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Great Openings for the Middleman.

The Old Order Has Changed. There is no Time to Lose to Secure Agencies.

These pages are addressed to the middleman. They are intended to appeal to persons already associated with the motor industry as agents, dealers, or garage owners : there is little doubt that they have as much interest for a large number of machinery merchants, agents and dealers who have not yet touched the subject. They possess, for example, features of value for all who are occupied in the implement, machinery, engineering and hardware trades. Other points d'appui will suggest themselves, and our end will have been attained if the necessarily brief references which can be compressed into the space at our disposal in one issue cause only soo minds hitherto unconcerned to be set to work to extend the sphere of influence of the commercial motor. The best of all incentives to bring about a combination of the advocacy and sale of one or more forms of commercial motoring with established businesses, is to be found in the proposition. We refer to the opportunity for extra earnings without appreciable extra effort. The staid man of business, as much as the general engineer, held aloof to a large extent from any active participation in t h e automobile movement when it was brought within the range of practical politics by the passing of the 1896 Act. The ridic tflous promotions and pro. rnises of certain groups of .financiers in the early days certainly caused widespread disgust amongst the enthusiasts who entered the field that early, and no surprise need be occasioned that people of a more careful disposition shook their heads and voiced their disbelief in the likelihood of success. But all this is now a matter of history. The men who sought to control the motor industry by a series of alleged master patents, not a few of which were only in the provisional stage when they were offered to the public for a million pounds sterling with each .4;1 share at a premium of £2, have been dropped. There are still, admittedly, a few manufacturers and sellinghouses who pursue methods not materially different from those to which we allude. Still, the company-mongering business has been greatly limited by the present state of public feeling, though, fortunately, this distinctly nauseous aspect of autornobilism is limited to the pleasure car side. Vans, lorries, tractors, and other commercial vehicles have to exist and make progress in a much more practical and exacting atmosphere. That explains their slow but sure progress.

The automobile is sometimes held to be a land yacht. This simile may serve to point the moral of the essential _

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difference between pleasure automobilism and commercial motoring. The man who buys a pleasure car, except where he also employs it for professional purposes, realises that he has, as much as any yacht owner, become possessed of a property which involves continued expenditure varying with the rating of his purchase. The purchaser of a commercial motor expects the vehicle to be at least self-supporting, and he will be the better pleased the larger the margin between the total annual expenditure upon it and its earning capacity. This is the chief point of division between the two sections of the industry : one appeals more particularly to -I the man of means, he they moderate or relatively unlimited ; the other has to be explained, and its claims proved up to the hilt, before the manufacturer or tradesman has confidence to place his orders. We must again point out that it IS a physical impossibility to put down everything in the space at our command to-day. It would be a waste of money to send out broadcast— however carefully the recipients might have been selected by our business staff — t h e whole case for commercial motoring in one number of a penny illustrated al. Enough will be found,. none the less, in the following few pages, and it must be admitted that confirmatory evidence is not lacking in the steadiness of our advertisements, to demonstrate that the self-propelled road vehicle for commercial purposes is no longer an experiment. It has become an accepted factor in the country's trade and prosperity. We have confidence, too, that the official standing of our journal, no less than the experiences which are placed at our disposal from time to time by users, will convey to those who see "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " for the first time the conviction that it speaks with authority. All we ask is that new readers will approach the subject with an open mind. That they will think out for themselves in what directions they can join forces with the manufacturer and serve as intermediaries to bring about a more extended use of these Vehicles in connection with undertakings of which they have a knowledge. It seems incredible that the ascertained working costs of different types of self-propelled road vehicles should not appeal to a score of persons whose trade lives upon cheap transport facilities for each one who now employs a motor vehicle ! No matter what the nature of the work, the wide choice open to the user of horsed or rail transport, with certain limitations governed by road delays

and delivery range, renders the introduction of mechanical power a truly commercial necessity whether on a small or large scale.

