The Motor Omnibus World.
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Smaller Motorbuses.
No existing company in London we!corned the the official and other suggestions that it should usa motorbuses with 20 seats or thereabouts, but, with the higher scale of fares now in force, this proposition may soon receive closer attention from both makers and new proprietors.
Outside Illumination.
The London Electrobus Company's proposition for the lighting of the top decks of motorbuses has not yet been adopted, as the details of the lighting scheme have yet to be approved by Scotland Yard. One of the installations was illustrated in our issue of the 28th November last.
Edinburgh Exhibition.
The Edinburgh Exhibition will open to-morrow (Friday) at Waverley Market, and its space will be chiefly devoted to the display of touring cars. The Albion, Argyll, and New ArrolJohnston Companies are amongst those who will include commercial vehicles upon their stands, and we would specially recommend any readers who may attend the show to examine the 18seated char-a-bancs on the stand of the last-named maker.
Petrol-Electric Estimates.
Adverting to our last week's account of the petrol-electric omnibus which has been constructed by J. and E. Hall, Limited, of Dartford, we are interested to learn that. Mr. Percy Frost Smith, the engineer to Thomas Tilling, Limited, who is One of the patentees of the system, estimates that only 0.75 man per car will be required on the night shift in the dept, whereas 1.75 men per car are now required. tic also estimates that there will be a saving ot more than 2.5d. per mile in respect of the depreciation, running, and maintenance of the petrol-electric vehicle as compared with the gear-driven vehicle.
Caucasian Concessions.
A couple of large enquiries for motorbus chassis have been going the round of the industry, since November last, in connection with certain ambitious projects for the Caucasus and other parts of Southern Russia. Ouotations have been asked for vehicles by the hundred, and there is no questioning the bona lides of the parties, who state that they have obtained the exclusive right to serve enormous tracts of country. Such monopolistic rights, however, are by no means synonymous with commercial success, and we think that British manufacturers, and others before whom these enquiries have come, are well advised to stay their hands until the scheme is brought down a little nearer to the region of practical application on a paying basis. Even if the moneywere forthcoming against documents, it would be tackling the business from the wrong end to ship a number of vehicles to their early destruction, and such a course would only tend to damn still further motor hus enterpris:‘.
Road Traction Engineers.
Monday the Toth proximo has been selected for the next meeting of the Society of Road Traction Engineers, and the meeting will take place at the Hotel Cecil, Strand, W.C. The last two meetings have been held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, S.W., but a number of the members appear to prefer the facilities which are afforded at the older place of meeting. We expect to see a large muster of both members and associates for the reading of the paper by Mr. Howard Humphreys, M.Inst. C.E., M.I.Mech.E. The subject is " The Commercial Use of Highways."
Drivers' Societies.
London motorbus drivers have made a false start in giving their adhesion to the London Bus, Tram and Motor Workers' Society. As we pointed out at the time of the Vanguard strike, in May of last year, a well-organised union is often a welcome means of communication between men and employers, but it now looks as though the companies had themselves done away with any need for such unions. In most of the London instances, committees of the men have been formed, and any matter in connection with journeys, routes, or other details of the working, is promptly settled instead of being allowed to be fanned inm. an acrimonious dispute or breath.
A New American Lubricator.
We give on this page a drawing of a mechanical lubricator ; its inventor claims that it is simple, inexpensive to manufacture, and that it possesses all the qualities of .a high-priced lubricator. The oil is drawn into the small, gear pump by way of the suction port (A), and it is delivered through the branch pipe (B). The pump may be driven by means of gearing, or by means of a light rubber or leather belt, as shown in our illustration. Erem the vertical portion of the branch pipe (B), a barrel (C) projects, and in this a ball valve and helical spring are fitted. The pressure at which The oil is delivered may be regulated, within certain limits, by increasing, or decreasing, the initial .cornpression on the spring, by means of the thumb screw (D). When the pressure rises above the point for which the valve is adjusted, the ball is forced off its seat and the oil escapes through the port (E) back to the containing tank. The circulation of the oil may at any time be observed through the glass tubes (E, E).
Alphabetic Route Indication.
