• FEBRUARY 13TH, 1909.

THE AUTOCAR B Journal publtsbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbantcall~ propeHett roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 695. VoL. XXII .] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1 3TH, 1 909 .

[PRICE 3D.

The A utocar.

(Publi shed Weekly. )

Registered as a n ewspaper fo r t ransmission in the Un ited Kingdom. Entered as second-class matter in the New York (N.Y.) _. Post Office.

Three Editions every Friday .

The THREEPENNY EDITION, printed on Art paper . The PENNY EDITION, printed u pon th inner paper. The FOREIGN EDITION, price 3d., printed on specially light bank paper for tra nsmission abroad.

Editorial Office :

COVENTRY.

Publishing Offices :

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

CONTENTS. NOTES USEFUL HtNTS AND T1rs. Hv M . BOURDON THE F0UR-1N-ONE ARI ES ENGINE {ILLUSTRATED) THE 20 H.P. GERMAIN (ILLUSTRATED) AN UNCONVENTIONAL VEHICLE THE 12 H.P. ADLER-IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF MOTOR CARS MOTOR UNION NOTES . . THE GATE CHANGE PATENT. Rv D. L EECH MAN ..

PAGE 211 - 212 213-214

214 2 15 -2r7

217 218 219 220 -221

THE DE DION " TYPE DE COURSE" V OITURETTE (ILLUSTRATED) 221 "AERONAUTICS {ILLUSTRATED) • • , . 222 -223 AEROPLANE J OTTI:-JGS. Bv \\'. G. \\. J :-JDHAM 223 ON THE ROAD. Dv OWEN J OHN '.:24 CORRESPONDENCE. . 229 -?.33 THE AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION-UNSPRUNG WEIGHT 234 EVENT'i OF THE \1/EEK {ILLUSTRATED) 235 THE SLIDE VALVE ENGINE-THE Rov AL A.C. (OR Assoc1A rEs)

COMMITTEE • •

236

TYRE TESTS BY THE R OYAL A. C.-REAR REFLECTOR FOR

BICYCLES (ILLUSTRATEO)-MOTOR LAUNCH J~OR ASIA MINOR (lLLUSTRAtED)-To MAKE GEAR C HAN GIN G EAsY (l LLus TRATED)

FLASHES , ,

237

238 -240

LIGHTS ON VEHICLES ACT, 1907

CLUB DOINGS

241

242

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Briti sh Isles- Home Edition, I6s . ; pf nny tthin raper) edition, 6,. 6d.

Abroad (thin poper euiaion), 22s. Bd. per annum.

I Notes. Noisy Cars. Nothing is more annoying than the use of an exhaus t cut-out in towns, or, in fact, at any time when there is other traffic on the road. We always believe in having one for testing purposes, but there is another form of annoyance which will have to be dealt with sooner or later, and that is the noisy, ramshackle car. There is no doubt there are pl enty of cars on the road to-day which would not fetch £ 50 if they "·ere put up for auction. Some of them are remarkably sound con­ structions. They are anything between seven and ten yea rs old, but the noise that most of the o lder ones make is simply appa ll ing. T his noise, in the mai n , comes from th_e change speed gear . The di rect drive was not known in the days of the early cars, and was only just beginning to come into use in the days of thelater ones, so that it may be stated broadly that al l the noisy old cars have indirect gears. Of course, there is no need for indirect gears to be noisy, as some of the quietest cars ever made have indirec t gears. We are not talking about them, but rathe r about their predecessors in the days when each of the leading makes of cars could be recognised by its own partic ular howling note even when half a mile away. Every time the accelerator was pressed and the engine got to work there was a steady grinding noise from the car r and many of these heavy and noisy old veterans arerunning-and howling-about the country to-day and gi\·ing motoring a bad name.

These antiquities, however, are by no means the only sinners. There are numbers of disgracefully noisy cars on the road to-day which are only three or four yeat.;; old. They are either common, cheap ca rs, badly made, with numbers of loose rattling parts, or else they aregood cars which have been shockingly neglected by thei r owners. Even with these, however, the re is ve ry littl e noise from the engine unl ess an e xhaust cut-out is used. P eople scarcely realise how small a proportion of thevolume of sound made by a passing car is caused by the engine itself. True, it makes some sound, but i n. the majority of cases it is, as we have said, only a small proportion of the sum total of noise. To-day the noisiest part of the average car is still the transmission, though the noise of the tyres on the road, particularly if tudded, is now becoming an important factor as the mechanism it self is made quieter and quieter.

To return to the old or badly neglected cars which make so much noise and do so much harm to the movement in consequence, it is a r ather remarkable fact that as a general rule we have noti ced the owners of these antiquities or neglected, though more modern and really far less sound cars, are in nine cases out of ten inclined to give themselves ridiculous airs. If they have a chauffeur his buttons are larger th an usua l, and the poor man is domineered over in a manner \rhich is painful to behold. If th ey enter an hotel th ey endeavour to convev the impression that th ey a re very great people. awl when they go shopping by car they see to it that ;ill beholder. a re aware of the fact. Like their ca r, they are loud and demonstrative, and support the adageth a t a man is known bv his car.

Of course, there are ·exceptions which pro ve the rule. In looking at these exceptions we rl.isco1·er another :rnd pleasanter side to the picture. The people who use old cars because they are bound to do so on the score· that they can afford nothing better are comparatively few. The cars used by these good motorists are u,ually vehicles of five or more years of age, which have~ been· used, and roughly used, throughout thei r active life. The few who are compelled to use these ve ry old ca rs because they can afford nothing better are entirely different from the other type of owner we have named. T hev are enthusiasts to a m;i n , and :n c- < iuite we ll awa re of the shortcomings of their motors ; but their cars areth e best th ey can manage to buy and thev make th e-