Evening Star Newspaper, May 16, 1926, Page 75

AUTO “PROVING GROUNDS” - EULFILL USEFUL PURPOSE Enable Manufacturer to Know Durabil- ity of Varying Models Before Offering Them to Public. BY WILLIA America’s leading automobil need for closer acqu already have met their cars. intance with their products. Others are planning to that end. M ULLMAN. e manufacturers are sensing the Some of them With the General Motors Corporation maintaining an elabo- ratgproving ground and with Packard, Studebaker and others pre- paring simi public is going to benefit becs better known to their makers Why should the autemo! to his car after having made question one ‘ar makers tov s simple. T tion wheret stranger to him. The manufacty model offered 1se en it rd dev nt model chan ufacturer’s of one new of this vear ) gaarantee a minimum for their prod- are being built 1o elimin of specula- tion, Also Serve as Laboratories. Proving nds also are serving as laboratori v the development of new model ral Motors 1,115 re northwest Detroit, 1 kinds of road conditions nightaw Winter or Sun i rs are pounded over concrete, gravel, macadam and dirt. Al a buyer would ever experience with his car is sup- posed to be covered by these exhaus- tive tests. Twelve r the Stu quired & gineers <outh Bend, poration has ace 1 which its en- i 1ch a_manner that the compa i 1 before it ever markets model just exact th rwill do. Grades will per cent in s instances, \ n muck and sand stretches iina of the machines The T developing two miles so - Company 1s oving ground Milford, Mich. Curves on the speedway part of the ~ourse will be banked in a way that cars can tuke the turns with & wide open throt'le. The hills will be steeper tl hing in the experi- enee of t r gaining in turers are arby race - prod- ~ roads are this pur- da car make for a prel ing the bod sale. But ot eve pected to establish a proving ground, not even some of the biggest. The necessity for proving grounds is un- derstood to be a result of frequent model change. Where a car has re- mained virtually the sam> for a num- ber of vears the public has discovered its weakne and through bitter service les esperience the manufacty > to apply the proper reme: erzl makes of cars are better known b, their makers in this way than those that have been treated to the greatest amount of sclentific testing. How necessary proving grounds will be In the future is understood to de- pend upon the trend in manufactu ing. If cars are ta be changed every veam or every lew months as in the case of some yroducts, the m & turer will he assu ' terrific if he expects to learn his ar's formance from the buyer of it it current models are to he continued, | being pose, ih-gra to send their chassis out minary tour before tach- and offering the car for e THE OLD MECHANIC SAYS: Well, I've just had to fire another one of my men. Maybe it would help vou t' know why I have to give ‘em the air now and ain. T caught this fellow just in time to save myself some trouble. He was on the point of Adjusting tappets on a customer’s car without botherin’ to warm up the engine. No mechanic can make a good job of tappet adjustment with a cold engine s 1I'd told this man time and time again. T fired another man about a week ago because he jumped at conclusions. One of my best cu ers came in here while T was out on a little errand. There a knockin® noise in the rear »t the car that had him worrled. When | T got back my mechanic had the rear and of the car jacked up and was mak- ing steady progress in takin' it apart. This was unfortunate for all of us be- cause the noise didn't have anythin’ to do with any vital part of the car. Tt was just a case of slappin’ straps on the devies that control the rebound action of the springs. Car owners who make mistakes can't fire themselves. They've got to stay with the job and take the conse- quences. That's why I say there’s a lot of profit in steppin’ into my shop now and again to learn why I have to get rid of some of my helpers. They make the same sort of mistakes as the car owner. - manufacturer is ex- | | ter cars, for no manufacturer in the | but honest lar test fields, the indications are that the motoring of its ability to buy cars that are anufacturer seek an introduction for so many years? This is the sks when informed of the activity of the lopment of prov g grounds. The answer ges have brought about a condi- current product may be a total with only slight changes mow and| again, the service department of the | dealer organization may prove to be {2 better means of bringing the manu- | facturer closer to his car than through | intensive laboratory and road testing. | Effect of Model Changing. | The trend has been toward frequent model changes. Some makes of cars ! have been altered so radically within few vears that all the serv- that went to make for s now Is entirely out of ich_circumstances, it maker Under becomes essential for the car to know what his product is capable of, and how it is going to stand up, before he releases it to the public. | It his competitors are selling their products with a full knowledge of their performance, he cannot afford to wait for the public to inform him whether or not his own car is worthy. The introduction of balloon tires up- set a great many features of car con- truction that were considered by en- gineers to be more or less standard- | ized. The confusion in steering gear practice directly following the adop- | tion of the low-pressure tires is a case in point. Thus, even when a car adds only one new feature and has mno vearly models, it may cause its maker a lot of trouble if he has not been on intimate terms with it before its pub- lic appearance. Four-Wheel Brales. | Four-wheel brakes developed a need for hetter bodies, and in making high- | er speed safer brought manufacturer to a point