Show I How an Automobile Is Made w yAr 0 4 Qt t c J 1 t j c t t sf k r rc r y k w research carch arc here at work In the General Motors Research lAbor in Center photo shows an engIne on a 1 lire lira test Lower photo shows an engineer In the high h cn cage e workIng on a highly sensitive to detect nol s sand and vibrations Upper photo shows nn an engineer in fu the fuel turl This Is the first of or a series of o articles telling telling idling low How an Antonio Antonio- bibo is Made ny fly y ISRAEL KLEIS Science Editor NEV XE Son Sen Ice HE present-day present automobile Is T THE j the product of ot a a series ot of tests eo so detailed and exacting as asto asto a to make an observer believe the tho automobile industry Is tho most thorough most 1 painstaking most nearly perfect of oC all Yet a tour through the re- re research research re research search laboratories of ot any auto auto- automobile automobile auto automobile mobile plant leaves es ea the feeling that the automobile is far tar from perfect This is the reaction I 1 had after arter going through every ery department ot of a great Detroit automobile plant to learn earn about bout the Indus Indus- Industry's try's 3 latest advances I have followed the mind ot of the automotive engineer in its new process of working out a II new thought followed the thought through the research stage through Its adoption in the com com- complicated complicated complicated mechanics of ot manufacture and on to the final I finalI tests through which h every car has to go before being approved Cd as a finished product I have watched finished car care beIng driven under the best and worst of ot motoring conditions abused to the utmost to find out whether it would stand the gaff gaffIn gaffIn In In the hands even of ot the most inconsiderate owner NOTHING PERFECT At the foundation of oC all nil this thoroughness are the tho research ef- ef forts of a corps of engineers I working constantly with new for for- for formulas mulas new nelv methods new ma- ma materIals materials In order to improve the tho automobile It Is In the automo automo- automotive automotive automotive tive research laboratory that the tho 10 how the why and nd wherefore are Investigated Here we wo find every single part ot of the automobile still under test for tor improvements Here we have to decide that the automobile Is lafar tar far from being a perfect mechanIsm mechanism ism lam No better can this be illustrated illustrated illustrated ed than in the research activities concentrated on the power plant ot of the automobile Engineers for tor Instance stilt still are tryIng to find out Just what com com- com I I combustion bustion really is UEL rUEL 1 KNOCK MYSTERY Perhaps the most Important ef- ef efforts ef et efforts forts In automotive research to- to today today to today day are being concentrated on en the tho problem robem of ot fuel and Its pos 10 pos pos- possibilities possibilities A large part of ot the research laboratory Is IsI given over to the chemist who Is I trying by test teat tube and retort to discover what happens in the engine when a fuel explodes There Is the mysterious fuel for What It 11 Is Ino no one knows No one knows even how bow it happens But Dut Its It's there Chemists are trying to reo re- reproduce reproduce produce It In the laboratory un- un under under der willbe conditions by which they will be able to learn l arn all about It it They have devised a chemical that will in a way eliminate the knock But how remains remain a mys mye tery mystery They're trying to reproduce the action of ot this chemical with ordinary or- or ordinary or ordinary fuel under conditions that enable them to see sec the action to measure the gases going In Inand Inand inand and coming out and to record temperatures pressures and other factors of ot Importance I I Thia search tor for a more efficient fuel Is being made not only In I 1 the tho chemical laboratory but In Ina Ina a shop where special engInes ranging from one to six fix and eight cylinders are being run day and night for tor the tho testing of ot some peculiar Idea or hunch lunch of oC an engineer ENGINE REDESIGNED In connection with this fuel tuel research the research engineers are aro trying to find ways was of ot Im- Im Improving Im improving proving the design of oC o tho the en- en en engine give gine to Increase ita ite efficiency At one research laboratory ry a special two-cylinder two engine Lq is be- be beIng beIng be being ing run with tubes reaching from the coz con chambers clambers to to bu- bu burette bu rette where tho the exhaust gases can be measured The Tho l Idea is to r the tho type or grade or mixture that goes Into each cyl- cyl cyl cylinder inder This engine at the tha same time permits the engineer to discover a way of oC redesigning the Intake manifold so that equal mixtures ot of gas and air may be delivered In equal proportions to all cylinders This problems Is II one ono of ot the biggest problems problems lems of ot the tiro engineer today for forIt forIt It to 1 i well known that prevent present design cylinders permits one or two to I cyl- cyl inders to get more gas than I Is needed while the others may get less producing conel considerable waste and Inefficiency Another one cylinder engine Is h designed so 80 that gases may be caught at the flash point or just before the combustion to studY what happens to the as asIt It enters entera the cylinder Still another one cylinder en engine en- en engIne engine gine Is arranged so 80 that compres compres- compression compression sion Mon can be varied Alongside this Is a valve and double cup apparatus by which a I standard Cue fuel I of or which all characteristics are known and also ai an ar untested ted fuel aro are permitted to enter the engine By Ing first one gas and then the other Into the cylinder der del the engineer seeks to deter deter- determine deter mino mine tho the knock characteristics or of orthe the test fuel BETTER EFFICIENCY One engineer Is devoting his 1118 efforts entirely to redesigning tM the cylinder head so a as to raise ralee com com- compression compression com compression and power of the engine without affecting the efficiency ot of the fuel In combustion Another 1 is trying to Improve the carburetor the seat of ot num num- numerous num- num numerous numerous erous familiar troubles Still sun others seek sek better methods ot Of regulating the mixture of all air and gas which is fed to the cI cyl- cyl cylinders cyl Inders Efficiency and economy bo both would ou be served thereby rc These are only a few or of the objectives at which the engIneers constantly are driving The auto owner of oC today thinks he has n splendid 1 piece of ot mechanism and mechanism he has but has but the engineering x ex- experts peria ex-peria sec see many many many potential fields of improvement e NEXT WEEK nother Another article by b- Klein telling more about what hat I research re experts expert nn are aro doing hatI I |