News and Comment.
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This journal enjoys a valuable and exclusive circulation ; newsagents' and subscribers' regular weekly orders exceed 6,000 copies.
Our reports of the Olympia Show, extending to some 20 pages, appeared in the issues of the 15th and 22nd instant. A few additional notes will be found on pages 274A and 275.
Dr. H. S. Hele-Shaw, F.R.S., NI.lnst.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., has been elected a member of the advisory board of consulting engineers of the M.V.W.O.U. Association.
Commercial travellers in this country must not rest secure in the belief that they alone possess enterprise; our Berlin correspondent has supplied (page 263) an interesting report from Herr C. F. Rohl, Blumen und Federnfabrik, Lindenstrasse, 56, Berlin, S.W.
W. Worby Beaumont, M.Inst.C.E., M.1.Nlech.E., will introduce a discussion on commercial motors, before members of the Cold Storage and Ice Association, at the London Chamber of Commerce, Oxford Court, Cannon Street, E.C., on Tuesday next, the 4th proximo, at 7.30 p.m.
Considerably more interest appears to be taken in the projected van and lorry trials by manufacturers in the Lancashire, Yorkshire and Staffordshire districts, than is evinced in the South, and it is not outside the bounds of possibility that a series of trials will be organised over the old routes of the Liverpool Self-propelled Traffic Association.
The Adams Manufacturing Company, Limited, of 147, Queen Victoria Street, E.C., whose vehicles promise to make a considerable reputation. for themselves in connection with commercial travellers' work, and in hackneycarriage service, is now issuing a guarantee with every machine sold, and we have pleasure in reproducing a copy of the document.
Mr. W. A. Smith, the Chairman of Argyll Motors, Limited, in the course of his interesting speech at the dinner given by .Argyll Motors, Limited, on the 22nd instant, at the Trocadero, said that, in addition to presiding over this company, he held a similar position on the board of Messrs. Bryant and May, the celebrated manufacturers of matches. Messrs. Bryant and May have kept records showing the precise cost of the delivery of matches both by means of horse haulage, and distribution by mechanical power. In the case for the former, Mr. Smith stated that the figure stood at 1.17d. per gross, whilst, by motorvan, this figure was reduced to .44d. per gross, a saving of more than so per cent. Mr. Edmund Dangerfield, amongst other trenchant remarks upon the vital issues at present demanding settlement by the motor industry at large, referred to the noise of motor omnibuses : this speaker was most emphatic in his statement that nothing could transcend the noise created by the electric tramcars and the heavier forms of horse haulage in our streets. The White and Poppe carburetter is giving such excellent results in practice, that engines to which it is fitted have been found to run steadily, for hours together, at as low a speed as x6o revolutions per minute.
Mr. A. de Turckheim has been appointed Secretary to the Tramways and Light Railways Association, of which the Hon. Arthur Stanley, M.P., is President, in succession to Mr. Ernest Benedict, M.Inst.C.E., who has resigned after five years of service. The offices of the Association have now been transferred to 35, Parliament Street, Westminster, S.W. In the course of the advertisement of William Jessop and Sons, Limited, of Brightside Works, Sheffield, whose Ark" brand of steels merit the immediate attention of our readers, it was erroneously stated that the company was " established 1884." This, of course, is wrong, because Jessop's steels date back a century longer, and the figures should read" 1774."
The annual staff dinner of the Car and General Insurance Corporation, Limited, was held at the Hotel Cecil, Strand, W.C., on Thursday last, the zand instant, when Mr. Edward Manville, the Chairman of the company, presided. A pleasant evening was spent; the speeches were both numerous and interesting, and the musical contributions most entertaining.
Our Scotch readers will be interested to know that an appeal, which was taken, at the instigation of the Scottish Automobile Club, from the Ayr police magistrates to the High Court of Justiciary, in order to determine the competency of the jurisdiction of magistrates, or other summary courts other than the Sheriff Courts in Scotland, under the Motor Car Act, 1903, was fully debated in tne High Court of Justicia,ry on Wednesday, the 24th instant, before the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Stormonth Darling, and Lord I.ow. It was decided, in recognition of the great importance of the case, that it should be sent to a bench of seven judges.
Mr. John MacLaren, of J. and H. MacLaren, Limited, of Hunslet, Leeds, in a recent paper before the Farmers' Club, urged a revival of the Royal Agricultural Society's annual tests for different classes of machinery suitable for the development of agriculture, and pointed out that most of the large agricultural and engineering firms of today secured their trade by having their specialities tried, and recognised, in this manner. We heartily agree with Mr. MacLaren, and it will interest him to know that the Motor Van, Wagon, and Omnibus Users' Association has invited the R.A.S.E. to hold proper trials for agricultural motors fitted with internal-combustion engines.
