Courtesy of Allen Motor Co.

SECTIONAL VIEW OF A MODERN AUTOMOBILE WITH FOUR-CYLINDER ENGINE

Putnam’s
Automobile Handbook

The Care and Management of the
Modern Motor-Car

By
H. Clifford Brokaw
Principal
And
Charles A. Starr
Of the Staff of the Automobile School of the West Side Young Men’s Christian Association of New York City

Illustrated

G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1918

COPYRIGHT, 1918
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

FOREWORD

Much of the material, here assembled for the first time, has been printed in the automobile section of New York City newspapers. It has stood the scrutiny of the wisest men in the automobile trade and has been read eagerly by owners within the sphere of the newspapers’ limited circulation; some of it has been reprinted in papers all over the country, which is evidence enough of its practical value.

The publication, however, has been without sequence and all of it has not appeared in any one paper. Moreover it has been reassembled and rewritten and much has been added to round out the story of the automobile and to adapt the material to the use of everyday men who do not understand or care for the more technical works.

It should not be taken as the last word concerning the auto. That will not be written until after the automobile has been driven out of business by the airplane or something else and is as obsolete as the oxcart of a century or two ago. There is nothing new in the principle of the gas engine, but new appliances and new methods are constantly being invented and discovered.

All that is herein contained is the result of years of experience at the Automobile School of the West Side Young Men’s Christian Association, New York City. This was one of the pioneer schools and for fourteen years has turned out more than 1000 trained drivers each year who know their engine and working parts thoroughly. Last year the number was nearly 2500. Naturally in handling these thousands of bright men the instructors were stimulated and themselves learned as they taught. The consensus of this ripe experience is given here.

Lest there be misunderstanding, it were better said at once that if the reader has come to this book to learn how to be a garage mechanic, how to qualify as an expert in automotive technique, or how to learn common sense, he should at once seek another source of information. This book makes no pretensions of teaching the last word in automobile repair. But if the automobile owner desires to have a working knowledge of his car, to know how to find and overcome the ordinary ills and troubles to which it is subject, and how to diagnose and prescribe for it when it begins to wheeze or squeak or groan or knock, let him read on. The book is for him.

In other words this is not a sine qua non, but a friend in need; it is not a know-it-all, but a first-aid treatise. It is a leaf—several in fact—from the book of experience, relating not to the engineering problems of the automobile, but to the things which the engineer overlooked or could not solve, and which the ingenuity of men who lay no claim to the title of engineer, has enabled them to learn so that they may take a bucking auto and make it feed out of their hands and stand without hitching.

One of the first essentials of an automobile is that it shall go, and that no amount of perversity shall prevent the owner from “driving it back home under its own power.” Anyone may be towed in, if there is a horse or another automobile handy; the wise owner will prepare himself to avoid this. Except for serious breaks of parts, or forgetfulness which permits oil or gas supply to run out, there is seldom reason why the average owner should not “get out and get under” to find out what the trouble is and, having found it, to remove the cause and start the engine. It usually should take only a few minutes. System in locating trouble and knowledge of what to do to remove the trouble are within the compass of all; if there also reside within the individual a few grains of common sense, his problem is simplified, his troubles are lightened.

Let it be said also that this book does not in any way pretend to supersede an automobile school for the owner who desires to make all his ordinary repairs, and do more puttering about the car than the average owner cares for. All owners would save the cost of instruction many times over and repay the lost time by taking a course of instruction in a reputable school. Many Y.M.C.A. branches all over the land have well equipped schools, and there are many others in the cities; there are also many where time spent would be wasted. There are several in one of our large cities where the expense is very small, but it is dear at any price. The “course” consists largely in putting the student to work in a garage as an apprentice, where his instruction is confined to verbal orders of how to repair a car which comes in. In time, of course, the student comes across a large variety of troubles, depending upon the character of the garage trade. Meanwhile the garage-auto-school proprietor permits the student to pay for the privilege of doing the repair work at the institution. No wonder the course is advertised as unlimited!

It should be understood that this book does not pretend to tell all the troubles attaching to automobiles and how to end them; but it covers the general run of difficulties experienced on the road and a close study of its pages and an application of its advice will make an owner who has the least mechanical genius independent of the garage man, with his delay and extravagant charges; at least it will enable him to get to the home garage in most cases, where repairs may be effected with a minimum of expense and annoyance.

Upon this basis and with this understanding, the automobile owner may safely pin his faith to what follows and plunge at once into its depths without fear.

H. C. B.
C. A. S.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Putnam’s Automobile Handbook
CHAPTER I
WHAT TO DO UPON PURCHASING A CAR

The man who buys a car will receive from the salesman a certain amount of instruction as to running it. He will be taught how to manipulate the pedals and levers, switches and other devices of the equipment and, if necessary, how to run the car. He will be given, also, certain books of instructions.

It is presumable that almost any man will remember enough of the salesman’s patter to enable him to get home with the car, and that some bits of memory as to the instruction books will remain. But will the owner get out those books and go to school awhile with them? Not if he is the average owner. Probably he looks upon them as mere catalogues for ordering repair parts—well enough when needed. Do not make that mistake. There is no other book printed, no matter how complete, which supersedes or which can be substituted for the manufacturer’s book concerning his own car. It was not printed just to consume paper and ink; the manufacturer had no idea you would cut out the pictures and paste them about the garage. He and his assistants spent a large amount of time and a larger amount of gray matter in preparing those books so that you, Mr. Owner, would know how your car is built, what it ought to do, and why it won’t unless you do certain things. The books contain in a small compass practically everything about your particular car. The owner should master the contents first of all. Nothing can take its place.

If the owner has not read the instructions, lay down this volume right now, go to the garage, and get the books and read them over. If you haven’t read them they are still in the car. The manufacturer made certain that the owner could not claim the books were not received, by tacking them fast under the seat or elsewhere so that they could not get away and so that a forgetful salesman would not overlook this important matter. Get them out and lay the basis of what is to follow.

Doubtless the owner will find that the manufacturer has, for instance, given certain instructions concerning lubrication, perhaps has specified certain kinds of lubricants. Now, no matter how much you may know about the subject of lubrication, rest assured that the manufacturer has had an engineer study out the lubrication of his car and what he writes concerning it is the last word and it should be followed implicitly. All that is contained in these pages upon the subject of lubrication is explanatory and corrective and in no way can take the place of the manufacturer’s advice for the particular car.

The same thing is true as to tires, or brakes, or steering gear, or any other part of the mechanism. Read his book first and then turn to the appropriate chapter here and you will find no divergence, only interpretation, clarification, supplementary advice.

Probably it would be well to remind the owner that nine-tenths of the complaints which reach the manufacturer or his service stations, show that the owners making the “holler” confess that they had not read the books given them with the car. It has become such a serious thing that at least one manufacturer has started schools for purchasers of the make, where, at a nominal compensation, they may be made to read the instructions and be given a visualization of what they mean. All owners cannot visit the centers where such schools are maintained, and all manufacturers do not maintain them now, though it may be necessary in the near future. The fact that it is necessary, however, should leave the impress upon the reader’s mind of the importance of the subject.

The owner, whether he possess a “flivver,” or an edition de luxe, has about as much money tied up in his car as he feels he can devote to that form of pleasure or to business. It is an investment which will, or will not, bring commensurate returns in money, or moments, well spent; it can be made an indispensable aid to both business and pleasure, or it may become an unsufferable nuisance in either. The value of a car depends not upon the amount of the purchase price, but upon what can be gotten out of it: its service, its dependability and general reliability; that and the low cost of upkeep and operation.

Would it not seem reasonable, therefore, for the owner to give as much thought and study to the machine which propels him and his merchandise as to the machine in the factory which produces the merchandise; ought he not to understand how and why and wherefore it propels him—or why not?

Few men there be who would consign their bodies to the mercy of wind and waves if they did not believe that a competent captain and engineer were aboard the craft, or to a railway train were there not an engineer and conductor at hand to look to his safety. Why should he place himself and loved ones in a motor car and start off on a trip with an uncertain hand at the steering wheel, with no one aboard competent to rule the engine, or to know if all other parts of the mechanism are properly adjusted, when a maladjustment may mean danger and even death?

One would not waste sympathy upon the owner himself in case of an accident through ignorance, but the fate of others in his keeping prompts the sounding of a warning.

Years ago traveling sign painters decorated trees and rail fences and barns along the railways with injunctions of a religious nature, such as “Prepare to Meet Thy God.” The last time the writer was back “at the farm” this identical message confronted him from a big rock alongside the railway crossing, as it did thirty or more years ago. Only this time it seemed appropriate, for there was more recklessness shown than one cares to witness regularly—it is too nerve-racking.

When one considers that a defective brake, a worn-through steering knuckle, or any one of a number of broken parts—broken because neglected—may be the particular weapon selected by the fool-killer, the owner who cares for his bones, or for the lives of his passengers, would better spend a few hours occasionally in looking after his car and in finding out all that is possible about it.

Even though the owner can afford a chauffeur who “knows all about an auto,” it is noticeable that chauffeurs have a way of forgetting, that they loaf on the job shamefully, that they conspire with the supply dealer to run the cost of upkeep to skyline altitudes, and are little more immune from road troubles than the common or garden variety of owner. The owner who knows can detect all these lapses from strict rectitude, to the comfort of his person and the safety of his bank balance.

So, now, having turned to the manufacturer’s books of instructions and pondered over the warnings here given, the reader may safely pass on to the chapters dealing with the beast he is called upon to tame.

CHAPTER II
SOME THINGS TO AVOID

When a certain character of history, long touted as “the wisest guy ever,” uttered his famous “Wisdom crieth aloud in the street,” and along with it, “Fools hate knowledge,” he must have had a vision of the present day, when there is so much and so little known about the chief mode of transportation, the automobile; so much by those who really have studied its mechanical principles, and so little by those who are running them about the highways. Yet in this day of automobile schools and service stations there is no need of a single individual being ignorant, nor of his coming under the condemnation of the same wise one: “The careless ease of fools shall destroy them.”

Give me an individual of average intelligence in overalls and jumper and a mind devoid of the “I know it” error and 99.99 per cent. of such can be taught to “make the auto auto as it really ought to auto.” The chief obstacle is the half knowledge—half error—which some possess.

Josh Billings once said: “I’d rather not know so much than know a lot that is not so.” The reader will get the idea.

One of the hardest things for the average man to learn is not to do useless things. Over and over folks will do things contrary to all rules and instructions and make extra work for themselves. In a school it is a good thing, perhaps, for it enables the instructor to point out the futility of going at the thing wrong end first. There was one class at the West Side Y.M.C.A. school particularly stupid in this respect. They were set to locating engine troubles, forgot all about the rules and took turns cranking the engine, expecting in that way to find out why the engine would not run. The instructor, looking into the classroom, found how things were going. All but one student were intent upon turning over the engine; that one man stood in one corner grinning, apparently having a good time with himself. The instructor in feigned amazement called out to him:

“Here, why are you not cranking the engine, too?”

With a grin perfectly idiotic the fellow drawled out:

“What’s the use of cranking if she ain’t goin’ to run?”

