Answers to Queries.
Page 16
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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 tor privacy is not specially made, any query and answer may oe Published. Some replies, owing to pressure on our space, are held several weeks.
Powerful Oil-tractor Wanted.
LI,019] " BRITISH HONDURAS writes:—' Can you give me the address of a builder of a kerosene motor tractor to haul 8 or 10 tons, or more:. I prefer a slow-speed engine."
ANswEa.—We are sending copies of our issues of the 18th March, 1909, and the 9th December, 1909, to you. You cannot do better than deal with Marshall, Sons and Co., Ltd., of Cainsboreugh, and we are asking that company to send out suitable particulars. For lighter work, the Broom and Wade tractor might suit your requirements.
For a Carrier's Load of 4 or 5 Tons.
1.1,620] " CARRIERS " write:—" We are considering the question of substituting motor vehicles in the place of horses and vans, for the conveyance of goods between London and —, and we should be obliged if you would be good enough to give us the addresses of a few reliable firms who would supply us with a 4-ton or 5-ton covered mutorvan. We would prefer, at first, to hire, in order to compare the two systems."
ANSWER.—IOU will find many advertisers of four-ton and five-ton motorvans in our current issue, a copy of which is being posted to you, and we shall be happy to answer any detailed or specific questions with regard to use, working cost, etc. Not every manufacturer is prepared to hire a vehicle, although the majority will give short demonstrations in service with a view to the ultimate placing of orders.
Chars-a-bancs Finance.
[1,621] "NEW BITTER" writes :—" The Syndicate
has purchased motor chars-a-bancs from ; they weigh about 3 tons 5 cwt., faid are for use in in
stead of the four-horse coaches. From your experience, do you think they will prove a success economically The fares work out at about 3d. a mile per head, but the season only lasts about three or four months. I ask, because I am personally interested in the Syndicate, having been a shareholder for some years."
ANSWER.—The first precaution is to have good drivers, and you must not put on men who will damage the machines. Threepence per mile per seat is as much as you can expect. Although the season is short, you ought to be able to lay the vehicles up at small expense during the winter, and to keep them well oiled, etc. During such a rest period, you should jack up each char-a-banes, with Wood-Haley or other long jacks (W. H. Wilcox and Co.), from the frame-not from under the axles; you this relieve both the springs and the tires of insistent load. An even-better course, if no paying work can be found between September and April, is to dismount and store the wheels, the frame being suitably let down upon blocks.
Trailer Brakes Again.
[1,622] " lismoyses " write :—" Some few weeks ago [Issue of the 21st April, Query No. 1,600.—ED.],
you were good enough to take an interest in a case we had at the --police court, when we were fortunate enough to have the case dismissed. We were summoned, last week, at the — police court, on four indictments, three of which were similar to the — ease, and we again beat the police, but the fourth was for not haying a man riding on the trailer, to look after the brake, and for this we were fined 13s. 61.
"In the latter ease, we should like your opinion, as we employed a man to look after the brake, hut he was riding on the engine, with the driver, when the police stopped him. Our contention was that, having employed, a man to look after the brake, we had complied with the Act, and, if there were an infringement of the law, they should have summoned the man, not us. " We have now received three summonses for our not haying a man on the trailer on the same dates that we beat them for not having daily permits:' This is nothing more nor less than pure spite, and we feel inclined to fight. them tooth and nail."
ANSWER.—You are required to carry " a person competent to apply efficiently the brake" upon the trailer, unless; (1) the brakes upon the tractor are 60 constructed and arranged that neither of them can be used without bringing into action simultaneously the brake attached to the trailer ; or, (2) the brake of the trailer can be applied from the tractor, by a person upon the foot-plate of the tractor, independently of the tractor's brakes. The second alternative has been fought in a London Court, and it has been held that., provided the man can turn round and get hold of the hand wheel which applies the brake to the trailer, he need not travel upon the trailer. The exceptions above are quoted from Article 111 (3) of the Motor Cars (Use and Construction) Order, 1904, and we can think of no other line of defence. We hope this one may be of use to you. The police can summon driver or owner.
Licences and Other Payments for Chars,-a-bancs.
[1,623] " Owstits "(further to No. 1,617) write:—' We are much obliged by your reply, but do not appear to have made ourselves sufficiently clear regarding what it is we propose to do. We own a three-ton Halley motor, fitted with a lorry body. This is now used partly for demonstrating for likely firms, and partly for hiring out for conveyance of goods. So far as the above is concerned, our understanding of the law is that we require: (1) An annual licence for the driver, costing 5s.; (2) to register (which we have done) the vehicle at a cost of £1, this only being paid once. Now for our proposition. " We contemplate having a char-k-bancs body made for this vehicle, in which case we shall, in addition to using it for the work above mentioned, occasionally use it as a char-k-bancs. You will thus see that the work to be clone by the vehicle would be of a composite character, and we would like you to understand that we do not intend so much to run any regular chars-k-bancs between certain places, as to take on whatever work of that character we could get, and for which the vehicle would be at liberty. If you will tell us what additional licences we have to pay if the whole of the foregoing is proceeded with, we should be greatly obliged to you. We should not carry a conductor. You mention, in addition to the ordinary licence, a driver's police licence, also a police plate licence. What is the purpose of these, respectively, and can you say what is the cost?"
ANSWER.—If you intend to use a char-a-basics body for the conveyance of parties who are booked in advance at a fixed sum for a particular trip, and not to pick up casual passengers on the road, i.e., not to ply for hire, you will not require any licence additional to those which you have now got for the same vehicle in respect of its use for the conveyance of goods. If, however, you ever use the vehicle with its char-a-banes body for any purpose which can be construed to be of a private nature, you will then become liable for carriage duty (three guineas); if, in addition, you ever ply for lure, you will have to bear the additional payments named in Answer No. 1,617. The local police officers can alone inform you as to costs of the lastnamed licence and plate. Their object is identification.