Evening Star Newspaper, July 25, 1926, Page 62

8 CAUTON GARADS + DETROT TRAGFG LCoud Speakers Give Drivers and Pedestrians Startling Publicity for Errors. the public safety bureau of the Polica Department, is in charge of the daily work of the car. Usually he rides in the passenger's seat alongside the driver, ready with the microphone to spread safety propaganda. Here is & sample of one day's work of the caution car: Hours In service, i3 safety talks dellvered, 12: warnings for defective headlights, 40; speeders, 6; dirty or defaced license plates, 10; blocking crosswalks. 15; “‘double parking.” 200. The safety talks are delivered at important street intersections and of pedestrians are reached v day. Violators of the traffic rules are never “written up” by the crew of the car, Sergt, Rounds tolding that his lessons, delivared courteously and in good spirit, are more effective than more drastic action. Publl v Is Corrective. A large part of the effectiveness in dealing with individual violators is due to the glare of publicity in which they find themselves. Any one who has experienced that conspicuous feeling one has when a policeman privately tells him what's what, in the ordinary tone of volce, can imagine the sensation of having the caution car travel alongside his car delivering a trafic lecture in tones {that all other drivers and pedestrians {in the block may hear and enjoy. | Except in very flagrant cases, | these corrections are administered in a friendly, helpful manner. Sergt. Rounds, in fact, has a style perfect Iy adapted to dealing with the vio- lators reached by the caution car. “We do not seek to embarrass vio- lators,” says Rounds. ‘“Pedestrians and drivers are ned of violations they have committed and are shown how to cooperate in an effort to speed up traffic safely. Usually the work of the caution e is educa- tional; only in flagrant cases do we take disciplinary action.” Some of the safety homilies dellv- ared by Sergt. Rounds through the loud speakers are the kind that might make good safety siogans any- where. Here are a few of them: “Hello. pedestrians—walk with the green lights, always. The driver waits for you, now vou wait fer him. Courtesy between drivers and pedes- trians will save a lot of lives,™ “Watch that speedometer, son. It's the trigger of the deadliest gun ever invented.” “Whoa, there, speed kings! Your brothers are driving wheelbarrows at the housp of correction.” “Think, driver, think! The right of-way doesn’t give you the rgiht to The caution car is becoming a fa- millar sight on Detroit streets and is looked upon by motorist and pedes- tian alike as a friend. Even the most phlegmatic motoist can lose his temper when the traffic poligeman bellows at him. Out in Detroit, within the past few months, the trafic department has lifted bel lowing to its greatest volume—and the motorist has upset all precedent by learning to like it If he didn't he would be powerl to talk back because the bellowing policeman might be a block away in a street heavy with traffic. All this is due to the city's adop- | Uon of the newest wrinkle in safety devices — the loud-speaking police “eaution car,” equipped with amplify. ing apparatus that involves the best in radio principles. Mounted on Sedan. The loud-speaking apparatus is mounted on a sedan, 4 type of a car found most suitable. The Detroit Police Department designed and in stalled the electrical apparatus, all of which is mounted in a special cabinet in the tonneau. with wires leading to the three loud-speaker horns on the tep of the car. The main horn. a sigantic spruce arrangement five feet ieng, points directly forward: two small horns carry the sound to the aldes. The officar on duty speaks into a hand micraphene and though he talks in the natural tone of voice, his re marks issus from the three horns in voluma sufficient to “tell the world.” This traveling traffic car has been named the caution car for a double reason—its main purpose is to instill the principles of caution in both drivers and pedestrians and, literally, it cautions the motorist who is ob. served in careless driving. The fay- wajker, especially. s cautioned against his dangerous habits. The caution car was developed by the Detroit Police Department, with the indorsement of Thomas O'Grady, chief inspector of the Traffic Bureau. The department’s own radio engineer, Elmer C. Rich, designed the hook-up, which has proved entirely effective. Sergt. Herbert O. Rounds, head of From every viewpoint the famous Chrysler “70”, i way ch:mf except at sensa- tionally Iower prices, con- tinues more the car of the hour—the car THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JULY 25, YOUR CAR and MINE A Weekly Department of Helpfulness, Information and Entertainment for Motor Car Owners. By WILLIAM ULLMAN. Too many cars are going in for bal- loon speedometers, in the o'rlniam of the genuine student of speed. Good Cars for Better. Yes, the aext-door neighbor's car was a good one. Ie could have got along with it for two more years at least, but the new one was so much better he couldn’t resist it. Extgavagance? That depends upon the point of view. Also ypon whether one is abreast of the trend of the times. 