The reader can figure out for himself the relative degrees of idiocy or stupidity in that class. The instructor quickly set them to work by rule and they all knew in a few minutes that troubles are not located by cranking alone. The reader who will give careful attention to the instructions herein contained, and who will follow closely the rules, will not be cranking the engine when he should be cleaning a spark plug, or adjusting the carburetor, or mending a broken wire. He will learn that there is a sequence in every little job about the auto which tends to lessen the labor and to produce the best result, just as there is in keeping a set of books, or in running a farm.

The carpenter who does his work without plans usually is dubbed a “wood butcher.” The inference is that the man who would care for his automobile should learn to do it in a systematic way, according to rule, doing everything always the same way and in the same order. Thus the labor becomes a habit and is performed quickly and easily. At the same time habit must not be allowed to become a rut; the owner must preserve originality and initiative, and native ingenuity is invaluable.

Particularly it is wise to avoid the idea that at the first sign of something wrong one knows just what the trouble is. Probably no one thing has caused more unnecessary work and unnecessary expletive than jumping at a conclusion. Have a rule and go by it. Under the chapter relating to troubles there will be found a rule for locating them. It does not matter so much where one starts if it is followed through when started. Experience will lead one in time to select the starting point, either under the heading ignition, or gasoline, or other heading, the symptoms indicating generally to the experienced ear what is the matter; but there is so much chance of error in this guess that the rule must be remembered and closely followed.

It takes three things to start a gas engine running: gasoline in the proper mixture, compression, and ignition. To keep it running we must add a lubricating and a cooling system. There must also be free exhaust for burned gases. While there are many phases of each, it is necessary for the owner to get these things fixed in his, mind first. Everything else is extraneous.

There is something else to avoid. Avoid giving offense to the policeman on the street, and avoid running away if you have had an accident or are hailed by the traffic man. It does not pay, and will make added trouble, unless you are as fortunate in explanations as was a fellow who was caught by the officer in front of the Automobile School. He had hit someone and instead of stopping as the law provided, he gave a hasty look, saw no policeman, and shot ahead, turning the next corner. He dodged in and out of several streets, not seeing the motorcycle policeman chasing him. When caught and stopped he was asked why he was running away.

“Me running away?” he asked. “I was not running away, I was just trying to find a cop to report the accident.”

It worked that time, but it is not safe to trust the expedient under other circumstances.

CHAPTER III
WHAT AN AUTOMOBILE IS

It matters not whether one call it an automobile, a tin lizzie, a gas wagon, or what not, it consists of a steel frame upon which are mounted wheels, an engine, appliances for connecting the engine to the driving wheels, a fuel supply tank, a system for producing ignition at the right moment, and appliances for regulating the speed of the engine and the direction of the car. A seat for the driver and sundry pedals and levers are needed to accomplish speed and steering control, and sundry other parts have their place, but the above covers in a general way the necessities of an automobile.

An automobile, as the name suggests, is a car which contains its own propelling force and to which it is not necessary to hitch a horse, or steam engine, or something else to make it go. This in spite of the fact that occasionally it is necessary to hitch something else to an auto to make it go.

The assembly, generally speaking, consists of the chassis, corresponding to the running gear of a wagon; the engine, mounted on the chassis; and the body.

The chassis usually is made of angle iron riveted together in form convenient for supporting the other parts. This rests upon the springs which take up the road shocks in part, and the springs rest upon the axles.

The rear axles—there is a separate axle for each rear wheel—are fixed, that is, they keep the wheels from oscillating, and they are joined in the center by the differential, a device driving the axle shafts by which one wheel is permitted to revolve at a differing speed as compared with the other, in turning a corner. Since, in turning, the outer wheel must travel a much longer distance than the inside wheel, if no device were installed to take up this difference, the outer wheel would scrape over the ground on every curve, or the inner wheel would spin without forward motion. In either event it would be disastrous to tires.

To keep the differential housing from twisting, a torque rod or tube connects it to the frame; to keep the rear axles at right angles to the frame and to transmit the driving thrust to the load, radius rods connect the axles to the frame forward.

The forward axle, unlike in an ordinary wagon, is fastened to the chassis frame, through springs, and does not turn. On either end is a yoke from which is suspended a steering knuckle, the wheel turning on a tapered spindle forged with the knuckle. The two knuckles are fastened together by a tie rod, which has some form of a turn buckle by which the wheels may be made to run parallel, or practically so. As a matter of fact the wheels are not parallel. They foregather slightly, so that the lines, projected forward far enough, would meet and make a pointed effect, like the bow of a boat. Its effect is to bring a slight but constant pressure upon both wheels and makes them less likely to swerve through contact with road unevenness. Also the wheels undergather, so that the load is brought over the center of knuckle support, minimizing the strain.

This deviation of the wheels from true produces a very slight wear on the tires, but it is more than compensated for by the other advantages noted. The deviation is worked out scientifically and the owner need not trouble himself about it. His only concern is that the tie rod be not bent so that the foregather is increased, when there would be excess wear of tires.

Courtesy of Allen Motor Co.

CHASSIS OF A MODERN AUTOMOBILE WITH FOUR-CYLINDER ENGINE

The brake drums are attached to the rear wheels and have inside and outside bands with mechanism to tighten them against the drum providing the necessary friction. The levers which connect the bands to the brake pedal or emergency lever are termed the brake linkage.

The motor, or engine, rests upon the chassis frame forward, being fastened thereto by bolts. Forward of it is a radiator, if it is a water-cooled motor, to which it is connected by pipes; the cooling system may be either pump or thermo-syphon type. Some few motors are air-cooled. The principle of cooling is that the motor should be kept just cool enough to prevent the lubricating oil from burning off the cylinder walls.

Attached to the motor are the carburetor, in which air and gasoline are mixed properly for rapid combustion, wires to supply ignition to the mixture at the proper time, a device for giving lubrication, and exhaust pipes leading to the muffler, the latter designed to stifle the noise of rapid explosions, which otherwise would be deafening.

The ignition system may be either battery and coil, or high-tension magneto which has its own coil and distributor, or a combination of both these systems. Where there is a self-starter there is a storage battery, which supplies current to the starting motor, and from which the ignition current is drawn, and a generator to keep the battery charged, and the generator may be provided with a circuit breaker and distributor, or a separate magneto or coil may be used.

The lubricating device may either be a gravity or force-feed oiler system with pipes leading to the various bearings, or the chief lubrication may be by the splash system, where a reservoir of oil is kept under the crank case from which it is pumped to oil pans under the cranks, being splashed by projections which dip into the oil and throw it all over the inside mechanism.

Also attached to the carburetor is the pipe from the fuel supply tank. This supply may come by gravity or under pressure, and a late device which is furnished with many cars is a vacuum gravity system, the gasoline being drawn from the main tank, by a vacuum created in the intake manifold, into a small container attached under the hood, whence it flows by gravity to the carburetor, maintaining a uniform supply.

The motor consists of one or more cylinders, inside of each being a piston which fits tight, the escape of gas being further prevented by piston rings which seal the cylinder with the aid of the lubricating oil. The pistons are attached to a connecting rod by a wrist pin, the connecting rod being attached at the other end to the crank which rests in bearings. The action of the engine is that by drawing down the piston a vacuum is created in the upper part of the cylinder called the combustion chamber. At the right moment an inlet valve is opened and a charge of gas and air, called mixture, is sucked in. The valve closes and the piston rising compresses the charge. When the piston reaches its highest point a spark is introduced through spark plug or igniter. This fires the mixture, bringing a rapid expansion, and this drives the piston downward, producing force. This revolves the crank shaft, which turns the force into rotary motion. This operation repeated rapidly furnishes the motion which drives the car. The fly wheel carries the crank over the strokes which do not produce power.

There are four strokes to each motor cycle. The first, which takes in the mixture, is called the suction stroke; the next is the compression stroke, the third is the power stroke, and the last is the exhaust stroke when the burned gases are expelled from the combustion chamber. These four strokes take two complete revolutions of the crank shaft, so that the four cycle is really two circles.

Power having been created and turned into motion, the next step is to connect it to the propelling or drive wheels. The first device for controlling the power is the clutch, which provides means of applying or cutting off the power or motion quickly without stopping the engine. This is done by friction in some form. The most common are the cone clutch, where male and female cones are engaged by pressure, the friction transmitting the power to the driving shaft; and the multiple disc clutch, where numerous thin discs of metal or metal and textile material are compressed together by a lever and transmit the power.

To provide for varying speeds and for reversing, also extra power to the rear wheels for hill climbing, sandy roads, etc., gears are necessary. In a general way this is a set of cog wheels of varying sizes, so arranged on parallel shafts that by engaging different size gears on the shafts a certain speed will be transmitted, other gear sets producing another speed or a reverse motion. The diagram in Chapter XXI. shows the usual form of construction. Three speeds and reverse usually are provided, though some cars have four speeds. These gear sets are engaged successively until the desired speed is reached.

From the gear case the power is transmitted by the drive shaft, which has one or two universal joints to take up any misalignment and to enable installing the engine level and yet transmit the power to the driving axles, through the differential, at another level or angle, or at varying angles due to spring action.

Upon each of the wheels is a tire consisting of a rubber and fabric casing, enclosing a soft rubber tube with a valve by which it may be inflated. The purpose of the tires is to absorb road shocks and make riding easy, as well as to keep the car from jolting to pieces. The tires are of varying composition and form and are attached to the rims in differing ways. Many auto trucks use solid rubber tires.

Without going into detail, the foregoing gives the makeup of the car and the simple principles of its operation. To control the car requires various other parts. The first is the steering wheel and its mechanism. The wheel is mounted on a shaft running within a tube, and to the lower end of this shaft is a worm controlling a gear, and by levers and ball joints operating the steering knuckle on one of the front wheels, the other being operated simultaneously by the tie rod connection. On the steering wheel or steering column are mounted the spark-timing lever and the throttle lever. The spark lever regulates the time of the spark within the combustion chamber and the throttle the amount of mixture admitted to the combustion chamber.

At the feet of the driver are the pedal for engaging the clutch, that for applying the brake, and the accelerator pedal, which operates the throttle as well as the lever before mentioned. The throttle lever on the steering column is for the regular running adjustment, while the accelerator pedal is for temporary increase of the mixture in starting or in speeding up. There may also be a pedal for the self-starter, though the switch often is upon the dash. On the Ford and some other cars the gear shift is controlled by pedals, but usually the shift is made by a lever placed convenient to the right hand of the driver. With it is installed also the emergency brake lever, which is used for locking the car when standing and for alternating with the foot brake on long hills.

On the dashboard may be mounted the ignition and lighting switch, the speedometer, sight oil feed, and sundry other dials and switches, depending upon the fastidiousness of the owner. Where there is a self-starter there is a charge and discharge dial, the ammeter, which tells whether the generator is working, and how.

CHAPTER IV
WHAT MAKES THE ENGINE GO

As has been stated on a previous page, it takes three things to start an engine and three more to keep it going. The first three essentials are a proper mixture of gasoline and air, ignition at the right moment, and compression.

