2. Look through the text again and answer the following questions:

1. What was power steering gear developed for?

2. When was power steering applied for the first time?

3. What does a valve with a sensing device allow to do?

4. What does the damping action control?

5. What did you understand as”steering”?

3. Match the words with their definitions and make up your own sentences with these words:

gear	a) a machine for forcing liquid into, out of, through smth.;
pump	b) a set of wheels with teeth on their edges that revolve together to transmit power;
wheel	c) an increase in the rate or speed of smth.;
valve	d) a part of device that can be pushed down;
plunger	e) a mechanical device for controlling the flow of air, liquid allowing it to move in one direction;
spring	f) a circular object that turns around rod at its center;
suspension	g) a device of twisted metal or wire that can be pushed but returns to its original shape;
acceleration	h) the system of springs by which a vehicle is supported on its wheel;
steering wheel	i) the quality of being quick or rapid;
speed	j) a mechanism for steering a car;

IV. Find the information about new steering wheel performance. While looking for information you are free to use the internet sites given below as well as any other online resources. Make a short presentation in front of the class.

Resources recommended:

www.automobile.com

www.wikeipedia.com

www.euromotocars.com

www.autoreview.ru

Text 20

1. Read the text about the appearance and function of the pneumatic tires. Pneumatic tires

The pneumatic tire is designed to provide a flexible cover with an impermeable lining to contain and restrain the compressed air. This cover is provided with a rubber tread portion that is designed to withstand the cutting and abrasive wear of road contact and to protect the tire against puncture and loss of air. Such a structure has, as distinct from a solid rubber or cushion tire, no capacity in itself either to carry load or absorb shocks. It is entirely dependent on the contained compressed air to enable it to function.

The first patent for a pneumatic tire was issued to Robert William Thomson in England in 1845 for a hollow leather tire filled with air. Although a set of Thomson's “Aerial Wheels” ran for 1,200 miles on an English brougham, the same inventor's solid-rubber tires were more popular; and thus, for almost half a century, air-filled tires were forgotten.

The growing popularity of the bicycle in the late 19th century revived interest in tire design, and in 1888 John Boyd Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon of Belfast, obtained patents on a pneumatic tire for bicycles. Pneumatic tires were first applied to motor vehicles by the French rubber manufacturer Michelin & Cie. For more than 60 years, pneumatic tires had inner tubes to contain the compressed air and outer casings to protect the inner tubes and provide traction. In the 1950s, however, tubeless tires reinforced by alternating plies, or layers, of cord became standard equipment on new automobiles. In that decade Michelin introduced the radial-ply tire, which is now standard for all automobiles in developed countries.

Pneumatic tires are usually retained on the wheel through the use of beads (hoops of wire) that are molded into the tire edges. The tire edges are placed in a shaped channel on the wheel rim's circumference and are held firmly against the channel's edges by the pressure exerted once the tire is inflated with air. Pressures range from about 30 pounds per square inch (200 kilopascals) for large, soft tires to approximately 100 pounds per square inch (700 kilopascals) for high-pressure, high-load applications. The pressure is carried by layers of cords embedded in a rubber cover that in turn serves to contain the air, protect the cords, and give high friction with the ground. This felicitous combination is the reason why pneumatic tires are so widely used for transportation. More than 200 million of them are manufactured for motor vehicles alone each year, 90 percent for automobiles and 10 percent for trucks.

Pneumatic tires are designed to meet five main goals: low rolling resistance, low vertical stiffness (to cushion the ride), high sliding friction in both wet and dry conditions, high longitudinal and lateral stiffness (to minimize sliding motions in the “contact patch” where the tread meets the road), and resistance to wear and damage such as cutting, puncturing, and abrasion. In order to achieve these goals, tire designers must choose appropriate combinations of materials and structures.