Gas Engine Course LESSON LXXV. SOME of the bearings of gas engines are made dies. of babbitt, some of brass or bronze and some of die cast white metal. When babbitt metal is used for the crank shaft bearings a jig is generally used which is kept at a fairly high temperature by means of a gas jet. This prevents the babbitt from freezing and aids very materially in the making of perfect castings without waves or bad spots. The jig is made to clamp around the bearing and center the shaft exactly. If the casting is made in one piece it is difficult to scrape it or do any fitting but if it is a two part casting or if cast around a mandrel it can be either scraped or reamed. It is always best if possible to remove the surface of a babbitt bearing because there are liable to be spots of dross or a film of lead or zinc oxide over the surface that does not make a smooth bearing and which has to be worn smooth before the bearing is perfect. Bronze bearings are made of a harder, tougher metal and are used in the better grades of machinery. It will bear a higher load per square inch than babbitt but when it does get overheated it will not only score badly but is liable to fuse to the shaft. Babbitt, on the other hand, will melt and run out. Babbitt can be quite easily repaired by pouring a new bearing. Bronze can not be repaired but must be replaced. Either babbitt or bronze, when the bearing overheats, will almost certainly score the shaft and may ruin it. A few scratches around a shaft need not cause any particular damage provided it is properly smoothed. Transverse grooves, even when quite deep, do not cause much damage if they are smooth. For farm machines or machines that are operated in places remote from repair shops, babbitt bearings are preferred. High grade machines fitted with an efficient lubricating system are usually provided with bronze bearings. They are more accurate and admit of a little finer and closer adjustment, higher speed and more weight. Within the last few years die cast bearings have come into somewhat extended use not only for engines but for other kinds of machinery. Die castings are made of a hard, tough alloy consisting largely of zinc and aluminum. They are cast in metal molds under pressure and the resulting castings are singularly dense and perfect. These castings are used for a great variety of purposes and need no machining if used for ordinary machine parts. They can be made exactly to size and in any shape desired. Their principal cost is involved in the making of the dies. These are made by hand, must be very smooth and are consequently very costly. When once made, a set of dies will last almost indefinitely. If a manufacturer has several thousand pieces to make and can use a die casting it is often cheaper for him to do so even if the cost of the dies is high. He saves thereby the cost of machining and pays only for the weight of metal actually used. There is no waste. In the gas engine business about the only use made of die casting is for bearings. These have to be scraped or reamed in order to obtain a suitable working surface. Die castings for engine bearings are not quite as satisfactory as babbitt or bronze. The alloy is harder and more brittle and if it is not fitted exactly right or if the load is too heavy it is liable to crack or even to crumble. In fitting all classes of bearings, care should be taken to make the fit perfectly tight so that there shall be no lost motion and yet so that the shaft will not be gripped too tightly. Also the bearing must touch the shaft at all points and be seated firmly in the frame or member in which it is carried. In fitting the halves of a split bearing, shims are used to hold the halves apart. These must be exactly of the right thickness. In determining the proper thickness the workman usually uses pieces of thin paper like writing paper to obtain the final adjustment or else very thin pieces of metal prepared for that purpose. When the bearing is finally adjusted, the nuts should be screwed down hard so that there can be no movement of the cap of the bearing. Then the lock nuts must be screwed down hard while the lower nut is held firmly in place with a wrench and kept from turning. A lock nut must be screwed down hard in order to be of any use. It holds because of the tension on the threads between the upper and lower nuts. Unless there is considerable tension, which can only be secured by holding the lower nut while the upper one is set down, both nuts are liable to work loose together. The bearings of a new engine require constant attention until they are worn in. Realizing this, manufacturers always assemble their engines at the factory and run them for several hours. This tests the adjustments of all the parts and helps to smooth the bearings and the cylinder. When a piece of metal is first finished there are a multitude of minute rough places which when they rub together cause friction and heating. In the course of time these rough places wear smooth A GOOD YEAR TO MAKE MONEY There's every reason why you ought to make a lot of money this year. The Government Crop Reports indicate the largest acreage and the largest crop per acre ever known. Get Into The Field If you have never run machinery before, now's a good time to start out with a brand new rig. If you're an experienced machine man, you know the importance of starting into such a big crop season with machinery that's right up-to-date and that will handle a lot of grain, do first class work, and not break down. Here Are The Machines To Avery Steam Engines are Money Makers because they are Long Lived Engines, Repair Bills are Small, and they are Economical in Fuel and Water Consumption. Your choice of three styles-Single Cylinder, Straight or Return Flue or Double Cylinder Undermounted. Avery Separators are Money Makers because they have a wonderful capacity for threshing out a lot of grain in a day, they get you the jobs because they are Grain Savers and they keep running steady with hardly a stop. Avery Tractors