CHAPTER V

EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES

With every car are furnished all the things required for operation, including lamps, tire pump, jack, tire-repair kit, a variety of wrenches to fit all nuts and bolts, oil can, set of spark plugs and generally an extra one; hammer, screw driver, cold chisel, magneto-adjusting wrench, and some other things, varying with the car.

There are any number of additions which may be made in the way of tools, or of devices which some motorists deem desirable. Some of these things are a speedometer, a clock, trouble lamp attachable to a socket on the dash, a mirror to enable the driver to see what is going on back of him (compulsory in New Jersey and some other States), cigar lighters, foot warmers, and elaborate lights for the limousine. The owner is cautioned, however, against loading up his battery with a lot of electrical devices which use up current very fast. Not so as to tools; one may err in having too few rather than too many.

While it is true that a woman with a hairpin and a piece of string can fix almost anything under the sun, the autoist would better not trust to his wife’s ingenuity, but be a little better prepared for the emergencies of the road. It does not do any good to know what the matter is when the car balks unless one has the tools and material to do the necessary repair work or adjustment.

Every new car is equipped with certain tools, but some owners have no interest in these tools and lose most of them in a short time, so that when needed they are missing, while other owners add sufficient tools to equip a good-sized machine shop.

A wise selection of tools for the car will provide everything at all likely to be needed on tour, and yet capable of being packed in such a compact space that it does not become an annoyance through the room occupied, nor weigh down the car. The special tools furnished should be preserved with great care, because nothing else fills the bill quite so well. To these might be added some few tools and parts not needed often, but when they are, their absence is a source of delay and is temper-provoking.

Recently the author was asked to go about fifty miles into the country to bring in a machine which had refused to run and had been stored in a barn over night. He found that the interrupter points had become glazed so that no spark was being procured. A special file is manufactured for the particular purpose of cleaning off these points. As one of these was not in the car, it was necessary to disassemble the spark timer completely, take out the points, and then find a piece of flat hard stone upon which the points could be cleaned. This did the work all right, but much time could have been saved if the interrupter point file had been carried in the car.

Likewise no wrench was available for adjusting the points and it was necessary to go to a nearby blacksmith shop and saw out a temporary wrench for the purpose. Word has come from France to the National War Work Council of the Y. M. C. A. that one of their supply cars serving the huts in the trenches was laid up nine days for the lack of a small magneto wrench.

Many an owner has had the experience of being caught out on the road by a storm and having to put on non-skid chains. How often have they found that, though these chains were in good condition when leaving the garage and when they were put on, after running awhile over rough roads at a fair speed, some of the links wore through and began to thrash against the mud guards. This is not only annoying, but often does real damage to the guards. Most owners have stopped more than once to wire the loose ends to the side chains to stop the banging, and it certainly would be more satisfactory to carry a supply of links and a chain tool so that the broken ends could be removed and new links inserted.

Of course, the loose ends can be pried off with a screw driver and new links pounded fast with a hammer, but you will have to remove the chain to do it and it takes time, and much exasperation can be saved by using the proper tool.

A folding pail is very useful, especially when one has to go up very long hills and finds that the water in the radiator has boiled away. The cooling systems for automobile engines to-day are very efficient and it is only in exceptional cases that the water will boil out of the radiator, and that is just the reason why an occurrence of that sort is disastrous, because one is not expecting it and is not prepared for it.

In sandy country and on dirt roads one often will have occasion to jack up a wheel to change a tire, and will find that the jack sinks into the loose sand or dust instead of lifting the car. A block of wood an inch thick and about six inches wide and a foot long will be found a big help under such circumstances. Many drivers also have had to use a fence rail to jack up a car because some one borrowed the jack from the car and neglected to return it. Even though tire trouble is not expected, it is well to make sure there is a jack in the car and also a handle for the jack. The jack is more often found than the handle.

Working about an automobile means a lot of grease and grime on the hands, and possibly oil or grease upon parts of the car, so that it is well to carry a small bag of waste or rags. If the grease or dirt prove obstinate, a little gasoline, drawn from the drain cock at the bottom of the carburetor, will cut it and enable you to clean the hands fairly well.

It is a good idea to have a three-in-one or similar tire-valve tool with which it is possible to remove the valve plunger, cut threads in the valve stem so that the plunger may be properly seated, and cut threads on the outside of the stem so that the cap will screw down tight. In some cases where the valve stem is battered in changing a tire, air cannot be gotten into the tire if these threads are damaged.

Many persons object to carrying a tow rope for fear it will be understood that they have doubts of their ability to get home under their own power; but in addition to affording a connection to some other source of power, a tow rope may be used to help a brother in distress and is superior to chains in very sandy or muddy places, when wrapped about the tire.

An extra set of electric-light bulbs may save considerable trouble and annoyance, because the traffic policemen to-day will accept no excuse when at least one light is not burning.

If you do not take your wife’s first-aid kit—the shoestring and hairpin—you had better be provided with a spool of soft iron wire, the ordinary stovepipe wire. It is wonderful how many little temporary repair jobs may be done with its aid. Some drivers like to have a small hank of strong twine also.

There are many other things which might be added to the list of useful things to have along for emergency, all of which may be stowed in the tool box or under a seat. They may not be needed once a year—perhaps never—but like the insurance policy, when you do need a tool you need it pretty badly.

AUTOMOBILE FIRST-AID KIT.

1. Wrench for adjusting ignition interrupter points. 2. File for cleaning above points. 3. One set of ignition brushes. (In box labeled.) 4. Several extra spark plugs, cleaned and adjusted ready to use. 5. Tow rope. 6. Half-dozen valve plungers for inner tubes. 7. Three-in-one tire-valve tool. 8. Tire pressure gauge. 9. Jack and handle. (Be sure about the handle.) 10. Squirt can full of oil. 11. Voltmeter, or hydrometer, for testing battery. 12. Box of assorted nuts. 13. Box of assorted cotter pins. 14. Box of assorted cap screws. 15. Box of assorted washers. 16. Spool of copper wire and one of soft iron wire. 17. Full set of electric-light bulbs. 18. Bag of clean waste or rags. 19. Two blocks of wood, 6″ × 12″ × 1″. 20. Full set of fuses—if fuses are used. 21. Folding pail. 22. Chain tool and several cross links.

The nuts, cap screws, washers, and cotter pins of regular assortment and packed in boxes are carried by supply stores. These and several of the other articles may be packed in a cigar box for stowing away.