News and Comment.
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This journal has a certified circulation and is the only authority on commercial motor subjects.
The action by Messrs. Renault Freres, in regardto live-axle transmission, which we were the first to announce of all English journals (vide page 290, of December ei.th), is attracting much attention.
Many interesting points of law will arise, but it appears to us, from an examination of precedents, that the claimants will be unable to get judgment for retrospective payments. We take this view because it is clear that at least one of the claims in the patent will have to be amended before the patent as a whole can be sustained, and it has so far been held in law that royalties are only payable from the date of the acceptance of any such amendment by the comptroller. We do not say that this construction of the patent law is not open to reversal on appeal, but we feel sure that Messrs.Renault Freres will have before them a trio: t difficult task to support their patent in this country. There will probably be a serious and most protracted fight, and it is satisfactory to note that the several trade societies intend to provide funds to test the patent. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the British Empire Motor Trades Alliance, and the Automobile Mutual Protection Association, which last-named body successfully contested the famous Maybach carburetter action, have all turned their attention to the matter.
27 to " Edinburgh Motor Show. Feb.4 I May I Geneva.
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Fodens, Limited, of Elworth Works, Sandbach, will exhibit one of its 5-ton steam wagons, which has been built to the order of Tangyes, Limited, at the Birmingham Show which will be opened on the igth instant.
We start publication this week of a table to which an increasing degree of interest must attach as the next few years go by. It will be found on page 353. There is no doubt that motor omnibus traffic will, to some extent, affect other systems of passenger transport in Greater London, and ail who are desirous to keep themselves informed of share and traffic movements will be able to do so week by week.
We are creditably informed that matters are well advanced in connection with the formation of at least two new concerns for the delivery of goods by motor vans and wagons in the Metropolis. The names which are connected with one of these intended companies furnish a guarantee that sound business control will be exercised. Assuming only partial success in the flotation, results to builders of commercial motors will be large, and will give yet another fillip to the demand for utility vehicles.
An Interview with the managing director of the Asiatic Petroleum Company is reported on pages 356 and 357 of this issue. The statements made are of considerable import for the motor industry, but it would unquestionably have been more satisfactory had a definite statement been made of an exact maximum price for the future. As it is of vital importance to the motor industry to know exactly where it stands to-day, and where it is likely to be in regat'd to petroleum supplies for the future, we urge upon its leaders that they should make a determined effort to place this business upon a satisfactory and permanent basis within the next few weeks.
Next week's issue of this journal will contain a special illustrated section dealing with the application and uses of commercial motors for builders, contractors, brickmakers, etc.
FIVE THOUSAND copies will be mailed to selected prospective purchasers, and it is certain that the effect of the numerous testimonials, which are exclusively furnished to us for the purpose, together with the iilustrations taken in practical daily work, will force a large number of people to realise that mechanical road transport is ripe for adoption.
The continuation of our series of special numbers has already been announced to appear as follows :—"Country Hotel and Estate " number, February isth; " Agricultural Hall Show" numbers, March 22nd and zgth ; " Municipal Authorities" number, April 26th. Further particulars regarding these special issues will be published from time to time.
Agricultural Hall, N.
The Scunthorpe Urban District Council has ordered a steam motor van, for street watering and other purposes, :roni Mann's Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Co., Ltd., at a cost of .4:57o.
The West of Scotland Carrying Company, Limited, which undertakes a general carrying business by steam motor wagons, has appointed Mr. William Dalziel, of the Union Transit Company, who has an intimate knowledge of haulage conditions in the Glasgow district, as manager. All communications regarding rates, contracts, etc., should be addressed to Mr. Dalziel, at 381, Argyle Street, Glasgow.
Those who were present on the occasion of the last annual dinner of the British Empire Motor Trades Alliance, a few weeks ago, will remember the indignant manner in which Mr. Sidney Straker, president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, animadverted upon the action of the " Times" in publishing a series of advertisements having the appearance of reading matter, and putting forward in such columns statements of an entirely ex parte nature, which cast serious reflections upon British manufacturers. After careful investigation, "The Motor " has gone to the core of this important matter in an editorial entitled " Articles to order in the Times,' " which appears in this week's issue of that journal; according to this it appears to be not at all an uncommon practice with the leading English daily to lend its columns to this deceptive form of advertising, which often leads to misconceptions by readers. Three new motor-omnibus companies for London are in hand for flotation this month.
The Automobile Club's tyre trials, which possess a certain measure of interest for users of commercial vehicles, will begin on February 13th, and not on the 1st of that month as was originally announced.
