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Exposure to Sun 'TRIALS in America indicate Reduces Human Vision that exposure of the eyes to strong sunlight for long at Night . . . . • periods considerably reduces their efficiency for a long time. It is said that as much as 50 per Cent. of the power of sight at night is lost This effect can be counteracted by wearing orotective glasses when in the sun.
Plea for all Front Axles to be Polished
A
1—k STRONG plea that all makers of passenger
vehicles should polish the by Makers . . . . front axles of their vehicles was put forward to us recently by Mr. G. Watts, of Red and White United Transport, Ltd. The company adopts this procedure, at least as far as all important parts of these axles are concerned, so that crack detection by the magnetic method is simplified. It was pointed out that a front wheel of a vehicle might strike a kerb and cause a small crack that would take a long time to develop seriously and it might be found only during major overhauls, unless polishing permitted the flaw to be discovered earlier. When is the Axle
Weight not the Legal
OLICE eq ui pped with
u
Loadometers are stopping
vehicles on the roads of New Weight Zealand to ascertain if they be overloaded, but recently they caught a tartar. The case was one in which the weight of the rear wheels had been checked and the axle was said to exceed the permissible four tons. However, it was claimed A26
on behalf of the defendant that the regulations stated "axle" weight, and that the officer concerned had not proved the weight carried by the axle, having included that of the wheels. The magistrate agreed that there was no evidence as to the actual weight carried by the axle, to secure which the wheels and other fittings outside the axle housing would have to be weighed separately and deducted from the total. He added that he thought a minor flaw had been found in the law and that the operator was entitled to take advantage of it. To any operators here who might try to put forward such a plea, we would emphasize that this case did not take place in Britain and they might not have such easy treatment here. M.O.T. Suggests
A MATERIAL alteration to " the proposals of Hull Viaduct for Hull's Corporation for the construeRing Road . . . . tion of a ring road has been suggested by the Ministry of Transport. At a recent meeting of the planning committee it was said that the change in plans will involve the construction of
a viaduct 1,400 ft. long over the railway. It was stated that such an idea had not been previously entertained because of the great cost, and the suggestion was referred to a town planning sub-committee. This is an interesting small development of an idea for roads over the railways put forward in "The Commercial Motor many years ago. We prepared drawings, which were reproduced, showing how roads could be constructed over the London railway termini to carry traffic as far as was necessary to reach less-congested thoroughfares. New Type Air Valve WE are trying out on a staff Controlled by " vehicle an interesting type Dynamo of extra-air device which removes many of the ohjections against the ordinary air valve. The most curious feature about it is that its action is controlled by the output of the dynamo. With the engine ticking over and the dynamo not charging, the valve is shut, but when the charging rate reaches approximately 4 amps. a solenoid device opens it. It closes automatically immediately the rate of charge drops to about 2 amps. In addition, the inlet for the air can be regulated by a lever to suit the conditions. For starting and warming-up, the instrument is switched off, when the valve remains closed at all speeds. To prevent loss of power or uneven running, the vehicle is tested in top gear on a level road at about 30-35 m.p.h., and the maximum quantity of air is admitted. The amount is then regulated until there is no loss in speed, but if the speed increases at a particular setting, a wider one is possible. The instrument is made by Scintilla, Ltd., for Verdik, Ltd., 136, Gloucester Place, London, N.W.1, and is distributed by Boon and Porter, Ltd., Castelnau, Barnes, London, S.W How Paint Helped
Lighting of a ShowMOST people realize that
the internal colouring of room the internal colouring of a building may have consider able effect upon the amount of light within it. Cumming Perrault, Ltd., has a large garage and showroom in Montreal The window area seemed adequate, but white water paint on the ceilings tended to turn dark and did not reflect the light as well as was desired The Canadian Paint Co., Ltd., then evolved a colour combination to improve the illumination. A special oil paint was mixed. The finish was almost a canary yellow for the ceiling, which was found to reflect much better than the white formerly used. This was combined with white and red paint on pillars and walls Part of the economy was that red paint from the floor to a height above normal reach now deters scribblers.