Answers to Queries.
Page 16
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Tire:Orders for 1915.
[2490] (Specifying).—The Macintosh and the Shrewsbury-Challiner solid tires about which you ask are in every way reliable. You can specify them with confidence for your new lorries. We are sure that you can also rely as a user of either upon pleasant business relations with the companies which make them. We have no information on the other points which you raise.
Payments for German Goods.
[2491] (Burnley).—The Court of King's Bench has held that money should be paid to companies of the class which you mention, although notice of appeal has been given by the defendant in that test case (Continental Tyre Co. v. Tilling). Other legislation, it is officially stated, is sufficient to furnish a safeguard against the risk that any such money will be passed to an enemy country.
Chassis with Factor's Name.
[2492] (Manchester).—Manufacturers of approved makes of machines do not very much care for putting other people's names on the chassis, except in exchange for a large order. We doubt if you will get anything of the kind through at the present time. We cannot make any suggestions in the matter, except that, as you are already in communication with representative firms, the replies will probably be an in-dication of the general attitude of other good makers towards the proposal which is mentioned.
Wooden Wheels for Steam Wagons.
[2493] (U.S.A.).—It is a. common practice in this country to use wooden wheels with steel tires for heavy loads, and. with success. The steel-centred wheel with the heavy wooden felloe, of the type made by G. Scammell and Nephew, Ltd., is proving very satisfactory in use and is being widely employed. Smith, Parfrey and Co. Ltd., can also meet your requirements. Cast-steel wheels with steel tires for such jobs are, it is fully recognized, liable to fracture owing to excessive vibration ; very few examples of these are to be found in this country. They may however, quite safely be used with rubber tires of ample section. Wooden wheels of the artillery type are again temporarily enjoying a new sale generally, through supply difficulties in respect of steel wheels.
Lettering and Weights Regulations.
[2494] (Crewe).—Yon are correct in regard to the necessary lettering on a heavy motorcar, and such lettering and weights must be in letters and figures not less than 1 in. in height, and of such shape and -colour as to be clearly legible and clearly distinguishable from the colour of the ground whereon the letters and figures are painted or marked. We do not follow that there is any obligation to put the name of the owner on the right-hand side of the vehicle : the name and address of the owner have to be disclosed on the vehicle in order to gain exemption from carriage tax, under Section 4 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act of 1888. That section does not specify that the name shall be on any particular side. The regulations are the same in London as for the country generally, except in so far as the Metropolitan Police have special regulations about publiesservice vehicles. Copies of those regulations can be obtained by writing to the Chief Clerk, Public Carriage Office, New Scotland Yard, S.W. In order to test the contents of a petrol tank, it is necessary to make and calibrate your own dipping stick. Some makers fit a gauge, but each make of vehicle will vary, and no gauge of universal application can be bought. Ordinary kerosene is held to be that which flashes at 73 degrees Fahrenheit open test, or at 120 degrees Fahrenheit closed test. Benzole Economy.
[2495] (Southend).--Our own experience with petrol and benzole is to mix them half and half, but we are told it is all right to go up to two-thirds benzole and one-third petrol. Benzole can be used alone. The economy is better than in ratio to the cost of the two fuels, because the half-and-half mixture will frequently run a vehicle 15 per cent more miles than on petrol. Given sufficient air, or alternatively a slightly-reduced jet orifice, combustion is perfectly clean, but it is a wise precaution to make sure that the lubricating oil is wholly mineral and has not even a small percentage of vegetable oil in it.
From Horse to Motor.
[2496] (Sawmills).—Our free cost sheet, of which a copy has been mailed direct, may be of some service to you in the matter about which you inquire. You should certainly be able to save 25 per cent, on the cost which you mention (8d. per mile) by purchasing a 30-cwt. van. It is an advantage to specify a 30-cwt. van, seeing that the weights of the body, the packages, the driver and a mate have to be provided for in the strength of the vehicle over and above the net load. Again, when a new user gets delivery of a commercial motor, extra work is almost invariably undertaken, both as to mileage and the load carried per trip.
Hire-Purchase Facilities.
[2497] (Yorkshire).—Certain firms finance the hirepurchase of vehicles of particular makes. For example the Bentinck Motor Supply Co., Ltd., 13, Spring Gardens, Manchester, deals in Belsize vehicles. The General Omnibus Supply, Ltd. 98-100, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., deals similarly in Daimler vehicles, and some others. The only companies of which we have knowledge, from which you might obtain such facilities in respect of any approved make of motor vehicle, are: The British Railway Traffic and Electric Co., Ltd., 15, Victoria Street, 'Westminster, S.W., and the Motor Hire Purchase Syndicate, 75, Crouch Street, Colchester.
Heavy Transport for the Army.
[2498] (Select).—The 16 principal manufacturers who are selling heavy lorries to the War Office are as under
PETROL.
Albion Motor Car Co., Ltd., Seotstoun, Glasgow.
British Berns, Motor Lorries, Ltd., Avonmore Road, West Kensington, W.
Belsize Motors, LtdClayton, Manchester. Clayton and Co. (Huddersfield), Ltd., Union Works, Huddersfield. Commercial Cars, Ltd., Luton. Daimler Co., Ltd., Coventry. Dennis Bros (1913), Ltd., Guildford.
J. and E. Hall, Ltd., Dartford, Kent. Halley's Industrial Motors, Ltd., Yoker, Glas
gow. Leyland Motors, Ltd., Leyland, Lanes.
, Maudslay Motor Co., Ltd. Parkside, Coventry,
Walker Bros (Wigan), Ltd., Pagefield Works,
Wigan. Straker-Squire (1913), Ltd., Nelson Square, Blackfriars, S.F. John I. Thornyeroft and Co., Ltd., Caxton House, Westminster. Wolseley Motors, Ltd, Adderley Park, Birming ham.
STEAM.
Fodens, Ltd., Sandbaeh, near Crewe.