Gasoline will continue to burn after ignition, but, contrary to the common idea, it will not explode unless confined, and not even then unless it has vaporized and the vapor is mixed with air. It takes about two hundred cubic feet of air to a pint of gasoline vaporized to produce good combustion, though the air supply is usually much more than this to insure carrying off the unburned nitrogen from the air. For starting and speeding up, more gasoline is admitted to the vaporizing chamber as the rich mixture ignites more quickly, but for running, a leaner mixture produces better results.

But whatever the mixture which is burned, there would be little or no power produced if the mixture were not confined under pressure. It is, of course, a fact that a tank filled with gasoline vapor and air will explode with great force if ignited, though there be only the ordinary atmospheric pressure upon the tank. But it must be remembered that if the pressure were sixty or seventy pounds to the square inch the explosion would destroy everything in the vicinity. Taking advantage of this fact the designers of the gasoline engine provided for compressing the gas before ignition, to produce the greatest amount of power for driving the car. Valves are provided which admit the charge of mixture to the combustion chamber, closing tight after the charge is received. Then the piston rises, compressing the contents of the combustion chamber until a pressure of between forty and seventy-five pounds per square inch is reached. It is upon the principle of the muzzle-loading rifle or shotgun, or in blasting, where the charge is tamped down, or confined by wads, and the exploding powder is held until the pressure sends the bullet on its errand, or rends the rock.

Just as the piston reaches the highest point, and the compression is at the maximum, a spark is introduced into the combustion chamber. Under the pressure the gases burn much more rapidly and the explosive force is greater. The gas does not burn instantaneously, however. It takes a distinct interval of time for all the gas mixture to ignite; for this reason, when the engine is running under its own power, the spark comes just before the time of greatest pressure, and before the piston reaches top center, so that by the time the piston starts the downward stroke the highest efficiency of power will have been reached. For this reason the spark-timing control lever is advanced after the engine is started to give the best results. But the engine is always cranked with the spark fully retarded.

The carburetor, meanwhile, has been called upon to send into the combustion chamber through the intake manifold and intake valves a charge of gas mixture; the quantity is regulated by the throttle. For starting, a lever is manipulated which depresses the float in the fuel chamber of the carburetor, permitting an extra supply to be drawn into the mixing chamber, thus making the mixture richer and more readily fired. When the engine has started running, the throttle is closed to a point where the motor does not race. The correct running position is given by the manufacturer and experience will soon determine where the best results are obtained.

The ignition system must deliver to the combustion chamber at the right instant a spark of sufficient intensity to fire the charge. Whether the electric current is obtained from battery or magneto, it must be hot enough to do its work and there must be a timing device which will send the spark into each cylinder when it is needed. These come in several forms and are described in detail in the manufacturer’s instruction books, in connection with the ignition and wiring diagrams.

The compression is maintained when the piston rings and grooves are free from gummed oil or carbon and move freely; when the cylinder walls are not worn oval by a slapping piston, or creased by carbon, and when a film of lubricating oil is constant on the side walls and when valves are properly seated. Loss of compression means loss of power and the cylinders should be tested every little while to make sure that no cylinder is failing to do its duty. More will be said concerning this later, as well as of minor things which may affect the compression.

As has been mentioned, to keep the engine running for any length of time there must be a cooling system, a system of lubrication, and a free exhaust. Once the owner comprehends the simplicity of gas-engine operation, he can begin to trace each part of the operation, learning all there is to know concerning the several steps in his own motor, and absorbing the specific knowledge which will enable him to care for his car efficiently and economically.

CHAPTER V
EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES

With every car are furnished all the things required for operation, including lamps, tire pump, jack, tire-repair kit, a variety of wrenches to fit all nuts and bolts, oil can, set of spark plugs and generally an extra one; hammer, screw driver, cold chisel, magneto-adjusting wrench, and some other things, varying with the car.

There are any number of additions which may be made in the way of tools, or of devices which some motorists deem desirable. Some of these things are a speedometer, a clock, trouble lamp attachable to a socket on the dash, a mirror to enable the driver to see what is going on back of him (compulsory in New Jersey and some other States), cigar lighters, foot warmers, and elaborate lights for the limousine. The owner is cautioned, however, against loading up his battery with a lot of electrical devices which use up current very fast. Not so as to tools; one may err in having too few rather than too many.

While it is true that a woman with a hairpin and a piece of string can fix almost anything under the sun, the autoist would better not trust to his wife’s ingenuity, but be a little better prepared for the emergencies of the road. It does not do any good to know what the matter is when the car balks unless one has the tools and material to do the necessary repair work or adjustment.

Every new car is equipped with certain tools, but some owners have no interest in these tools and lose most of them in a short time, so that when needed they are missing, while other owners add sufficient tools to equip a good-sized machine shop.

A wise selection of tools for the car will provide everything at all likely to be needed on tour, and yet capable of being packed in such a compact space that it does not become an annoyance through the room occupied, nor weigh down the car. The special tools furnished should be preserved with great care, because nothing else fills the bill quite so well. To these might be added some few tools and parts not needed often, but when they are, their absence is a source of delay and is temper-provoking.

Recently the author was asked to go about fifty miles into the country to bring in a machine which had refused to run and had been stored in a barn over night. He found that the interrupter points had become glazed so that no spark was being procured. A special file is manufactured for the particular purpose of cleaning off these points. As one of these was not in the car, it was necessary to disassemble the spark timer completely, take out the points, and then find a piece of flat hard stone upon which the points could be cleaned. This did the work all right, but much time could have been saved if the interrupter point file had been carried in the car.

Likewise no wrench was available for adjusting the points and it was necessary to go to a nearby blacksmith shop and saw out a temporary wrench for the purpose. Word has come from France to the National War Work Council of the Y. M. C. A. that one of their supply cars serving the huts in the trenches was laid up nine days for the lack of a small magneto wrench.

Many an owner has had the experience of being caught out on the road by a storm and having to put on non-skid chains. How often have they found that, though these chains were in good condition when leaving the garage and when they were put on, after running awhile over rough roads at a fair speed, some of the links wore through and began to thrash against the mud guards. This is not only annoying, but often does real damage to the guards. Most owners have stopped more than once to wire the loose ends to the side chains to stop the banging, and it certainly would be more satisfactory to carry a supply of links and a chain tool so that the broken ends could be removed and new links inserted.

Of course, the loose ends can be pried off with a screw driver and new links pounded fast with a hammer, but you will have to remove the chain to do it and it takes time, and much exasperation can be saved by using the proper tool.

A folding pail is very useful, especially when one has to go up very long hills and finds that the water in the radiator has boiled away. The cooling systems for automobile engines to-day are very efficient and it is only in exceptional cases that the water will boil out of the radiator, and that is just the reason why an occurrence of that sort is disastrous, because one is not expecting it and is not prepared for it.

In sandy country and on dirt roads one often will have occasion to jack up a wheel to change a tire, and will find that the jack sinks into the loose sand or dust instead of lifting the car. A block of wood an inch thick and about six inches wide and a foot long will be found a big help under such circumstances. Many drivers also have had to use a fence rail to jack up a car because some one borrowed the jack from the car and neglected to return it. Even though tire trouble is not expected, it is well to make sure there is a jack in the car and also a handle for the jack. The jack is more often found than the handle.

Working about an automobile means a lot of grease and grime on the hands, and possibly oil or grease upon parts of the car, so that it is well to carry a small bag of waste or rags. If the grease or dirt prove obstinate, a little gasoline, drawn from the drain cock at the bottom of the carburetor, will cut it and enable you to clean the hands fairly well.

It is a good idea to have a three-in-one or similar tire-valve tool with which it is possible to remove the valve plunger, cut threads in the valve stem so that the plunger may be properly seated, and cut threads on the outside of the stem so that the cap will screw down tight. In some cases where the valve stem is battered in changing a tire, air cannot be gotten into the tire if these threads are damaged.

Many persons object to carrying a tow rope for fear it will be understood that they have doubts of their ability to get home under their own power; but in addition to affording a connection to some other source of power, a tow rope may be used to help a brother in distress and is superior to chains in very sandy or muddy places, when wrapped about the tire.

An extra set of electric-light bulbs may save considerable trouble and annoyance, because the traffic policemen to-day will accept no excuse when at least one light is not burning.

If you do not take your wife’s first-aid kit—the shoestring and hairpin—you had better be provided with a spool of soft iron wire, the ordinary stovepipe wire. It is wonderful how many little temporary repair jobs may be done with its aid. Some drivers like to have a small hank of strong twine also.

There are many other things which might be added to the list of useful things to have along for emergency, all of which may be stowed in the tool box or under a seat. They may not be needed once a year—perhaps never—but like the insurance policy, when you do need a tool you need it pretty badly.

CHAPTER VI
IF WELL “SLICKED” THE ENGINE RUNS

If we scuff our feet on the bare pavement we wear out our shoes, develop a lot of heat, and notice considerable resistance; but if we step on a banana peel, a piece of ice, or a patch of oil or grease, our passage is facilitated, and our feet are likely to slide out from under us and we sit down with little effort. Now this is just like the auto engine. If the parts were all made perfect and fitted together properly and the engine started without lubrication, there would be so much friction that the parts would very quickly wear out.

As a matter of fact an engine could be wrecked in less than half an hour’s running, unless there were something introduced to prevent friction.

The lubrication of the modern auto engine is so simple that most owners do not realize its importance. It is the things which normally take care of themselves that are most likely to be neglected; the things about which we know the least, when they do go wrong, cause the greatest damage, not the things with which we have become familiar through frequent tinkering.

The instruction books issued by the manufacturers say to inspect the oil reservoir of the engine each time before leaving the garage to see if the required amount of oil is there; and this inspection should not be neglected; with most owners it is “by guess and begorry.”

The most usual scheme of engine lubrication used to-day is to carry a certain amount of oil in a compartment in the bottom of the crank case, called the sump. There is a pump which operates whenever the engine is running and which pumps the oil to some sort of an indicator on the dash, so that the driver can see if it is circulating. From this point it flows by gravity to the splash pans located under the connecting rods, and above the sump. Here the oil is held at such a level that when the crank shaft revolves the ends of the connecting rods dip into the oil and splash it over practically all the working parts of the engine. This splashing and agitation of the oil creates a fog of oil in the crank case, and the rapid motion of the piston and other parts circulates the vaporized oil over the moving members, so that a film of oil is deposited even on those parts where the splash itself does not reach.

Courtesy of Tide Water Oil Co.

SECTIONAL VIEWS OF A FOUR-CYLINDER ENGINE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PARTS CONNECTED WITH LUBRICATION

The pump circulates more oil than is used and the splash pans are arranged with overflow openings so that the excess simply drops back into the sump and again is passed through the system by the pump.

It is this oil which enables the engine to move without friction. It is the effect of the banana peel under your heel in that it makes the parts slip over each other easily. In addition to this the oil between the piston and the cylinder wall makes a seal which prevents gas from leaking by on compression and explosion strokes. If too much oil is fed a great deal will be drawn past the piston on the suction stroke and get in the cylinder where it will burn, forming carbon and giving out smoke from the exhaust.