where they received com { plaints about poor performance at wide open_throttle. Now there is a swing to the steel hody, and the supe! charger is just around the corner. Are the manufacturers going to study their products through service com- plaints and remedies, or are they go- inz to know all that the public can find out long before the cars are put on the market? | York (it If experience with new or with modi- d models is to be sought in advance, | will the proving ground method suf- | | fice? This question has not been an- | | swered to the satisfaction of all eng | neers and manufacturers. Some still | believe that the proving ground is no | | substitute for the terrific punishment | | inflicted upon cars in the hands of | | actual owne r troubles are too | closely linked up with the vagaries | |of human nature, some say, to be predicated in advance and remedied before the factory gets into quantity production. But proving grounds ‘are helping. Combined with better engineering skill and service experience, the outdoor laboratories for cars are bringing man- ufacturer and product closer together. The car maker is coming more and more to know what he’s selling. This means that the public is assured bet- business today wants to sell anything | alue. | (Copyright. 1926.) | into because one of my men thought a bearing retainer on a rear wheel un- screwed to the right instead of to the left. He tried turnin’ it to the left but found it too tight to budge. Then he concluded he was up against a left- hand thread. By the time I got around to him he had pounded the part so far to the right that we couldn’t get it out except with an oxygen torch. ‘When he found he couldn’t move it efther way, easily, he should have waited until he found out exactly what kind of thread it had. It would have saved a lot of money and time for on WE take a client before he buys a car, give him unbiased_advice on what kind of car Is best suited to his needs. We then take full charge of keeping his car so that it con- stantly gives him the kind of service he has a right to expect. Are You Interested? Thompson & Lane Rear 1829 14th N.W. North 9935 I'm still thinkin® of the mess we got Safety Service Satisfaction Thousands of motorists problems with— FLATLIGHT REFLECTORS Legal Everywh EASILY INSTALLED Reflectors, $3 to $7 a Pair Drum-type Headlamps, $6 to $25 a Pair We adjust and register all types of headlights. CREEL Dependable Service have solved their lighting ere—Non Glare | ries on wheels HIGHWAYS IMPRESS LATINJOURNALISTS ONLONGU.S. TOUR :High Speed Made on Fine | Surfaces Causes Praise-of American Engineers. veling 600 miles in motor busses, delegates to the First Pan-American Congress of Journalists, on their re- it tour of industrial centers of the United States, acquired first-hand acquaintance with highways that are the boast of the Northern Hemisphere and specimens of the furthest ad- vances of road building science Although much ti with visits to the plar 1 scale production of some of the Na- tion’s hest known products is carried on and with entertainment and gen- eral sightseeing : were not al- lowed to lose sight of one of the chief poses of the trip—a close-up view the highways of this country. Of they were reminded constant long in giant motors of this e of the interesting features of highway development, which came in for generous praise from South and Central American journalists on their recent tour made largely by motor bus. 1. A fine stretch of rondway of the kind traveled by the visitors. 2. Of special interest was this curve on the Mohawk Trail, west of Little Falls, N. Y., where the stoutest guard rail protects the motor- ist_who ventures too near the edee, while banking of the roadway adas ety to turning the curve at high speed. 3. The Bear Mountain sus- pension bridge. 4. A rugged stretch of road crossing Storm King Mount- ain. 5. Modern roadway over which the motor bus caravan entered South Bend, Ind. 6. Bronx Parkway, which introduced the journalists to North merican highways as they left New and inset, “Stop” sign used in New York State to make cer- tain that motorists are warned of approaching road hazard Here are s GASOLINE MOTOR MAKES SODAWATER Many, Chemical Products Re- sult From Combustion in Auto Cylinders. Automobiles are *“soda water facto * That at least is the d nation applied to the modern mo- tor vehicle by eral Motors research laboratories, in an article on “Fuel from the Service ndpoint” in the May issue of the Journal of the Society of Automotive Engineers Alr and gasoline are the new raw als upon which this rolling operates. Energy for moving itself and its load along the road is its principal product and its by-products are waste gases and the unburned carbon that remains in the engine. Even the electrical energy that illuminates the path of the car and that pulses through the wires of its ignition system is generated in a chemical storage batter: Water Is Formed. For one gallon of gasoline consumed by the engine it must have about 1.200 cubfe feet ir or it will suffo ite. This air, which costs the mo- torist nothing. consists of nitrogen and oxygen. The gasoline Is a chemi- cal compound of carbon and hydrogen, about 5% pounds of carbon and 1 pound of hydrogen to 1 gallon of gasoline. For each gallon of gasoline and 1,200 feet of air consumed, the ideal engine gives off a total of 1,350 cublc feet of exhaust products and the average engine about 1,130 feet. The composition of the exhaust gas 1s ‘entirely .different from that which T. A. Boyd of the Gen- | | | | { > steeper grades of the as well as when th more level stretches lay through country where highway construction has been notable, automobiles wera | chosen for transportation, the hosts lof the journalists desiring that they {should have practical contact with automotive