Making Repairs Underneath the Car in a Private Garage 
■ ■' ■ —- --— - V 
contend with, particularly if his building is of frame 
construction with a plank floor and no cellar. In this 
case the floor may be cut away leaving an opening 
about three feet wide and from six to twelve feet long, 
depending on the size of the car. Into this opening 
can be fitted a well-made box which may rest on the 
ground below and which should be fastened to the 
opening above. It may be necessary to make a small 
excavation in the ground to accommodate the box at 
the proper depth, and should this be in a locality 
where there is any danger of surface water accumu¬ 
lating, the outside of the box should be lined with zinc 
and soldered where the boards come in contact with 
the ground. This will keep the bottom and sides of 
the pit dry at all times, and will add to the durability 
of the box by preventing it from rotting. The depth 
of this pit should be about three feet and a half for 
a person of ordinary height, provided a seat is placed 
in the box. A convenient seat may be made by fast- 
ening a wooden cleat 
along the entire length of 
each side of the pit about 
eighteen inches from the 
bottom, and using these 
as supports for the ends 
of a plank of a length 
equal to the width of the 
inside of the pit. 
This forms a removable 
seat and shelf for tools 
which may be placed in 
any part of the pit by 
merely sliding the board 
along the cleats. Incase 
some work on the car re¬ 
quires a higher seat an 
additional row of cleats may be placed along the 
sides higher than the first ones described, and the 
board or plank used in the same way. A break 
should be made in this upper row of cleats to 
admit of the board being placed on the lower set 
when necessary. 
It is of course advisable to have a strong cover 
made to fit over the top of the box flush with the floor 
of the garage, as it is probable that the pit will be 
used so seldom that it will be a decided advantage 
to be able to move the car to all parts of the floor with 
no danger of running it into an unprotected opening. 
This can be made in two sections with a couple of 
handles sunk in the upper surface of each part to 
allow of easy removal. The pit should be made as 
large as practicable so that, no matter what part of the 
underside of the car is being repaired, the opening 
will extend two or three feet beyond one axle of the 
automobile, thus making it easy to enter and leave 
the pit. 
Electric light is the only form of artificial illumi¬ 
nation which should ever be used in the vicinity of a 
CAR STANDING OVER PIT 
motor car or gasoline tank, and as nearly aTnarge^and 
small towns are now equipped with plants supplying 
even the farm houses in the environs with electric 
power, the installation of this, the only safe light for a 
garage, should be an easy matter. In addition to the 
minimum danger from fire which the use of electric 
light entails, it has the advantage of being portable, 
and by means of a long flexible cable a single incan¬ 
descent lamp can supply light for the whole garage 
and car. It is convenient to have a socket or recep¬ 
tacle hanging down to within a few feet of the hood 
of the car, as adjustments to carburettor, spark 
plugs, magneto, oiler, coils, and in fact nearly all 
parts of the motor, may be made without moving the 
light. For the illumination of the underside of the 
car and other inaccessible places, special lamps are 
provided. These are attached to one end of a long 
flexible wire, the other extremity of which may be 
screwed into the socket in place of the ordinary 
globe. The special globe 
is screwed into a wooden 
or hard rubber handle 
through which the wire 
passes, and is surrounded 
by a cage of heavy wire 
which permitsof handling 
the lamp rather carelessly 
with small danger of 
breakage. This com¬ 
bination of handle, cage, 
and lamp is exceedingly 
useful as a “trouble 
hunter,” and as the cage 
terminates in a hook, 
the light may be hung on 
any part of the car or 
mechanism which gives the best illumination for 
the work necessary, and there is small excuse foi 
the repair ever being made in shadow, as would 
be the case were a stationary light used. 
Where the floor of the garage is constructed of 
wood it is of the utmost importance to see that the 
boards are kept absolutely free from gasoline and 
grease, as when they are once soaked with these 
substances the danger from fire is greatly increased. 
Every garage should be provided with a flat zinc pan 
to be placed under each car to catch the drops of oil 
or gasoline which are almost sure to accumulate 
under an automobile when standing still. These 
pans should be washed off frequently, and in this 
manner the floor under the car may be kept compara¬ 
tively free from grease and dirt. If such precautions 
of cleanliness apply to the garage floor, they are 
doubly necessary for the floor of the pit, and it is of 
the greatest importance to immediately remove any 
oil, grease, or gasoline which may have been spilled 
there. Oily waste should never be left in the pit, and 
it is this tendency of the pit to collect all kinds of dirt 
03 
