Opinions from Others.
Page 16
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A Motor Carrier's Cart.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,271] Sir,—There are thousands of country carriers throughout the country, and, although large numbers of these are in a very small way, others are, apparently, differently situated, and there can be no doubt whatever that the use of a motor vehicle in place of the crawling horse would enormously increase the usefulness and the scope of operations of the Larriers's cart-.
That this movement has commenced is shown by the enclosed photograph which we send you [Reproduced on page 305.—Ere]. This illustrates a 20-cwt. Lotis van, which has been specially built for Mr. Burt, the Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole carrier. The vehicle has an exceptionally-large body in order to deal with the veryvaried nature of the goods which the country carrier has to carry, whilst provision is also made on the roof for additional baggage. We may add that the van is fitted with a 90 mm. by 110 mm. four-cylinder engine, with double ignition and, of course, with the Lotis gear and le?dal control.—Yours faithfully, STURMEY MOTORS, LTD.
A Word to Our New Law Makers.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,272] Sir,—Now is the whiter of our political discontent made glorious in a multitude of promises from aspirants to parliamentary honours. We have seen clearly the ghastly world of oppression and disorder in which we have lived in the past, and we strain forward with a glad hope to the glorious dawn,which we are told is about to break, and herald the day of liberty and equality. To none will this daybreak be more welcome than to a " Motor-wagon Carrier," but, so far as it affects motor haulage, he is constrained to hope that the gentlemen who are designing this transformation scene will give a little more attention to detail in the future than has been done in the past.
A few points to be noted are as follow :---A driving licence is equally obtainable by the sane, the insane and the blind. The sane and the blind are, if anything, handicapped by the knowledge that the slightest diversion from the path of rectitude will probably cost them several pounds and casts, at the hands of the idle police—this does not influence the insane.
The idle policeman, under the existing laws, receives undue encouragement; he no longer tramps his weary rounds along the highway, butreclines at ease beneath some sheltering hedgerow, peacefully counting the seconds as they fly, in the happy knowledge that certain reward is his. His will is law. His mind none can dispute.
When One contemplates the laws which regulate the use and construction of heavy motors, in conjunction with those applying to the use of highways, the impression grows upon one that the law makers regard heavy motors and their owners in much the same light as Pharaoh regarded the Children of Israel. Thus we find the restrictions are so numerous that it is practically impossible for a heavy motor to conform thereto, and the penalties imposed upon owners and drivers are of a magnitude which can only apply to men of substantial means. This is all on the one hand, whilst on the other hand there is no provision made whereby the motor owner or driver may hope to recover for loss or injury he sustains through neglect on the part of the road authorities.
Respecting the machines themselves, anyone may purchase a machine and run it on the roads, providing the machine, amongst ether limitations, does not exceed five tons. He may load it until the gross weight of the machine and its load is 12 tons, but in so doing he may not increase the tare weight of the machine. The registration authorities have power to weigh the machine from time to time, in order to test the axle-weights (laden). It can serve no useful purpose whatever to confine the tare weight of i machine, once it is registered, to 5 tons, when the loaded weight may rise to 12 tons. The only useful purpose any limit to the tare weight can serve is to define roughly the horse-power for any type of machine, and, when that is done, any further restriction can only hamper the usefulness of the machine in the hands of the Owner.
These are a few details which must be rectified before the day of Liberty and Equality can dawn for "MOTOR-WAGON CARRIER."
The Future Three-tonner.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,273] Sir,--Without the slightest hesitation, I venture to make further demand on your valuable space, if only to express the extreme interest with which I read the letter [No. 1263] from " E.W.S." in your issue of the let inst. Serpollet I know, and White I know. It would give me very great pleasure to meet Mr. E. W. S. The late Mr. Serpollet had further developments of his wonderful system in hand at the time of his death; the Darraeq-Serpallet is an early type of Mr. E. W. S's suggestions. Of the two systems, give me the White, and before that an internal-combustion engine, although I grant that steam will give one any power and speed that one asks of it— given time for generation. Mr. E. W. S. has attacked my suggestions separately ; he should take them altogether.
High road speed. viz., 20 miles an hour, means low tare weight. Will 'Mr. E. W. S. please tell me the tare weight, with water, body and fuel on board, of his type of " steam-gas " steamer, bearing in mind that the threeton internal-combustion vehicle turns the scale at 1 ton 18 cwt.?
Item No. 4, on Mr. E. W. S's showing, is in favour of the internal-combustion engine. No. 7: Mr. E. W. S. gives the internal-combustion engine the leading place. No. 13: I would point out to Mr. E. W. S. that, with steam gas, to get the best results, one must know the conformation of the road. On most of the early steam-gas vehicles upon which I have ridden, at the steepest part of steep inclines there has been no need to ask the driver to stop, the engine has gradually slowed down and stopped of itself, in order to make the requisite steam gas, not giving the instantaneous" answer to the call for full power suggested by Mr. E. W. S. Does Mr. E. W. S. really think his steam-gas system as simple as the internal-combustion engine? To his generator, he adds special forms of condensers and special forms of feed-water heaters, so that, beyond the engine and gearbox, he has a generator, a burner, a condenser and a feed-water heater. No his system is not so simple as the internal-combustion engine.
In reference to the DarracceSerpollet system, as run in the R.A.C. Commercial Vehicle Trials, the drivers were specially-imported artists of considerable talent.; Mr. E. W. S. would have enjoyed and watched with much admiration the extraordinary ability shown by these experts when " placing " on the footboard. We also have this type of vehicle running in omnibus form in London, and the palm for instantaneous answer to call for full power appears to me usually to go to the internal-combustion engine, when the two systems are running side by side tip Piccadilly.
Mr. E. W. S. need not doubt the capability of the manufacturers of steam-gas vehicles to build a three-tonner. (Inc of the drawbacks to the upkeep of a steam vehicle is that there is no " escapement " for overload : overload the steam vehicle, and it will carry the load with unknown depreciation; overload the internal-combustion vehicle, and one loseswhatever one gains by increased load in decreased speed, without deteriorating the vehicle as one wonld if steam Os weke the pewer.--Youre faithfully, T. C. AVELINU, 91, New Canal Street, Birmingham.