From Our Berlin Correspondent.
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A Prosperous Taxicab Firm in Berlin.
The Automobil-Fuhrwesen Kandelhardt-Oesellschaft, Berlin, to which undertaking 1 have directed attention on previous occasions, has made a clear profit of 36,868 marks during the working year 1909-10, and declares a dividend of 7 per cent., as compared with per cent. for 1908-9. Over £300 is carried forward to current account. This company's rolling-stock consists mainly, if not exclusively, of Adler cabs. Repairing and a good deal of the body work are executed on the premises by the company's permanent staff of repairers and carpenters, who also carry out repairs for outside firms.
Thus, the slops are kept busy in a profitable manrwr,
The German Subvention Run.
Upon the German subvention run there is little or nothing to report, the columns having duly executed the part of the programme allotted to them. Between Biesthal and Prenzlau they were called upon to tackle execrable roads here and there, yet all the vehicks, except -the travelling repairingshop, got through without meeting with any mishap. The '' shop,'" in turning aside to avoid some brickcarts, got on to a soft patch in connection with the Berlin-Stettin waterway works, and stuck fast; but the soldiers
bad it out of the morass in an incredibly short time, the monster emerging under its own power tail-end first, thanks to a scientific application of jacks and planks. That patch was, of course, no " legitimate " road. The " legitimate " roads seem to have stood the weight of the trains remarkably well; and the absence of complaints about ruined surfaces and heaven knows what besides establishes the wisdom of appointing an attendant commissioner for determining, on the spot, the extent of possible damage. This gentleman is quite ready for any "little bill " that may be presented, hut none has turned up as yet. And to think that, on the former occasion, when a commissioner was not with the columns, there were so many complaints! Significant, is it note Barring the two lorries which fell out in an early stage of the trials, the competing vehicles are running with the regularity of clockwork. They will have completed the long journey by Thursday or Friday.
The Buessing Petrol-tank Wagon for the Subvention Trials. My short reference to the Buessing petrol-tank wagon, which vehicle is carrying the supply of fuel needed by the lorries participating in the German Subvention Trials, I now supplement with further material, illustrative and descriptive. As to the chassis, little need be written, since it embodies the familiar features of the firm's heavy type. I may, however, point out that the Buessing arrangement for deadening, through a perch-bar fitted with a powerful coil-spring, shocks to change-gear and chain-drive, has given complete satisfaction. The tank is of steel-plate nearly a quarter of an inch in thickness, and shows an elliptical cross-section, consisting of two divisions, each with a dome-top and two iron covers. It holds 5,000 litres of fuel, i.e., approximately 1,125 gallons. The inner compartment is completely insulated from its outer envelope by a special insulating material about an inch thick, and the protective envelope itself is composed of sheet-iron .039 in. in thickness. Behind the driver's seat is a cupboard containing the petrol-gauges relative to the tank-divisions. At his side, on the left, is a cam-pump to be worked by hand, with the necessary screwplug unions, diffusion-caps and piping. Behind him, too, one finds a complete pressure-battery consisting of a couple of reducing valves with low and highpressure gauge, as well as two eightcarbonic-asid-gas containers, including the requisite screw and safety contrivances. The fuel is drawn off by a special apparatus, with fracture-proof plug-valve, pipe-connections and diffusion-caps. I note also that the petrol-tank feeding the engine has beets insulated on lines analegous to those abserved for the ellipti
cal tank, and that its contents are under carbonic-acid-gas pressure, the general scheme and details rendering involuntary combustion well-nigh impossible. Martini and Hfineke, the German firm who make a speciality of safety-storage apparatus for petrol, were entrusted with the tank arrangements, and anything more effective it would be difficult to imagine.
Trade with Motorcab Licences in Berlin.
Official interference with the laws of demand and supply often bears cur ous fruit : witness the Berlin Police President's veto on additional licences for petrol cabs, which took effect nearly two years ago. Since then the price of licence-numbers has risen to comparatively enormous heights. When the veto was first launched against the automobile industry in favour of the vested interests represented by horse-cab owners, an old number could be got for a £10-note,. whereas to-day, competition having become ever fiercer and fiercer, the possessor of a " crock " is asking and getting 200 for his licence-number! A few days back, in fact, business was done at £220. At this rate, the capital required for acquiring a licence will soon equal the cost of the vehicle. Naturally, with this debt hanging round his neck, the small ouner seems predestined to a hard struggle to make both ends meet. The state of affairs is more or less rotten.
The Trackless Trolley System Again.
Berlin suburban authorities are still considering the advisability of applying the trackless-trolley system to connect up seine of the districts sadly in need of increased facilities for public traffic. Special commissioners have already studied the working of this system in the vicinity of Vienna, and are now proceeding to Bremen, where it appears to be giving satisfactory results. I will let you knew when the authorities have made up their minds —if I live long enough.
'1,1fik " Perkeo " for Motorbuses.
I note that " Perkeo," the fire-extinguishing fluid to which reference is made on p. 790 of Cl The Motor " for the 6th December, is now being included in the equipment of the motorbuses worked by the Berlin General Omnibus Co. As yet, only a few vehicles carry a supply of this extinguisher, which is contained in a. cylindrical receptacle fixed to the front panelling on the off side of the driver. " Perkeo " engenders a foam when .poured over blazing materials, and soon stifles the flames. Recently, in the neighbourhood of Hamburg, it was used experimentally for extinguishing a tank of blazing petrol, and gave excellent results. I do not know whether the Berlin Co. has borrowed the idea from London.