Progress During 1912.
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Cost of Horse Repairs. The Rejuvenescence of the Bus. The Coming Show. The Steam-Wagon's Chance.
The year which has closed has been one of tremendous consequence to the industrial-vehicle industry at large. It would not be correct to designate it a boom year, but it is undoubtedly a fact that the 12 months have seen such a turn in the fortunes of many constructors, that the incontestable conclusion to be drawn is, to use a phrase which has already been worn to shreds, that "the commercial motor has come to stay." In all the many branches of activity in which the industrial motor, in its many forms, is playing so prominent a part. it may now be definitely concluded that the horse can be economically superseded, and that other mechanical forms of transport, the railway and the tramway in particular, can be confidently challenged.
The Expensive Horse.
For many years, users of horse-drawn vehicles of all kinds have not taken the trouble to analyse the costs of their transport, and to but a few owners of horses has it ever occurred to consider what a horse coats per mile of work done. This question of horse cost and horse repair, which is quite distinct from a considera2tion of the limitations of the animal's performances, is a vital one. It has, during the past year, done more to convince the " wobbler " than any other aspect of the delivery problem.
The Marvellous Recovery of the Motorbus.
The factor which has played the next most important part in regard to the industry's present remarkable development is undoubtedly the rejuvenescence of the motorbus movement in the Metropolis.
It is an old tale, the recital of the early failures, of the misdirected experiments, and of the wasteful expenditure which were features of the 1905-6-7 motorbus era in London. The fact that the £100 stock of the premier omnibus company of the world fell, at one time, to £17 is sufficient indication of the state of affairs which then existed. The same stock's phenomenal rise to 2400 at the time of the absorption of the original company's interests, may similarly be taken as a proof of the wonderful recovery which the motorbus has achieved. The failure of the motorbus five years ago set back the whole industry, from parcelcar to steam wagon, to an alarming extent. The present perambulating advertisement, which is afforded to all-comers to the Metropolis by London's 2650 silent motorbuses, every hour of every day, has achieved a very great deal in respect of the conversion of those who were originally persuaded that motor transport was too hazardous an experiment.
The 1915 Show.
The year 1913 is to see the first great Commercial Vehicle Show which has been possible since the one which was held, at Olympia, in 1908. That in itself is testimony to the growth and recovery of the industry: There will be displayed, in July, 1913, again at Olympia, the most remarkable collection of models of industrial motors of all kinds. Their capacities will embrace duties as far apart a; the rapid delivery of tradesmen's parcels and the automatic horseless ploughing of stubble. For it is not only in regard to road delivery that the industrial motor has made such marvellous strides ; the horse has been beaten in actual agricultural employment, which appeared to be the last direction in which an attack could be successfully made upon animal draught.
The Menace of Costly Fuel.
In Great Britain, the most anxious problem which has had to be faced recently concerns the abnormal rise in the price of liquid fuel. At the time of writing, petrol has been forced up in cost to is,. 5d. a gallon, and there appears to be every indication that it will go much higher still. There has, therefore, arisen an insistent demand that no efforts shall be spared to discover alternative fuels. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, realizing the all-important nature of this problem to the whole industry, in both its pleasure-car and industrial branches, has offered a prize of £2100 in this connection, whilst experiments are being pushed forward feverishly with many types of carburetters and vaporizers which it is hoped will enable paraffin, benzol, and other varieties of hydrocarbons to be economically and satisfactorily employed in the internal combustion engines of motor vehicles.
British Steam-wagon Monopoly.
Whilst liquid fuel has thus been increasing so desperataly in price, the steam-wagon owner and the builder have been encouraged to greater efforts, and the use of this class of machine has undoubtedly received a consequent fillip of considerable magnitude. Its employment, when shod with solid-rubber tires throughout, has been found to yield comparative results of striking value. In the manufacture of steam wagons, tractors and traction engines, Great Britain stands practically alone amongst the nations of the world, and this is a branch of the industry, therefore, which is of vast importance from the Imperial point of view. There is one French exception.
.We could fill many pages in an interesting manner with accounts of numerous important questions which have been asked., and frequently answered, in regard to the industry during the past year, but they affect, as a rule, not the industry as a whole, but rather certain specific branches of it, and we would, therefore, prefer to leave such comment for brief treatment in the various sections into which we have thought fit to divide the present issue.
The Lesson of the Strikes.
We may conclude this general consideration of the progress of the industry and of its present status by calling attention to the undoubtedly-favourable effect which has been produced in regard to motor vehicles by the frequent recurrence of labour troubles of various kinds in Great Britain during 1912. Of the many disputes between master and men, none have been more fraught with consequence to the industry in which we are all interested than the coal strike of the spring, the transport strike and the railway strikes at other times. The dock strike, which took place in London in June, and which was characterized by particular bitterness between the two sides, and, indeed, by violence in many instances, was undoubtedly broken effectively by the use of motor transport to bring food from the docks to the markets. The moral effect of the five-ton steam wagon, police-guarded, on a street mob, has proved to be very considerable. Horse-drawn transport is quite ineffective under similar circumstances. The fact that motor vehicles were able to hold their own when the nation's supplies of all kinds were held up while labour disputes were acrimoniously argued, finally persuaded hosts of important traders and merchants to render themselves independent, so far as possible, of public-transport corporations and undertakings. Orders have poured into the works ever since which can be distinctly traced to this remarkable object-lesson. We may therefore make special application of the old-time consolation: "There is some soul of good in things evil."