THE AUTOCAR B 3ournal publtsbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanica ll ~ propelleb roab carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
To. 704. VoL. XXII.]
SATURDAY, APRIL 17TH, 1909.
[PRICE 3D.
The Autocar.
(Published Weekly.)
Registered as a Newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom . Entered as second.class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office .
Th re e Editions e very Friday.
The THREEPENNY EDITION, printed on Art Paper. Th< PENNY EDITION, printed upon thinner paper. The FOREIGN EDITION, pnce 3d. 1 printed on specially light banlt parier for transmission abroad.
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CONTENTS. I\o·rEs AN !DENTH~ICAT ION NUMBER ( lLL L"~TRACEOJ USEFUL HI NTS AND T IPS RACING AT flROOKLANDS ( I LL USTRATED) , .
R .A.C. GENERAL CO:'llMITTEE • • D ES IGN FOR A \\!EEK·EN D :\loTOM COTTAGE ( I LLUSTRATED}
THE NEW DA:MLF.R ENGINE TE31' . .
PAGE
529-530
530 · · 53u• 531 · · 532-535
535 . . 536-537
• . 53S-'\39
T1-1E MAKI.S G OF SuNsEAM - M EcEvET RADIATORS (ILLUSTRATED) 540-541 A TEST OF PFLEUMATIC TYRE FILLING THE MONA CO i\1EETDIG (lLLUSTRATLD)
54[ • • 542•5H
i\'iOTOR UNION N OTES • •
THE RAC!NG OUTLOOK • • THE r 6 H.P. H m ,tBER CAR ( lLLUSTRATEDJ .•
SMALL CAR TALK (ORRESPOS DENCE
545 · · 546 -547
547 548 · · 553-555
R.A .C. M o~THLV TRIALS-THE ScoTTISH RELIABILITY TRIAL . .
556
FLASHES {ILLUSTRATED) AERONAUTJCS (1LLUSTRATED) • •
· · 55 7-558 . . 559-560
Mv RusSIAS EXPERIENCES, Bv' C HA i . )ARROTT (ILLU'lTRATED) 561-563 So~lE QUERIE'-i AND R EP LI ES ·.. 564-
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Index to Advertisements appear on page 3 4.
(
Notes. Air-cooled Engines At first sight it seems extraordinary how very little has been done to develop the ai r-cooled engine in Europe. In the United Stztes the air-cooled engine !~as received a ve ry great deal of attention, and much larger and more po1Yerful engines a re built entirely without water-cooling than have been turned out in Europe. They a re not merely experimental engines, but thoro:1ghly settl ed types which have been supplied fo r so'TI~ years to the motoring public, and are still being turned out and supplied in large numbers. UndoubteJly th e reason for th e popularity of air-cooled engines in the St'ltes is duet~ climate. , ~ater-c?Oling is a nuisance two or three times every wrnter 111 the British Tsles. hut it is a vastly greater trouble ;n countries which have rea ll y se,·ere 1rinter . Despite the prernlence of air-cooled motors in the United States, it is necessa ry to bear in minJ that such motor~ are not in the majority. Very many more engines are cooled by irater th an by air. The real point of difference be t1reen Europe and America is that in Europe the air-cooled engine is now practically unknown, except for motor cycles and a few very small ca r engines, whereas across the Atl antic a ir-cooling is us d on a large number of ca rs ,1·ith quite la rge four and six-cylinder engines .
;-Jo one would be sorry if water-cooling could be dispensed ,1·ith, because in its simplest form-that is, on the th ermo-syphon system and without either pump o:· fan-it i. a nuisance, for the simple reason th a t there is a l ways the r isk of the water fr eezing during a ny co ld snap unl ess an anti-freezing mixture be used, and this is a great troubl e if there l.Je a ny leakage 1rorth mentioning from the radiator, as one is constantly having to make up the wastage. Then there ·ire a good man:; coo ling sy,tems in which it is unsafe to use the calcium eh loride p reparations because of their exceedingly corrosive e ffect on aluminium. However, as ,1·e have so often said before, the motor car is like all other engineering works, a compromise. One has to put up with certain things which fall short of the ideal to avoid other and greater evils .
The Best Compromise. While we must freely admit that water-cooling is a source of some trouble in winter, we have to bear in mind that without it there is at present no satisfactory proof that an engine can be driven with freedom with any system of air-cooling which has yet been tried. If peop le ,rere willing to "nurse " their engines, air-cooling ,rnuld probably be re-introduced at once, but eve ry ca r which is turned out must l.Je made so that it will climb a ny hill in the United Kingdom on the hottest clay in summer. In oth':!r words th e engine must be able to stand a long period of ve ry high engine speed and hard work, besides putting up with loitering and stops in traffic . If under these or any other conditions it should be li able to overheat it is a· source of ar:xiety to the majority of owners. F.ere and there we might find one who would cul tivate the a rt of driv ing an air-cooled engine ; in fact 11·•~ know some men to 1,·hom it would afford an added charm to the recreation of motoring, but there are too many bad d r ive rs for it to be safe to re-introduce aircooling unless it can be made what is expressively, if inelegant! y, known as " fool proof. ''
It is understood th at in speak ing of ai r-cooling ,re do not merely mean an engine with radiator fins cast upon it instead of water jackets. There must be a powerful fan fo rci uE or inducing a constant current over the rvlinder heads and valve chambers , and the volume o( ai r must be a very la rge one, too, if any ;ipproximation to satisfa cti on is to be given. Up to tht > present tim e we cannot regard a ir-coolin g as successful, and before it ca n be so regarded four vital points must be incontestably proved .
