Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/441

 A Time-Saver for the Repairman

It locates the trouble for him and tells him how to make repairs

��Above: Testing the electrical sys- tem of the car. At right: The box containing the complete equipment

��THE ingenious device shown in the ac- companying illustration was developed to enable the automobile repair or garage man to locate the trouble on any kind of a starting, lighting or ignition system on any American-made car. It is a time saver for both repair man and owner

It enables the &

former to cor- rect the trouble with the least possi- ble delay and permits the latter to get his car back into service without longperiods of idleness.

It is hu- manly impossible for the average repair- man to know the electrical systems of all cars. Many an owner has found this out to his sorrow by having to wait a day or two for his car because his repairman did not happen to know the particular elec- trical system of his car. And it must be remembered that the electrical equipment of the modern motor car is the most com- plex of any part of the automobile.

The device consists of a special ammeter and voltmeter, a switch and wires, a dozen small books called master charts and several hundred wiring diagrams which come in a small box, as shown. The main fact involved in the operation of the instrument is that every make of car has a definite lamp current and charging rate when it is operating properly.

After setting the instrument according to a certain one of eleven key numbers which show through small openings at the top of the dial face, according to the make of the car, it is wired up to the battery. Two handles are moved to give the proper key adjustment according to whether the engine is running with the lights off or idle with the lights on, and the center handle is moved to bring the current needle

���to the zero mark on the dial. If all is well, the letter "N" appears through a hole in the dial at the bottom; if not some other letter appears, according to what the trouble is. The me- chanic then looks in the chart book for that let- ter and learns ex- actly what to test for next and how to do it. In this way he con- tinues to test each unit of the system until he finally lo- cates the trouble and finds out exactly how to re- medy it.

��Will the Dinners of the First Trans- Oceanic Flight Be Hot?

WITH the trans-oceanic airplane flight waiting only for the termination of the war to prove its certainty, it is interest- ing to consider some of the unusual prob- lems that it will bring up. How, for in- stance, will meals be made hot ? So far as an airplane is concerned, there can be no ordinary kitchen. No stove makers or coal dealers need apply. One way in which the passengers of a small airplane could get a hot "bite" is to carry their food in a vacuum or thermos bottle. The food could be made piping hot before the flight and it would keep hot for days if necessary. It would not be a bad idea if large pockets were built in the side of the airplanes. These could be made on the vacuum bottle principle. Into these, vessels containing large quantities of already prepared and piping hot food could be stored.

��425

�� �