In this type of system the principal causes of trouble are too much oil in the sump, so that the level reaches above the splash pans, and projections upon the connecting rods that are so large that too much oil is splashed when the level is normal. In the latter case the trouble often may be remedied by narrowing the projections of the connecting rod which dip into the oil. It is not wise to shorten these projections, because it is very difficult to get an even graduation that will insure sufficient oil without giving too much.

If the oil should run out while the car is in use, the engine will get stiff, lose its power, and the friction of the unlubricated parts will generate sufficient heat to melt out the lining of the bearings, and if the engine runs for any length of time in this condition it may be wrecked beyond repair.

This means that although the oiling system needs very little or no attention, it should be inspected each time before leaving the garage and on the road occasionally if long trips are taken, to make sure that oil is present in sufficient quantity and is circulating.

Oil in a sense does wear out and in this sort of a system it should be replaced with new oil occasionally. Some of it will work up past the piston and be burned up and some will work out around the different parts of the engine and be lost, but most of it will remain in the sump longer than it is advisable to use it. All of the gasoline that is taken into the cylinder is usually not consumed. Some of it is forced past the piston on the compression stroke into the crank case, where it condenses and mixes with the oil. This thins the oil sometimes to a point where it has little or no lubricating value. Also the oil on the inside of the piston head burns and drops down into the crank case, and there is some wear of the moving parts which causes a deposit of metal in the oil. These things, together with the small amount of road dust sucked in through the breather pipe, make the oil in a short time unfit for use.

In this circulating splash system, where the oil is used over and over again, the oil should be drained out entirely about every 1000 miles, more or less, depending upon the grade of the oil and fit of the piston. The following things all enter into the lubricating value of the oil after 1000 miles’ performance:

Grade of the oil
Fit of the pistons
Temperature at which the engine is run
Grade of the gasoline
Adjustment of the carburetor.

There are some other things, but the above are the chief factors. It would be well to acquire the habit of examining the oil every few days to determine just how it stands up in the particular engine.

After the oil is drained out, a half gallon or so of kerosene should be poured into the sump and the engine run for about one minute or less, the idea being to get a complete circulation of kerosene through the lubricating system. The kerosene should then be drained off and the splash pans under the connecting rods be wiped out if possible. The screen of the oil pump also should be removed and washed carefully in kerosene and replaced. Then the sump should be filled to the proper level with fresh oil.

Aside from getting under the car to remove the drain plug, this is not a dirty job. Still one would better put on old clothes and overalls to prevent the possibility of getting grease on a perfectly good suit.

While oil is expensive, it is poor economy to use it beyond its useful stage, because damage may be done to the machinery which will cost much more than a year’s supply of good oil.

CHAPTER VII
WHERE LUBRICATION IS NEGLECTED

In some of the minor and oftentimes hidden parts of an automobile are found frequent sources of trouble. There are places to be lubricated of which many an auto owner has no knowledge. They wear slowly but constantly, and unless given proper attention will erelong give trouble.

There are a number of these lesser bearings which tell the expert whether the car has had proper care. In fact, in looking over a used car the man who knows naturally turns to these first to find out how well the car has been taken care of. Experience shows that even where other parts show normal, or practically no wear, these lesser bearings show absolute neglect, and these are “the little foxes that spoil the vineyards” in the auto world.

Practically every owner will fill up the oiler to insure engine lubrication, because that is a regular task; most men will remember to keep oil in the transmission case and the differential housing; probably a lesser number will put grease in the wheel bearings when needed. As the latter is not required very often, it is frequently forgotten.

What are the neglected parts? Well, when the expert looks into the condition of a car, one of the first places he inspects for wear is at the steering knuckles. One must realize that they are under a pretty heavy load, and that, while the motion is not great, there is a continual motion there, even when the car is driving straight ahead. Very few have learned that it needs a constant supply of good, heavy grease to prevent wear at this point. It is worth while to screw down on the grease cups on the steering knuckles every time oil is put in the engine. When the grease cup is screwed down so that it cannot be turned further, it should be filled immediately. There should be enough grease there to keep forcing it out, so that grit cannot get into the bearing.

Underneath the floor boards there are a number of parts which need attention, but being out of sight they are often out of mind. They are a little inconvenient to get at, also. Under there we have the universal joint. This is another joint in which the motion is not great, but the load is heavy and continuous. That is the next place that usually shows hard wear. There are one or two modern designs which have housings covering this joint which may be filled with heavy oil and it then takes care of itself for a month. It should be inspected and the oil replaced once a month.

Certain universal joints, not generally used, however, are supplied with grease cups, which need attention every time the car is used, just as much as the oiler in the engine.

Also underneath the floor boards are the levers and arms used for controlling the clutch and brake, the self-starter and the accelerator. All have bearings, used occasionally, but enough so that they should be kept lubricated or they will wear. This is especially true of the clutch and brake linkage, particularly in city running, where the clutch and brake are in constant use. Usually this linkage has no means of lubrication other than oil holes, into which a drop or two of oil only may be placed. Naturally it will not last long and oil should be dropped in the holes at least once a week.

This is also true of the brake linkage on the rear axle. Often at that point no provision whatever is made for oiling. It is simply a matter of flowing oil around the joint and letting it work in. If the brake linkage wears and weakens and it becomes necessary to apply the brake with extra force in an emergency, it will give way.

The spring shackle bolts usually are equipped with grease cups and they do not suffer quite as much as other points, but often the passages become clogged and one may screw down on the cup and only force the grease out of the thread of the cup, instead of into the bearing, for the grease-cup cap fits loosely upon the thread.

Many cars come from the factory with the grease holes clogged with enamel, or hardened grease, so that no great amount of grease could be forced through in turning down the cap. Cars are allowed to run so long sometimes in this condition that the shackles have worn through, allowing the body to drop down on the axle.

Very often complaint is made that a new car will develop a squeak very soon after it is tried out—an elusive sort of a squeak that seems to be first one place and then another. The owner who has this experience will probably find upon examination that the spring shackles have not been lubricated, either because the hole was clogged, or for some other reason. It is recommended that in such cases the car be jacked up and all the shackle pins be driven out and all the grease passages inspected and cleaned thoroughly; also that heavy grease be applied directly to the bolt when it is put back in place.

This will take a little time, but it pays, for it is a matter of experience that if the pins are not driven out and the holes opened up for inspection it will take a solid month to force the grease through by screwing down the grease cup, and until this passage is open there can be no lubrication of the joint.

Wheel bearings ought to run for six months if properly packed, but there is no way of telling when the bearing needs attention except by inspection and it is well to look them over regularly. When inspecting the rear-wheel bearings, if the construction is of the type where the wheel hub is keyed on to the shaft, it is well to inspect the key to determine whether it is tight. Out of four cars recently inspected three were found with a loose key.

There are two dangers when the key is loose. One is that the key way becomes rocked out of shape and the key cannot be fitted tight again. The other is that shaft and hub may become so worn that the taper is destroyed and a tight fit is made impossible, and of course the only remedy is to replace both. This condition will often account for a knocking or rattling, which will be felt throughout the car and the cause often be supposed to be located far from the real place. For instance, in one case the driver thought the knocking was in the gear case, until shown the loose hub.

The spring leaves need lubrication once a season. Tools are sold for separating the leaves enough to apply a lubricant made especially for that purpose.

Another part which shows hard wear quickly is the valve push-rod guide, especially in overhead valve construction the ones on the forward end of the motor. Dust blowing over the radiator collects on these forward guides and wears them rapidly. This condition is indicated usually when the crank case becomes covered with oil blown up from the loose joint. Modern designs have taken care of this to a large extent by enclosing the push rods in a casing, and many owners have put in housings themselves when they discovered the difficulty.

Overhead valves, worked by a rocker arm, must be lubricated every time the car is taken out. The lubrication is not included in the ordinary lubrication scheme of the engine, but must be done separately.

Careful attention to these minor points will result in greatly lengthened life for the car, and in a much higher value when it is traded in for another car. The man who buys a used car would better inspect closely along these lines if he desires to buy something better than a bunch of junk. The owner should not trust to his chauffeur the care of these parts, unless he has found out that the man knows of the importance of lubrication, nor should it be taken for granted that the garage man is attending to them. Make sure yourself is the best rule. It is well to remember that “many a mickle makes a muckle” in wearing of auto parts, and look after the little things.

CHAPTER VIII
SOMETIMES THE CAR SMOKES

The officer will get you if you don’t watch out, if you leave a trail of smoke behind you; then it will be:

“Good morning, Jedge, your Honor.”

“Guilty? Two dollars, please.”

“Cheap,” you say. Yes, if it were only the two dollars; but there is the time lost in appearing in court and then, really, you know, to make that smoke you were burning money.

Such smoke comes from two sources: Burning too much gasoline and using too much lubricating oil; usually the latter. Excessive use of gasoline comes from faulty carburetor adjustment, or poor design of carburetor or intake manifold, or keeping the engine cylinder at too low a temperature, because of the water being too cold in the cooling system.

In the latter case the carburetor may vaporize the gasoline properly, but it condenses in the cylinder and does not burn well and the part which is not consumed passes off as black smoke, which issues from the exhaust pipe.

We must have a certain amount of oxygen to consume the gasoline entirely. The size of the cylinder limits the amount of air (from which the oxygen is taken) which may be taken in and if the carburetor is adjusted to feed too much gasoline, there may not be enough oxygen present to consume it all. Practically speaking, what is not consumed forms carbon or smoke.

The obvious remedy is to adjust the carburetor so that no more gasoline will be fed to the engine than is required for running. In cold weather it is necessary, usually, to supply heat to the ingoing air at the mixing chamber of the carburetor, so that the vaporization will be complete.

A light blue smoke coming from the exhaust pipe indicates too much lubricating oil. This may be due to feeding too much oil or to running the engine a great deal with the throttle nearly closed. In order to draw a charge of gas into the cylinder the piston travels partly out of the cylinder and forms a vacuum. With the throttle wide open a high vacuum is not obtained because a large amount of gasoline and air is allowed to come in and fill the cylinder. When the engine is throttled down by closing the throttle, the air cannot enter in such a large quantity, and in consequence there is a decided vacuum in the cylinder on each intake stroke of the piston. This vacuum has a tendency to draw oil up past the piston into the combustion chamber, where it burns and forms smoke. This is why, when the machine is left at the curb with the engine running for any length of time, it will often be found to start away with clouds of smoke issuing from the exhaust.

In the same way, when the engine is running slowly, air passes through the carburetor so slowly that the gasoline is not broken up into very fine particles, consequently it does not fully vaporize and is very easily condensed. It forms liquid gasoline in the intake pipe or cylinder. This is called “loading up” and is responsible for black smoke when the machine is started.

One way of overcoming this is to supply a larger amount of heat than usual to the mixing chamber. Most carburetors are not designed to take care of this condition and the only remedy would be to stop the engine instead of allowing it to run while standing at the curb.

To overcome smoke from the oil which is drawn up past the piston, it is customary to have a groove turned in the piston under the lower piston ring, with five or six holes drilled in the groove through the piston. The piston ring then scrapes the oil from the cylinder wall into the groove and it is led back into the crank case through the piston walls. This prevents it from working up into the combustion chamber. Many manufacturers have this scheme on the very new models and repair men are using it on older models which were not turned out with it.

