Loose Leaves.
Page 40
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Fr HE difficulty about all official schemes for regis
tration and licensing is that mechanical progress overruns their bounds and ignores the limitations they would set up. The articulated six-wheeler and then the rigid frame six-wheeler came in to confound the licensing authorities, and it took a little time to find a niche for them in the classification, and now there arrives the eight-wheeler, of which two are on the road and one has already come before the magistrates at the Bolton Police Court because it had been registered as a "heavy motorcar," and someone has thought proper to arraign it on the ground that it should be registered as a road locomotive and trailer. We describe it elsewhere In this issue and it will be seen to be a distinct addition to the facilities for transport which are being acquired by hauliers. As an articulated six-wheeler its maximum total axle weight (that is, loaded) would be 18h tons; as a four-wheeler and trailer it could total 22 tons, but this vehicle loaded weighs 35 tons 6 cwt. No wonder the magistrates agreed with the clerk to the court that the question was not one for them to decide, but asked the owners to produce a certificate showing exactly what the vehicle is. Everyone in court seemed to think the design worthy of commendation because of the wide area of contact between the 12-in. tyres and the road surface and the manner in which the load was spread over the road.
ELECTRIC control of clutching, declutching, gear shifting and braking operations has always appealed to the driver and the maintenance engineer, who recognize, in the one case, the simplification and amelioration of vehicle control and, in the other case, the reduction of wear and tear if levers and pedals could be replaced by buttons. Many clever attempts have been made to produce a gearbox in which the different trains of gearing were engaged by means of electroanagnetic clutches, the most successful of these gearings being the Eirna (upon which one of our leading engineering concerns has been said to have spent a sum represented by six figures), but there is obviously some great snag to be overcome, because a certain stage of development seems to be reached and c18 beyond that little or no progress can be made. We have before us details of an electrically operated brake of French origin which, if it is successful, would overcome certain mechanical troubles inseparable from the design of brake connections. One of the great difficulties in designing electric clutches or brakes or gearbox clutches is to find the right metal for the discs. If the metal be sufficiently hard to withstand the wear of the rubbing of the pole pieces, it has a tendency to become permanently magnetized and will not permit rapid and complete release, whilst if it be too soft, there is undue wear. A suitable steel has twice been discovered (this was in the case of a certain gearbox) ; on the first occasion the discoverer died and carried his secret with him, and when IL had been rediscovered after much research the financiers had lost all heart in the invention.
In the case of an electric brake or clutch, we eonskier it absolutely essential that disengagement shall be instantaneous and engagement or application shall be even and gradual and not in steps or jerks. The control lever must not move by notches, in other words.
THE regulations concerning rear red reflectors
which are to be permitted on cycles as (in our opinion) a totally inadequate substitute for a rear light are to he published by the Minister of Transport in time for cyclists to know what will be required of them on and after April 22nd. That would not be of much use to manufacturers, however, as they would not be able to get ready in time devices which could be guaranteed to obtain approval. So manufacturers are now to be supplied with a copy of the clause of the regulations which will deal with the use and construction of the reflectors, and arrangements are being made for the testing of samples at the National Physical Laboratory. A little forethought like ttis will save many a fine and many a life.
THE regulation forbidding reversing of vehicles, the use of advertising vehicles and, between the.hours of 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays, the transport of articles exceeding 36 ft. in length or which project more than 8 ft. 6 ins, beyond the rearmost part of the vehicle, or which exceed one and threeqpiatters the length of the vehicle, is now in force, and it applies to all streets within a three-Mile radius of Charing Cross, London, and ceriain other streets within a radius Of six Miles. On certain days when exceptional traffic may be anticipated it will be applied to streets even beyond the six-mile radius. Life is undoubtedly becoming more and more difficult.
AND it will be well to watch the effect of the experi ment which the Minister is to make restricting the standing of vehicles within the area comprising Piccadilly Circus and short lengths of the thoroughfares leading into the Circus. .Fifteen minutes is the utmost that will be allowed for loading or unloading, and certain practices in loading and unloading, such as the use of ropes and chains across the footway or over the carriageway and the deposition of goods thereon, are to be prohibited or restricted. Traffic and trading requirements have long outgrown street accommodation, but a great • deal could be done to expedite the movements of the traffic if better control could generally be exercised over loading and unloading. Many a street is choked by stationary vans, the stopping time of which could in nearly every case be cut down by a half.