Is the Petrol Omnibus Doomed for Use in London ?
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People have been asking, fer upwards of a year, " What is to he the new type of motorbus forLondon?" Designers and manufacturers have fought shy of the answer, at least in public, whatever may have been their private opinions. Proprietors have declined to admit the prospect of financial success with a single-deck vehicle, and we have not ourselves been able to detect, except at enhanced fares, any future for public-service vehicles of small seatingcapacity. The relation between the scale of fares per passenger per mile and the number of seats available for occupation is one that may be varied at choice, and we certainly do look for more examples of departure from halfpenny and penny stages than the one which has so far been provided in the isolated rase of the Pullman motorbus. It is not, however, with the argument of single-deck versus double-deck vehicles that we wish to deal at the moment. Our interest, so far as concerns this reference to new types, is confined to motive power.
Close upon three years ago, or, to be precise, in our issue of the el.th September, isios, at a time when this journal was being strenuously invited to boom the petrol motorbus to the exclusion of all others, in the course of a leading article entitled " Rival Motive Powers," we wrote It is early in the contest to accept present experience as indicating any finality in respect of the ultimate ratios between steepirt-propelied and petrol-engined vehicles. Further, some account will have to be taken of accumulator propulsion, though the best results obtained to date in this direction exhibit costs for power which are much above those for either steam or internal-combustion engines. The one other system which falls within the range of practical politics is that colloquially termed the petrol-electric.' . . . We can discover no evidence to support the somewhat wild claims that the petrel engine per .se will become universal." Now, some readers will agree that the problem is still an open one, and that internal-combustion, steam, accumulator, and petrol electric systems all remain within the range of practical. politics, but, at the date of. the article from which we quote, the petrol engine reigned supreme, and no repetitionary warnings were of avail to stop competing companies from rushing headlong into the contest to secure early delivery.
To-day, with tires, wheels and transmission brought to stages of relative perfection, it remains only for constructors to provide means Which shall insure perfect combustion, a scheme of inter-control in which engine-racing will be impossible, and parts which shall be less expensive in mainttmance, for the internal-combustion engine to be freed from the last of its difficulties. Assailed, as it is, on all hands, by incompetent and unscrupulous critics, who stain tons of paper, and their own characters incidentally, with exaggerations about the stench, poisonous fumes, filthy droppings, noise, rattle, clatter, and fifty other evil attributes which they picture the petrol-driven motorbus to possess, it has become positively fashionable to abuse this favourite of 1905 and i000. The change of attitude is no more capable of justification than was the fulsome praise of the daily papers at the outset, but the unfortunate circumstance of the harm done cannot be denied. We ask, therefore, is it true that the time has arrived to conclude that internal combustion as applied to public-service vehicles will have no future in London?
The answer is very certainly in the negative. The economy of internal combustion, as we are able to apply it to-day, is undoubted, but the opportunity for improvement of efficiency -which remains is still very great, and for this latter reason the petrol engine will survive. A better degree of control for present-day types will be achieved, and an elimination of redundant parts will cut down wear and tear very considerably. The first step in these efforts to reduce the consequences of the serious overrunning of the petrol engine is, to our mind, the provision of self-starting gear, in order-to remove the driver's excuse for such racing of his engine, Which he does to avoid any risk of his stopping it and, as a result, his haying to sec it restarted by hand, and such gear may obviously consist of an auxiliary in the nature of compressed air, an hydraulic motor, or an accumulator set. The periods of engine racing during traffic stops, the excessive rates of reversals of reciprocating parts, and numbers of complex fittings about the engine must be abolished. Whether the gearbox will remain or not is a minor circumstance, though we should elect to insist that the place of the step pattern be occupied by one or other of the transmissions which offer the advantages of an infinity of ratios and a large range of torque. It is too frequently overlooked that much of the noise from the double-dock motorbus is attributable to undue speed over had surfaces, which bad surfaces are likely to disappear as motor traffic increases in popularity, and this it is doing very rapidly for all purposes; again, the police are at last taking action to check the overdriving of petrol omnibuses, which are the chief offenders by reason of their present capacity for speed. Next, as regards the emission of smoke, improved methods of lubrication have now rendered this old nuisance one which should not be allowed to continue, apart from the fact of the enormous economy which is secured by up-to-date systems of oiling, and which have reduced the consumption of engine oil per omnibus from, say, two gallons per day to only one-quarter of a gallon as a maximum, which latter figure is much in excess of the best results. With every likelihood of the maintenance of low prices for motor spirit,
which can still be purchased in bulk, throughout London, at (..1d. per gallon, with prospects of notable increases in the heat efficiency of internal-combustion engines, with lubrication cut down to the point at which no blue vapour can annoy other users of the highway, with mechanical feed of air and fuel to secure a uniform mixture, and to allow complete combustion, with ignition appliances of a character that ensures regular and correct inflammation of the charge in the cylinder, and with the choice between several alternative ways of governing the engine itself, so that noise and wear in that unit shall not continue to be the curse which they have proved during the last few years, we decline to give support to the view that the petrol omnibus is doomed. We prefer to give our adherence to the belief that it will be eminently successful as soon as the ability to overdrive it is put beyond the powers of the man at the steering wheel, which limitation of destructive power is inseparable from several combinations such as those we have outlined above. We are confident, whilst reiterating our opinion of toos that the petrol engine by itself will not become universal, that internal combustion has too many inherent advantages for it to be pushed out of the field by either steam or batteries f accumulators, and we should regard its abandonment by motorbus companies as calamitous for themselves and the movement. Such a course is unnecessary, though improvements are obviously needed. Critics too readily ignore the improvements of the last two years, both in constructional detail and running organisation. It is wrong to blame the engineering and mechanical sides unduly; further, bad as the financial results have been to date, London's omnibus companies would have done much worse, in competition with tubes, the electrified " underground," and speedy tramcars, had they put their money on Ike horse-bus only.
