596 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 5, 1919 
Stop the Theft of Power 
It is not necessary to put up with loss of 
power and waste of oil and gas. Don’t let badly 
fitting piston rings steal your motor’s power and 
your gasoline. Install a full set of 
McQUAY-NORRIS 
PISTON RINGS 
Increase Power—Decrease Carbon 
Save Gas 
By creating uniform pressure on the cylinder walls, 
McQuay-Norris \ t ».K- Soor Piston Rings stop piston 
ring leakage, increase power, decrease carbon and 
save fuel and oil. 
Wherever you are you can get them to fit any car, 
truck and tractor. Jobbers and supply houses in 
over 300 distributing points carry complete stocks jof 
standard sizes and over-sizes, backed by a factory 
stock of 3,000 unusual sizes. You don’t have to wait 
—the rings are awaiting your order. 
Send for Free Booklet 
“To Have and to Hold Power”— a simple, 
clear explanation cf piston rings, their 
construction and operation. 
Manufactured by 
McQuay-Norris Manufacturing Co. 
2878 Locust St. St. Louis, U. S. A. 
McQUAY-NORRIS 
RINGS 
A special ring for 
engines that pump 
oil. 
Used in top groove 
only of pistons 
to control excess 
oil, with McQuay- 
Norris \ iftw- feor 
Piston Rings in 
lower grooves to 
insure maximum 
compression and 
^ fuel economy. 
The Farmer and His Car 
Electrical Equipment 
Homer Users 
Tell the Homer 
Story Best: 
“I can think of nothing 
that would tempt me to 
again use a heating 
stove of any kind, with 
all the dust and dirt 
it entails.” 
Wm. B. Darling, 
Adrian, Mich. 
When You Take Down 
tour Stoves This Spring 
Take them down for good. Rid yourself forever of 
this disagreeable bother, dust and dirt. Save your 
rugs and furniture, keep your rooms and walls clean 
and free from smoke, ashes, dirt— and at the same time 
enjoy plentyof uniform heatwith less costand trouble. 
The Homer Pipeless Furnace—especially adapted for 
houses already built—can be installed in one day, without 
tearing up floors and partitions, or disturbing the family. 
'With your stoves down, you have no heat for chilly, rainy 
days, in late spring or early fall. 
With a Homer, a little kindling will keep you In comfort 
whenever the weather is bad. Then, when winter sets In, 
you’ll enjoy a healthful warmth, in all rooms, such as 
you’ve never known before. 
35,000 Satisfied Homer Users—Eight Years of Success 
TheHomerFumaceCo. invented andperfected 
the pipeless furnace. In accord with Nature's 
laws, the hot air rises and the cold air descends 
through the combination register di rectly over 
the furnace, heating every room comfortably. 
No heat lost in useless, expensive piping. 
Assures perfect ventilation, air kept pure by 
constant circulation. Costs less, uccs less fuel 
and gives more beat than stoves or pipe fur¬ 
naces. Burns coal, coke, wood, cobs. Food 
keeps better in cool Homer cellars. 
It Satisfies 
It Ventilates 
■» Coupon “«"* 
It Heats 
Homer Furnace Co.. Dept. B-4 Homer, Mich. 
Without obligation on my part, send me full Information 
about the Homer Pipeless Furnace—and how I can get more 
heat in a_ room house with less fuel, cost and bother. 
Name _ 
Street or R. F. JD 
State 
City 
Homer furnace parts are made of our special 
brand, secret process, rust resistingSTROKEL 
Iron. Will not chip or break as ordinary cast 
Iron docs. All parts, except grates, guaran¬ 
teed for five years. 
The Homer cost is surprisingly low. Quickly 
pays for itself with the fuel it saves. Our 
booklets fully explain how you can get more 
heat, at less co6t, with less bother—as thous¬ 
ands of others are doing. Clip the coupon and 
send for them now. 
Automobile owners usually assume that 
the electrical part of the car’s equipment 
will continue to operate correctly ‘until 
something goes dead wrong. Such reli¬ 
ance is placed in these devices that when¬ 
ever a fault does occur the driver is gen¬ 
erally at sea as to the cause. It. is for 
this reason that every owner should know 
as much as possible about the electrical 
appointments of his car, so as not only 
to overcome minor disturbances, but to 
keep it. in service at its best efficiency. 
There are many things about the battery 
and its related devices that can be learned 
by one not specially versed in electricity. 
Ignition, starting and lighting comprise 
the three electrical circuits on any ear 
with self-starter. The driver will at once 
find himself in trouble in case the circuit 
breaks on any system. The battery, start¬ 
ing switch, starting motor and wires with 
connections make up the starting system. 
When trouble in getting off takes place, 
the cause of it can be traced to one of 
these four parts. If the battery is sus¬ 
pected, the substitution of another would 
at once indicate if the trouble were there, 
but iu most instances of trouble another 
battery would not be accessible. A hy¬ 
drometer is a handy little article to carry 
in the car for such an emergency in test¬ 
ing battery, and another method is to 
turn on lights. A short-circuit at the 
battery can be found by removing the neg¬ 
ative wire from the battery and putting 
one of the test lamp terminals iu contact 
with the negative pole of battery and the 
other terminal in contact with end of the 
detached negative wire. In case of short- 
circuit the lamp will generally light un¬ 
less some special conditions obtain. It 
might be that there is a short-circuit of 
the entire starting motor formed by a 
ground between the battery and the start¬ 
er, and p. second ground between the start¬ 
er and the starting switch. In case of 
this kind the test lamp will not light un¬ 
less the starting switch is closed. 
