Opinions from Others.
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The Editor invitee correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should ht on one side of the paper only, and type-written by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for the views expressed is accepted.
Show or No Show ?
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[844] Sir :—1 have read with considerable interest, not unmixed with alarm, the remarks in your leading article about the possibility of the Olympia Show being postponed. I should like to endorse in the strongest possible manner all you say with regard to the damage that will accrue to the commercial motor industry if this abandonment takes place. The great value of past shows has lain, not so much in the actual and prospective orders booked by the various firms concerned, as in the huge advertisement that it has afforded the industry, and looking at it, therefore, from the purely advertising point of view, I can say, speaking on behalf of this company, that we consider the money very well spent. I arn most strongly of opinion that if this show is aban
doned the general public will take it as a confession of defeat, and just at a time when commercial men are awakening to the advantages offered by motor transport such a step would undo a great deal of the good the last two years' work has accomplished.—Yours faithfully,
IL C. B. UNDERDOWN (Chairman of Commercial Cars, Ltd.). t4th January, 19on.
The Roar of London.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[845] Sir :—Please accept my thanks for your kind appreciation appearing in the current issue of the article which I recently contributed to one of the evening journals. At the same time, I think that, in view of your remarks, in justice to myself, I should explain that the title under which
I submitted the article to the journal was " The cause and cure of noise in motorbuses," and not that under which it appeared. I fully agree with you that, whilst the presentday motorbus adds its quota to the general traffic noises, rumblino.''' vans, together with the pounding of horses' hoofs, form the principal factors in " The Roar of London "—a roar which it is the hope of all, with the advent of universal mechanical traction, will become very greatly minimised, as it undoubtedly will be, provided the utmost attention is given to all the governing factors in the vehicles placed upon the road.
Trusting that you and your readers will understand the good intent of my article, as dealing with "The cause and cure of noise in motorbuses," and apologising for trespassing upon your space with this explanation of the title.—
Yours faithfully, H WAYMOUTE PRANCE, 143, Strand, W.C., A. I. E. E., r5th January, tgog.
[We, of course, wholly exonernte Mr. Prance in respect of the ,nfortunate choice of title—En.]
Concerning Motorcabs.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[846] Sir :—A most interesting war is waging in your columns on the relative merits of two-cylinder and four-cylinder engines for motorcab work. The argument for four-cylinder engines appears to be entirely that the more uniform turning moment reduces tire bills,and increases patronage, and on the other side that the increased number of parts in the fourcylinder engine increases the cost of upkeep. Assuming both contentions are correct, although the increased patronage requires to be demonstrated, it is obvious that the ideal engine for motorcab work would be a two-cylinder two-stroke engine. I was rather interested in the Duplex two-stroke " engine at the last Commercial Motor Show, which engine was reported to have run at high speeds hitherto unattained by " two-stroke " engines. If its flexibility is as good as it was claimed to be, it should be peculiarly suitable for motorcabs, as it has less parts than any two-cylinder Otto-cycle engine and a turning moment equal to a four-cylinder Ottocycle engine. Perhaps some of your readers can tell us if this engine is still being marketed ?—Yours, etc., Nottingham. " JoamasTaa's The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[847] Sir :—Regarding the correspondence under ti head, I ant inclined to think that Mr. I Jenry Sturtne) opinions and observations are principally based on Lund running conditions. If a census were possible, it would doubt show that the large majority of the runs are made w within the Metropolitan area, and with one or at the au two passengers. For longer journeys into the country, to the seaside, there is a more general preference for t more powerful private-hire cars. Another thing; in t suburbs and provincial towns, the cabs are more often 1 quired to carry the maximum number of passengers, a they are more often used for station work, the conveyor of luggage, etc. This is probably the reason why powerf four-cylinder engines have been found a necessity at su places as Sandgate, Folkestone, and Brighton, woere LAN cylinder cabs were not a success. I need hardly remind your correspondent that the recta of the past year's hill-climbs, track races, and other tri: have proved the single-cylinder and four-cylinder vehiC to be much more efficient. At Brooklands, for instance, cannot recall a single noteworthy performance being ma on a two-cylinder vehicle, and in hill-climbs two are E mittedly inferior to one, four, or six.—Yours, etc., THE " Kt:\ r CORRESPONDENT.'
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[848] Sir :—I have read with great interest Mr. Her Sturmey's letter on the question of the correct number cylinders for cab work, and I must say, that although the present moment public opinion is against Mr. Sturm and from the present cabs on the streets and the prest conditions, I am inclined to agree with him; but the mat really wants to be looked at from more than one of many points of view.
It is quite obvious that there are different standpoin First, let us take the driver. He naturally prefers a f01 C3 Under cab; it is faster, and many of his customers li the cabs to be fast. It does not use much more petrol th a two-cylinder one, but the increased speed undoubtel increases earning powers. The increased speed, howev. means a good deal more wear and tear from one point view only, and it is a fact that the cab which habitue travels at, say, 25 miles an hour, has to apply its brat much more frequently and considerably more violently th a cab which habitually travels at, say, 2n miles an hot but, at the moment, while drivers want four-cylinder cal and cab proprietors have, in many cases, not got their rt ning costs very clearly scheduled, the four-cylinder is t doubtedly a popular model, When, however, we get a lam number of cabs on the streets, so that the earning powers each cab are reduced, owing to the fact that they will to do more running about without fares and more waiti on the ranks than at present, I am inclined to think, mys< that success will come to the cab proprietors, at any n for large towns, who have cabs with a maximum speed 20 miles-an hour, and, when every view has to be consider, I am not at all sure that single.cylinder cabs will 1 eventually be the money-making type. I ant-quite satisfied that, by the present procedure of w ing for four cylinders, what is generally meant, is, rea asking for more speed and power, and this question of spc is the most vital one on the question of upkeep. Ey+
ttra mile aa hour is going to mean a considerable increase
the cost of running, I am not at one with Mr. Sturmey at a two-cylinder engine up to aoh.p. is desirable. I ittle, myself, that once we can get drivers, proprietors, and iers agreed on the speed they want to travel at, then there
a chance that more than three cylinders will steadily ast one and two. Of course, one must remember that .anufacturera are all working in the required direction, and at increase in the use of cabs will gradually lead to the irvival of the fittest.