13lbert Hubbard touched upon this aparent ste when he labeled our present age as ‘constructively jconoclastic.” “We are tearing down our barns to build greater,” he says in his “Little Journey: ‘The rail- road man who said, 'T throw an engine on the scrap-heap every morn- ing before breakfast’ expreased a great truth. We are discarding bad things for good ones and good things for better ones.” That lets the neighbor out. He may be our finest citizen. He could have got by with the good car he had, but he wanted the better things the pro- gressive car builders had to offer. Don't worry about the discarding of the many good cars. Tt is making way for the better ones. Why Delays Are Costly. What does it cost to wait a minute at this crossing and another minute at that Some day rig up a device that will show how long it takes the engine to consume a pint of gas while idiing. That will furnish a basis for figuring the cost of trafic delays and will sug gest the economic advantage of a lit tle more intelligent driving Good Ideal Gone Wrong. Frequently it s necessary to put an end to good ideas that gain so much headway they become foolish. Generous tappet clearance is an ad- vantage in hill climbing and does give a snappy motor, but there is great danger in carrying the idea too far. 1 there I8 too much noise it may mean there is a great sacrific in power. Also, much depends upon the make or type of engine. Where valves are of cheap metals with a tendency to excessive expansion, loose tappets will make for power, but only when the engine is warmed up. Since most engines are hot when they reach the real struggle ‘on hills, excess tappet clearance is proper for engines of such construction. Where valves are de- signed to compensate for their own expansion, however, noise may be a real loss of power. The danger lies in applying the noise-power theory to the wrong englne, to the wrong conditions, or by overdoing the idea. If valves do not lift fully, they will not let in enough gas nor exhaust burned gases quickly enough, This means power loss. Some drivers do most of their hill climbing When their car engines are cold. The less tappet clearance the better under such circumstances. Ease the Parking Problem. No motorist can expect to have trafc ordinances changed at a mo- ment’s notice to provide him a longer parking time, but he can increase the actual time for his needs by hurrving the process of parking the car and locking it up. The nearer he can get to his destination the more actual time he will have for his errand. Much of the business of closing windows and locking doors can be done before the car is parked. High Speerlztors Slow. Much misunderstanding appears to exist regarding the meaning of high speed motors and the opinion seems to prevail among many that an en- gine that turns up to 3,000 revolu- tions or more per minute must make a fast car. It is true that racing motors in current practice are of the high speed type, but in production Jjobs many cars with high speed mo- tors are comparatively slow. The lighter the motor,’as a general rule, the higher speed it can be built to attain. Centrifugal force in a hee.vier motor tends to tear it apart at a_ lower engine speed. But low speed motors can, be mounted in cars that have a higher gear ratlo, and because such motors are more pow- erful at the same crankshaft speeds cars equipped with them can attain 60 or more without difficulty. High speed engines in popular priced pro- duction jobs are, as a general rule, geared low so that even at their top speeds they cannot travel over 60, if they can reach that As They Might Say Now, “Notiing is more delightful than to lie under & car in the Summer with a wrench, except to lle under a x in Summer without a wrench.” —TFox. “‘Better a little car, provided it is your own, than an abundance of bor- rowed cars.”—Franklin. “Be slow in choosing a car, slower in changing."—Franklin. “Our business in motoring is not to get ahead of other people, but to get ahead of ourselves.'—Baboock. “When a horse begins to kick he stops pulling. Same with a car owner."