The report of A. Darracq and Company (iao5) Limited, for the year ending September 3oth last, and which is to be submitted to the shareholders on Monday next, shows a trading profit of £222,281, from which 4'19,043 has to be deducted for general charges and allowances. It is proposed to transfer £27,261 to capital reserve account. The directors propose to bring the total distribution for the year up to 25 per cent. on the ordinary shares, and the reserve account to a total of Zso,000, carrying forward L:40,663. The 156,000 fullypaid ordinary shares of 1;1 each in the Darracq-Serpollet Omnibus Company, Limited, have been valued in the bal
ance-sheet at par, and the report states that a new factory, specially designed for the production of inexpensive cars Of the voiturette type, and of motoreabs, is in course of erection, at Suresne
Hatlev's Industrial Motors, Limited, of 190, Crownpoint Road, Glasgow, is making satisfactory progress with it 'output of 5-ton steam wagons, one 01 which is illustrated on page 265 of this issue. A number of these vehicles are doing good work north of the Tweed, where the conditions of service ate even more severe, especially during the winter, than they are in England. The company is prepared to give reasonably early delivery.
The adjoining illustration of a Yorkshire steam wagon serves to emphasise the stoutness of construction, of the modern heavy motorcar. The owners
of the machine, Messrs. T. Whitfield and Sons, of Oak Lea Mills, Appel-ley Bridge, near Bradford, Yorks., advise us that the driver temporarily lost con
trot of his machine, in turning round after taking water, with the result that he was " over the wall before he knew anything." The man, however, stuck to his post, and the wagon carried with it, in its. fall of fully 12 feet, some 30 yards of iron railings and coping. Wu arc pleased to learn, from the owners, hat this plucky driver was not injured, and from the makers, the Yorkshire Patent Steam Wagon Company, oi Pepper Road, Hunsilet, Leeds that the only damage sustained by the machine was a breakage to a portion of the steam piping below the frame level.
Brake Tests in Berlin.
Despite a pronounced tendency to such clammy things as "Scotch mists," some thousands of spectators, including high police ollickals and several representatives of the German Imperial Parliament, witnessed the brake trials organised, last Sunday, on the outskirts of Charlottenburg, by the Automobiltechnische Gesellschaft. Baron Molitor van Mdfilfeld, who started the Gordon-Bennett cars over the Taunus circuit, officiated on this occasion in the opposite capacity—in that of stopper, signalling with a red nag as soon as ever competing vehicles entered the braking section of the Bismarckstrasse, some thirty yards of which section had to be strewn with sand, owing to the dangerous greasiness of the asphalt at this point. As to the opening contest, " horse cab v, motorcab," where the pace was regulated by the horse_..rawn vehicle, the wily jehus took cm-4, to drive at a gentle amble, which enabled them to pull up within much the same length as their mechanical brethren ; still, the balance, whether large or small, was always in favour of the selfpropelled cab. Only two Daimler lorries, of /611.p. and 28h.p. respectively, represented the motor freight vehicles. 14:ach was pitted against a two-horse lorry. The lighter one, loaded with 7ocwt. of ballast, stopped dead in four metres, whilst its horsed antagonist could not be brought to a standstill 'under 22 metres. The heavier Daimler, loaded with 120cv.I., showed up even better, stopping in 1.8 metre, against 18 metres. Both came down the stretch at a fair speed, set by the whip.
Grunewald's first-aid engine, propelled by a Gaggenau motor, had not the slightest difficulty in scoring against a horsed lorry at the same pace, stopping 2.8 metres after the signal, compared with its opponent's 16 metres. Later on, the first-aid engine, travelling at top speed—some 20 miles an hour—stopped in 8.5 metres.
In " car v. horsed cab," with the former moving at double the speed, a ear, not equipped with anti-skids, vanquished the cab by 11.20 metres against 33.80 metres. A surprise in this event constituted the appearance of the famous German rider and driver, Robl, who drove 'his new Opel.
All the foregoing figures are subject to official corrections and, therefore, provisional, but the full records should be available soon. ),:Ve regret that pressure on our space does not allow publication of all our photographs.—En.] Eodens, Limited, of Elworth Works, Sandbach, continues to receive numerous orders for its steam wagons. We learn that orders have been placed by seven new customers, during the month of November, whilst repeat orders have, during the same period, been received from Joseph Rank, Limited, Millers, London, Barry and Hull (two wagons); J. and H. Robinson, Limited, Millers, Greenwich, S.E. (a third repeat order); Alfred Button and Sons, Wholesale Grocers, Uxbridge (a second repeat order); and Giles and Harrap, Limited, Brewers, Merthyr Tydfil. The Eaden Company will be exhibiting at the Manchester Show, at Belle Vile, in February next.
