Page:Motors and motor-driving (1902).djvu/131

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THE MOTOR STABLE AND ITS MANAGEMENT
99

Every portion of the machinery should be arranged, as far as can be done, in such a manner that removal can be effected upon the road without use of tools, or with the least number. To give a few examples:—If burners exist, in order that the platinum tubes may be replaced without extinguishing the burners, additional taps of more perfect make should be provided in lieu of many of those which do not cut off with certainty, due to their construction. Extra taps in the course of the benzine tubes should be added, so that the fluid may be cut off at more than one point in case of fire. The nuts should be changed as far as possible to certain gauges to diminish the number of keys required. The locks of drawers and cupboards throughout should be passed with one key. Every nut on the car should have a spring washer placed under it, and the end of all bolts and studs pinned where possible. All break rods and clutch rods should be cut and joined together by means of a right- and left-handed screw coupler, with lock nuts on the rods, in order that adjustment may be made on the road with despatch, and the best tensions for these rods be obtained without trouble. All these details and many others which suggest themselves, according to the type of car, should be attended to, and they will repay the owner in a very short time.

The careful storage of benzine is a very important matter. No licence is requisite for the benzine carried on the car, which must not exceed forty gallons. If all reasonable precautions are followed, there will be no difficulty in obtaining a licence for the general storage. The benzine-store at Broomhill is constructed in the following manner: It is a lean-to house eight feet long, three feet wide, seven feet high in front, and nine feet at the back. All the walls are of nine-inch brickwork, and the bricks in the side walls are so laid that the ends of them do not meet, in order to allow a free current of air to pass through. The fourth side is filled in by a pair of doors lined with iron. The roof consists of corrugated iron laid on T iron. The floor has a bed of concrete six inches