We commend to team owners, haulage contractors and job-masters, as much as to proprietors of large garages, the purchase of a stock of motor vehicles for hiring out purposes. A proportion of users will never have sufficient work to justify their purchasing on their own account, and the matter or catering for these requirements will naturally fall to the motor job-master or contractor. A fleet of motor vans or wagons can, in such circumstances, be efficiently organised and economically maintained. The profit to the entrepreneur is to be derived (a) from hiring contracts; (b) from maintenance and repair orders from other users; (c) from the supplying of fuel, lubricants and various stores ; and (d) from commission on sales to parties who purchase vehicles after trial. One of several interesting aspects of the prospects which lie before the middleman we have in mind is found in the preparedness of Motor Vehicles, Limited, of 22, Broad Street, Bury, Lancs., to supply all approved types

of commercial motors uptm the hire-purchase System, for this will enable many who have not sufficient capital for outright purchase to spread the payments over a period of three years. Other considerations of an equally germane character are too numerous for mention now. We urge new supporters of our journal to ply us with questions at their leisure. We advise them, in addition, to put themselves into communica tion with manufacturers. We will supply a concise directory of these on application in writing. The middleman of active and adaptable temperament, who elects to indicate to us or to any manufacturer his desire to go forward in the directions we have outlined, may count upon every assistance and facility to enable him thoroughly to grasp the needs of the business.

The Van.

The motor van was introduced to a receptive public eight years ago, but its form at that date was thoroughly unsatisfactory. When the enterprising tradesman applied to the embryo motorcar manufacturer for a van, he was complacently informed that the question of supply presented no difficulty whatever, and was given ready assurance in reply to every question he asked ; but this was the counsel of ignorance. The" perfect " motor van proved to be a light pleasure car chassis with the ordinary four-seated body replaced by a box top. The common-sense view that wheels, axles, springs, frame, transmission and gear, engine and bearings, and, in fact, the whole of the machine must fail to give satisfaction under disproportionate loads did not obtain. But that view was seldom ignored for more than three, or sometimes as much as six, months. The whole car practically fell to pieces after a short period of use—like the one-horse shay of legendary fame, with the important difference that everything gave way simultaneously, but much too soon. This state of affairs, as every other instance of excessive zeal, gave a setback to the motor van industry from which it did not recover until the year Tool. In June of that year, the third trials of the Liverpool Self-Propelled Association brought the 3ocwt. petrol-propelled vehicle to the front, and the two machines which took part in that test have served as the models upon which various similar designs have, to a great extent, hinged. It has also to be admitted that great benefit has accrued to the motor van manufacturer by reason of the extensive data provided in the results of numerous racing contests throughout the world, and the same may be said of the guidance furnished by the several reliability trials for motorcars organised by the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland. The principal advantage secured to the motor van movement was indirect but none the less real ; it arose from the almost incredible improvements in materials brought about to meet the immense strains imposed upon the vehicles that took part in competitions of the classes we have quoted. A knowledge of the inglorious failures of the early types of motor vans which were supplied to pioneers eight years ago, and whose experiences with them are of such bitter memory, coupled with the lessons inculcated by the intervening period of steady advance in manufacturing methods, has resulted in a settled condition of production upon admittedly ample margins of safety.

This brief review of the salient features that have contributed to the evolution of the motor van as we know it today, more particularly for load capacities varying between locwt. and two tons, brings us to the question of the performance that they are capable of yielding in the hands of users. We purposely deal with minimum loads of focwt., as smaller weights are practically embraced in a satisfactory manner by an enormous number of ordinary motorcars, or even by the tricycle carrier. Confining ourselves, therefore, to the loads which require a two-cylinder petrol engine of from fah.p. to i6h.p., we have merely to point to the fact that these machines will cost anything from £350 to .4.55o, according to the nature of the tyres, fittings and body work specified by the purchasers, and that the inclusive working cost, where a minimum aggregate distance of 300 miles per week is arranged for, will be not less than 30. and not more than 6d. per vehicle mile. The range in costs varies, broadly speaking, with the loads carried, and they are inclusive of interest on capital, depreciation, maintenance, fuel and lubricants, driver's wages, tyres, insurance and sundry small charges. Taking the reasonable cost of a van horse throughout the country, inclusive of all parallel charges such as are included in the foregoing statement of ascertained costs for a motor van, to be an average of per week per horse owned, the economy is evident. Of course, one comes across great variations in the actual costs per horse owned. The figure is, obviously, heaviest where a shopkeeper or tradesman has only one horse and one von, but in such a case it is certain that, unless the services of carriers or parcels delivery companies are also invoked to supplement the one horse, there will not be enough work at the moment for a motor van. The proper view for such a tradesman to

have put before him is the fact that the adoption of motor delivery will increase his opportunities of doing business and

enable him to secure additional trade at a smaller proportionate expense. It is the elasticity of motor delivery that must be sent home. We have figures before us from a large firm of drapers and general furnishers who own 300 van horses ; their costs, taken over the last ten years, average Zion per annum per horse owned. Against this, and an being the actual lowest cost per horse that has ever come under our notice in a properly vouched form, we may say that one of the largest firms of carriers in England, who have 3,000 horses attached to their London establishments, are able to average out the cost per horse per annum at;667. These costs, of course, include Pro rata allowances for drivers and all stable charges.

