Opinions from Others.
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The Editor inviter correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Leiters should be on one side of the paper only, and tyPe-written by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for the views expressed is accepted.
" Decarhoniser" for Petrol Engines.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[944] Sir :—Tlaving lately seen a report, in one of the motor paper's, as to the efficiency of the material named " Decarboniser " for the removal of carbon deposit in the cylinders of internal-combustion engines, I procured a quantity of this liquid, hoping to find in it a panacea for what is perhaps one of the greatest bugbears of the motorist. First, I analysed the liquid, and my faith in it was somewhat shaken by my failure to find any constituency which, in my opinion, could possibly have the desired effect. I next made a practical trial, by treating three of the cylinders on my Napier car in the method laid down in the instructions on the tin. The engine was then dismantled, and I failed to find any difference between the cylinders treated with the material, and those that had had no treatment.
I shall be glad to know whether any of your readers have tried this " Decarboniser," and if so with what results. If the mistake is mine, I shall be delighted to find myself in the wrong, as I think a material which will remove carbon from the cylinder—when applied in accordance with the simple method suggested in this case —must he a great boon to the motorist.—Yours, etc.—
ALEX. DUCKIIAM.
The Budget Proposals.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[945] Sir :—We are receiving daily a number of very practical indications of the views taken by representative commercial houses regarding the Budget proposals and the policy of the present Government. The following is an excerpt from a letter we have received to-day from a well-known firm of mineral water manufacturers:— "The penalising of motor traction for commercial purposes by the duty on petrol (even taking into account the relative reduction in such duty) has, as far as we are concerned, been the deciding factor against going in for motor traction. The time may come, and the sooner the better, when we have a Government who realises that the taxing of commercial enterprise is not the way of restoring the prosperity of this unhappy country ; until then, we fear that you must realise that motor traction has received a staggering blow."
We may say that we do not agree with our correspondent's decision not to adopt mechanical transport, as wa have ample proof that commercial motor vehicles—even burdened with this tax—show an enormous saving over horsed vehicles, and of course give far higher efficiency and greater radius. Mr. Lloyd-George's Budget speech has lost us much definite business, both with regard to touring motorcars and commercial motor vehicles, and we do not see where we or any other business concern which is hit by this iniquitous Budget gets any quid pro quo.—Yours faithfully, THE LACRE MOTOR CAR CO., LTD. CLAUDE BROWNE, Managing Director. Poland Street, W.
May 8th.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[946] Sir :—The Government's proposed tax on petrol has come upon us with a very nasty shock, and we are afraid will have a very serious effect on the motor trade generally, and the industrial motor vehicle trade specially. We consider it eminently desirable that the attention of the Government should be very strongly drawn to the serious effect it will have on future business. Up to now. it has been extremely uphill and arduous work to convert users to motor transport from horse haulage ; this iniquit
ous tax on petrol will make it a more difficult matter than ever, and we consider that, unless the Government puts a tax on every vehicle which is used for business purposes on public thoroughfares, they should entirely remove the petrol tax, in so far as it concerns industrial motor vehicles.
Why is it only the petrol motor vehicle that is made the scapegoat ? The rubber-tired commercial motor vehicle does not do anything like the amount of harm to the surface of the roadway which is done by the pounding of horses' iron-shod hoofs, and cannot be compared with the damage which is caused by heavy steel-tired steam wagons, which under the new proposal go entirely scot-freel We sincerely hope that sufficient weight will be brought to bear on Mr. Lloyd-George to persuade him to remove this most unfair tax, and we shall be most pleased to cooperate in any movement to attain this end.—Yours faith
fully, HALLEY'S INDUSTRIAL MOTORS, LTD., C. H. Ifati.xv, Managing Director.
Yoker, Glasgow.
[We would refer M. Halley to pages 187 and 196,—HD.]
Users Experiences (No. XIII).
