INTERESTING BRAKE TESTING PLANT.

INTERESTING BRAKE TESTING PLANT.

It is probable that no device yet known contributes towards the safety of motoring as much as one which has just been installed at the Hillman works. This consists of a brake testing plant which is now in operation at the end of the finishing line.

Every motorist appreciates the danger of illadjusted brakes. This may not be apparent in dry weather, but the moment the roads become wet sudden braking will cause the car to swerve sideways, skid and possibly crash into the very person or object which the driver was attempting to avoid.

Accurate adjustment of brakes is not easy to accomplish by hand. In fact, it is told of this new brake test that when a car, the brakes of which had been carefully adjusted by hand was placed on it, it recorded a difference of 100 lbs. pressure on the two rear wheels. This, of course, would be more than enough to cause a skid with certain road conditions. All such possibilities are prevented by the new test at the Hillman works, which is, incidentally, the first of its kind to be employed by a British motorcar

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manufacturer. At the end of the finishing line, the car is placed on the braking plant, with each wheel in contact with a pair of rollers. These rollers are revolved under electric power and the car wheels, of course, turn with them. Each of the four devices has a dial, which records brake pressure in pounds. First there is a test for

drag:then the hand-brake is applied and the brakes are adjusted so that there is exactly 300 lbs. pressure on each of the rear wheels. The foot brake pedal is operated by a graduated rod and, in the same way, adjustments are made so that each front brake records 400 lbs. and each rear brake 300.

The whole test occupies some 17 minutes, and at its conclusion the brakes have been thoroughly bedded down and adjusted to scientific requirements. The superiority of this to the hit-or-miss methods of hand adjustment is obvious. The Hillman Company is to be congratulated on being the first British concern to instal this somewhat expensive apparatus, and to pass on its benefits to Hillman cwners in the form of even increased safety.