Where a horse is used continuously day by day, week in week out, it can seldom average more than ion miles a week except with very light loads, and in cases where as much as 40 or 45 miles is covered on any one day alternate rest days are essential. This gives a distance ratio at least three to one in favour of the motor, if one horse were able to take the same load as the mechanical 'vehicle. It is well known, however, that a single van horse cannot regularly haul a greater useful load than one ton, unless in exceptionally well-paved level localities, whereas the motor van with a two-cylinder petrol engine is capable of taking two tone of useful load. Thus there is again a ratio of two to one in favour of the mechanical vehicle in respect of the load factor. It has also to be remembered that a self-propelled vehicle of this type will average

from eight to twelve miles an hour, according to the nature of the road and gradients; and experience, which has been gained by users, confirms the view that such a machine is able to replace six ordinary cart or van horses. The greater the straightaway run before deliveries are made, and the more often there are lengthy stretches of road between successive calls, the more economical does the motor van become, for the horse rapidly tires and wears out on such services. Steep hills also suit the motor.

The Lorry or Wagon.

The heavier the weight which any likely user of a selfpropelled vehicle has to deal with, the more easy does the task become to bring him to business. It is not that there is any uncertainty about, or lack of ground for, the statements which have premded this section of our article. The point of difference is that trades calling for small and broken loads may require some adjustment and re-arrangement in the delivery rounds to secure an appreciable economy, whilst the heavy load to be deiivered at only one or two points can be dealt with on the platform of a motor lorry or wagon by the mere substitution of the mechanical vehicle. It is simply astounding to find how slow people are to make a few alterations in their systems of delivery in order to fit them to the changing conditions brought about by the greater range of action now rendered practicable. Then, again, as what may be termed a selling point, it is much more easy to convince a man interested in, or a larger owner of, horse stock that he will be the gainer by the change when the motor offered to him has a higher load capacity than what, say, five Shire horses can pull over his roads. Many tradesmen and many manufacturers will in nowise hesitate over paying 4-5oo or Z600 for a steam wagon which is able to deal with seven or eight tons of freight at one time—two or three tons of this being on a single trailer vehicle—when it would take a lot of argument to persuade them to pay the same money for a two-ton petrol lorry or wagon ! This is the true explanation of the comparatively small demand for petrol lorries to carry above three tons, and it throws up in contrast the fact that builders of steam wagons are doing an increasing trade every week.

The middleman, like everybody else,. naturally seeks to do business along the line of least resistance : that is one cogent reason for our urging the claimsof steam vehicles for heavy loads. The steam wagon to carry a load of about five tons upon its own back is, without question, the most firmly established branch of the heavy motor traffic movement. This development began with the Liverpool Trials of 1898. At that competition, held more than seven years ago, four machines were put through a series of tests which served only to demonstrate many points of weakness both in their design and construction, but the group of engineers and merchants who had contributed the necessary A, f,000 to defray the expenses of the tests paid out the prizes in cash all the same. Further competitions in the years r899 and 19ot led up to a series of tests upon a commercial scale during the

years 1902 and 1903, and it was due to this pioneer work that sufficient evidence was available for presentation before the Departmental Committee of the Local Government Board, which sat early in the year 1904. It also gave us the advantages of a five-ton tare weight and other privileges.

