Auto Q & A
Auto Q & A
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Posted by editor Mon Sep 11, 2006 16:10:06 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments Dear Q & A: When did disc brakes start being used on cars? - El
Dear El: Longer answer. The tiny (for its time) American Crosley car tried out disc brakes in 1949 but soon returned to the old, familiar drum-and-shoe configuration. In 1953 Jaguar introduced disc braking on its Le Mans race winner of that year, and this really caught the world’s attention. Steel discs, mounted to and spinning with the wheels, and slowed by fixed pads, were found to dissipate heat much better than drums, and auto manufacturers hastened to adopt the new technology. Because discs stay cool longer under severe braking and thus resist brake fade, they have helped win many auto races and save innumerable lives in mountain driving.
Dear Q & A: we were having a discussion on break the other day about stopping distances. I was arguing that a big eighteen wheeler semi truck can stop a lot quicker than an ordinary four wheeled car or truck, because the semi has got a brake on every one of its eighteen wheels. Don’t tell me I’m wrong. - Bill A.
Dear Bill: Okay, they’re right, if it’s a gentler way to put it. Depending on a number of factors, such as load, speed, and pavement surface, a practical rule of thumb is that an eighteen-wheeler takes about twice as much distance to brake to a stop as a car, SUV, or pickup. This should give you good enough reason not to squeeze in just ahead of a speeding semi so you can make that freeway exit you nearly forgot was coming up. If you’re only a car-length ahead of a 70-mph semi and suddenly have to slam on your brakes to avoid whatever, he’s gonna crash in through your back window. The fact that the semi has 18 brakes to your four just doesn’t make up for the semi’s far greater mass and inertia. A good thing to keep in mind when you’re competing for lane space with 18- and 26-wheelers of every description on Highways 58, 14, 99, and 5.
Dear Q & A: You mentioned some time ago that Sears Roebuck used to sell the small Henry J car through its catalogs some forty years ago. Weren’t there cars also sold by Sears long before that, like about the World War I era? - P.K.
Dear PK: You’re right, but it was even earlier. The Sears Model H and Model K were available through the Sears catalog beginning in 1909. The 1910 versions, Models J, K and L, had a two-cylinder opposed, four-stroke, air-cooled engine, with two four-bladed cooling fans, developing fourteen horsepower. These beauties had no steering wheels; a tiller bar mounted above the lap of the left front seat passenger aimed the car. Pull to turn right; push to turn left. It must have taken a little getting used to, for people accustomed to steering by pulling on horse reins. Some of the Sears car selling points in its ads:
“Simplest car ever built. We send…a complete instruction book explaining how to operate it. Any lady or child can start and run a SEARS motor car.” This was obviously before there were laws about driver’s licenses. Prices? $395 to $495, plus shipping, either partly or fully assembled. Guarantees? “We will replace broken parts…on condition that the defective parts be returned to us (in Chicago, presumably) for our inspection.” Like to drive at night? “Two good oil lamps in front, oil tail lamp in rear. Acetylene attachments and generator…for $10.95 extra.”
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