Tess. Cars with internal combustion engines (like our Alfas) have always been water cooled even back at the turn of the 20th century when cars were very new. There have been a few attempts at air cooling - like the original Volkswagen Beetle and all rear-engined Porsches (911s were air-cooled up until the mid 1990s). Back in the 20s and 30s anti-freeze, which was a liquid people put in their radiators in place of water in the winter, was very primitive, and cars engines could freeze - which usually ruined them. As far as getting scalded by boiling water. That can happen in an accident. In the very early days, before cars had heaters, the chances were slim of getting boiling water on an occupant if there was a wreck, but after heaters were introduced, the hot water circulating through the cars cooling system, was diverted into the cars interior where it passed through a smaller radiator called a heater core. An electric fan blew (and car heaters still work this way) air across the heater core which heated the air up. This hot air carried the heat into the car cab heating the space up. If that heater core becomes compromised during an accident and leaks, theres no doubt that very hot water can spill onto the occupants causing serious burns. The thermostat in a car only works to allow the engine to get up to operating temperature quickly before allowing the water in the block to circulate to the radiator where air, flowing through the radiator from the cars fan, can cool it off. If the thermostat fails closed (the usual failure mode), then the car will overheat because the water in the block does not move through the cooling system,
Also, in the 1920s there were still cars being manufactured that ran on steam - like a locomotive! these devices, built here in the USA by companies like Stanley and White boiled water in a boiler to power the car. In the US these were all gone by the 1930s, but their still could have been some made in Europe. I hope this helps. George On Mar 27, 2014, at 5:34 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Hi guys, > > Long time no hear! You guys know me from my wacko questions in the past, > and I have another one. It is an ancient history question -- maybe Alfa > related, maybe just generally automotive related. You guys always have > such a fount of knowledge I thought certainly you'd have an answer. > > I have been translating some old letters from Swedish to English. In one > of the letters, from the 1930s, the writer starts talking about cars. What > I want to know is how water was used in engines from the 30s -- were they > water cooled, air-cooled, etc.? Did they have thermostats? Was there > anything special about cold weather? > > The writer is describing how to avoid a certain kind of accident where you > burn yourself from boiling water -- he doesn't say whether in the engine > or in the radiator. But apparently whatever procedure they are doing, it > is a procedure one might encounter routinely. Did people routinely add > water to the radiator in those days? > > I've been trying to think of a situation where I would regularly come in > contact with hot water in my 'modern' (1980s) cars. The thermostat deals > with that. > > Thanks for any ideas! > > Tess > in Bellevue, WA USA > -- > to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi > or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