About fifty: guests sat down to the dinner given on the 20th instant by the Enfield Autocar Company, Limited, at Erasc.ati's Restaurant. Mr. Albert Eadie presided, whilst the vice-chair was taken by Mr. E. II. Lancaster, the managingdirector. Some excellent speeches were made, and the Chairman assured those present that one of the important features of the Enfield design, viz., interchangeability of part., would be rigidly adhered to in the future. Mr. George F. Sharp, of "The Motor," replied to the toast of the Technical Press. •
Olympia Notes J. Liversidge and Son, Limited, of Old Street, E.C., exhibited a full range of De Nevers grooved solid tires for ordinary cars, but we did not see any patterns heavy enough for commercial vehicles.
A noticeable improvement at the Show was the greater width in the passage-ways between the stands, and the more general use of covering material to prevent the raising of dust. Owing to the greater size of the chassis, the maximum space to he allotted at the March Show will be half as much again as at the November Show, i.e., 1,200 square feet, compared with 800 square feet, for any one exhibitor.
The ignition exhibits included examples of well-known types, although some established manufacturers, of whom we may quote Peto and Radford. Limited, were not showing. The Lacre Company's stand included a 24h.p. Albion car fitted with the new Murray magneto system, whilst another model contained the older tvne of Albion magneto ignition. The latter pattern, which has contributed so largely to the steady running of the Albion and Lacre commercial vehicles, has proved its ability to stand heavy work, over periods of four years and upwards, without loss of magnetism. This excellent result is due, in the first instance, to the great care which is exercised in testingthe retentivity of the magnets before they are used, and, in the second place, to the fact that only magnetising current is allowed to flow : the armature circuit is kept closed when. the magnetising current is passing, but is opened when the demagnetising current would be generated. This arrangement tends to preserve the magnetic properties.
The new Murray type, designed for high-speed-multicylinder engines,is now being largely used by the Albion Company. It possesses all the good properties of the older type, in which the magnets revolve along with the crankshaft round a fixed armature, but, in this new type, both magnets and armature are stationary. The armature core is built up of U-shaped soft-iron stampings, with a coil round the yoke forming the winding, and the extremities are bored out to embrace a rotor, which is keyed to the crankshaft. This rotor consists of an aluminium drum, having a ring of soft iron upon it at each end, and a single horn, or pole-piece, projecting inwardly from each, at opposite sides of the drum. One of the rings is permanently magnetised N, and the other S, and their respective horns con vey the magnetic flux through the armature core, first in one direction and then in the other, as the crankshaft rotates, and so generate the necessary current. The soft-iron rings OD the rotor are embraced by stationary soft-iron poles, one on each side of the armature, andthese soft-iron pole-pieces are, in turn, magnetised by permanent horseshoe magnets, which are mounted so as to embrace the armature winding. The absence of. contact makers in this design, and its extreme simplicity, should cause the pattern to meet with great success, whilst its obvious reliability should lead to its wide adoption.
The Fuller Magneto.
A first-chiss system of high-tension magneto ignition, suitable for commer cial motors, owing to its strength and
lasting qualities, was shownby Messrs. John C. Fuller and siwf Woodland
Works, Wick -Lane, E. It runs
on ball hearings, arif is'tonstructed with specially strong fields, in order to insure easy starting, and to secure effective ignition at low engine speeds. A simple method of advancing and retarding the spark is employed, and this magneto can be applied to six-cylinder engines. The distributor is self-contained, and attached to a spur wheel, and is of the type which revolves close to, and not in contact with, the hightension terminals,the object being to avoid wear and tear at the usual wipe contacts. An interesting point in the construction of this magneto is the manner in which the very powerful magnetic field is built up, there being nine separate permanent magnets, arranged in three series of three each, and this strikes one as being a step in the right direction, as it is well known that it is merely the surface skin of the steel that retains the magnetism, and that the strength of a magnet does not increase in direct proportion to its size. For this reason, Messrs. Fuller's system of compound field is to be welcomed. The magnets are drilled for fixing in position, a point which should add to their permanency. No exterior roll or condenser is required with this ignition, which is quite self-contained. A current of low voltage is generated in the revolving armature; this current is collected, and is then transformed up, by means of a transforming induction coil, contained within the body of the
magneto. The high-tension current thus produced passes to the distributor, from which it is conducted to the spark ing plugs in the cylinders. The timing is controlled on the low-tension side, by a substantial contact breaker, and this machine, which is of s6ientific design and all-British make, deserves to receive a full share of attention at the hands of British motor manufacturers and traders.