The _Editor, " TUE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[947] Sir :—As a motor-wagon carrier, I am extremely interested in your announcement of April the 29th that a great " Master of Industry " contemplates organising motor-wagon transport on a large scale; when, however, I read that the project is worthy of " the brain and faculties of a Napoleon," it becomes difficult to retain any respectable degree of modesty. Here is a man equipped with a vast experience, unlimited resources, who, because he contemplates carrying his own goods by motor wagon, is being likened to a Napoleon. Really, Mr. Editor, I shall have to ask you to say a word about say humble self, and please to couple me with some name of even higher repute, for my task, and that of my confreres, is infinitely more complex than anything this gentleman contemplates undertaking. We motor-wagon carriers, like the Israelites of old, have to " make bricks without straw," and possess no unlimited resources with which to perfect our systems; we have no guaranteed tonnage to control, and have not that influence your "hero " will be able to exert over his own customers which will ensure his vehicles' receiving quick dispatch in delivering their goods. I look forward with interest to this new development of motor-wagon transport, and consider that with care success should be ensured.
With reference to the delay in the collection and delivery of goods. This is the cause of a serious loss to all carriers, and must amount to an appalling figure in the case of railway companies. I have a case before me of a shipping company which will only supply one man to accept and unload an eight-ton consignment of goods, which may be made up in heavy parcels, and as a consequence we have either to put up with a serious delay or set to and do an unfair proportion of the work. such delays, in the case of motor wagons, can easily affect the whole of a week's work, and earn a reputation for the motor-carrying business of unpunetuality—which is really due to outside causes. In such large centres as London, Manchester, and Liverpool, there is no attempt at system in the collection and delivery of goods_ A two-horse lurry may be sent into a district to collect five tons of goods and may, after waiting half a day, return with a case of sardines weighing a half or three-quarters of a hundredweight. Carters are quite unable to check their drivers, who can always plead that they were delayed, or, as happens in many cases, that the goods were not in the warehouse. Orders are freely doled out, by the offices of wholesale houses, to collect goods from their warehouses which are still upon the high seas, and once the order is issued the. blame is easily laid upon the carter for not taking sufficient pains in obtaining the goods.
Another point which might well be improved is that of closing the traffic department of a works for an hour in the middle of the day. In a recent case that came under my notice, no goods were received between the hours of twelve and two o'clock, which meant a very possible delay of three hours. There is no insuperable difficulty in arranging that the traffic-department staff should have their meals so as to avoid closing the department at all during the middle of the day. Any arrangement which entails a vehicle's standing idle for an hour constitutes a loss which must be allowed for in the rate, and must prevent the customer from obtaining the best possible terms. The organisation of heavy traffic in large towns is a subject which must be left to older men than myself, but it requires attention, which in these days of rapid developments cannot be long delayed.
An interesting indication of the confidence which the public is gradually placing in motor wagons is to be found in the contracts now being given out for work extending over several years. We have recently accepted one of this nature, after a trial of some six months' duration, which included the bad weather of the past winter.
Our log sheet for the week before last is as follows: Earnings, 55; mileage, 780; tonnage, 126; percentage of work done, 95; coke used, 6 ton 15ewt.; oil (gear) 7 gallons; and oil (cylinder), 4 gallons. That for the latest week available: Earnings, £51; tonnage, 124; mileage, 679; percentage of work done, 94; coke used, 6 tons 15ewt.; oil (gear), 8 gallons ; and oil (cylinder), 3 gallons.—Yours, etc.,
MOTOR-WAGON CARRIER."
A Curious Specification.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[948] Sir:--! was much amused to read Mr. Sturrney's article, dealing with the specification issued by the Guardians of the Poor of the West Ham Union, in your current issue. Commencing with the fourth line, Mr. Sturmey states: " This is a study, and makes one wonder who the genius is upon whom the guardians of the West Ham union rely for their motor information." Really, I do not know whether to think that Mr. Sturmey is as innocent as his article would have us believe, or that he considers your reader& a lot of simpletons, and I should like to ask him one or two questions. In the face of the following assumed condition of affairs, on what lines would he frame a specification were he the responsible engineer for any Board of Guardians or other public body or business house?