We are officially advised that the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis prefers that particulars of route on the front and back of a motorbus should be arranged as far as possible in geographical order. Sir Edward Henry is prepared, however, to allow the use of alphabetic order on the boards which run along the sides of motorbuses.
French Views on London's Buses.
M. Mestre, a distinguished French electrical engineer, attached to the Paris Prefecture of Police, was deputed by the Conseil General de la Seine (County Council) to take part in a visit to the principal industrial centres of Great Britain, organised in June last by the British Institute of Electrical. Engineers. M. Mestre has now laid before the Council an interesting report on his tour, in the course of which he demonstrates the superiority of the traffic of London over that of Paris.
" London," says M. Mestre, " which. at present possesses 55o motorbuses (a total which, however, includes a number which are of French make), leavesParis far behind. Paris, indeed, seems scarcely to have got beyond the experimental stage." 'clic report goes on to point out that passengers are not permitted to occupy the platforms of motorbuses, and that, so frequently do the many vehicles travel over the different routes, picking up passengers as they go, that there exists in London no necessity for the ticket offices and the system of accepting passengers in the order of the numbered tickets which are distributed to them. Nbwhere is there to be seen such vexatious delay as is so prevalent in Paris. The document continues to deal in the same spirit with other details of traffic.
Coming from such an authority as M. Mestre, this report opportunely and effectively gives the lie to a statement made by the Prefect of the Seine to the
effect that Paris was no worse oil than other big cities in the matter of public transport services, whilst it is also hoped that the document will serve to instil a sense of the needs of Paris into. the Municipal Council, which is now engaged in the reorganisation of the motorbus and tramway services of the French capital.
A New German Motorbus Route.
On the 2oth December, the motorbus line Flora-Nippes (in the neighbourhood of Cologne) was formally opened after trials extending over two months. Pressure of traffic along the proposed route is not very great. Tt is interesting to note that the Corporation ticsquired Gaggenau and Geist vehicles for the trial runs, the latter omnibus having a petrol-electric drive.
The Stoltz Omnibus.
The Stultz, single-deck, steam omnibus has completed its month's probation in Berlin, and is now in Hanover, whence, in February, IL will be forwarded to Brussels, for a similar demonstration of efficiency. The vehicle has quite held its own with its petrol brethren; it ran very smoothly, started with fr less jerkiness than many of the internal combustion omnibuses worked by the Allgemeine OmnibusGesellschaft, and the products of the coke combustion were practically invisible and, what is more to the point, suite inoffensive to passengers. The consumption of coke, I note, comes Out at some 18 kilos. per working hour, or under 4olb.; nor does the consumption of oil compare unfavourably with that of a petrol-driven omnibus of this weight and carrying capacity. I may mention that the vehicle on probation in Berlin was not constructed for public service, but simply for the purpose of demonstrating the efficiency of the
system. It possesses a chain-drive, and the chimney is visible; in the new type now being constructed a gear-drive will replace the chains, and the chimney will be hidden. Paris and Brussels will first see the improved type working.
Whether the Allgeineine Berliner Omnibus-Gesellschaft will adopt the Stoltz system remains to be seen ; at the present the directors have not much money to spend, beim-, at their wits' end to maintain the company as a divi
dend-paying concern. In an unpractical attempt to increase the revenue from the horse-drawn lines they have abolished 5-pfennig fares (5-8ths of penny), and compel the frugal Berliner to pay twice as much for the sectional distance, or to purchase two tickets for pfennigs (1.875d.), with the resuli Ihat the company's horses are haying the easiest time of their lives, which cannot he said of the shareholders, who will have to face a heavy fall in receipts, On one line, in the course of a short walk, I counted six or seven successive buses without a single passenger!
Bridge Improvements in Berlin.
The antiquated wcodenailaps of the Berlin Schlossbriicke are td be replaced by a massive structure with three spans, at a cost of .3,000; in other words, the bridge will be strengthened to meet the requirements of modern traffic. Readers may probably recollect that the weak state of the Schlossbriicke compelled the Allgemeine Berliner Omnibus-Gesellschaft to suspend its motor line from Moabit to Alexander Plats, and work the route by horsedrawn omnibuses once more.