The Brussels Post, 1925-4-15, Page 7....The Autoniobile
•RATTI.ja IN GAR. OFTEN
The number of locks which are to be,
found oft the modern automobile seems
to be hr.ere(ising,as the years go by,
end the total value of ears :incl ttcees-
•sorter stolen runs up into even largos
Apses, There are locks :on the steer-
ing wheel, the mote -meter, the teeas•i
miss1on, the doors (of closed cars),
the trunks carried on the rear and
the spare tire,
While these might be considered as
locking devices, they aro not exactly
what the automotive engineer means
When he uses this term. he means
the various devices which keep the
different parts of the ear in place and
working effectively so that important
bolts will not We loosened by vibration.
It is the ideal of every manufaeter-
er to Mews t•...ry nut set up snugly end
properly locked in piece. It should be
the ideal of every driver of a car. to
see to it that they stay' in this Sesir-
able condition. No motorist cares to
have his car so conspicuously none?
from numerous rattles that everybody
can recognize when he is driving by
the sundry sounds his machine makes.
ceiEC.L UP FORpews s,
There is just one possible advantage
that attaches itself to the clattering,
namely, that no thief would ever con-
sider stealing it. The noise o£ such a
car would'readily be recognized by the
local police, However, the thief "vi-
bration" may steal many o£ the parts.
The new owner of a car after driving
it for a few days should go over it
carefully himself to cheek up on the
locking devices or take it to a service
station for this purpose.
When a person buys a new automo-
bile he oughtnot to take too much for
granted as to the snugness of nuts and
he ought not to condemn the maker
of the car too severely if he finds a
few ofthem becoming loose after a
few hundred miles' run. This is apt
to happen in the best cars. It should
be said that the manufacturers have
gone to great lengths to equip cars
with such locking devices fon- parts as
will insure the greatest possible safety
to automobile owners.
Many parts of a car are made fast
through the use of bolts with the
tweeds on them and nuts that turn
n the threads and make the parts
ght. 'in the past, more than at pres-
t, it was the practice to have the
olts long enough so that two nuts
could he put on. One was jammed
against another in order to lock them
such a way that it would be impos-
le for them to come off. Then, to
.ake doubly sure the nuts would not
all off, a hole was drilled into the bolt
and a splitsteel pin called a cotter
was inserted. Thus even though the
nuts became loosened the cotter pin
MA -NS TROUBLE. NEAR.
would prevent them from falling off
the bole,1
On earn(' ers, instead of using two
outs, a single nut with notches in the
head of .it, called a castellated rtute
was employed. When this nut was in
piece a hale was drilled through the
bolt and the eater pin was inserted
in a pair of notches in the nut, so that
it could not back off and become loose
end,
However, lock washers are now used,
more often in place of lack nuts. The,
lock washer Is made of burdened- steel
With two comparatively sharp project•
thine causingbythe splitting on the
i5
1
washer. When the nut is turned down.
oe bull a washer the sharp edges dig
into the nut and the part which is
being hold into place. As a result, the
nut is prevented from working loose.
•These washers are sometimes called
split washers. In other places the hoed
of tho bolt. is drilled and a wire is
passed through it and made fast in
such a way that the bolt cannot turn.
It is of extreme importance that the
wheels of a car be securely locked on.
Nobody wants a wheel to leave his
machine when touring along a country
road. . Each front wheel is usually
secured by two ,nuts, One acts as a
lock nut and a cotter pin is added to
prevent the 'wheel from coming loose
in case the auto' should loosen up by
any chance.
nail 1vielgn SAST£NXNCS.
The rear wheels, which are fastened
rigidly to the axle shaft in nll types
except the full floating, sometimes em-
ploy a special lock washer and a single
nut. This jock washer is constructed
so that when it is placed over the end
of the shaft it cannot turn on the
shaft. It has ears which mtey be bent
snugly against the flat surface of the
nut to prevent turning on the shaft,
If the rear axle is the full floating
type, the wheels are held on by two
nuts,, the' conditions being elle same as
the front 'wheels.
In the engine the wrist pin, which
travels up anti down the cylinder;+ et
the rate of about two thousand times
a minute, is likely to work loose. If
this happens ,it may come in contact
with -the cylinder wall. Singe the wrist
pin is made of hard steel and the cyl-
inder wale is composed of sof cast
iron, the cylinder may he scored. As
a result grooves may cut in 11 so
that there is no possibility of keeping
good compression in the cylinder,
Locking devices, 4ike most other
parte of an automobile, while reliable
in the main, are not infallible and
should be given the once over once in
a while to insure the best motoring
results.
Freaks of the Famous.
Eccentricities of famous people pro-
vide a strange and surprising study,
for many celebrities of the past have
been obsessed with remarkable no-
tions, and have engaged in freak hob-
bies and queer pastimes.
It is recorded of Daniel Webster that
he had a peculiar fancy for painting
the Paras of bis cattle, and he ebanged
his color scbente frequently. One day
the neighbors Would see Webster's
cows grazing in the park with their
faces painted blue, and the following
week the animals would appear with
red painted faces. Webster, it is said,
delighted to mark the look of surprise
with which his friends regtirded the.
result of his strange hobby.
The ruling passion of Peter the
Groat was to ride about hi a wheelbals
row, end many of his State visits to
cities and towns over 'which he ruled
were made In this fashion, the mon-
arch beteg wheeled along in his home-
ly conveyance pushed by a perspiring
mansereant.
One of tire' favorite entertainments
of William the Conqueror -was watch-
ing a dog fight. His subjects, knowing
this, used to send his dogs, and the
king would select front these the big-
gest and fiercest types. Then he set
them 'to figlht In pairs, and would sit
ail day watching the combats.
Of a very different nature was
George Washington, for, though the
loved fox -hurtling, his main idea of the
share was always to try to capture
alive a young fox etas, which ate would
take home with him, Then, patently
rind with much pereev'erance, be would
thatch his captive tricks•, whish the cub
later performc;