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A portable instrument of the seismograph type has been designed for measuring the riding-quality of vehicles. Headings are made by a continuously revolving counter that automatically sums up the vertical displacements of a partly suspended weight. As the counter readings are a measure of the riding-quality, a large reading indicates poor riding and, conversely, a small reading indicates good riding. An arbitrary scale graduated into revolutions of the counter per mile of travel translates the readings into riding-quality; a reading of 10 indicates “very smooth,” 20, “good,” etc. The instruments have been calibrated in a special testing-machine in which the readings can be observed under an harmonic motion of fixed period and amplitude. Comparison of the riding-qualities of balloon tires and of cord tires, made on three different automobiles run over a variety of roads, shows results that are very favorable to balloon tires.

Annual Meeting Paper - The heat-dissipating properties of three types of radiator core have been investigated at the Mason Laboratory, Yale University. These include the fin-and-tube, the ribbon and the air-tube groups, so classified according to the flow of the water and the air. The ratio of the cooling surface to the volume is shown to be nearly the same in the fin-and-tube and the air-tube cores, while that of the ribbon core is somewhat greater. A formula is derived for computing the heat-transfer coefficient, which is defined as the number of heat units per hour that will pass from one square foot of surface per degree of temperature-difference between the air and the water and is the key to radiator performance, as by it almost any desired information can be obtained. When the heat-transfer coefficients have been found for a sufficiently wide range of water and air-flows the cooling capacity of a radiator can be computed for any desired condition.

Metropolitan-New England Sections Paper - The loss of power due to the friction of the various parts of the chassis has been carefully and elaborately investigated by a dynamometer, the dual purpose being the determination of the amount of internal frictional resistance of the front or rear wheels and the measurement of the power that can be delivered at the rear wheels with the concomitant rate of fuel consumption. The rolling-friction due to the resistance of the wheels as a whole is taken up first and afterward the separate resistances of the tires, bearings and transmission are studied under varying conditions of inflation-pressure and load. The five frictional resistances that were chosen as giving the most useful information are those of the front tires, the rear tires, the front bearings, the rear bearings and the engine.