Sometimes the oil level will be found too high. This may be corrected often by lowering the oil troughs, or by filing off the dip on the bottom of the connecting rod so that it touches the oil with a narrowed surface.

In addition to the smoke resulting from too much gasoline or oil there is a large amount of carbon deposited in the cylinder which takes up space in the combustion chamber and raises the compression so high that pre-ignition occurs and the engine knocks. The car must then be taken to a repair shop to have the carbon burned or scraped out. This is expensive work and besides the car is laid up and one loses its use while the scraping is being done. The owner will see that he has been spending a lot of money to supply gasoline and oil that he didn’t need to use just to make smoke and carbon and expense and that he has lost from every point of view.

Smoke should not be confused with steam which issues from the exhaust pipe in cold weather. One of the products of combustion in the gas engine is water, a natural result of the breaking up of a hydro-carbon. This usually passes off at a high temperature as an invisible vapor. In cold weather it condenses immediately it strikes the air and is visible in the form that we call steam. Really it is a fog that we create. Therefore do not let the policeman summons you for having a smoking engine, when it is only steam issuing from the exhaust pipe. If he doesn’t know which it is you probably can convince him, by the color. If it is white it is steam, if it is black it is gasoline smoke, and if it is light blue it is the smoke from the lubricating oil. Therefore watch your exhaust for there are many eyes watching you just now in parks and city streets.

CHAPTER IX
THE CARBURETOR AND ITS FAILINGS

One of the frequent and most annoying troubles to which automobile engines are subject has to do with the carburetor. With one of the standard carburetors or vaporizers which is properly adjusted there should be, and usually is, no serious difficulty in ordinary conditions, but if there is one part of the engine which seems possessed to kick up its heels it is the carburetor. Particularly is this so in the frosty months, when the gasoline and air do not mix properly and do not vaporize when they do mix. This is of easy solution, however. Simply warm the intake a few minutes and it will take care of itself thereafter.

In these days of indifferent gasoline automobile drivers are complaining constantly that the carburetors are giving unusual troubles. The carburetor is the lungs of the engine. Well, did you ever breathe in a crumb of cake and then for a while have all your faculties suspend operation while the lungs sought to expel the intruding substance? That is just what happens when you get a crumb of something in the needle valve, or in the intake valve of the vaporizer. One little, good-for-nothing, insignificant speck of dirt, so small as to be almost invisible, will put the best carburetor literally out of business, and the only thing to do is to remove the speck.

There are several good makes of gasoline strainers which reduce this trouble to a minimum, provided one will drain off the strainer occasionally to let the dirt run off. Straining the gasoline supply through wire gauze or chamois does not obviate the difficulty, for gasoline tanks are prone to acquire a slight sediment.

A few drops of water in the gasoline which reaches the carburetor will make trouble likewise, for it will not vaporize, and, what is more, it will not let anything else vaporize. Probably no one is trying to dilute the gasoline with water and sell you such a mixture, but there are some mighty careless men in the gasoline trade. It reminds one of the farmer caught selling watered milk, who pleaded that there was a pump in the milking yard and some of his men must be careless in passing by it. The chamois skin will remove this impediment, for water will not pass through it.

Another trouble which afflicts motor-boat engines more than the automobile motor has to do with the weather. The motor-boat carburetor requires frequent adjustment, due to changes of the weather. On a dry, warm day the gasoline vaporizes easily and the maximum charge is readily exploded in the cylinder, giving a maximum of power. On a wet, cold, heavy day, one must slightly decrease the supply, or the cylinders will clog, the engine will knock, and one will think harsh things if they are not audibly expressed. The automobile engine, not being so constantly over the water, will not have this trouble so much, but it is probable that most drivers fail to take this into consideration and perhaps do not know that it is a cause of trouble.

A very slight leak in the intake manifold gaskets likewise makes all sorts of trouble, since the supply of mixture to the cylinders will vary according as the vibration opens up the gasket and stops the suction by which the cylinders are supplied. A leaky piston ring will do this for one of the cylinders. If worn, or frozen fast by carbon, it will fail to keep the piston tight, the mixture passes by the leak, if sucked in, and there is no compression and no explosion or irregular firing. This will make one think sometimes that the carburetor is at fault, whereas the engine really needs an overhauling.

In fact, if one is having engine trouble which is hard to diagnose, one should try out the piston rings to see if they are doing their duty. This is very simple, for all practical-test needs. Crank the cylinder up to high pressure and let it stand a couple of minutes. Then open pet or priming cock and see if there is any pressure left. On the two-cycle engine this is a good test, and by trying the cylinders in turn piston ring trouble may be located.

On the four-cycle engine the valves must be considered also, for they may leak and the pistons be perfectly tight, but in such an event it will be found almost impossible to get good pressure on the cylinder, since it leaks through the valves while the piston is making the compression stroke. Don’t condemn the carburetor until you have determined whether either of these things is occurring.

The carburetor should be drained occasionally to prevent the accumulation of sediment, which will later clog the needle valve, and at least once a season should be taken apart and cleaned. Time spent in this way well repays the owner.

In all that has been said thus far no account has been taken of poor gasoline. By this is not meant gasoline with water or dirt in it, but a poor quality. Nowadays there is such a demand for gasoline for automobiles and motor boats, that the producers have had to market much of a low grade, or, as is generally the case, have mixed the first quality with the cheaper grades, producing a medium quality.

The seeming necessity of utilizing these low grades of gasoline makes it necessary to change the carburetor forms, and one sees now a tendency to do away with the old, long intake, either by raising the carburetor to the cylinder level, with a horizontal intake only, or with an internal intake manifold, the carburetor being attached to the cylinder block. Several makes of carburetors using one of these methods are said to vaporize even the low grades of gasoline, while some later models are claimed to handle kerosene successfully.

For the motor boat there are several makes of vaporizers which will handle either gasoline or kerosene, and all intermediate grades, by slight adjustment. It is possible that some ingenious builder will devise a similar vaporizer for the automobile engine, if gasoline continues to decline in quality, and to be short in supply as well.

An easy test to see whether the carburetor is working right is to run several blocks with the throttle practically closed, then, when the road is clear, press sharply upon the accelerator pedal, which opens the throttle wide and should make the engine speed up and the car jump forward. If it is sluggish it will denote a too rich mixture, and if it sputters and perhaps backfires, it is too lean. But if, with smooth yet rapid action, it makes the car speed up, that is “pep.” The amount of pep which a car is said to possess is gauged by the quickness with which it responds to the acceleration, either by the pedal or by throttle lever, changing the car from slow or moderate speed to full speed. That, too, without jerky action or tearing the motor apart.

While this test, showing the presence of pep, will denote that the mixture passing through the carburetor is correct, absence of pep does not always mean that it is wrong. Therefore it is not wise to jump to the conclusion that the adjustment is wrong. In fact the adjustment should not be changed unless it is fully certain that it is wrong. If the car has been running with the carburetor working properly and no one has changed the adjustment, it may safely be assumed that the carburetor adjustment is correct. Adjustments are not changed except by someone’s fingers.

Do not be like the new chauffeur who, having trouble, at once descended upon the carburetor. Another chauffeur whose car was standing near advised:

“I wouldn’t touch that, boss.”

“Well, there’s something the matter and I guess it’s here,” said the troubled one.

“I wouldn’t touch it, boss; try somewhere else.”

“Oh; let’s see what’s on the inside of it,” impatiently exclaimed the new chauffeur, and he proceeded to unscrew and unbolt the parts.

Of course, he had to send to the garage for a repair man and finally was towed in for complete reassembly and readjustment of the part.

The lesson in all this for the owner is that he should learn the make-up and peculiarities of his carburetor, understand its common and uncommon ills and thus be able to remedy a trouble which would mar a trip or the general serviceability of the car. It is unnecessary to go into the detail of any make of carburetor, because if the manufacturer’s instruction book does not contain full information and sketches of the make used, a special carburetor book may be obtained from the maker. But there is no excuse for failure to master the lungs of the engine and to learn how to keep them breathing properly.

CHAPTER X
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF A GALLON OF GAS

With the price of gasoline constantly mounting skyward and tires following when not leading the rise, while everything else needed for automobile upkeep is ascendant, it is timely to assert the need that the owner consider his expense and renewal costs. And when it is considered that labor and repair parts have pirouetted along with the other things, it behooves the owner to devise ways of decreasing his running expenses and to learn how to get as much as possible out of a gallon of gas, and every mile out of his tires they can be coaxed to give.

There are many little expenses about running a car which total a considerable sum. A nickel, a dime, a quarter, a dollar, do not seem much at the time, but they pile up the cost per mile frightfully. Not everyone can be like a friend, who, when cautioned about the way his chauffeur was running up the cost of his several cars, replied:

“I don’t want to know what my cars cost. If I did, my business instinct would doubtless make me dispose of them all, and I do not want to do this. The cars are a luxury and I don’t want to know what they cost.”

A car which lasts with ordinary care one or two years, if given intelligent care by the owner might be made to last three to five years. This means taking unusual precaution and having a thorough knowledge of the working parts and of how to keep them in condition, and it means doing faithfully and persistently the things necessary to keep everything in order.

When it is considered that under prevailing conditions it may not be possible to get a new car as often as it has been in the past, it might be as well to take care of the cars we have rather than let them go to rack and ruin for lack of care. A good many automobiles are wasted more than they are used. In some cases this is due to carelessness and in others by lack of knowledge of what to do and how to do it.

Take tires, for instance. The cost due to neglect is often greater than the cost of actual wear. Some of the things which cause excessive wear and deterioration of tires are driving into holes in the street, or in deep ruts, turning corners at too high speed, stopping the car so quickly with the brake that the wheels slide on the pavement, and a harsh clutch which jerks the car suddenly from a standstill, causing needless wear. Then there are such things as letting the front wheels get out of alignment so that they do not run parallel, or nearly so, the action being that the tire is slid, instead of being rolled, over the road. There should be a slight toe in, for mechanical reasons, as explained elsewhere, but if this is allowed to go beyond the proper limit it costs money.

Adjusters tell us that a very large percentage of tire failures is caused by under-inflation, which allows the tires to flatten and breaks the side walls. Every tire should be tested with a gauge and not with the eye or hand and kept to the pressure named by the tire maker.

To get the greatest life out of a tire it should be watched continually for small cuts through the rubber to the fabric. Most tires will be found after a short service to have from two to a dozen such cuts. These will allow sand to work in and loosen the rubber and then moisture gets in and rots the fabric. There are preparations with which these cuts may be healed in a few minutes; serious cuts, especially where the rubber is loosened from the fabric, should be taken at once to the vulcanizer.

While oil and grease of good quality cost money, their proper use will save many times their price in replacement of parts. On the other hand, a waste of lubricant makes unnecessary expense. Especially with a new car, oil and grease should be carefully watched until the bearings have had time to work in. That is the time when expense for replacement of bearings is most likely.

It is not generally realized that a large number of things enter into the economical use of gasoline. To get the most out of a gallon of gasoline all moving parts must work properly. This means proper lubrication. The brakes should not drag; each cylinder of the engine should fire properly; the clutch should not slip, and the carburetor should be in proper adjustment. It is not well to adjust the carburetor unless you are sure it is at fault. Excessive carbon in the cylinder causes a decided loss of power, due to back pressure on the piston, and the partial clogging of the muffler indirectly consumes extra gasoline. The importance of keeping the muffler free is not usually understood.