Supposing he, as engineer to such a body, had purchased a lorry or van fitted with a two-cylinder, diagonal engine, driving the live back axle through the medium of epicyclic gears, and had then run such a vehicle for a period long enough to satisfy him that it was a thoroughlysound vehicle and one very suitable for his purpose, would he, in the face of this experience, draft a specification which would be likely to admit of the acceptance of a tender for an entirely-different type of vehicle, of which he had had no experience, and the purchase of which would entail the keeping of additional stores and replace parts? I maintain that, if he drew up a specification in any way which would be likely to admit of another type of vehicle (unless, of course, he were absolutely dissatisfied with the first purchase), he would not be doing his duty to the body which he represented. To attempt to run a mixed fleet is to court financial disaster in any business enterprise employing motor vehicles, and there have been many instances of failure which could rightly be attributed to this cause : all the successful fleets now running consist almost entirely of one or at most two makes of chassis. It is always a case of " the first to give satisfaction is the one to whom subsequent orders are bound to be given." Were this not the case, money might be wasted on further periods of " experimental service."
Were I the engineer of a concern, and if, after satisfying myself as to the efficiency and utility of one make of machine, it were necessary to order a second one, I should certainly do all in my power to persuade my employers to purchase another of the same make. In the case of Poor Law Guardians, or other public bodies, such a recommendation is of no avail, as the Local Government Board regulations demand that tenders shall be invited from all who choose to compete for the order. As engineer of this imaginary body, I should make sure that my choice in the matter would prevail, and should meet the requirements of the Local Government Board by drafting a specification, but in such a way as to make itex _ t
remely unlikely that any other maker would succeed in obtaining the order, and I think engineers who have had charge of the operation of a fleet of motor vehicles will agree that this would be the best course to pursue.
I do not know the true facts of the West Ham case, but I gather from Mr. Sturnaey's article that Dennis Brothers, Limited, had been successful in obtaining the first order, and I say " Good luck to them!" I only hope that they will get the second. The first order for a motor vehicle from any public body takes a lot of getting, and entails heavy expenses for demonstrations before the responsible parties can be convinced that the machine is, in every way, a suitable one for the work.
I should also like to ask Mr. Sturmey a question about channel steels for frames. He states that a channel steel four inches deep with flanges two inches wide, both flanges and webs being quarter-inch thick, is quite heavy enough to carry three-ton loads. I think a motorbus chassis might well be taken as being suitable for a three-ton load. Could he tell me what make of motorbus has a frame so shallow as four inches 9—Yours faithfully, GEovsstv WATA.Ac15. Richmond, 7th May, 1909. Motors in Turkey.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[9411 Sir :—Having seen your two paragraphs, " Motor Buses in Turkey," I must say that I quite agree with your remarks. Their correctness has been proved. Recently, when on one of the buses (in the morning) the inner tire came off, breaking the mud-guard, and in the evening the same bus caught fire, and the body was burnt to a cinder. At the time this occurred, they were running. between Shishli and the Tunnel, and the bus was full of passengers, hut luckily no one was hurt. The petrol pipe broke, and the petrol became ignited.
I must say that the importation of the second-hand cars, and people here thinking that they are new, is doing a lot of harm to the motor trade in Turkey. Unfortunately, up to the present, all the second-hand cars and buses have been imported from England.
The roads here are very bad; they shake a car to pieces, and in one of the papers (" The Stamboul ") it was said that as the roads were unfit for motorcars they were being stopped until the roads were made suitable, but by that time aeroplanes would be in Turkey.—Yours, etc., Pens. Constantinople. P.S.---I have your paper weekly, from IliisFirsntr;ullib4li8c. ation, and think it is one of the best pennyworths published.