Springs and Riding Quality

The following are typical brief specifications of the medium powered six-cylinder car, baby four-cylinder car and the large high-priced car, the examples taken being the Daimler 32 h.p. "straight eight," the 16 h.p. Morris, and the 8 h.p. Ford.

Large Eight-cylinder Car.—Engine: bore 8o mm., stroke 115 mm., capacity 4.624 litres, rating 31.7 h.p., overhead valves; transmission : Daimler patented fluid flywheel, four forward speed pre-selective epicyclic gear-box, worm-and-wheel final drive; brakes: pedal-operated serro-assisted on all four wheels, hand brake on the rear wheels; suspension : four semi-elliptic springs with hydraulic shock-absorbers; petrol system : 18 gal. tank at rear with two gal. reserve, mechanically operated fuel-pump; dimensions: wheel-base I 1 ft. 10 ins.; wheel track 4 ft. 9 ins.

Medium-powered Six-cylinder Car.—Engine: bore 65.5 mm., stroke 102 mm., capacity 2.062 litres, rating 15.94 h.p., side-by side valves; transmission : single plate clutch, three speed synchro mesh gear-box, spiral bevel final drive; gear ratios (forward) 17.875, 8.832, 5.273, (reverse) 22.663; lockhead hydraulic four wheel brakes; suspension : four semi-elliptic springs with hydraulic shock-absorbers; petrol system : rear petrol tank with io gal. capacity, automatic electric petrol pump; dimensions: wheel-base 9 ft. 9 ins. ; wheel track 4 ft. 8 ins.

Small Four-cylinder Car.—Engine : bore 56.64 mm., stroke 92.56 mm., capacity 933 cu.mm., rating 7.95 h.p., side-by-side valves; transmission : single dry plate clutch, three speed synchro mesh gear-box, torque tube and radius rods with spiral bevel final drive; gear axle ratio 5.5 : I brakes : four-wheel internal expand ing, hand brake on the rear wheels ; suspension : transverse springs front and rear with hydraulic shock-absorbers; petrol system: 61 gal. tank at rear, mechanical petrol pump; dimensions: wheel base 7 ft. 6 ins. ; wheel track 3 ft. 9 ins.

Racing

Cars.—Many sporting events take place annually for which a number of prominent European manufacturers build highly specialized types of car. These differ markedly from the ordinary kind of chassis sold to the public, but in their design a great deal of data is obtained which is of considerable value in Improving the performance of the private car. In a racing en gine everything except reliability is sacrificed to power output, and very often a supercharger is employed to pump the mixture of petrol and air into the cylinders. Needless to say, the chassis is stripped of every unnecessary component, and is also specially constructed with a view to making the car as light as possible. Most record-breaking attempts and races are run under regula tions which severely curtail the size of the engine permissible, so that small 1,500 cu.cm. racing cars have been developed capable of 150 m.p.h. or more. Distinct from these is the 30o m.p.h. type of record-breaking car, of large size and weight, which is usually propelled by one or more aero-engines.

Methods of Car Production.

In Great Britain and on the Continent, there are now many manufacturing concerns employing quantity-production methods similar to those used in America, although on a smaller scale, such as Morris, Austin, Citroen, Renault and Fiat. Additionally, there are still many makers producing cars in strictly limited numbers who stimulate the de velopment and adoption of new ideas; a small output enables them to change designs more readily than the larger concerns and so to keep ahead in technical improvements. Their prosperity de

pends upon the fact that there is always a certain number of European buyers wanting a car differing from the mass-produced types. Some of these smaller firms specialize in racing and sports cars, while others build large, powerful and expensive chassis. In a typical British quantity-production factory arranged to turn out approximately i,000 cars per week, the chassis, or mechanical part, is assembled upon a slowly moving conveyor, frames being placed on the track at one end and gradually fitted with springs, axles, power units, etc., as they move along. Running at right angles to this assembly line are a number of sub-assembly lines, each feeding a component to the appropriate point. On each sub assembly line will be grouped the necessary plant and fitters for the making and building of the component concerned. The end of the chassis assembly line is arranged to meet the terminus of a similar line on which the bodies are built up, each completed body being then lifted with tackle and dropped on to a chassis to which it is bolted down. In the making of both the chassis and body of a car produced in quantities, standardization is es sential and a close control of dimensions must be ensured both by careful planning of the machine tools and fixtures and by elaborate systems of inspection on the sub-assembly lines. The complete car is given a short-road test and engines are run-in and tested independently before being fitted to the chassis. Similar methods are in vogue at the factories of Citroen and Fiat on the Continent.

During 1934 the principal European car-producing countries built the following numbers of cars:—Great Britain, 2,590,099; France, 164,000 (approximate figure) ; Germany, Italy, 41,000; Belgium, 5,000; Czechoslovakia, 6,000; Austria, 3,96o (approximate figures). (See also MOTOR VEHICLES, COMMERCIAL; MOTORCYCLES ; MOTORING; MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE; IN TERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE and the section of this article : Motor Car Body Design.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Historical: The Automobile, translated from the book of Gerard Lavigne by Paul N. Hasluck (19°4) ; H. L. Barber, Story of the Automobile (Chicago, 1917) ; W. H. Berry, editor, Modern Motor Car Practice (1921) ; F. A. Talbot, Romance of the Automobile Industry and Motor Cars and Their Story (1912). Elementary hand books: The Motor Manual (annual) ; F. J. Kean, The Petrol Engine (1918) ; Autocar Handbook (I ith ed. 1926). A. Graham Clark, Textbook of Motorcar Engineering (1911-17) ; R. W. A. Brewer, Motorcar Constructor (1912-28) ; and P. M. Heldt, The Gasoline Automobile (1924). General data and statistics are dealt with in The Motorcar Index (annual) ; Dyke's Automobile and Gasoline Engine (14th ed., 1925) ; and The Motorist's Year Book. See also Automobile Shop Practice; The Motor; The Autocar; The Light Car and Cyclecar; The Automobile Engineer; Automotive Industries; Proceedings of the Institute of Automotive Engineers; and The Motor Industry of Great Britain, 1935. (L. H. P.)