To insure each cylinder getting its proper power without waste, the engine should be driven with the spark lever advanced as far as possible without causing back pressure. The spark-plug gaps should be properly adjusted to insure a thorough ignition of the charge; the spark plugs should be kept clean to prevent the loss of a charge of gas through non-ignition, likewise the interrupter points, and the distributor should be kept clean and properly adjusted.

To use all the gas that is taken into the cylinder there should be no loss of compression through leaky valves, or weak valve springs, or poor gaskets on spark plugs or valve caps; and it is equally important that pet cocks, cylinder head, where there is one, and piston rings are tight, so that gas will not be wasted.

It is not safe to leave these things to the chauffeur and the garage man. The owner should learn himself how to make all these adjustments. If he does so he will find that his propelling machine will work better, and that he will not only have more use and pleasure out of it, but he will save a very appreciable part of the cost of up-keep.

CHAPTER XI
THINGS WHICH MAKE GAS BILLS HIGH

There are other things which affect the amount of gas consumed which need the attention of the automobile owner. One of the common things, mentioned in the preceding chapter, concerns the intake manifold, which has to do with the distribution of the gas mixture from the carburetor to the several cylinders. A leak at the carburetor side would prevent drawing into the manifold a sufficient supply of the mixture, so that the cylinders would be scantily supplied—perhaps one or more not supplied at all. Likewise air would be drawn into the manifold through the leak, and this would thin the mixture coming from the carburetor. As the mixture in the cylinders would be thin it would not compress properly, the firing pressure would be poor, the mixture would fire badly or not at all, and the power would be lessened.

The natural thing to do when the misfiring is noticed is to open the spray or needle valve, admitting more gasoline to the mixing chamber and making a higher consumption with no gain in power. The proper thing to do, however, is to look for a leak in the manifold.

If the leak is on the cylinder side of the manifold, it might be at one or all of the cylinders. The result would be the same as in the case just cited, a poor supply of the mixture, or some of the cylinders might be properly supplied and work all right, while others might be short of the mixture and might not fire at all. The loss might be sufficient to affect seriously the power and lessen the speed of the car.

The manifold ought not to become loosened in the ordinary use of the car. There have been cases where vibration has done it, but the usual trouble is where the manifold has been removed for some purpose and improperly replaced. Copper and asbestos gaskets ordinarily are used, and these may be dented or jammed out of shape so that the joint is not tight, or there might have been no shellac handy, or the bolts may not have been tightened enough. Whatever the reason, the leak makes a weak mixture, and the first thought of the chauffeur or the average garage man is to increase the gasoline at the spray nozzle of the carburetor to make the mixture of the right proportion to fire. On account of the mixture being made in the intake manifold, instead of the carburetor, as it should be, the work is not efficiently done and gasoline is wasted, the result being the increase of the expense account.

One of the most common causes of gas loss is from leaky supply pipes. Where there is a solid pipe from tank to carburetor the only leak, barring a break or perforation of the pipe, would be at the connection with the tank or the carburetor. Vibration might cause the joints to loosen, though if they are put together properly with shellac, soap or some equivalent, and are thoroughly tightened, there ought not to be any loosening. It is needless, but how often we see a car dripping gasoline at considerable loss. It is also dangerous, for a stray flame or spark may ignite the gas.

There is another leak of the same nature which is quite as expensive, and that is of lubricating oil. If you do not believe it to be prevalent or serious in extent, you have only to watch places where automobiles stand frequently along the curb and notice the pools of oil on the pavement. These come from leaky crank cases, transmission gear cases, rear-axle gear (differential) cases, or from a faulty distributor. In most cases it is only a matter of tightening a few bolts or connections occasionally; but with oil at present prices it is a serious matter.

Another leak which needs to be corrected frequently is at the valves. So much has been written about the care of valves that it would seem superfluous to refer to it, but regrinding and proper care pay big dividends in efficiency and should be on the regular program. There is a leak at the valve, however, seldom mentioned, though quite as serious as the others, which is due to worn valve stems.

The valve stems should fit snugly in the guides; if they do not, air will be drawn past the stem into the cylinder on the suction stroke and thin down the mixture so that the engine runs irregularly, unless more gasoline is supplied at the spray nozzle, and throttling down to a reasonable idling speed is impossible. If the exhaust valve guide is worn there will be a hissing sound that is objectionable.

The purpose of repeating this caution as to mixture thinning is to make it plain that wherever there is a leak between the carburetor and the cylinder it lets in air and thins the mixture so that it is necessary to feed in more gasoline to get a mixture that will fire and that is wasteful, for a mixture made anywhere else than in the carburetor is less efficiently accomplished.

The burned gases pass out through the exhaust valve side and in so doing often deposit small pieces of carbon, which keep the valve from seating properly and let perfectly good mixture escape. If not cleaned often, the heat and constant tapping of the valve against the seat will hammer the carbon fast to the valve or seat as though it had been fused there. Carbon must be scraped off frequently and as often as necessary the valve should be reground into the seat.

Piston rings which are not pinned often work around until the slots are in line and the mixture will blow through. If the rings will not stay in place a pin should be put in the ring groove on the piston to prevent the ring from working around and the slots should be staggered, so that no two are in line. Naturally the rings must be kept free from carbon or gum from the oil or they will freeze to the groove and leak mixture.

In older cars the cylinder may be worn oval, so that the piston and its rings do not fit. When the cylinder is oval the piston will not pump in the mixture properly, and when the explosion occurs much of the burned gas will be forced down into the crank case. One of the products of combustion is water, which is exhausted in the form of vapor. When it gets into the crank case and condenses, forming water, it collects under the oil. In cleaning out and replacing the oil, if water is found, it always indicates a tendency to oval in the cylinder. This is caused by the thrust of the connecting rod being against one side on the up stroke and against the other on the down stroke.

With everything else there may be a loss of gasoline by reason of poor adjustment of the carburetor. The adjustment should be such as to make the mixture as lean as possible and have it fire readily, and to have the float not too high. One sure indication that the mixture is too rich is when black smoke is given off. Black smoke always indicates excess gasoline—burning money. As has been told in another chapter, there is another kind of smoke to guard against, but if the owner will make sure that he is not exhausting black smoke he need not worry about the price of gasoline, and a little judgment and care will eliminate many of the items of upkeep expense.

CHAPTER XII
CARE OF THE TIRES

When a tire buyer is told by the dealer that a tire is guaranteed for so many miles, the manufacturer expects to make good—he expects if the tire falls down on performance to replace it, or at least make an allowance for the mileage short. As a matter of fact they do not have to do this on thousands of tires which are defective, for the reason that the auto owner has not kept his part of the bargain. Nine times out of ten this is because the user of the tire does not know how it ought to be treated and doctored and cajoled into doing all that it is expected to do.

Tires are a great deal like human beings; are just as finicky and contrary; and it takes a great insight into their make-up if one would get the most out of them.

One of the chief causes of tire deterioration is lack of care—absolute neglect. Drivers send their machines over all kinds of roads, regardless of ruts, and stones, and glass or junk in the roadway, and then cannot understand why the tires are all cut up about it. Worse than that, they do not seem to understand that a cut tire needs as much and as prompt attention as a cut finger—perhaps more, for nature will mend the one; the other has no such luck.

The first thing to do when one discovers a cut is to clean it out and jiffy in one of the good solutions sold, which will cement the edges together or press in the putty-like repair material. If the cut is not too large or too deep it will mend easily and give little trouble, if care is taken. If it is a large cut the vulcanizer should be visited. The cement should hold long enough for that. It will keep out water, which rots the fabric easily, and sand, which makes blisters along the tread. Only a slight patch is needed if done promptly, but if water and sand get in it is almost impossible to vulcanize in a patch, and when it is done it probably will not last.

Tires should be inspected regularly and often and attended to intelligently. This will save the automobile owner much annoyance and cut down one of the big items of maintenance.

Some drivers, too, never seem to think of favoring an auto tire at times of greatest strain. They will whirl around a corner as fast as their nerve and the traffic policeman will allow and then wonder why it is that the tread wears away so quickly. They do not seem to understand that under such circumstances there is a steady grind of tire upon pavement, and grind means wear.

Another set of drivers will run along for weeks without noticing that the steering gear is out of true. Perhaps the machine has hit something and the equalizing rod is bent just a trifle, making the front wheels far from parallel. It may not be enough to see with the eye, but it is off true and one or both of the tires grinds with every revolution. The speed with which the tread will wear away depends upon the character of the roadway. On gravel or macadam roads it is fast. The manufacturer will not replace a tire worn out that way if he can detect the cause, and experience has taught him where to look for it. One man wore a pair of front tires through to the fabric in a very short run and raised a fuss because the replacement man disclaimed responsibility after testing the wheels. The roll and slide motion combined will work havoc with the best tire and should be corrected.

A harsh clutch does the same thing in a little different way. A clutch which grips too hard will cause the wheels to slide and wear. The brake, also, should not be too positive, but be adjusted to work easily, so that the wheel will stop turning just as the momentum is spent, to prevent sliding. Both brakes should be adjusted alike, or one will grip the wheel fast and the other turn. The gripped tire will scrape along and the pavement cuts the tire like a rasp.

Another set of men forgets that oil and grease and gasoline are the natural enemies of tires. They allow the machine to stand in the garage where there are pools of oil or gas. Gasoline will dissolve gum rubber. It will disintegrate the tire, which is a combination of rubber, soapstone, and other things, so that it wears out quickly. Lubricating oil and grease hasten the decay of rubber and shorten the life of the tire. Besides there is no sense in wasting oil and gas, and if someone else allows it to spill on the pavement the wise man will keep out of the mess.

In wet seasons there is especial need for care of the tire. Rubber cuts easily when the sharp edge of the cutting agent is wet. Tire workers dip their knives in water to facilitate the work. Go out on a road where there is glass, or sharp stones dripping from a rain, and the tire is an easy mark. A wet day on a sharp gravel road will fill the tires full of small cuts.

Tubes should be kept in the shoes where possible. If folded up they are likely to harden on the creases and crack on the surface, blowing out easily. Tubes in excess of shoes carried should be rolled up carefully and be kept in a bag to prevent chafing on tools or box.

Tires cost the owner about the same as the car if he does much running. In a general sense the set of four tires used on any car bears a certain proportion to the selling price of the car. On the cheaper makes of cars the tires cost new approximately $60 per set. They increase in price in direct ratio to the price of the car. They are usually guaranteed for five thousand miles, and as the average owner makes at least ten thousand miles per year, he uses up two sets of tires. Taking three years as the average time the owner will keep the car before trading it in, would mean six sets of tires. Taking the car which uses the $60 set and we find that six sets of tires would cost $360, or pretty near the first cost of the car. Few owners give consideration to this fact.

Another way of figuring the cost of tires is that in upkeep expense tires figure for one-third of the total, gasoline and oil for another third, and wear and tear on the car the remainder. Upon this basis the owner should give one-third of the total care to the tires. But few, if any, do.

