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Show MUFFLER IS NOT WATCHED CLOSE Cleaning Up Process Is Overlooked Over-looked or Delayed Until Openings Open-ings Become Clogged. INCREASES USE CF GASOLINE Very Important Part of Automobile Is Located Under Car and Out of Sight, and Is Rarely Given Attention Needed. One of the parts of an automobile most neglected by many owners and drivers Is the muffler. As a boy with a dirty face puts off the cleaning up process Just as long as possible, so the motorist with a muffler that needs attention procrastinates and thinks perhaps he will fix It up tomorrow. And tomorrow never comes. But today to-day Is always here with Its greater use of gasoline and various other complications com-plications that a dirty muffler causes. The muffler Is located under the car. and being out of sight Is usually out of mind. It Is therefore often neglected neg-lected or misused. And yet It ought not to t'e. The muffler is placed on the end of the exhaust pipe of the engine en-gine so that the driver of an automobile automo-bile while taking pleasure himself docs not wholly deprive others of It. Let us consider the use of the muffler. muf-fler. The exhaust valve opens while the burned gas Is still under a pressure pres-sure of from 25 to 30 pounds per square Inch. If this were exhausted directly Into the air the reuniting noise would stifle conversation In the car, aunoy everybtHly along the street and quickly get the driver Into trouble nlth the police. The muffler prevents all this. It provides a chamber In which these exhaust gases may expand and cool somewhat and at the same time breaks up the pressure by allowing It to leak out slowly through n number of very small holes, instead of letting It loose In one blg noise." The "Cut-Out" Valve. In the early history' of the uutomo-blle uutomo-blle mufflers were not used and everybody every-body for blocks around knew when an auto was coming. As the automobiles Increased in number this became a nuisance and was stopped by law. Then they sought. Indeed had been seeking, a means of stilling the sound. In the early muffler there was trouble because the gas would back up In the cylinder and decrease the power of the motor. It was thought there was no way to decrease the sound without decreasing the power; therefore the manufacturers devised a valve to "cut out" the mulTUr on the car whenever extra power wns desired. Sometimes the back pressure wns so great ns to Interfere when driving through heavy roads or up MIIr. The "cut out" let the gas pxhnust directly Into the air Instead of going through the muffler. At the present time nearly near-ly every city has a lnw prohibiting the use of "rut outs." The average driver does not know-that know-that his muffler needs ns careful attention at-tention as nny other part of the mechanism, mech-anism, anil so he neglects It. In these days of noiseless cars It requires a great number of very small boles Inside In-side muffler. These become clogged with soot or carbon from the exhaust. The deposit collects very rapidly, especially when the grade of oil used Is poor or too much oil Is used. It also results when the carburetor Is adjusted to give too rich a mixture. Openings Become Clogged. When these small openings become clogged the exhaust gases cannot escape es-cape readily, and naturally the cylinder cyl-inder of the engine Is not cleaned nt the exhaust stroke. Itesult : It Is Impossible Im-possible to bring In a full cylinder of new gns on the next Intake stroke. There Is not n full charge to explode, slid this menus s loss of power to the ellgll'.e. Cases nre known where the throttle wns opened wide without nny Increase In power. Trying to find out what the matter ns. the driver opened the "cut old" nnd this eniiH"d the machine to srcclernta ruiiWIy. |