The Motor Coach Syndicate, Limited, has been registered with an authorised capital of 4'8,000 in shares. The principal objects are to adopt an agreement with a Mr. C. H. Hayes, and to carry on the business of mechanical and general engineers, carriers, contractors, etc. The registered office is at 62, London Wall, E.C.
The British Empire Motor Trades Alliance has received from its Paris agent a very complete translation of the judgment in the action of Renault versus Corre. Every manufacturer who is interested in live-axle transmission sriould obtain a copy from the Secretary, Mr. J. B. King, ii, Red Lion Square, W.C. We must point out that steam-propeted ears do not anticipate Renault's patent, which introduces the clutch and change-speed mechanism as an essential feature.
In the near future Potsdam, the residence with the notoriously dear horse-drawn droschken, will be in a position to boast of motor cabs, a Berlin firm having applied for and obtained permission to run them. And touching the projected motor-omnibus service between Potsdam and the two neighbouring villages of Bornstedt and Bornim, we understand that it will be worked by a limited liability company, called the Bornirn-Bornstedter Motor-Omnibus Gessedschaft, with a capital
A Bulkeley miller, Mr. Nield, who uses a 5-ton Foden wagon very extensively, was summoned at Chester, on Saturday last, for " unlawfully allowing a locomotive propelled by mechanical power to emit steam or visible vapour contrary to the Locomotive on Highways Act, of 1896, and the Motor Cars Use and Construction Order, of 1904." The prosecution was conducted by Mr. G. S. Giles, registrar of the High Court and registrar of the County Court for Chester. The defence was in the hands of Mr. T. W. Staplee Firth, solicitor to the Motor Van and Wagon Users' Association, who was successful in securing the dismissal of the summons on the ground that the summons was bad and that the whole proceedings were ultra vires. The Bench was allowed seven guineas costs, and this cFsmissal should have good effect in preventing vexatious prosecutions.
The London Scle;o1 of Economics and Political Science, of Clare Market, Kingsway, W.C., has issued a syllabus for the Lent term. The lectures include courses upon industrial and commercial law, commerce and industry, accounting and business methods, banking, insurance, transport, and other subjects of an important nature.
In response to a petition from the German Automobile Club, the director of the Provincial Revenue Department, Herr von Schmidt, has issued the following order :—" In virtue of section 114 of the Customs Union Act of July ist, 1869, I hereby grant, under the prescribed conditions, the duty-free importation of goods for exhibition at the International Automobile Exhibition in the National Exhibition buildings at the Lehrter Railway Station, from February 3rd to i8th, and for subsequent re-exportation. I recommend that exhibits from foreign exhibitors should be marked as such, or described in the bill of carriage, in order that, in restricted traffic, they may be despatched to the head customs office for foreign goods, which will arrange the requisite controlling regulations, and, if desired, furnish further particulars." British manufacturers who intend to show at Berlip should take care that these regulations are complied with, in order to avoid delay and other annoyances when their exhibits are on the way. of 44,000 marks. We learn that Mr. Ernest A. Rosenheirn, B.Sc., A.I.E.E., has joined the staff of the New Arrol-Johnston Car Co., Ltd., of Paisley. Mr. Rosenhehn has had an extended and
varied experience with motors of all kinds, both commercial and pleasure types. Ile was engineer to the Road Carrying Co., Ltd., of Liverpool, from March, 1902, to December 3 ist last, a period of nearly four years, prior to which he was on the stall of the General Electric Company. Steam wagons of various makes, and certainly not less than twenty different makes of petrol cars have passed through his hands for running and repair purposes, whilst he is an experienced driver. He learnt engineering under Professor FIele-Shaw, F.R.S., at Liverpool University, and then served a pupilage of three years with Cromptons, Ltd., at Chelmsford. His services to commercial motoring date back to the first Liverpool Trials, of 1898, on which occasion he was an observer, and he acted as assistant honorary secretary for the third Liverpool Trials, in the year 1901. He will also be known to many of our readers as the principal honorary observer at the Glasgow Trials of the same year. The Arrol-Johnston Company should find in Mr. Rosenheim a valuable addition to their personnel, and we, who have known all the parties for some years, feel that we must congratulate both sides. It is Liverpool's loss that so promising a young engineer—for Mr. Rosenheim is only in his 27th year—should be called to other spheres of activity, but we are sure the directors of The Road Carrying Company will wish well to one who has served them so strenuously. Mr. Ernest A. Rosenheim.