When the car is stored for the winter, or for any length of time at any other season, the car should be jacked up and the tires deflated until the pressure is less than half the normal. Where the car cannot be left jacked up the tires should be removed from the car and hung up high and dry where there will be neither extremes of heat nor cold, though heat is more injurious than cold.

It is good practice, if, on coming to the garage, it is found that one or more tires are deflated below normal and there is no time to pump them up, to lift the weight off the tire with jack or otherwise, so that the strain will be removed from the walls of the tire between the rim and the floor or ground.

Do not put tires where they will be subject to strong sunlight, which decomposes the rubber. Oil and grease left on the surface do the same thing. Clean the tires of mud and grease after every trip. Keep the small cuts healed and the big blisters will not occur.

Make friends with the vulcanizer and take his advice as to repair of your tires. That’s his business. If too far from a vulcanizer, buy a small outfit and spoil a few casings and tubes learning how to do the small jobs, and send the big ones to the shop by express.

Remember in mending tubes and casings that cleanliness is before godliness. You may be a perfect church member, but if you do not observe perfect cleanliness the mend will not stick and in the end may lose you your church membership by provoking you to violent words.

Throw away the valve insides every once in a while on general principles and put in new ones. Learn how to test the tubes by dipping them under water when inflated and looking for air bubbles. Test the valve the same way, at the same time. Bubbles may indicate why the tire will not keep pumped hard.

Rubber is porous to a slight degree and you must expect loss of air from that cause both in the tires on the wheels and that held in reserve. Make sure of the pressure by the tire gauge.

CHAPTER XIII
SKIDDING MAY BE MINIMIZED

When you are out driving next time watch the cars ahead of you and notice how many of them have wobbly rear wheels. You can by this means tell fairly well who is a careful driver and whose car has been skidding about the streets and has brought up sharply against the curb, or car track, or rut, or some other obstruction over which the wheels would not slide, and which was sufficiently solid to give them a hard knock.

No man can appreciate what a skid means until he has had one and then, perhaps, he will not live to appreciate it. No amount of preaching seems to do any good. He must sow his wild auto-driving oats and learn from experience. Because of this, it is recommended that each driver who has not had a real skid yet, pick out a very broad and wet street paved with asphalt where there is no traffic in sight. Let him drive the car fifteen miles an hour up the middle of the street, then give the steering wheel a sharp turn to the left, at the same time applying the brakes. The resulting sensation of absolute helplessness will be remembered for an hour or two—at least. For those who wish to continue the lesson, try allowing some other driver to repeat the operation, while the experience seeker occupies the back seat.

Now the skid against the curb or other obstruction may not have demolished the wheel, but it left its mark in cracked spokes, or bent rim, or if the car was of a certain type of construction it may have bent the axle shaft itself. If the wobble is due to a bend in the rim, it wears the tires excessively and if the spokes have been a little cracked it weakens the wheel; if the axle shaft has been bent, it is causing undue wear in the bearing; and under all of these conditions there is too much wear of the tires.

During the winter skidding is prevalent, much more so than at other seasons. This is due to the fact that snow and ice keep the pavements wet or icy, according to the temperature. There is another element entering into the situation, however; most folks who travel at this time of the year, because of the cold and discomforts of motoring, desire to get there and so travel faster—the very fact that they are uncomfortable causes them to pay less attention to driving with care. The result is that they run up close behind some other vehicle, which stops quickly; then they jam on the brakes hard and skid. Or, a car comes out of a side street suddenly, making it necessary to swerve quickly to one side, or stop, and the result is a skid in either case.

A rather unusual case of skidding is thus related by a driver:

I was driving up Broadway, in New York City, and to make the hill north of 157th Street had put on a little more speed, for the car was not a good hill climber. A block or two above the subway station a boy on a sled darted out of a side street and swung to continue down the Broadway hill. To avoid hitting him I jammed on the brake hard, and began to skid. There was a wagon at the curb and on the other side of me an auto going in the same direction and there was not room to turn out.

I saw that if my car continued to skid it would swing in front of the sled. It is unusual to skid going up hill, but there was so much loose snow, with ice underneath, that the skid chains did not take hold. There was but an instant to act, much less time than it takes to tell it, and I released the brake and let in the clutch. This stopped the skidding and the car shot forward just in time to let the boy go by.

Probably the greatest cause of skidding is turning the corner at too high speed. This often causes a skidding of the front wheels as well as the rear wheels—that is, the car is going so fast that the front wheels do not get traction enough to change their direction and when they attempt to make the turn they skid and the car goes for the curb. Applying the brake usually will overcome this skid.

In a rear-wheel skid the worst thing one can do is to apply the brake. It is best to let the car coast, turning the front wheels in the direction in which the rear end of the car is skidding; if it is trying to go to the left, turn the front wheels that way. If there is something in the way, so that it is necessary to stop, the brake may be applied a little as the wheels take hold, leaving the clutch engaged, which prevents locking the wheels, as the engine is pulling against the brake and there is not so much danger of locking the wheels. It keeps the wheels revolving slowly, so that you get a better traction for stopping.

It takes a greater pressure applied laterally to start the wheel sliding than to keep it skidding once it is started, and you can bring the car to a standstill much quicker if you can keep the wheels from sliding. A little practice will teach the driver just how much he can apply the brake without causing the wheels to skid.

The bent axle has been mentioned as a result of skidding. It may also be a cause for skidding, for it sometimes happens that by hitting the curb hard, or the wheel of another car, or a street car, the rear axle gets out of true—perhaps the spring-seat bolt will shear off—and the wheels will not track with the front wheels. This will cause skidding.

When there is not snow during the cold months, often water is used to sweep or flush the streets. Wet asphalt is always slippery, whether it is warm or cold, but in cold weather it often freezes and the pavement is dangerous and skidding is almost certain unless care be taken. The street-car tracks are another cause of skidding. Often it is necessary to give the front wheels a considerable turn to get out of the track when necessary, and, especially if they are wet—and they are wet when other parts of the pavement are dry—the rear wheels will continue in the tracks, causing a bad skid. Under no circumstances should one habitually drive in the car tracks when the streets are wet.

If the brakes are adjusted unevenly, so that there is a little more pressure on the one wheel than the other and therefore stops it a little more, it will cause skidding. Another case may come from giving the steering wheel a little twist just as the brake is applied. Occasionally in an emergency stop the driver will give a hasty glance behind to see if a car is close upon him. The hands follow the eye, it is said, and this will often give the slight twist that causes the wheels to slide.

Some cars skid because the weight is not balanced on the wheels—that is, there is too much weight on front or rear wheels. There is a remarkable difference in cars in this respect and it might be well before buying a car to try it out on its likelihood to skid.

There are numerous designs of non-skid tires and they do prevent, or decrease, skidding to a very large degree on some cars. While they help in some cases, it is not well to depend upon them entirely. It is the general practice now to use non-skid chains. On muddy roads they are a necessity and on wet asphalt are almost as essential and chains should be used under such circumstances; but as they cause excessive wear on the tires, they should only be used when needed. The driver should not allow himself to be either too hurried or too lazy to put them on and take them off according to the condition of the pavement. Better to do this a dozen times a day rather than wear out a set of tires or skid into the curb or a street car.

They should be adjusted loosely, so they can creep around and wear the entire circumference of the tire slightly but evenly; if they are so tight they cannot creep, the cross chains will cut away the outer rubber right down to the fabric. A great many tires are ruined in that way. Tires cut this way cannot be turned back to the manufacturer for replacement, for the adjuster will know at once what caused the wear.

Be sure there are a sufficient number of cross chains so that it will not be possible for the brakes to stop the wheel between the cross links, for in that event it will slide just as badly as though no chains were used. As a car is more likely to skid going down grade than on the level, it follows that extra care should be exercised, and that the driver should slow speed for a stop farther away than would ordinarily be necessary, and that the stop should be gradual. One should watch closely on a hill, for there is a greater coasting momentum and a greater tendency for the rear wheels to slew around, because of the weight upon them.

After all, the greatest preventive of skidding is care. The driver who keeps his eyes and wits about him will have his car under control in situations which might possibly cause skidding. It is an essential of economy in tires and wheels and some other parts of the mechanism, and it is an essential in safety, for some very bad, even fatal, accidents have come from skidding at an unfortunate moment, when care would have prevented it. It is no fun to incur injury to person or car, or to pay for repairs or excessive renewals; he who would avoid causes for much of this should beware of skidding.

CHAPTER XIV
“CAN’T-SLIP HEELS” LESSEN SKIDDING

If your auto is not equipped with “Can’t-Slip Heels,” the green or pink plugged shock absorbers, the same as you wear on your own heels to keep from skidding over the sidewalk, perhaps it were well to look into it a little. Autos as well as men take to skidding quite easily, and not infrequently come to grief.

We use rubber heels to absorb shocks and jars just as we use rubber tires on the auto to absorb road shocks. We find in both instances that in wet weather the pavement becomes lubricated and a slip or skid is likely to result in damage to person or car. In the case of rubber heels it was found desirable to provide some means to prevent slipping, and plugs were inserted which grip the ice or slippery surface and hold fast. Tire manufacturers have developed all sorts of devices, such as projections and recesses, vacuum cups, etc., in the tread of the tire, to keep them from slipping. In one case the device has been very successful, where the manufacturer has inserted strips of cotton fabric in the tread of the tire, on the same principle as the plug in the rubber heels.

The fabric, really a thick canvas, projects a very little beyond the rubber surface, and gives the tire a better traction than plain rubber would have on a slippery pavement, and makes one of the best non-skid combinations. You doubtless will remember that rubbers worn smooth are more slippery than the leather heels with their nails; or that the rubber heels which have no plugs get very “slick” and are worse than nothing. It is exactly the same with rubber tires.

No matter with what non-skid device tires are equipped, there is always the danger of slipping when the pavements are wet or slushy, and the fact that such equipment is used should not make the driver think that he can drive at high speed with safety. On ordinary wet pavements very satisfactory results are obtained with most of the regular non-skid types of tires. Where ice or packed snow or surface mud is encountered, chains are better. In very deep mud, loose sand, or loose snow, heavy rope wrapped around the tire between the spokes will probably be found best. In an emergency, when caught out in the country, it might be necessary to cut up a blanket or find some other substitute for the rope.

When there is a telephone pole or post near at hand when the car becomes stuck in loose snow, sand, or deep mud, often the car may be pulled out if a tow rope long enough is handy. Fasten one end of the rope to the pole and the other to the forward part of the rear wheel. Then start the engine and if the rope is strong enough and it is stretched tight enough, as the wheel revolves it will start the car forward. Take a fresh hitch on the pole and try it again. A few inches at a time it will pull the car forward, a distance equal to about the diameter of the wheel, and in time get the wheel out of the rut or hole so that it may grip the solid earth again.

The flat steel stud tires are absolutely worthless on ice; they are good skates, but for gripping the ice they are failures.

The great majority of skids are due to excessive speed. The author has been told by a driver who drifted into another car and broke both headlights that he was only going ten miles an hour. This was probably true, but unquestionably he was going too fast for the condition of the streets and his tires. It is quite necessary that the driver should know how his car is going to behave under all conditions and drive accordingly.

