Opinions from Others.
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Cancellation of Licences.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,029] Sir,—A taxicab driver who is a. member of my society gives me the following particulars; thinking the facts may interest you, and at the same time hoping that publicity will bring the case to the notice of some of our motoring members of Parliament, 1 send them.
At the end of July last, the driver was fined, at Brentford Police Court, for exceeding the 10-mile limit at
12 o'clock (midnight). The penalty was 30s. including costs, as he was only going 18 miles per hour. The second week of August, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner cancelled his public licence, thereby practically taking his living away. In the ordinary manner, his public licence would have run to February next, so about six months has been wasted, and the money not returned. The driver is a clean, respectful man, and still holds his County
Council licence unendorsed. The injustice is that he should be punished for the offence twice. If the offence were a serious one, 1 consider that the magistrate is the party to order cancellation. It is placing the C'ommissioner in the position of a despot. H the driver is not fit to hold a public licence, why hold one at all of any description? I ask you to assist in bringing this injustice to light ; not specially for this man alone, but for drivers generally. The driver has just informed me that he received another requisition yesterday from the Commissioner. Why :•----Yours faithfully,
Grso. T. CLARKE; Secretary; Society of Automobile Mechanic Drivers. FIalkin Street, Belgrave Square, S.W.
/Individuals are often sacrificed in the public interests. eases of hard
ship must arise, and this appears to be one, but the speed of m.p.h. may have been an highly dangerous one at the time ; any general relaxation might lead to disaster. The driver should have entered the plea which we explained on page 3 of our issue of the tith inst.En.j
The Seating Accommodation of Omnibuses.
The Editor, TRH COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,030] Sir,--i have read the leader in your issue of the 16th inst., and 1 note that you advocate the use of garden seats for the interiors of new motorbusas. I quite agree that " it is obviously more comfortable to travel with an outlook in the direction of motion, than to be puzzled in an effort to simulate a disinterested gaze between the heads of passengers on the facing seat which runs longitudinally," but I think you must admit that the longitudinal seat is much easier to get in and out of than the garden type. This is an advantage which, it seems to me, should not be overlooked; also, it must be cheaper to build on the longitudinal pattern.
There is one point about the present. motor-omnibus bodies which I have always wondered az, and that is their height. Why should they be so much higher than the horse-drawn type? It must mean a lot of extra expense, both in building and running. I do not believe the public really appreciate the extra head-room inside nine out of ten people stoop instinctively. If the bodies were kept lower, would there not be less tendency to side-slip ? The vehicles would certainly not look so ungainly.
One is always hearing complaints about the outside seats' being so uncomfortable. If the body-builders would only study the comfort, of passengers a little more, they would confer a real boon. The top of the back is never sufficiently rounded off, with the consequence that after a few minutes' jolting it becomes positively painful to sit in otherwise than a bolt-upright position. The seats, also, do not slope enough towards the back, and, when the bus is travelling, it is a matter of some difficulty to keep from sliding off, unless one wedges one's knees against the seat in front. Comfortable seats would cost no more to build than the present type. As I frequently travel 10 or 12 miles by motorbus without a change. T write from bitter experience.—Yours faithfully.
`` IRELAND."
Users Experiences.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
L 031] Sir,---In answer to your invitation of last week to suggest alterations in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR Drivers' Insurance Policy to suit my requirements, I can only suggest that a similar policy to that applying to drivers should be got out for innividuals in the employ of any one firm. In either case, the individual driver should lose the benefit through dismissal, and the policy might equally apply in the case of his suspension during slackness of work. The employer would not require to interfere with the ordinary course of the policy, as at present arranged. The only points 1 can see for special consideration are that the policy should belong to the employer, and it would require to apply to any driver taken on in place of a dismissed man ; notification would have to be sent by the employer of any change of drivers. Should a temporary man have to be taken on to fill the post of a disabled driver, he would not, of course, come under the policy. Employers would have to insure themselves against " Workman's Compensation," etc., apart from the policy, which would simply be used by them as a means for insuring against unknown wages liability where drivers are unable to attend to their duties through sickness or accident. It would also give employers who pay standing wages a convenient means of making firm arrangements with their men to meet such cases, and I think the men themselves would be quite willing to adopt some such arrangement.
During the past week, we have been timed by the police on several occasions, and the men are calling my attention to the difficulties under which they work, having no speedometers on their wagons; I am making enquiries about a recording speedometer, which I hope to fit to one of my machines. I am convinced that such an instrument would be of mutual benefit, both to my drivers and myself, as indisputable evidence of how they have carried out their duties during the day: it would also assist me in protecting them from the inconsideration of the public, who so often turn the men's nights into days by unwarrantable delays.
1 have decided, after a year's trial, that an armoured canvas pipe, such as that supplied by Willcox and Co., Ltd., of London, S.E., is the most durable form of suction pipe to use for water lifting. The rubber pipes, which are rather more expensive, seem to perish after being in use for about nine months. At one time, I tried protecting these latter by binding them with marlin, but without success.