It is well to examine the starting switch 
carefully to see that none of the parts is 
fused or burned away, and that all con¬ 
nections are firm and solid. Sometimes it 
is hard to locate a grounded or short-cir¬ 
cuited starting switch from the insulation 
concealing the break. It will pay to ex¬ 
amine most carefully before going to some 
other part of the system. 
The starting motor is liable to but very 
few ills, and these are more likely to be of 
a mechanical than an electric nature. On 
both the starting motor and the lighting 
generator, dirty commutators and minor 
faults in brushes and brush holders form 
the greatest amount of trouble. In the 
commutator the segments may be short- 
circuited or loose, or blackened and rough, 
due to the use of worn or short brushes, 
cheap brushes with poor electrical qual¬ 
ities, poor contact between brushes and 
commutator, or poor contact due to weak 
brush-spring pressure. The causes for 
these are all self-evident and can be read¬ 
ily seen on inspection. The brush should 
make a good, firm contact with the com¬ 
mutator, fitting it, exactly. Brushes should 
be examined for grounds, poor spring ten¬ 
sion, sticking in holder, had fit to commu¬ 
tator surface, and overheated holders. In 
most cases sticking is caused by grease 
or dirt. 
The lighting system consists of two 
main parts, one including the battery 
lamps and switch buttons with connecting 
wires, and the other the generator, bat¬ 
tery and the cut-out relay system, with 
fuse connections and regulator. 4 he 
lighting circuit is very simple, consisting 
of the wiring from battery through am¬ 
meter and switch buttons to lights an 1 
back to battery. Almost every car made 
has some litle variation in system, so in¬ 
struction sheet for particular car should 
be studied before attempting a repair. 
Usually a diagram of the .system is fur¬ 
nished with car. 
The part of the lighting system made up 
of the generator, regulator mechanism, 
etc., cannot, as a rule, be repaired by 
amateurs. The regulator is generally 
sealed at the factory, and when this seal 
I is broken by anyone hut au authorized 
person the guarantee of the manufacturer 
is declared void. The ammeter is helpful 
in finding trouble in the lighting system, 
as should current be indicated' when the 
switches are off it at once suggests a 
short-circuit. 
When testing a battery it is necessary 
to determine if the troubles are distrib¬ 
uted throughout the entire battery or con¬ 
fined to one or two cells. This can be de¬ 
termined by placing a small voltmeter 
across each coll to indicate if it is giving 
the two volts that are required. Per¬ 
haps the first place to look for trouble in 
the battery is with the electrolite. This 
should be kept up to the proper level by 
adding distilled water frequently so that 
the plates are kept covered. The battery 
in which the plates are not fully covered 
has a decreased capacity, due to the fact 
that the active material in the upper parts 
of the plate become hardened and unfit for 
use. Another point to observe is the 
specific gravity of the electrolite, which 
should be between 1:725 and 1,200 when 
the battery is fully charged. A battery 
should never be discharged below 1,150. 
The instrument used for making these 
tests is the hydrometer, costing about $1. 
About all that the owner can do to the 
battery itself is to see that the readings 
are as they should be. A. II. P. 
Septic Tank Questions 
Area Required for Septic Tank 
We are building a house on our place 
and would like to install a septic tank. 
We understand it requires quite a little 
land to operate the system. We have 
about 125 feet of land back of the house 
which could lie used for the tank and 
discharge pipes. F. B. 
One hundred and twenty-five feet of 
land would be ample for the disposal 
system of a septic tank, the runs of tile 
from which arc best not over 50 feet in 
length. A series of these, side by side 
and a few feet apart, will provide dis¬ 
posal area enough for any number of 
people in a family. Where there are no 
wells within several hundred feet and the 
soil is gravelly a cesspool answers the 
purpose of liquid sewage disposal very 
well aud, of course, at small expense. 
Such cesspools can never be considered 
entirely safe, however, if water for house¬ 
hold purposes is taken from wells in the 
vicinity. In some communities they 
would uot be permitted. A properly con¬ 
structed septic tank is safe and compara¬ 
tively inexpensive. I’lans for one were 
given on page 172, issue of Feb. 1. 
if. B. l>. 
Rainwater in Septic Tank 
On page 172 you gave a description 
and plan of a septic tank. Can a septic 
tank be built to take care of three rain 
conductors from roof of house, hath, toi¬ 
let and kitchen sink? C. P. 
The rain conductors from a roof should 
not be carried into a septic tank, the 
purpose of which is to purify the house 
sewage. The bath, toilets, kitchen sinks, 
etc., are all taken care of by the septic 
tank, which should be. large enough to 
hold all liquids that may be discharged 
into it in 24 hours. The necessary size 
depends, of course, upon the number of 
people served by it. For a family of from 
six to eight, a length of six feet, a width 
of three feet and a depth of 4% feet is 
ample, less would probably do. Sudden 
flushing of such a tank by rain water 
from roofs would interfere with its ac¬ 
tion ; only the liquids naturally accom¬ 
panying house wastes should be carried 
into it. 
M. B. 1). 
Septic Tank in Cellar 
I want to make two or three septic 
tanks and would like to know if it would 
do to make one in the cellar if it is well 
trapped between tank and closet, and run 
out in an iron pipe, and then in a loose 
cement pipe. C. E. N. 
Some authorities say that a septic tank 
may be safely built iu the cellar, others 
that it should never be less than several 
feet outside. As some ground for the dis¬ 
posal of the discharge from a tank must 
be available, I can hardly see the neces¬ 
sity of ever putting a tank into the cel¬ 
lar, and I certainly should not advise it 
unless absolutely unavoidable. m. b. d. 
