what is wrong will have a very shrewd idea of the time and labour required to put it right again, for which reason, if no other, it will always pay the owner of an automobile to learn very thoroughly every detail ho can in connection with the construction of a petrol motor. no that, even though he employs Mechanic to do his running repairs, he will be possessed of that requisite technical knowledge which indeed is power. Otherwise, tho car will prove but an expensive toy. as well as. upon many occasions, beiog an utterly useless one as well.  In this column I have inveighed so often, and sometimes RO bitterly, against the many iniquities of pneumatic tyres. that it is refreshing to be able to draw attention to the silver lining of the dark cloud of punctures. When the inevitable has happened, try tin' following plan, which personal experience has just proved to be far superior to the ordinary metftod if effecting a repair. Clean the surface of the tube thoroughly. as usual, and lay on evenly 111 n coat of good solution. It may he mentioned in passing that indifferent solution d, worse thin useless for tyre repairing, for with it the patch will never properly adhere, and all the time and labour spent upon the preliminary efforts will have been thrown away. Treat the patch— which should. of course, be amply large and properly bevelled—in the same manner and allow both surfaces to lweonie perfectly dry, and not merely very tacky. Repeat the process twice more, letting the surfaces dry thoroughly each time. After the third coat has reached the right stage, paint over both the patch and the prepared portion of the tube a coating of "See" vulcanising fluid. and put the two together immediately. By this preparation the one" is actually vulcanised to the other, and there is absolutely no chance, provided these directions have been faithfully carried out, of the patch blowing off or tearing away.  Of course. what every motorist really requires is a pilcumatic tyro that will be impervious to punctures, but he also wants the Millennium, with a Motor Car At whio, will give the motorist the same fair play that is accorded to the driver of horses, and he wilt get the one, apparently, just as soon as the other. Therefore, since it seems quite hopeless to look for a pneumatic tyre made upon improved methods to these' at present employed, it is as well to recognise that, as the cause of evil cannot ho dealt with. the result, at any rate, may be remedied as efficaciously as possible. The "See" fluid is certainly very good, and motor cyclists, a; well as drivers of ears, will do well to make personal experiments with it urou refractory tyres.  Noiselessness in running is esteemed a virtue in a car. but there are times when even this virtue is at a discount. I Wes driving my 15 horse-power Decauville on the North Road last Sunday, and, having lost the hooter, was compelled to resort to what the law regards as an "otherwise" for giving the necessary signal of approach—the human voice. As a rule. the hooter is little required, for the sound if the engine as a car approaches is quite sufficient, even at a considerable distance, to give the necessary warning. and much horn-blowing is always to be di,couraged. But the Decauville engine runs so noiselessly that the "otherwise' was in very frequent demand, and had it not been for the friendly action of a cycle agent who allowed hi list elf to be knocked up and then agreed to lend the necessary hooter, a total loss of voice rnxi,t have ultimately re-tilted. And, after all, there is rati,c, a suggestion of the motor hooligan abut that "otherwise."