I have recently worked out the cost per mile run for coke used on my wagons during a period of twelve months, and find the same to be approximately three-halfpence; this is not taking any account of the tonnage carried. The distance involved, on an average, is about 8,000 miles per wagon for the year, the coke being purchased at 70. per ewt. It is a great pity that there is not more co-operation among motor-wagon carriers, in the form of County Associations with central offices. As things are at present, the public. in considering the question of using motor-wagon carriers as an alternative to the railway, are often biased, in coming to a decision, by the fact that on the one hand they are dealing with a large and stable concern, and on the other with a very small unit which is more or less struggling for an existence. They often prefer to be on the side of the big battalions. If all the small carriers in counties such as Yorkshire and Lancashire were to combine themselves into " County Associations." they would present a much-stronger front to the public for whom they cater. A central office might well be used, for receipt of enquiries and for the purchase of stores in large quantities at a more favourable price than ('an be done at present; it would also act as a means of bringing individual carriers into personal contact, and induce a
freer exchange of opinions and experiences, which, perhaps, more than anything else, would assist the progress of the business. I have reason to believe that others besides myself realize the advantage of such co-operation, and it only requires a little guidance from an influential man to make it an achieved fact. For my own part, I have endeavoured on more than one occasion to co-operate with other carriers, but my overtures have been looked upon either with suspicion, or undue advantage has been taken of them, which proves to my mind that nothing of any value can be done without a proper central organization. A central office would be well placed for supplying maps to carriers, showing the best roads for motorwagons to travel on, with watering places marked and places where coke could be obtained, and also where wagons could be put up for the night, and where a night's lodging could be obtained for the men; local engineering shops where repairs could be done might also be indicated. This work, alone, might be done to the advantage of steam-wagon users, and, of course, similar information might be given to the employers of petrol lorries.
Our log sheet for the week is as follows :—Earnings, £67; tonnage, 164; mileage, 832; per centage of work done, 90; coke used, 7 tons 18 cwt.; oil (gear), 10 gallons ; oil (cylinder), 6 gallons.—Yours, etc., "MOTOR-WAGON CARRIER."
:The abote projects shall be put before the Executive Committee of the Commercial Motor Users' Association, but some of them are probably impossible of achievement except by financial co-operation on a business basis.-Eo.
The Gillett-Lehmann Carburetter.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1032] Sir,—In your issue of the 16th inst., occurs a passage in the description of a new carburetter which appears likely to injure us. The words to which we refer are : " Until recently, probably the nearest approach to this ideal was obtained by the use of the clever invention of Messrs. Gillett and Lehmann." The meaning which any ordinary reader would attach to this would be that, by the appearance of this new carburetter, ours (the Gillett-Lehmann) was superseded, since its methods becarne obsolete. We are sure that this can only have been written by mistake. The difference between the principles on which our carburetter and the newly-arrived one de
pend for their efficiencies are so entirely distinct that any confusion between their radical features seems impossible.
The one great point we keep steadily in front of us is that of reliability in use, and perhaps the greatest contributor to this is simplicity of mechanical parts. We use one jet only, simply because it is far less liable to become choked and undergoes no wearing process to alter its dimension once it is fixed, We have a throttle in the same piece with the variable air inlet, so that when we open the throttle to a determined point we open also the air inlet positively. We place no dependence on a spring, firstly, because it begins to wear as soon as it is put to work and is always liable to stick up with the smallest particle of grit, and also because all the springs we know of (no matter how light) exert greater resistance as they become more compressed, while one which exerted less would be the ideal. We, therefore, dispense altogether with the spring, and use instead the simple method of connecting up the float chamber, throttle chamber and induction pipe, by which we obtain a perfect regulation without the mechanical troubles incident to the use of springs and spring pistons. The interior shape of our throttle chamber gives the expanding effect to ivhich you rightly attach so much importance.
As to multiplicity of jets, it is evident that at " full open " position the area of jet orifice must be large enough to pass the proper amount of petrol, no matter whether this area be in one or many sections; also, that the suctional effort must be present to cause the flow. Hence, if we work with unaltered jet area, the suction at partial openings must he suited to that area, whilst, if we close up part of the jet area, we must also suit our jet-chamber suction to the part or parts of jet still available. Where the object to be obtained is alike, surely the simplest method is the beat and most likely to give satisfaction to the user!
If you will he good enough to consider the above points, you will probably understand why we attach 60 much importance to the unfortunate phrase pointed out.—Yours faithfully, For CARBURATION, LIMITED.
2.5, Mount Pleasant, W.C. WALTER GILLETT.
tWe attempted no constructional comparisons, and we agree with Mr. Gillett upon his claims as to simplicity. We do not expect to see his clever carburetter superseded, and no such forecast was made in our article IL certainly is not obsolete.-En.1