Of a total approaching 4,000 commercial vehicles in Great Britain, 40 per cent, are steam lorries of the class mentioned. More than too satisfied users have testified in our columns to the fact that vehicles of this type are capable of displacing from five to nine Shire horses, whilst the inclusive working cost, where the total distance travelled does not exceed zoo miles per week, should never exceed per week with out a trailer, or per week with a trailer. These figures

include charges for contingencies, such as occasional accidents on the road due to collisions or other unforeseen circumstances, or to carelessness on the part of the driver, and they are capable of reduction by no less than an average of 30s. pee week in the hands of a man who has the necessary competence to go through the year without giving rise to any such adverse charges against the machine. Many drivers have clean records of this character. Where the necessity arises, as it frequently does at times of great pressure in connection with certain trades, e.g., for brewers about holiday periods, a five-ton steam wagon can easily do 6o miles a day and keep it up, the only wise nrecaution being

extra pay for the driver and a day off for him to recuperate when the rush is over. Market gardeners and fruit growers, too, have found it very advantageous, as was shown by our special number of August 31st, ta use motor wagons in cases where night haulage to the markets caused excessive losses through chills taken by the horses.

There is no occasion for anybody who has heavy loads to move to fear being delayed during frosty or snowy weather, because several satisfactory devices are now upon the market to overcome the difficulty of running in such circumstances. We refer to the Goodwin snow shoes, and the Mann winter wheels in particular. The old curse of boiler troubles has gone, in a relative sense, for ever. The boilers of a few years ago had insufficient heating surface, and were continuciusly being forced, in addition to which the circulation was glnerally faulty, and the feed water arrangements imperfect. With the increase of tare under the Heavy Motor Car Order, 1904, more boiler space has been provided, and experience has taught the makers bow to protect the joints, how to combat priming, how to simplify the feed, how to dispose the boiler and its mountings for easy dissembling to render cleaning a simple matter, and a dozen other apparently minor points which, in the aggregate, make the difference between daily troubles and the necessity for only a weekly wash out and a quarterly overhaul. Although there is a tendency to favour the horizontal smoke tube boiler, particularly the type with a submerged barrel as made by Messrs. Hindley and Son, of Bourton, Dorset, the advances in construction that have been achieved by builders of the vertical types, whether water or smoke tube, render that class of boiler satisfactory where other features of the design of any particular machine contribute to its being retained as part of the system. How great an effect these various improvements have had upon the working of steam wagons is testified to in our Brewers' Issue of April 13th, and our Millers' Issue of June 8th. The bare fact that users were willing to come forward, on our invitation, and to give such wholesome testimony to the magnificent results they had obtained in practice with steam vehicles of various approved makes, is sufficient in itself, were nothing else available, to carry conviction to any hesitating owner of horse-drawn plant.

The Tractor.

The miniature traction engine, which is constructed to comply with the limit of tare and other dimensions imposed by the Motor. Car Acts of 1896 and 1903, is, by common consent, termed a tractor. It is capable of hauling a gross load varying from five to eight tons upon average roads with gradients not exceeding i in 8. The essential difference between a tractor and a motor wagon is that the former hauls the load whilst the latter carries the major portion of the freight upon its own platform. A compromise between the two systems has recently been introduced by Mann's Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company, Limited, of Leeds, by whom a small platform is fitted to the tractor in order to allow the carrying of a load there upon occasions where exceptionally greasy surfaces have to be travelled over. This modification possesses distinct advantages, but the weight upon the back axle of tractors such as the one we

illustrate is sufficient for general haulage purposes of am average character. The first cost of a tractor is generally about below that of a motor wagon for the correspond

ing load, but it must be remembered that the motor wagon. can also pull a trailer, which gives it that much advantage in point of paying freight. The chief merit of the tractor isits capacity for detachment from the load, which is sometimes of immense value by ensuring the avoidance of delays. while the load is being taken off or made up. This is the chief reason why market gardeners employ tractors so largely for serving Covent Garden and other large markets. There is, however, a great diversity of view as to the meritsof the tractor or the motor wagon, and this is best exemplified by the fact that Pickfords, Limited, owns some 30 tractors, whilst Messrs. Carter, Paterson and Company give thepreference to the motor wagon and trailer. The parallel of the independent tractor is probably found in the small steam tug which is so largely employed to haul barges upon many of the rivers and estuaries round our coasts, for the experience in docks, canals, rivers and estuaries has proved thesteam tug to be, in many cases, a more economical instrument than the steam barge. In our opinion there is a large field for both classes of steam transport on common roads, and the tractor is undoubtedly superior for use on theoccupation roads of farms, and for going on the !and, because of the greater diameter of its driving wheels. The tractor which is built by Aveling and Porter, Limited, of Rochester, possesses many features of practical value, of which we may cite the use of a single drum, with inside and outside butt straps, to form the boiler shell, instead of the more usual multiplication of boiler plates riveted together. The position in which this company places its auxiliary water tank gives additional adhesion to the driving wheels, whilst an exceptionally large smoke box is employed to secure uniform combustion. The slide valves can be examined with., the greatest ease by reason of their accessible arrangement ; the few nuts which have to be unscrewed to uncover them is remarkable. The great experience possessed by Avelingand Porter, Limited, in all fields of road transport has been embodied in the design of the compound tractor which is the latest production of the Rochester works, and the number of orders now on the booksof the company proves the soundness of the view that many of these machines will be purchased by haulage contractors and others. The fuel and water consumption is unusually low, and theworkmanship throughout is of the highest grade. Another excellent tractor which has gained for itself a most enviable reputation for regular serviceis that known as the Wellington. It is constructed by William Foster and Co., Ltd., of Lincoln, and we cannot do,

