PARCELCAR PROGRESS IN GERMANY.
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The Vogue of the Motorcycle Carrier and the Business Tricar. How Attention is Being Paid to the Small-capacity Vehicle and to Speedy Service on a Low Capital Outlay.
rp HE commercial sidecar and the parcel delivery tri_L cycle have become wonderfully popular in Germany during recent years. The streets of Berlin and other big German cities teem with three-wheeled delivery vehicles built on motorcycle lines.
This vogue of the motorcycle-type of delivery machine was strongly in evidence at the recent Berlin Motor Show. Tri-car exhibits were not allowed in the industrial vehicle section of the German Show, and they had perforce to take their chance amongst the motorcycle exhibits at one extreme end of the main building. In spite of this, however, the number of pareelcars to be seen was astonishing.
Designers of these machines seem to be divided into two schools, one favourin,, the old autocarrier type of machine with the third wheel at the rear, and the second following the reverse arrangement. In the latter type the front portion of the machine is built exactly on the lines of a modern motorcycle, and the box is placed over the rear axle, which is usually a plain steel tube, the drive being taken to one rear wheel only.
Both designs appear to work out equally well in practice, and many thousands of these little tricycles may be seen in daily use all over Germany.
Concurrently with the development of the parcel tricar, the commercial motorcycle and sidecar combination has been brought to a high degree of excellence in Germany. The modern German motorcycle is usually designed upon orthodox British lines, and the work is carried out with true German thoroughness.
The motorcycles used in these commercial sidecar outfits are mostly powerful machines. They have 'engines of from 350 c.c. to 750 c.c., or even 1,000 c.c. capacity, in striking contrast to those employed in the triCycle carriers. The latter vehicles are usually fitted with 175 c.c. to 250 c.ci two-stroke power units.
Amongst the many industrial sidecar combinations which appeared at the recent show several are worthy of special notice. The Deutsche Industrie Werke showed a range of splendidly finished tradesmen's box sidecar outfits, and; in'addition, a motorcycle fire engine and a sidecar taxicab, The last-named wasof the type which this company has already supplied in considerable numbers to the Berlin motor cab. concern. ".
These cabs rim at a .very much lower. rate Of fare than the full-sized taxi, and they are popular amongst business men in Berlin. The -Mb body is roomy and comfortable; and the finish.is,.excellent. The motorcycle is the standard Deutsche Industrie Werke singlecylinder 850 c:c. four-Sfroke, with threespeed gearbox built in one with the engine. ThiC is a very up-to-date machine, en English lines, and it appears to give excellent service nnder. the severe conditions entailed 14 cab work in a big city. • . •
The fire engine is a' very efficientlooking appliance. The motorcycle is, again, the standard 350 c.c., for the Deutsche Indastrie Werke concentrates on one model. The fire pump itself is coupled to a big horizontally opposed water-cooled twin engine mounted transversely in the sidecar chassis.
Another sidecar combination fire engine was shown by Messrs. knappe. In this ease the MOtorcYcle is a big 750 c.c. twin-cylinder Mabee°. The sidecar carrying the fire pump had two wheels, -so that the putim could be run about by hand when detached from the motorcycleThis outfit carries four firemen, counting the rider of the Motorcycle.. The pump engine is a horizontal water-cooled twin ; but, in this case, of rather larger dimensions. The whole outfit looked most substantial.
Messrs. knappe also exhibited a rather interesting novelty in the form of a motorcycle combination travelling wireless station, complete with high telescopic steel mast. This was also mounted on the two-wheeled form of sidecar.
Turning to three-wheeled parcelears, Rollfix-Eilwagen had a big range of tricars on view, including several rather interesting machines. One was a dual-purpose machine for business and pleasure uses. In this the passenger body can be lifted off the forecarriage and replaced by a parcels box. Another macnine was a taxicab tricycle. This has a big air-cooled vertical twin engine placed transversely in the forward part of the frame. A three-speed gearbox is built in one with
the crankcase. Transmission from engine to gearbox is by chain entirely enclosed in the casing—final transmission being by open-propeller shaft to the bevel-driven rear axle. The latter has no differential. The upper part of the frame consists of a wide pressedsteel girder. Steel tubing completes the chassis and forms a cradle for the power unit. The cab body on the machine exhibited was made to accommodate two people, and the driver sat in front.
The Blihme tricar is rather a curious machine. It has a tiny horizontal water-cooled two-stroke engine of only 172 c.c. This little engine is quite a clever piece of work. The lower portion of the aluminium radiator actually forms the water jacketing for the .cylinder head. The gearbox is in one with the crank chamber. The machine has an extraordinary long chain drive, and a jockey sprocket is employed.
. A particularly sound and substantial-looking tricycle is the Velos. This machine was shown in two models, one with a 350 ex-. engine and the other with a 500 c.c.-power. unit. The engines are typically English in design. As in the ease of nearly, all these tricars, powerful internal-expanding front-wheel brakes are fitted.
. These German parcel tricars run very well, and find an excellent market in their home country. It seems rather surprising that British motorcycle manufacturers do not turn out something of the same kind. They should certhinly be capable of improving upon the German article, good though it may be.. There seems to be plenty of room for improvement in the various transmission systems employed. In the type of tricycle which has the box at the back, the machine is usually far too long for a direct chain drive to be used from gearbox to rear wheel. Countershafts are introduced, and, in some cases, the final drive is by large-section chain belt.