Municipal Motors : A Lead by the Westminster City Council.
There are set forth, on page 467 of this issue, the principal particulars in connection with the recent tenders for the supply of three motor wagons to the Westminster City Council. Apart from the bare facts there reported, we have reason to regard this 4..)ccasion as of an epoch-marking character, and we believe that the majority of the members of the Westminster Council look upon it in the same light, The officers of the Council are thoroughly convinced of the economy of commercial motors when adapted for municipal work, but considerations of policy weighed equally with the Council in this matter of an extension of motor transport. As a public 'body concerned with the largest and busiest area of any Metropolitan Borough, the Westminster City Council perceives that the time is not far distant when motor traffic will. be considerably in excess of horse traffic, and its members desire to set their mark of approval on a course which makes for the elimination of the hare e. Until the proportion of horses in our streets is reduced to a comparatively small ratio, all public bodies will cdminue to be confronted by numerous difficulties when they come to make a choice between the different methods of road construction, maintenance, and cleansing. With a lead of this kind from so important a council, and with the knowledge that this change from horsedrawn to mechanical vehicles is to be extended, we hope that other London boroughs will not be long before they fall into line. There is, of course, the equally convincing experience of Chelsea to help to this end, but that authority, by reason of its being at a greater distance from thee centres of heavy traffic, cannot hope to have such influence on its neighbours
as Westminster is likely to exert, Incidentally, we are pleased to note the practically unanimous demand for indiarubber tires on the driving wheels of the wagons, the use of elastic treads, in all eases where night work is undertaken in the midst of a residential population, is highly expedient.
Speed in London.
It is certainly not beyond the contemplation of the Home Secretary, if we correctly appreciate the import of portions of certain replies that have been given by him to questions in the House, to entertain the imposition of a ten-mile limit of speed upon motorbuses in London ; his remarks last Tuesday (page 477) are more favourable. We do not hesitate
to say that such a limit would be both an anachronism and an injustice, and we would again invite consideration for the facts which appertain to the tramway service of the London County Council. The latest " double-deckers " of the Council's tramway rolling stock weigh, under running conditions, approximately !three times as much as any motorbus, and they are authorised to travel at speeds of 76 miles an hour in many important thoroughfares, of which we may quote parts of the City Road, Pentonville Road, St. John Street, Gray's Inn Road, Goswell Road, Holloway Road, New Cross -.Road, Old Kent Road, Brixton Road, Streatham Hill, Streatham High Road, Battersea Park Road, Lewisham Ifigh Road, etc., etc., whilst 12 miles an hour is allowed to them in an enormous number of streets which are generally very full of traffic. How, in the face of these speeds for tramcars, can it be fairly held that motorbuses should not be allowed their present maximum.
War Office and Tractors.
We are authorised to state, further in reference to the matter of the W.ar-Office trials for tractors, of which we have already made brief mention in two previous issues, that certain reports which are in circulation, to the effect that the Mechanical Transport Committee only desires to have entries of machines which are propelled by heavy-oil engines, are inaccurate. No restriction whatever, other than the stipu_ lation of a low flash-point for oils, will be placed upon the motive power or the nature of the fuel employed, so long as a tractor can prove its ability to travel too miles on the road, at an average speed of five miles an hour, with a gross load of eight tons behind the drawbar, and to cover this distance independently of any external supplies. This condition, how-. ever, as we have already pointed out, renders inadmissible the standard tractor of commercial pattern, but it by no means shuts out the use of steam, so long as superheating and condensing fittings are utilised. We are sorry to learn that we cannot hold out any hope of a bonus on each entry, as there is no prospect of the Treasury's approval for any sum that would be acceptable, or would form any considerable proportion of a competitor's total expenses; in the absence of a bonus of, say, at least j_,-3oo per entry, the difference in risk to a manufacturer is inappreciable.
Fire-brigade Motors.
We have lately been making inquiry, in various parts of the country, with regard to the degree of satisfaction which exists amontrst supe-rintendents in respect of existing combinations of 'fire equipment and motor chassis, and pending openings for trade undoubtedly should include motor fireengines of all type:-7.; we believe that the time is ripe for a large number of orders to come the way of members of the industry. There appears to be a consensus of opinion that much room exists for improvement, and that the several companies which have practically monopolised this department in the past are about to have their positions seriously challenged by companies which have primarily been established for the purposes of motor manufacture. We touched upon this feature in our last week's review of the conditions for the L.C.C. tenders of 1907 and mo8(Page 447 ante), and there is good reason to assure any motor manufacturers, who may elect to give their attention to the matter, that they will receive sympathetic treatment at the hands of all lire brigades, who are most anxious to see alternative sources of supply at their disposal. We do not, of course, reflect in any way upon the excellence of design and manufacture which has been attained by several companies that have enjoyed this trade for so many years past, but we are strongly of opinion that their experience and knowledge in the production of the super-structure does not help them materially in the matter of chassis design. Given a proper specification for the extinguishing, hose, escape, or other outfit, any one of a dozen leading motor manufacturers can embrace fire-brigade requirements to the better satisfaction of all conrerned, and we are glad to know that at least one prominent maker in this country has already, in open competition, secured a share of the trade of the "London County Council.