M ARC H 30TH, 1907.

THE AUTOCAR B )ournal publisbct > in tbe tnteresto of tbe mecbanicall\? propellet > roa~ carriage

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 597. VoL. XVIII. SATURDAY, MARCH 30TH, 1907.

[PRICH 3D.

TflE AUTOCAR.

(Published Weekly).

- Registered as a n ewspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom. Entered as occond- class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office .

EDITORIAL OFFICE:

COVENTRY.

PUBLISHING OFFICES:

20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

NOTES . . .

•

. .

UsEF.UL H INTS AND TIPS: ON ACCESSORIES (continued)

TH E 15 H.P. S,x-cYLINDER STANDARD CAR (ill ustiated) . .

THE AMERICAN I NVASION . .

. •

THE SAURER SELF·STARTER (ill ustrated) . .

REPAIRING FRACTURED C ASTINGS (illustrated)

ON TH E R OAD . Bv OWEN J OHN . .

ALCOH OL-ACETYLENE (illustlated) . .

C A R AXLE DESIGN . .

• , , ,

TH E 12-14 H.P . SINGER CAR (illustiated) . .

THE TURNER-MIESSE STEAM CAR (illustrated)

P"-<a

{37·438

. , 439

440-441

441

4-4 2-44-3

. . 44 3

. • 444

445"H6

· · 446

. . 447

448-451

ScoTCH SHALE NAPHTHA • . . . • , , • . , · · ·, 452 CoNTI NiEN TAL NoT E S AND NEWS: TKE W EEK AT NICE-CIRCUIT DES

ARllENNES CoNDJTIONS- THE SIX-CYLINDER H OTCHKISS TOURALGERIAN RACE-ON THE DOWN GRADE-A SPLE~DID I SOLATION 453-454L oNOON TO M OST£ C ARLO (illustr a t ed) • • 455 THE MOTOR UNION BADGE (il lustrated) . . , . . , 456 A NEw DETACHABLE R1M FASTENIN G (illustrated) . . 4 50 THE STRENGTH OF WtRE WHEELS (ill u stra t ed) . • 456 CoRRESPON DENCE . . • . . . • . 4 5 7 -40 2 THE 40 H.P. SrnoELEY TR IAL (illustrate<l).. • . 463 VAPOUR EMISS ION COMPETITION . . . • • • 4 63 S OME QUERIES AND REPLIES, • . • , • 464 THE 35 -37 H . P . NACKE CAR • • • . • · 465 LUBRICANTS FOR M OTORS (con tinu ed) . . . . . . . . . 466 T H E FLEXUHLITY TR IALS (illustrate d)- 1907 Sco TTI Sll R ELIABILITY

TRIAL..

• . . . • . . .

THE i'.\'IOTOR UNION A NNUAL MEETING

FLASHES . . · , .. ·, .. , ·

• · 467

468

469·471

OPTICAL INDI CATORS (illustr ated )-REv rEw

. • 472

CLUB DOINGS . • . .

• •

THE FuEt Qu2s r10N (concluded) . . . .

THE S CIENTIFIC REGULATION OF TRAFFIC . .

• · 473

• · 474

475-476

"THE AUTOCAR" SUBSCRIPTION RATES: British I!'Aes, 16s. Abroad {thin paper edition ), 22s. 8d. p e r annum .

The dentification of ngines. Buyers of second-hand cars, even if they be experts or employ expert examiners, a re often at a loss to fix the date of manufacture and h orse -power of a car of which purchase is contemplated. With cars on ly a yea r or two old it is easy enough for anyone wh o thoroug h ly knows the various leading models t o tell almost at a glance the p ower and age of th e engi ne; but when machines of three or more yea rs are in question, it is often a matter of difficulty , and in extreme cases one of impossibi lity, to ascertain these vital particulars. The farth er we go back the more difficult the task becomes, and when it happens, a s it does in many cases, that the standard patterns of one year have diff eTed very l ittl e from those of the preceding and succeeding years, the matter is ti ll further complicated. It is all very well to urge that a fully qualified examiner will have sufficient data by. him t o finally determine th se question ; it is true he can learn a great deal by referring ba ck to our " Buyers' Guides," which have now been publi~hed regularly since Fe?ruary, 1?04 ; to old price lists a nd so forth, but all this takes tune. There is no doubt that the majority of buyers of second-hand ca rs have not the data available, nor have the majority of professiona l examiners. Even the most careful examiner may not find what he wants after the most prolonged search, as there are all sorts of intermediate patt ern s and models which may be brought out in any one ,·ear subsequen t to the publication of the "Buyers ' Guide" for that particular year, and which may be alte red again before the next " Guide" is published.

The remedy is ve ry simple, and one which we should lik e to see adop ted by all manufacturers. One or two have adopted it, but the practice is so rare that it may be said to be practically non -existent. Every engine should be stamped with the power un der which it was sold in the catal ogu e of the year, the bore and stroke, th e yea r of manufacture, and the type o f engine. It may be urged that th ese details could be altered by the unscrupul ous, but if they were a l ways made ')n a rec-ognised part of a cylinder and th e crank case, any attempt a t obliteration would only be too apparent. In fact, so far as aluminium is conce rned, it is diffi ~·ult to ob lite rate a deeply stamped figure or letter without thinning down the aluminium to such an extent that t he obl iteration would be even plainer than a simi lar attempt on, say, th e cast-iron cylinder. It is possible t o have the lett ers and fig ures cas t on the parts, but that entails some ex pe n e in fixing th e lette rs differently every t ime th e pattern goes in the mould. The marking sh oul d be done on the top of the crank case and front cylinder, so that it cou ld be at once seen and e asily read on li ft ing the b onnet. We suggest that the catalogue h.p. should be given rather than the brake horse-power, because it i;; the catalogue or nominal h.p. by whi ch th e va ri ous models are usu a lly known , as everyone is aware of the fact that the majority of cars are equal to giving more th a n the power stated. For instance, t he avera.ge 15 h.p. gives anything up to 20 h.p., the averag e 20 h. p . is ge nerally equal to about 24 or 25 h.p. , and ,rhen it comes to the still higher powers, suc h a s th e nominal 30 and 40 h.p., the extreme possibilities are ge nerally more than proportionately high e r. In fact, we heard of a well-known 40 h.p. which had averaged for a seri es of t ests on_the bench ove r 70 h.p. , th ough no one woul d know what car was re ferred to if it was spoken of as the 70 h.p. - --, th ough th er e would be no hesitation in identifying the model if it was referred t o as th e 40 h.p. ---.

There is no need t o d1rell on the matter furth er . We commend it without hesitation t o the Society of 1otoT Manufacturers a nd Traders, both in their own, interests and in the interests of their cli ents, as it is a practice which would be welcomed by every honest ow ner or se ll er of a. motor ca r, while th e buyers of second-hand cars would rega rd it in the light of a positive blessing. If th e practice could b e extended to other main parts of the ca r, so much th e better.