There certainly are many standpoints from which the uestion must be viewed. I am sure it will never he viewed >rrectly and dispassionately until all are agreed as to the >eed the cab should travel at.—Yours truly, S. F. LOGE. he New Burlington Street, W.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[849] Sir :—Your correspondent Geoffry Wallace writes 324) that " no two-cylinder engine of tah.p. and upwards an be made to run with sufficient regularity and smoothness ) satisfy the majority of motorcab patrons." I am sure that us want of smoothaess is due to the employment in most vo-cylinder engines of crankshafts with the cranks at 18o egrees (i.e., opposite to one another). This gives two exlosion down strokes, followed by two suction down strokes, lying a very uneven torque, and requiring a heavy flywheel. 'he Rover Company, in its cab, tried a crankshaft with the rank pins both up together, or both down together. This .ave a much more uniform torque, and, as the engine ran t a very high speed, was little inferior in smoothness to a >ur-cylinder engine. Of course, the crank webs were exmded to make balance weights, balancing the revolving lasses, and half the reciprocating masses, and a centre ball earing was used between the two cranks. The employment
this type of two-cylinder engine would do much to meet Ir. Wallace's requirements.—Yours faithfully, ENGINF.F.R." Middlesbrough.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
ISA Sir : —If Mr. Geoffry Wallace were not so anxious to wove his case by special pleading, he would not have put a wholly unwarranted construction upon our letter. As it is, he las built up a nice little bogey of his own, and promptly proceded to knock it down, which may be a very interesting awl satisfying occupation for him, but does not advance the :ubject under discussion. We give him our best thanks for ;howing so very fully and clearly what a much more com)licated article a four-cylinder engine is than one with two, tnd how. much more care is required to make—and hence to vork—it, as well as how much more expensive an article it s to produce—and hence to maintain and repair—than the impler model. We could hardly have put this aspect of the ase, which is one of the principal causes A our advocacy of two, better ourselves, Ind, had we contended, as his letter as;tunes, that we could make and sell a '
four" at the same or even a proportionate figure, with greater profit to ourelves, we we should have deserved his 1-astigation. But this little bogey is, as 3tated above, entirely his own.
What we said was that we preferred, as manufacturers, to sell "fours " rather than " twos," because of the greater profit, and Mr. Wallace must indeed be dense if he cannot see that, pricing our goods on the only sound basis, viz., on the basis of production cost, the actual profit in 4' s. d. per cab is greater on our fourcylinder modelsmodels than on our two, in exact ratio as their respective prices, and hence on an order for, say, so cabs, the net profit on the order would be the greater. We
ope no further explanation is requisite of his very obvious fact.
Mr. Wallace suggests we are not hilanthropists, and that we have " an xe to grind " : we admit both impeachents, and will assure him that our unttestioned solicitude for the welfare of our customers in this matter is dictated quite as much in our own interests as in theirs. We are not only after their immediate orders, but we want to secure their further business by giving them cabs which will be remunerative to work. That is the little axe we have to grind. We have a striking obiect-lesson as to how not to do it, in the motor-omnibus business, which is to-day practically "dead," so far as the manufacturer is concerned, through the mistake of supplying, at the commencement, bk.ises which were too expensive to run. We are much afraid the cab business is tending to the same end, and, so far as we are concerned, we will do our best to prevent it, although, of course, if cab buyers. want them and will have four-cylinder engines we will supply them, being, as stated in our last,
"MAKERS OF BOTH."
An Important Repeat Order.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[8511 Sir :—I notice in your issue of December 31st a letter front Messrs. Halley's Industrial Motors, Ltd., stating that one of their vans had run over 45,000 miles and is still running. This is very interesting to intending purchasers, but I am afraid that Messrs. Halley's have left out one point which most people would like to know, and that is the cost of repairs during that period, and the list of what parts have had to be renewed. It is the question of upkeep which is the most interesting point to persons intending to adopt this class of vehicle, and it is on this point that they arc most sceptical.—Yours faithfully, " INTERESTED. Battersea.
Bad Gear-changing Causes Preference for Steam.
The Editor, " TFIE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
142] Sir :—We cannot with justice to ourselves allow your answer to "A.C.C." to pass unchallenged. We note that "A.C.C." thinks, and you agree with him, that having regard to the hilly nature of his district steam will prove less costly than petrol vehicles in the hands of drivers who do not take kindly to step gears.
We wish we could have an opportunity of showing
our own type of change-speed gear, which has particular advantages for climbing steep gradients, in that the gears are always in mesh, and that, when ascending a hill, the .driver can coolly and deliberately move his lever over from fourth to third speed, and so on, and wait until the beat of his engine gives him an indication that he should change. He then partially withdraws the clutch, and he can hear the gear change. This allows him to remain on the highest possible speed until the very last moment at which it is necessary to make the change, and obviates the bungling and destruction of gear wheels.—Yours faithfully,
For COMMERCIAL CARS, LIMITED, A. ALDERSEY TAYLOR, Sales Manager. Cambridge Circus, W.C.