1916 Cadillac - GM Heritage Center

OPERATION AND GENERAL CARE
TO STOP THE CAR.
First close the throttle and then release the engine clutch by pushing forv.ard
on the left pedal. Next shift the transmission control lever to the neutral
position. The clutch may then be allowed to re-engage. Then stop the
car by pushing forward on the right pedal which applies the foot brake. After
the car has been brought to a stop by the foot brake, apply the hand brake by
iieans of the hand brake lever.
TO STOP THE ENGINE
After slopping the car and applying the hand brake, move the ignition
= witch lever to the horizontal position.
HOW TO DRIVE A TYPE 53 CADILLAC.
Driving an automobile does not mean simply starting, steering, applying
the brakes and stopping. Pushing a wheelbarrow is one thing. .Driving a
more or less intricate piece of mechanism like an automobile necessarily is
to some extent, and doing it right is quite another. To properly drive an
automobile requires an understanding of the principles involved and the exercise
of some intelligence and judgment.
We believe that we are safe in saying, that with well designed and correctly
built automobiles, 95 per cent of so-called troubles are directly traceable
to abuse, carelessness, a lack of understanding of the principles involved
and improper handling generally.
Some drivers seem to think that so long as the car "goes" that that is
all there is to it. It is_ not.
Our object here is to endeavor to make clear a few points which some
owners and drivers do not appear to fully comprehend, or which, if they do,
they often ignore.
Taking it for granted that you have properly started the car, we will
here deal more particularly with the handling of the throttle and spark.
To begin with, the driver should thoroughly understand what is going
on inside the engine, and how, and why. If he understands these he is better
able to realize why certain things must be done and why certain other things
must not be done if he is to obtain the most satisfactory results, the greatest
efficiency and the greatest economy, together with durability and long life
of the engine and of the car. Not only these, but if proper care in operating
is not exercised, serious damage is almost sure to occur, for which the car
itself is in no way to blame.
A few words of explanation here will prove of advantage to those who
mav not be familiar with the principles of a gasoline engine and what makes
it "go."
The Cadillac engine is of the four-cycle type, that is, there are four movements
or strokes of the pistons and two revolutions of the fly-wheel to complete
each power-producing cycle.
The gasoline is forced by air pressure from the tank to the carburetor.
The carburetor is the instrument, by the action of which the gasoline is mixed
with air and transformed into a vapor or gas. This gas is then drawn through
the intake pipe and through the inlet valves into the cylinders of the engine,
where it is ignited by the electric spark.
The quantity of gas supplied to the engine is regulated by the throttle
lever at the steering wheel (the throttle lever is the longer of the two), or
by the foot accelerator.
Moving the throttle lever to the right increases the supply of gas supplied
to the engine and consequently increases the power and speed of the
car. Moving this lever to the left decreases the supply and consequently
reduces the power and speed of the car.
The action of the engine is as follows:
Starting, we will say, with a piston up, that is, at its highest point in
the cylinder, it first goes down. As it does so, the inlet valve opens and
through this valve a charge of gas is drawn into the cylinder. This movement
of the piston is called the suction stroke. Then the inlet valve closes
OPERATION AND GENERAL CARE
21
and the piston goes up and compresses the charge. This is called the compression
stroke. At the completion of this compression stroke, the electric
spark takes place at the spark plug. This spark ignites the compressed charge
of gas and explodes it, driving the piston downward. This is what produces
the force or power and is called the working stroke. Just before the piston
reaches its lowest point the exhaust valve opens, then when the piston goes
up again it forces the burned gas out through the exhaust valve. By the time
the piston has reached its highest point it has forced out practically all of
the burned gas and having completed the four operations, it is now ready
to commence all over again by going downward and drawing in a new charge.
All of the cylinders work in the same way, but they do not all do the
same thing at the same time. In the Eight Cylinder V-Type engine the
cylinders are so timed that an impulse is delivered to the crank shaft for each
quarter turn of the shaft. In other words, there are four impulses to each
revolution of the crank shaft, these impulses being equally spaced.
The cut shows the order in which the cylinders fire.
FIRING ORDER.
When the pistons are at their highest position in the cylinders is, of
course, the time when the charge is at its greatest compression, or in other
words, when the gas is "jammed in the tightest." Ignition occurring exactly
at this instant produces a much more forceful explosion than if it occurred
at a time when the charge was not so tightly compressed.
But now there is another consideration.
If the charge were ignited the instant the contact is made in the timer,
regardless of the speed of the engine, the spark could be set permanently in
one position, and would not require changing, but such is not the case.
A certain space of time is consumed from the instant the circuit is closed
until the charge is ignited in the cylinder. While this space of time is but the
merest fraction of a second, in fact almost infinitesimal, yet it is time just
the same, and must be taken into account when dealing with such a rapid
acting mechanism as an automobile engine.
The lapse of time required to ignite the charge is always the same, no
matter whether the engine is running 100 R.P.M. or 3,000 R.P.M. The rate at
which the piston travels varies from the speed it travels when cranking the
car which is about 70 feet per minute up to a rate as high at 3500 feet per
minute.
You will realize that when the engine is running say S500 R.P.M., the
piston is naturally traveling many times as fast as it does when it is
running only 300 R.P.M. and that when the engine is running 2500 R.P.M.,
it is necessary to start the ignition process earlier.