and h ay development, leaders in hoth fields provided entertainment. T trip was le under the auspices of the Pan- | American Confederation for Highway | Education and was underwritten by | directors of the National Automobile | Chamber of Commerce, while its cost "»\44~ borne jointly v the automotive, electric ubber, steel, camera and | other industries. Make 460 Miles By Bus. | The first 460 miles of the tour, which | took the visitors as far as Indiana and | back, was de exclusivi by motor |bus. The route from New York lay northward along the scenic valley of | the Tudson to Aibany and then west- d to Buffalo and Niagara Fal highway | nic grandeur as well perfection was constantly presented ation of the travelers. the took the visitors out Riverside Drive and | the Hudson, past Grant's Tomb and {on through Yonkers, Dobbs Ferry, | Tarrytown, Ossining and Peekskill West Point. As an initial ex- this co builds its ' o s awaited the I they left America’s 1ind’ them ioing up van at once f America's I | Peekskill, the Hu | the Bear Mou highw: { for m | briage ! views of the motor plunged into ona auty spots. Beyond son was crossed on Bridge, the only sing the river es.” From this nd_its_approach, the highlands and were offered. Route Over Mour The route to Schenectady lay for a_considerable nce over the Em- pire State high ing across the Storm King tain with commanding view of the Hudson at one of its most scenic points. The Latins were impressed especially by the Hudson, |Checking Air Pressure in Tires Worth | $10 an Hour to Owner of Automobile lars an hour isn't such bad |also is varfable, according to the size enters it and s digested in its fiery stomach. For each gallon of gasoline the engine burns completely, it manu- factures more than a gallon of water. This is charged with carbon dioxide gas, and nearly all of the soda water manufactured in the engine is blown out through the hot exhaust pipe as an invisible vapor. It is not recom mended that any one try to secure his supply of seltzer water from the end of the exhaust line Corrosive Acid Generated. Sometimes part of the water manu- factured by the engine condenses di- rectly in the combustion chamber. If an engine is started from cold and then allowed to fire only a few charges the inside of the cylinder may remain wet with water. If allowed to stand for some time when the temperature 1s very low, the water may freeze the BROS. Starting—Lighting—I gnition—Speedometer—Carburetor—Motor Parts | 1811 14th St. N.W. Potomac 473 F‘ Y y Pot. 1673 Only when you total all expenses, add in the car’s price and divide by miles run can you really appre- ciate Flint economy. A Demonstration Will Convince You L1 N ] 1605 14th St. N.W. the engineering genius that had con- quered the mountain slopes possible a connecting link in high- w routes through the Empire ate. At Schenectady the first full stop in the trip 3 made to in- pect the industr ders of that x- | city. The mot Irists - t to the highways 1e mext day From ady the headed ot the Mohaw | 1ex route he older highv the § ile ive to-l the 50-mile run to ade through a thriving 1 country over one of the N There are innumerable cases on rec- | ord where there has been a direct loss of from 20 to 50 per cent of the tire mileaga due to neglect of pressure, Miller Rubber Co. exper L On the other hand, there & | as many cases where prope has inereased milea to th tent over previous r one figures that t ‘ | of the tires, the quality, etc That is what experts figure motor pistons tight. Moreover, nearly all|ists make by keeping air pressure in iguid fuels contain a minute quantity | their tires up to normal. It is easy of sulphur, and during combustion the , Work for such excellent pay. sulphur burns and produces sulphur | _1Ilere is the experts’ method in : : ocuces SUPRUT | g out this earning: oxides which, when dissolved in water, | Tt s reasonable to assume that the | form acids, including sulphuric acid, |average tire user can check the air which has a corrosive action on the | pressure and bring it up to normal in bearing surfaces. | five tires in about three minutes at a About 6 per cent of the exhaust |free air station. Over a period of a from the engine Is carbon monoxide, r this amounts to ahout two and |, Hexardiess of the under ordinary operating. conditions, If hours. This is figured on the | the tire user who has a v but at low load conditions, as when essure once each | £0F tire attention is guardi an engine is run in a service station This time may vary slightly, | future trouble and annoyance. or garage, as much as 12 ver cent|of course, buf for the purpose of illus: == may consist of this poisonous gas.|tratfon it {s sufficiently accurate.| OIld tubes should never be used with Good ventilation prevents any delete- { Then let it be estimated that a set of |new casings. It Is best to buy new rious effects. five new tires costs § This figure ' tubes. ag chenec ave Lusses Regardless of the saving i ¢ time ainst week. R S H What Car Do Yoz Drive? The owner of a Locomobile never explains his choice What do your friends think when you tell them the name of your car? Wherever motor cars are known the name Loco- mobile means the finestand best, the choice of the most exacting persons in the world. Quality built this prestige, and now quantity production methods make the Locomobile Junior Eight available to a much wider circle of those of good taste. Sedan $2,435 Salesroom 1517 Connecticut Avenue North 962 Touring $1,925 Service Station 1123 18th St. N.W, Main 8029 Roadster $2,265 Coupe $2,415 All Prices Delivered at Washington. Terms if Desired THE LOCOMOBILE COMPANY Model 48, Series’ 10 $7400 to $12,000 ‘With Custom Built Bodies £ 0. b. Bridoeport A™MERICA Locomobile Model go $5500 to $7500 With Custom Built Bodies f. 0. b. Bridgeport P K BoBis X