——Moody:. War On Against Covers. There is a determined effort on the part of experienced mechanics to dis- courage the use of covers of all kinds. Most owners have comse to appreciate that it is not good to cover a new tire unless such a covering is taken off after rain storms to allow the rubber to dry thoroughly. Many others are discovering that while spring covers keep dirt out, they also keep rust and dirt in and are less than 25 per cent efficient as Ilubri- cators of spring leaves. Now the re- pairers are condemning the boots that are intended to protect other- wise exposed universal joints. The argument is that since universals must. throw grease through centri- fugal action such grease accumulates inside the cover and causes it to “belly.” Soon the cover is a rotating welght that tends to unbalance the prupeller shaft. Now You Have It! (Answers to last week's questions.) 1. The ‘“intermediate speed” of a carburetor {s its range that must take care of the gas needs of the engine when the car is running between 15 and 20 to 26 miles an hour. 2. The dash of an automobile is the partition between engine and driver's compartment. It is confused with the instrument board. 3. The clutch collar is a band over which the voke fits. The arrange- ment permits the release of the driv- ing dises from the driven ones. 4. A transmission case does not need to be filled to the top with lubri cant because the gears themselves act as pumps to provide adequate distribution of the lubrication. 6. High test gas will not stop the average motor from knocking. It is not “no-knock™ gas unless it happens to ha been refined from a crude high in benzines. (Copyright. 1026.) ew Lower Prices din Performance =, Quality you want and need. With savings of *50 to $200, the Chrysler “70”, at its new lower prices, is m in no ever to aking even sand owners who have driven their cars thousands upon thousands of miles. Fleet and agile, even to 70 miles and more an hour, with all the engineering and man- ufacturing fineness that such speed implies; ing contrast to 'Light and graceful in charm- the unwieldy 1926—PART 8. MONUMENT RECORDS TRAFFIC FATALITIES Memorial at Broadway and 64th Street Shows 118 Deaths in City in Month. Standing in Broadway facing Sixt fourth street, a monument, recent erected and dedicated to the memo of thoss who have been killed this vear in New York. City by reckless motorists, records the fact that 374 persons thus have met their death. This monument is similar in size to the one erected some time ago at Broadway and Seventy-second street. A month age the monument recorded the fact that 256 fatalities had occur- red in New York; the number now is increased by 118. Thus attention is called iff a graph- ic fashion to the appaliing number of traffic fatalities In the American metropolis. Commissioner Robbins I. Stoeckel, chief of the Connecticut Automotive Bureau, in discussing the situation in his State, recently declared that there were many evidences of an aroused public opinion demanding more dras- tie action by the courts in cases of carelessness or inattention by motor ists. Commissioner Stoeckel is in- clined to belleve that in the long run, the motorist cannot. be sufficient. ly depended upon and he predicts stricter regulatory methods in the near future. Any one can jam on automobile brakes suddenly, but it is hard on brake linings and tires, IDENTIFYING PAINTED CAR Need of Remembering Change in Color Is Emphasized. Repainting the car is not merely a matter of changing its appearance. Its identity, too, is changed. On the 8tate's registration records the car is noted as being of a certain eolor body with a chassis of some specific color, Iow is this repainted car to be identi- fled should it be stolen? In one State there is a fine of $10 for violation of the provision requir- ing car owners to notify the motor vehicle department within 48 hours of any material changes made in a car's appearance. The pessible loss . to the motorist by 1ot having on rec- ords the actual description of his car might run inte a surprisingly large fgur CADILLAC has periodically for a guarter century, inaugurated developments epochal in the progress of the entire motor industry. This year, universal interest attaches to Cadillac’s plans because of the ed success of the new, Q0 degree, eight-cylinder Cadillac. < Cadillac, next week, will present a message of extraordi- The Washington Cadillac Company 1138.1140 Conn. Ave. RUDOLPH JOSE, President < Franklin 3900, 3901, 3902 _ for Economical Transportation —Chevrolet is enjoying the most spectacular popularity ever won by a gear-shift car. Over 360,000 people have already purchased the Improved Chevrolet this year because no other car offers such’'modern design, a per formance sosmooth, so powerful or so many quality features at Chevrolet’s low prices. Come in! See this trulymodern car—drive it! Get acquainted with its superior features— learn the numerous advantages of Chevrolet ownership. Then you will understand why there has been such a sensational world-wide increase in the number of Chevrolet buyers. 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