and Plows are Money Makers because an Avery Tractor is an all around Power Plant for Threshing, Plowing, or General Farm Work and an Avery "Self-Lift" Plow saves you the expense of a Plowman. Write at once to our nearest Branch House or better still, get on the first train and make a trip to our nearest Branch and make arrangements to get your share of the money that's going to be made handling the big crop. Don't miss the chance. Act now. AVERY CO., 335 Iowa Street, PEORIA, ILL. BRANCH HOUSES: Kansas City, Omaha, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Fargo, Grand Forks, Billings, Aberdeen, Lincoln, Madison, Wichita. JOBBING HOUSES: Avery Company of Texas, Dallas, Texas. Also Other Principal Machinery Centers. EXPORT OFFICE: 2 and 4 Stone St., New York City Avery Single Cylinder Straight Flue Avery Single Cylinder Return Flue Avery Double Cylinder Undermounted Avery "Yellow-Fellow Grain Saver" and run cool but at first they have to be watched carefully and lubricated copiously. When an engine is run on the testing floor, it, together with perhaps half a hundred of its mates which are running at the same time, is under the eye of a trained mechanic who knows just what to do if a bearing overheats or if anything else goes wrong. Every engine is first run light for an hour or two and then is put under load. If it stands the double test and shows its rated horse power it is sent to the painting department and from there to the shipping room where it is crated for shipment. Some manufacturers make a break test of every engine to determine if it comes up to its rated horse power, while others are contented to test one or two out of every hundred. The larger sized expensive engines are all tested individually but in the small sizes which are turned out in such large quantities it is almost impossible to test all of them and so only a few are tested but all of them are assembled and run even though they are afterwards dismantled for shipment. In a large establishment it is impossible to run each engine until it is thoroughly broken in. It remains, therefore, for the purchaser to finish the task. That is why every new engine should be run light for several hours and watched carefully all of the time to see that no bearings overheat. Then the load should be applied gradually until the engine is working to its capacity. If an engine is watched carefully for the first few days and kept thoroughly lubricated, very little trouble is apt to develop subsequently. More bearings are ruined the first hour's run than at any other period in the life of an engine or any other piece of machinery. GASOLINE ENGINE FOR HOSPITAL USE. D. G. BEATY. Dr. F. M. Manson, of Worthington, Minnesota, uses a gasoline engine in connection with his private hospital. The engine is primarily for operating the X-ray machine, the static machine, the electric massage, and electric needle. It serves, however, for lighting the hospital when the electric power fails for any reason. A small electric dynamo is connected with the engine and in this way it is possible to provide lights for the entire building, in cases of emergency. It gets rather cold in Minnesota during the winter and at first Dr. Manson had some difficulty through having the water tank in the engine freeze. In order to avoid this, he dug a pit just outside of the cellar wall and placed the gasoline engine in this. The pit was lined with concrete and a concrete floor was used. A ditch was dug around the pit in order to run the water away from it and the walls on all sides were run higher than the surface of the ground to prevent water from running in. A hole has been cut in the wall of the cellar and a belt run through this from the engine to the washing machine so that the laundry work can be done with the gasoline engine. The engine is also used for charging the batteries of the Doctor's automobile. There are a great many other uses to which a gasoline engine may be put when used in connection with a hospital, but Dr. Manson's Hospital is not large and he has not yet applied the engine to these other tasks. He much prefers the gasoline engine to an electric motor because it is less likely to fail. The use of electricity for important work that cannot be stopped during the process is rather uncertain because even the best power companies have accidents that shut off the current sometimes at a very critical moment. This, happening when an operation is under way and causing the loss of two minutes during the operation might mean the death of the patient or the failure of the operation. For this reason the gasoline engine has been employed. One of the new bills before congress provides "that nothing contained in the anti-trust laws shall be construed to forbid the existence and operation of fraternal labor; consumers, agricultural or horticultural organizations; orders of associations instituted for the purpose of mutual help, and not having capital stock or conducted for profit, or to forbid or restrain individual members of such organizations, orders or associations from carrying out the legitimate objects thereof, nor shall such organization, orders or associations or the members thereof be held or construed to be illegal combinations or conspiracies in the restraint of trade under the antitrust laws." In other words, this bill expressly exempts all labor organizations and all farmers' associations from the provision of the anti-trust laws. All other industries will be regulated but labor and agriculture. This looks very much like vicious class legislation. If it is not good for society in general, for manufacturers or business men to organize why should it be good to have farmers and laborers organize? Laws are made for the entire people and it is dangerous to show favoritism. Irrigation by wells and tanks in India is not a recent development like irrigation from great government canals but has been practiced from ancient times. It has been estimated that wellirrigated land in India produces at least onethird more than canal irrigated lands, evidently due to the fact that when the cultivator has to raise every drop of water from varying depths by hand labor he exercises more economy in the use of it and is inclined to use it mostly for high grade crops. The Field Type "W" Sizes, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12 and 15 H. P. UR enormous output with three of the largest jobbers in the country, as well as our large export business, enables us to give you a HIGH CLASS, quality engine at a popular price. More Field Type "W" Engines sold through dealers in the N. W. in the past year than all other makes combined. Ten Important Reasons for Buying Field Engines 1. No vibration, perfect balance, which insures smooth running and long life. 2. Absolute simplicity. 