Occasionally the crown of the road will cause a slip of front or rear wheels to the side that cannot be prevented by a reduction in speed; but the careful driver will at least drive slow enough under such conditions to make whatever damage might occur from this cause as light as possible. Wherever a road has a crown there is always increased danger of skidding, but often these roads that have a hard slippery section in the middle have a narrow strip of gravel or dirt on each side. Where this is the case it would be better to drive with one pair of wheels in the dirt rather than to keep in the middle, where slipping is almost unavoidable.

In other cases, where there is no dirt strip, it is perhaps better to keep right in the middle of the road and to use great caution in turning out for other vehicles.

Rounding a corner at high speed is, of course, a direct invitation for a very serious skid. Making sharp turns of the steering wheel on straightaway is also dangerous. When driving in traffic on slippery pavements, care should be taken not to follow another vehicle too close and to judge stops far enough in advance so that the car may be brought to a standstill, if necessary, several feet before the desired point is reached. In other words, the brakes should be applied very carefully.

In extreme cases it may be found impossible to apply the brakes at all without skidding, and it will be necessary to practically allow the car to drift to a standstill. Brakes which are adjusted so that one takes hold a little stronger than the other will also cause a skid, by permitting one wheel to turn and twist the car about.

When skidding does occur, about the only thing the driver can do is to turn the steering wheel in the direction of the skidding, with no pressure on the brake. This will correct the skid before damage is done, provided the speed is not too great. Another help in preventing skidding is to leave the clutch engaged and the engine pulling slightly when the brake is applied. Of course, before the car is actually brought to a standstill the clutch must be released, or the engine will stall. The slight pull of the engine when the brake is applied prevents the locking of the rear wheels, and in that way prevents skidding in a large measure.

On any stormy day a short tour of any of the much used avenues in any city will disclose a variety of machines which have had their skid and are against the curb with broken wheels, if nothing worse. It seems as though no amount of advice will teach the driver to use care on slippery pavements. He must have his own skid before he learns his lesson.

The season for skidding is always with us, however, and every patch of ice, or a frozen or wet street surface, or a muddy country road gives the warning “Drive Carefully.” It behooves the owner, therefore, to provide his car with the best safety devices to be had, whether it be chains, rope, tires with plugs which encircle the tread, or whatever may be necessary. He will do this if he has had his skid; if he hasn’t, probably no amount of advice will have the slightest effect upon him.

CHAPTER XV
AVOID NEWLY OILED ROADS

Tourists going out on week-end trips into the country, and country owners who go into strange sections, should pay strict attention to signs which say in effect: “Danger, Road Being Oiled.” It does not matter in the least whether you believe in signs or not, pay attention to all such; it may save an upset, or at least skidding into the ditch. An oily macadam road is more slippery even than a wet asphalt pavement.

The danger is greater from the fact that the road is crowned—that is, it rises in the center and slopes off on either side to a ditch. If you get off the crown on an oily road the machine is pretty sure to slide toward the ditch. In running over an oily road it is necessary to keep on the crown as much as possible and when one has to pass another vehicle, if he cares much for his safety, he had better slow down, or come to a stop, and let the other fellow worry about getting by. An ounce of caution before is worth several horse-power of energy in getting the car back after it goes in the ditch or tries to climb a telegraph pole.

Recently the author had occasion to visit Orange County, New York, and struck a piece of very heavily oiled road near Goshen. It apparently had been oiled the night before and the workmen had not finished putting on the binder. It was thick with oil. The road makers knew it was dangerous and put up a sign similar to that quoted above, but a big car ahead went down a little slope leading to the oil and the driver failed to heed the sign quickly enough, and when we caught up with him he was in the ditch. Coming up were half a dozen other cars sliding all around but trying to get to the ditched car to give assistance.

The big car had slowed down somewhat, else it would have gone over into the field, but it had turned completely around and was headed in the direction whence it had come. The other cars were sliding in every direction. When he found his car beginning to slide, the author very cautiously stopped, for his car was just moving. On inquiring of the driver of the skidded car, he was told that when the latter had found himself skidding around he had jammed on the brake, and, of course, just as might have been expected, the rear of the car went right around. In going up the slight rise of ground, the author met other cars and had to leave the crown of the road. Immediately the rear tires began to slide and he went for some distance with the rear pair of wheels trying to slide down into the ditch while the front pair were holding fairly well to the road. As soon as he could get back on the crown of the road again, of course the car straightened out all right.

Any car which struck the oiled road on high speed would have turned over or smashed against a telephone pole and probably everybody aboard would have been hurt, if not killed; so it is wise not to be so absorbed in entertaining one’s friends that warning signs are missed.

CHAPTER XVI
WATCH YOUR BRAKES

Look well to the condition of the brakes on your car before starting on a trip. See that they are in good shape even if you do not have time to look over the engine. The brakes are more important than the engine. It needs an engine in at least fair condition to get anywhere, but if you do not have brakes you may get too far—too eternally far.

Manufacturers of cars have recognized the importance of the brake appliances and have given considerable attention to the improvement of the brake, designing more efficient operating mechanism, increasing the size of the braking surface and improving the quality of the friction materials, and also in protecting the brakes from excessive wear due to grit and dragging of bands when not in use.

The brakes, moreover, on the average car of modern design, are sufficient for all general use, if used intelligently and if they are given a moderate amount of care. But like most other parts of cars, some owners give them no attention whatever, and consequently there is frequent failure and often it is a matter of life and death when the brakes refuse to work properly.

First of all, owners should understand that there are two sets of brakes on the car, which operate independently of each other, and each brake should be capable of holding the car at a standstill on practically any grade, or, as the chauffeur usually puts it, “sliding the wheels.”

A recent experience with a Ford car illustrates the need of the owner thoroughly understanding his braking system. This was a case of a new car where the owner had not yet become very familiar with the mechanism. He came to a very long and fairly steep hill. He released the clutch and applied the brake as he had been taught, and got about two-thirds of the way down the hill when the brake lining burned out and the brake no longer held the car. Then, because he forgot what he ought to do (or else did not know), the owner lost his head and thought he was going to smash, and of course did. The car ran into the ditch and upset, bent the front axle, broke the mud guards and top bows, and mixed things up generally, but fortunately no one was hurt.

This was all unnecessary, for on this particular car he had three other means of braking. He could have pushed the pedal which engages the low-speed gear and kept the car at low enough speed to negotiate the hill in safety. Or, he could have pushed the reverse pedal, which on this particular car would have acted as a very efficient brake. And, also, he might have applied the emergency brake, as on any other car.

As every car is equipped with two distinct sets of brakes, drivers should learn to use first one and then the other on long grades, and this may be helped out considerably by using the motor as a brake—that is, by cutting off the ignition and allowing the machine to push the engine under compression, and even more by engaging a lower gear before cutting off the ignition, so that there is a greater leverage obtained to retard the car. Likewise, long grades should be descended at a comparatively slow speed in cases where the brake is at all necessary, because the higher speed develops more heat and the brake lining is more likely to burn out.

Of course the brake lining has been improved so that it does not actually burn out very readily, but under extreme conditions it will become charred and lose its frictional qualities.

Perhaps one of the greatest causes of brake failure is oil. Now the oil which gets on the brakes usually works through the rear-axle housing from the differential gear. The owner may be a little too enthusiastic about lubrication and may put too much oil in the differential and it travels along the inside of the axle tube. The wheels are so placed on the axle that this oil can get out only by working over the wheel bearing and into the brake drum. It will often be noticed that the oil collects mostly on the right-hand brake. This is because the crown of the road, and perhaps the ditch alongside of the road which is used in passing other cars, tilts the car so that the right-hand wheel is lower than that on the left-hand side. Even where too much lubricant is not used, it seems that some cars have a tendency to leak oil from the right-hand wheel housing.

Usually this trouble may be overcome by taking a long, thin strip of hard felt of the proper thickness to fill the space between the axle shaft and the axle housing, and winding around the shaft in helical form, so that the action, when the shaft is turned, is to force the oil back toward the differential. Of course, if the felt is not wound in the right way it would have the opposite tendency and draw the oil out into the wheel bearing.

For this reason the felt should be wound, starting from the wheel end, in a direction opposite to the forward motion of the wheel, covering the axle for a distance of six or eight inches. The felt should be fastened to the shaft with shellac and bound in three or four places with cord.

While oil on the brake bands is not desirable, oil on all of the bearing points of the brake mechanism is highly desirable. Some time, when driving in a city, take notice of the number of times the brake is applied. Then stop to think how each action is taking place in the brake mechanism. This ought to bring one to realize the necessity of lubricating the bearing parts. These need more frequent oiling because they are placed where they pick up more than the usual amount of dust and grit. If the lubrication of these parts is neglected they are likely to wear unduly and become so weakened that a sudden emergent strain would mean a break; and this might happen at a time when failure means death to the occupants of the car.

Brakes of modern design are so arranged that the bands clear the drum entirely when they are disengaged. This is done by means of springs and other devices placed around the drum at different points. These springs should be inspected occasionally to make sure that they have not become broken or otherwise fail in the performance of their functions.

Another cause of brake failure is due to the lining wearing thin and allowing the copper rivets, with which it is fastened to the band, to come in contact with the brake drum. This in time scores grooves in the drum and greatly reduces the braking effect. It is not economy, therefore, to wear the brake linings entirely through. When they become thin the linings should be inspected, and be replaced as soon as the rivets begin to show wear.

The usual practice is to have four brakes, one on each rear wheel operated by the service-brake pedal and one on each rear wheel operated by the emergency lever. The emergency brake is designed more for holding the car at standstill after it has been stopped, but may be used alternately with the service brake on long grades. The service brake should be kept in such condition that it will bring the car to a stop within a reasonable distance at any car speed, and it should be understood by the driver that the emergency brake is not intended to be used to help out the service brake which holds poorly when a quick stop is desired.

REAR WHEEL AND BRAKE DRUM REMOVED, SHOWING EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL BRAKE BANDS AND MECHANISM

Many manufacturers term the second brake the hand brake, rather than the emergency brake, to discourage the idea that it is to be used to help out when an extra quick stop is desired. Too many owners go upon the assumption that one good brake is all that is necessary, and allow one to get into such condition as to be useless when the other fails unexpectedly, or when it is desirable to use the two sets alternately.

As to the adjustment of brakes, it is very important, in order to get the best braking effect—and to save wear on the tires as well—to have both brakes of a set give about the same friction. There are two places where adjustments may be made, one at each brake and one on the brake linkage, usually on each side, but possibly on the single rod connected to the pedal. By means of these two adjustments it is possible to have the bands clear the drums when the brakes are released and at the same time have each brake start to take hold at the same time and with equal force. The equalizing bar helps out in small variations, but cannot be expected to take care of the entire adjustment.

When one considers the multitude of accidents because the “brake gave way” and of the risk taken by others who fail to care for this important bit of mechanism, it would surely suggest to the careful man that he study the construction of the brake upon which he depends on a down grade and that he give it enough attention to know that it is in working order. If he does not value his own neck enough for that, he should at least have a care for those who share the danger.