Answers to Queries.
Page 19
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Our readers will be informed by the Editor on any points connected with the construction or use of commercial motors. Where a direct reply is desired, a stamped and addressed envelope should be enclosed : if a request kr privacy is not specially made, any query ani answer may be published. Some replies, owing to pressure on our space, are held several weeks.
Cheap Char-a-bancs Wanted.
[1,608] " INC1.INATION " writes :—" Please can y 01/ give your advice as to where I can get a secondhand motor char-h-banes to run in North Wales-a very hilly district --at about R100? It is to carry 18 to 20 passengers. Also, what power do you recommend for that load ANSWER.We advise you to have a small advertisement ii this journal. We do not happen to know where a cheap secondhand motor char-k-bancs is on offer at the moment. About 21 lip. should be enough.
Damage to Private Lamp and to Signs Overhanging a Street.
[1,699] " Owsisa " w rites : am licensed to run motorbuses (double-deck). One street where they run through is narrow, and an overhanging lamp and signs have been damaged. The owners want me to pay, and I refuse to do so. Am I liable for the damage? Of course, when the lamp, etc., were put up, there was no idea of motors running through."
ANSW stroll Id deny liability in respect. of the lamp, etc., which you mention. No public authority, and much less a private person for his own advertisement and gain; has the right to place a lamp or other obstruction so that it projects above the line of the carriage way, which we gather to be the case in your irrstance.
Rigid Fixing of Radiators and Leakage.
1150Tj "NEwpoirr" write :—" We have had trouble rr itli the radiator fixed on our 20 h.p. two-ton motorvan. The radiator is fixed by a bracket to the chassis frame, and the amount of vibration in travelling shakes up the radiator causing it to leak badly. Can you suggest a remedy for this, please? "
Asswna.-1f the radiator in question is of the cellular or honeycomb type, and is bolted direct to the frame of a solid-tired machine, you are always liable to get trouble awing to the vibration. There is less liability to leakage if a gilled-tube or plain-tube cooler with cast top and bottom headers is employed. In any case, it is advisable SO to mount the radiator that the former is not. affected by any twisting of the main frame; this is as frequent a cause of trouble as is vibration from the road. One side Of the cooler may well be supported on suitable swing links. it is advisable, if other means cannot be taken, to insert thick pieces of rubber between the radiator and the main frame. A few makers mount the cooler on some form of spring suspension.
Second Man on Trailer.
P.7011 " TorreNuam " write We have recently bought a trailer for our Straker steam wagon, and we shall be very much obliged if you will inform us whether it is necessary for a man to ride on the trailer' at all or it any time. Any further information you can give us regarding the law in respect to trailers will be very much appreciated."
ANSWKR.—It is not necessary to carry a man on the trailer. The rule for your guidance, which states the exceptions from the requirement, reads: " Provided that it shall not he necessary to comply with this condition if the brakes upon the motorcar by which the vehicle is drawn are so constructed and arranged that neither of such brakes can be used without bringing into action simultaneously the brake attached to the vehiele drawn, or if the brake of the vehicle drawn can be applied from the motorear by a nerson upon the motorcar independently of the brakes of the latter." This is Section 3 of Article III of the Motorcars (Use and Construction) Order, 1904.
If you arrange that your trailer brakes can be applied by the driver or the second man upon the steam lorry, your running will be in order. Unless you oomply with one or other of the above alternatives, a man must travel upon the trailer in order to apply its brakes.
Taking Parties for Trips.
p,702] " MILL FURNISHERS " write :--" Can you kindly give us the proper ruling for the following question :—We have a 3-ton — wagon, which we use in our business. We have several times been asked to take parties for a trip 1111 Saturday afternoons, and have been rather uncertain whether we could legally do this without taking out a licence. We saw your ruling on the matter in a recent week's Commeacrai. MOTOR, and showed same to the police sergeant of our district. He still insists we shall have to take ant a licence, although we are not plying for hire, but taking a party from a stated place as orderer:. If this is necessary, to whom should we apply to for the necessary licence?"
ANSWER .—We presume you refer to answer No. 1,769 in our issue of the let September ? That only points out that no " licences " will be required from a local council. You are clearly liable for carriage tax, if the vehicle is at ally time used for a private trip. A carriage tax is not the same thing as a hackney-carriage licence. The local surveyor of Inland Revenue is the mall to 1010111 to apply.
Stopping on a Bridge.
j1, 703'1 " LANCASHIRE " -" I should he very pleased if you would enlighten me on a few points re stopping a steam wagon on bridges. 1 am at present driving a 5-tort —motor wagon, and, on a recent trip, wheu taking water on a small bridge (merely a culvert), a police inspector' came to me and asked me why I had stopped on the bridge? I pointed out to bins that 1. was not on the bridge. He answered that I was, told sue not to do it again, and went away. I then went to the end of the bridge wall, on the other side of the road, and looked acress to the end of the wall on the side of the road where the wagon was standing, and I found I had one-third of my near-side wheel in the line of sight. Now, if one-third of my wheel was in the line of sight, I hold that the bottom of the wheel was not on the bridge at all. " I may also mention that I have made inquiries from three different policemen, and they all seem to have different ideas on this point. One said that you must be 10 ft. from the crest of the bridge; another said 16 ft.: and another 6 ft.; and the inspector said it did not matter about the crest at all, but that I must keep clear of the abutment.
" I should be glad if you would let me and my fellow drivers know the law on this point, as the police seem to be on the watch to catch us napping."
ANSWER.--The vehicle in question is a light locomotive, and, therefore, comes within the provisions of the Motor Car Acts 1896 and 1903. There is no provision in the Motor Car Acts with reference to the stopping of light locomotives on bridges, but, under the Act of 1896, the County Council has power to make by-laws preventing or restricting the use of locomotives upon any bridge within its area. We should be glad, therefore, to know whether any such by-laws exist, and in their absence you do not commit any offence by merely stopping on the bridge, subject, of course, to such stopping not amounting to an obstruction. Do you know whether any by-laws exist about this particular bridge, and are you (lit& sure there is no notice either on the bridge or at the approaches thereto?