better than refer readers to Messrs. W. and G. Lohjoit, of Heston Farm, liounslow, for an account of its performance.

This company adopts the plan of putting the auxiliary water tanks round the boiler, and provides a very wide tender capable of taking a second man in addition to the driver.

The Motor Omnibus.

The introduction of public service vehicles and motor omnibuses in different parts of the .United Kingdom is now attracting universal attention, There were, as in the case of motor vans and steam lorries, pioneer undertakings, which chiefly employed motor wagonettes, in operation during the three years 1898 to 19oo. More than fifty companies came into existence for the purpose of exploiting motorcars in this direction, and the records obtained from these early services have been taken advantage of by subsequent promoters. The middleman who travels about in his own county and neighbouring districts will certainly come across numerous openings for road services by motor vehicles. He must be ever mindful of the low capital expenditure involved, and how very much less it is than for a tramway undertaking. A motor omnibus service can be established in most localities for not more than one-sixth of what is necessary for track construction and equipment plus the purchase price of electric cars, and this means that syndicates of local residents may readily be formed to take in hand this most remunerative branch of passenger traffic. There is nothing to be bought beyond the omnibuses. The test of a route suitable for single-deck omnibuses having a seating capacity for 16 persons, with room on the canopy for half a ton of luggage or more, is the power to earn only ,4;3 per day for a distance of 90 miles. That earning is sufficient to cover the whole of the charges and to pay a satisfactory dividend, but it may be hard to secure such a revenue if the traffio and routes do not allow of the aggregate mileage named. Similarly, where the traffic is sufficiently dense to call for the purchase of a double-deck omnibus to carry 36 passengers, the test of a route's being a paying one is that there should be an earning power of ,Z.4 tos, per day for the same mileage. Many country districts have villages dotted about upon them at suitable intervals to favour the mappingout and organisation of a motor omnibus service, preferably to link up with a main line station on the railway. At the same time, there are instances of paying routes not specifically chosen to admit of working with any service of railway trains, and there is no reason why circular runs should not be arranged in many parts of the country so as to bring in a good return. Awkward cross-country connections offer a good field, and it must be remembered that parcels furnish a supplementary source of revenue which it is not difficult to secure. Those who are particularly interested in the institution of a motor omnibus service should not fail to peruse our special number of July 6th, in which they will find upwards of sixteen pages of matter and illustrations dealing with this important branch of commercial motoring. The issue of July 27th also contains the reprint of a paper which it was our privilege to read on the subject before the Royal Institute of Public Health. Visitors to London are invariably struck by the performance and satisfactory running of the several lines of motor omnibuses now established in the Metropolis. At the present date there are close upon iso of these vehicles in use there, and there will be double that number before the end of the year. The orders in hand by manufacturers for London alone reach a total in excess of 1,000 double-deck omnibuses, and the fact that the Great Western Railway Company owns Si road motorcars indicates their practical development to a stage of workmanlike construction. The railway companies of this country do not place orders for any form of plant until they consider it proved. Hence, when we point out that to out of the 37 great companies have followed the lead of the Great Western, there is only room for one conclusion in the matter. The number of separate country undertakings is being added to week by week, and it is computed, after a careful investigation, that there are no less than zoo firms and companies engaged upon public services, large and small, in the United Kingdom.