LOOSE LEAVES
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THE Goodyear Airwheel has recently been further developed to run at a pressure of 10 lb. per sq. in. when utilized on motor vehicles. It is mounted on what is practically the hub of the wheel, as the rim proper is of such small diameter.
In December, 1930, Mr. A. S. Bishop, of the Goodyear Co., drew attention in The Commercial Motor to the possibilities of such a wheel, which was then being applied to aircraft, in sizes up to 20-in. section. One of these wheels was illustrated. The low pressure enables the new wheel to run across kerbs, rails and potholes without shock, and should be just the type for crossing soft sand, marshy ground, etc, IN these enlightened days, when hauliers in even the most modest way of business find themselves obliged to keep accurate records of 'operating costs, it is astonishing to come 3318 across, as one sometimes does, successful men who, whilst managing their dansport business satisfactorily, really do not know how they stand financially. A haulagecontractor in Ireland was complaining the other day about a £1,300 vehicle which he had had in service for just a year. "I can't earn a penny profit with it," he said. "All I have managed to do in the year is to pay off the cost of the vehicle."
THE use of aluminium in paints and other protective material is . proving highly successful. Aluminium paint differs from the ordinary variety in that the particles of the pigment are not granular, but consist of flakes which, owing to their extreme thinness and lightness, possess the unique property of rising to the surface of the medium and, as it were, joining hands under the influence of surface tension, thus forming a series of thin metallic layers having the properties of a sheet of foil. This sheet is opaque and prevents the destructive violet and ultra-violet rays from penetrating to the binding medium, which is considered to be the chief cause for the bad weathering of ordinary paint.
It is not attacked by sulphur or chlorine, and, being electro-positive to all the common metals, it protects the underlying metal at points' where the paint has been chipped off.
AT the Institute of Transport Dinner, while chatting with Mr. F. Rowland, Treasurer of the City of London, he referred to the interesting source' from which the money for building the Tower Bridge was derived. Many years ago a womarrleft a small amount of property to provide an income of 8d. per clay, intended to pay two street cleaners 4d. per day each. The site of this property was eventually sold for approximately a million pounds, £750,000 of which was utilized for the construction of the bridge.
SOME years ago we gave a full description and • illustrations of an interesting type of windscreen known as the Sytgap. This device is so arranged that the driver can look through a clear gap unobstructed by glass, whilst there is no draught and rain is carried away over the roof.
We have often wondered Why this device was not adopted by enterprising operators of commercial and other vehicles, and we were interested to note that a windscreen designed on this principle was utilized by Mr. Eyston during his record-breaking • ran on a light car.