Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/138

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��Popular Science Monthly

���A practical home-made gasoline gage for the automobile

��A Gasoline Tank Gage

AGASOLINE tiink gage may be made as follows: Obtain a brass rod of about 3/16-in. diameter, 2 ins. longer than the tank is deep, a cork about i},4 ins. in diameter and H in- thick; also a strip of copper yi in. wide, about 1/16 in. thick and as long as the tank is deep. To make the holes in the cork-Hoat, obtain an iron rod and a piece of strap-iron of the right size, heat them and press into the cork. Repeat this operation until the holes are burned through the cork.

Put one end of the copper strip in a vise and with a pair of pliers giv-e it one complete turn. See that the lloat slides freely upon it. Place the float on the bra.ss rod and flatten the ends of the rod for a distance of i in. and drill holes for copper or brass wire to be soldered to each end of the copper spiral for bearings and pointer. Assemble as shown in the illustration. Make a hole in the filler-cap to acconnnodalt- the pointer and solder the upper end of the brass rod to the cap.

��The float should be given two coats of shellac. Make a zero mark on the filler cap where the pointer stands, when the tank is empty. Pour in one gallon of gasoline, put the gage in place and mark a figure 1 whore the pointer stands, and so 011 until the tank has been com- pletely filled. — ^Claude M. Sessions.

��Lapping a Scored Automobile Engine Cylinder

SOMETIMES an automobile engine cylinder will become scored due to defective cooling or lubrication, or on account of dirt in the oil. This results in loss of power, because the compression in the cylinder is reduced by escaping gas. If the scratches are not too deep, they may be lapped out and the expense of re-boring the cylinder saved. A very simple yet effective lapping-tool is shown. A main spindle of mild steel carries a tapered expander-plug, which fits a corresponding taper in a cast- copper lap. This has four grooves cut in it, two extending from the top nearly to the bottom, two from the bottom nearly to the top. These permit the lap to expand when it is forced down on the expander-plug by the clamp-nut. A driving-pin is inserted in the spindle, this turning the lap because it fits one of the slots.

The scored cylinder is clamped secure- ly on the bed of a drill-press and the lap inserted in the bore after it has been covered thoroughly with abrasive ma- terial, usually fine emery and oil. The diameter of the lap is slightly less than

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��A lapping tool for engine cylinders avoids the necessity of reboring

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