3. Easy starting. No cranking. A Motor Boat for Inland Waters F. H. SWEET. UNLESS you have been an inland yachtsman, the victim of the fickle summer breeze; unless you have spent hours drifting about, getting nowhere and praying for someone to come along and tow you somewhere, you can never fully appreciate what the advent of the motor boat has done for those who enjoy the water. This is true especially of those who were obliged to go to a river or lake for their sport, and it is of the motor boat in relation to these waters that this article will deal, as the ocean going motor boats are in a different class. Sailing on river or lake, even at its best, has always been more or less disappointing, because you could never tell with any degree of certainty when there was going to be a good sailing breeze or if there was one how long it would last. It is unlike ocean sailing, for there is usually a good wind and day for that. On account of this uncertainty, sailing never attracted a very large number of inland followers, and many a promising fresh water yacht club has passed out of existence because Boreas failed to do his part as an active member. But with the development of the motor boat they have taken a new lease of life, and it is no uncommon thing to find a club that has within a few years replaced its entire fleet of sailboats with the more dependable motor boat. The change was gradual, of course, some installing in their sailboat an engine of small horse power as an auxiliary to be used when the wind failed; or else the mast was taken out and the motor required to do all the work. This plan has worked successfully even in as small a boat as a Cape Cod dory. The motor boat is to the waterways what the automobile is to the highways. The radius of travel is limited only by the size of the boat, the gasoline supply and the size of the body of water. All navigable streams and other waterways have been charted by the Government so that anyone who is planning a cruise may obtain all necessary information relating to the trip from the Bureau of Navigation. The motor boat offers one great advantage over the automobile in that there is no speed limit. The speed fiend may indulge his passion to the utmost without fear of a river policeman firing a shot across his bows and ordering him to report to the inspector of the port. Another pleasure the motor boat enthusiast enjoys above his brother who drives the automobile-and it is a pleasure every true motor boatman insists on enjoying at least once in his lifetime is that of designing and building, or at least building, his own boat. This work is usually done in winter between seasons, One ad vantage is that you can do as much or as little of this work as you desire. You may go to the limit by designing and building your boat from the keel up; you may get plans from a professional boat builder and build; you may buy a "knockdown" hull and put that together or you may buy the hull all ready for the motor and other equipment. But of course the greatest amount of pleasure is obtained by working out plans for a motor boat along lines you have thought out yourself, building the boat and then trying it out to see if it comes up to your expectations. If you are handy with carpenter's tools and haven't grown careless when your enthusiasm cooled, the boat ought to be a success. It all depends upon yourself. Two men using the same plans frequently get different results because one was painstaking from start to finish, while the other was content with careless workmanship. One of the fastest speed boats in a small club was designed and built by two enthusiasts during one winter. This boat is twenty-five feet long with a width of beam of four feet. Power is supplied by a 10-horse power two-cylinder motor, capable of making from twelve to thirteen miles an hour. The gasoline tank holds a supply for eight hours at this speed. The hull is constructed with oak frames onehalf by five-eighths inch, which were let to their full depth into longitudinal frames of spruce one and one-half inches square. The hull was planked with a single thickness of three-eighths inch white pine centered on the longitudinal frames. The edges of the planks were left threesixteenths of an inch apart, but when the boat was put into the water these seams closed up so tightly that not a bit of calking was necessary. This boat is decked in forward and aft with three-eighths inch pine, and the deck timbers are three-fourths and one and one-fourth inches. The forward deck is nine feet long, then comes a four foot compartment for the motor, which is covered with a metal hood; next comes a six foot open cockpit, and then the aft deck of six feet. There are two athwart-ship seats for passengers, the boat's capacity being four persons. The control is arranged on the wheel like that of an automobile, the spark and throttle control being under the operator's hand. This boat complete cost four hundred dollars, the motor and equipment representing an outlay of two hundred and fifty dollars and the timber and incidentals one hundred and fifty dollars. Another practical boat in the cabin cruiser class was designed by its owner, but on account of its size the hull was constructed by a profes |