News and Comment.
Page 13
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This journal enjoys a valuable and exclusive circulation; its sale is not forced in useless quarters.
Mr. W. J. Lehjoit, of Hounslow, has been nominated to the GeneralCommittee of the Motor Union, as a representative of the M.V.W.O.U.A.
The Right Hon. John Burns, M.P., President of the Local Government Board, will be represented at the forthcoming side-slip trials of the A.C.
Professor 1. M. Hollis, of Harvard University, has reported favourably upon the fitting of brakes and clutches with cork insertions. The BritishAmerican Company, of Coventry, will supply further details.
The Stevenson Wheel Company, Limited, has been registered, with an authorised capital of .,"to,000 in Li shares, to carry on, at Logan Street, Glasgow, the business of wheelwrights in connection with motor vehicles.
We published, in our issue of the r5th ultimo, a summary of the legislative proposals of the Motor Union. These have now been issued, in their revised form, and copies may be had, on application to the Secretary of the Union, t, Albemarle Street, W., free of charge.
The Austrian military authorities are doing an excellent thing to further the freight automobile industry : they are placingtheir self-propelled vehicles, free of charge, at the disposal of industrial and agricultural firms, in order to give their owners an opportunity of proving horse transport's inferiority.
In view of the fact that Olympia will continue to house the exhibitions of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders for at least another six years, the importance of improvements in the ventilating and heating systems, to which Editorial reference is made on page 331, cannot be over-rated.
The Ryknield standard -ton lorry, which is illustrated herewith, is the first of two lorries which have been built by the Ryknield Motor Company, Limited, of Burt on-on-Trent, for Messrs. Bass, Ratcliffe, and Gretton, Limited, and was recently delivered to that company. The photograph was taken during a test with a load of g; tons of iron mouldingboxes and pigiron on the lorry, and a load of two Ions on the trailer, and, with this load, a gradient of I in to was easily taken. The Army Service. Corps ambulance van is fitted with twin 5-inch Royal Sirdar-Buffer tires on the back wheels, and single 5-inch tires of the same make on the front wheels.
A repeat order from Messrs. Allen and Hanbury, Limited, the large manufacturing chemists, has been received hy the Yorkshire Patent Steam Wagon Company, for one of its latest type steam wagons, capable of taking a useful load of six tons on the lorry platform, and four tons on the trailer.
L.C.C. " Arrol-Johnstons."
In a report, issued on Monday, the Highways Committee of the L.C.C. reported that the petrol-driven motor lorries which were purchased some months ago for use in the tramways department in cases of breakdowns and for the distribution of stores, have been in service with such satisfactory results that the Committee had considered the advisability of purchasing more of these vehicles. The lorries used for the distribution of stores had run upwards of 7,000 miles each, and each had done the work of two pair-horse vans. In view of the recent transfer of the northern tramways to the Council, the Committee thought it desirable that additional lorries should be obtained for that system generally, and it was suggested that four additional vehicles, similar to those at present in use, should he obtained, namely, three for stores purposes, and one for breakdown. purposes. The lorry for breakdown purposes will he allocated to the northern tramways system, in the same way as the breakdown lorry already in use is allocated to the southern tramways system. The other three new lorries proposed to be obtained will be used for the distribution of stores between the central depot and the numerous depots and car-sheds situated at various points on the tramway system. With the opening of new electric routes, both north and south of the Thames, involving the opening of depots at widely separated points, the distances to be covered in the distribution of stores are so great as to make the use of horse vehicles uneconomical, both from the point of view of time and of cost. From the experience gained in the use of the present vehicles, it appears that the three new lorries proposed to be purchased will perform the same work as six pair-horse vans, and that the use of each lorry, taking the purchase price as being spread over a term of five years, will effect a saving of ,Z'oo a year, apart from the advantage accruing from rapid transit. In addition, the lorries had hitherto been used for haulit.g horse cars, from the various depots, to and from the Leytonstone car works where the cars are taken for the purposes of repair and renovation annually. In view, however, of the unsuitability of this class of vehicle for car haulage, it is inadvisable to continue to use them for this work, and the Committee had decided that a suitably designed steam tractor should be obtained for this purpose. The cost of the four lorries, and the tractor, is estimated at „62,350.