Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt:... to the tires. It seems almost inevitable that most back axles should leak sooner or later, because, no matter how carefully glands with felt washers, etc., are made, such things are subject to wear, and, when worn, they cannot efficiently perform their functions. It should, therefore, be the aim of a designer to render a leaking axle innocuous, especially to the tires. For an old car, a great sinner in this respect, thert was in one case designed a light iron drum similar to the brake drums, but as small as possible, and long enough to touch the spring. It was attached centrally to the wheel by three of the hub flange bolts, and the joint here was oil-tight. The other end had a slight flange worked on it. The object of this drum was to convey the leaking oil away from the plane of the wheels, and the end flange prevented the oil from creeping back on the outside of drum. To grasp this fact thoroughly one must remember that a fluid always finds its way to the largest part of a revolving shaft or drum, and is thence thrown off by centrifugal force. It never goes from a large part to a smaller. Although this device saved the tires and brakes from the oil, yet it merely conveyed the leaking oil to another place, and the under part of the car, on a plane with the flange of the drum, received all the oil which the wheels, etc., had got before. A further refinement was then evolved. A bowlshaped receptacle was spun up out of stout copper and attached to the spring pads. This caught the oil flung out by the flange, and a V£ inch hole on the under side permitted it to drop innocently on to the road. An examination of many back axles shows that while it is not always possible to fit the added drum, owing to brake shoe anchorages, operating...