Why Not Daily Licences in the Off-season for Motorcoaches ?
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HE GREATEST evil of the present system of licensing motor "vehicles—by lump-sum quar terly payments in advance—is to be found in the long periods of entire disuse to which so many motor coaches in particular are condemned during certain months of the year, with the resulting loss of employment to drivers, garage attendants, etc., and loss of revenue to the coach owner and to the State.
During the close season, which practically extends from October to early in March (in some districts to the end of May), opportunities occur to a roach owner occasionally to let a vehicle for the conveyance of a party to and from a football match or a race meeting, but the chance Of these opportunities does not justify the maintenance of a licence for a whole quarter.
A suggestion hoes now been put forward by a Leicester coach owner that full consideration should be given to the possibility of issuing one-day licences to proprietors of motor coaches and buses. The fee suggested is 5s., and their period of issue should be the " close" season, which could he definitely determined in each district by the local licensing authority.
We know that the reply will be to the effect that, "with the depleted staffs it is not possible, etc., etc.," but the difficulties are, surely, so small that they could easily be overcome. Except at certain hours of the day post office staffs are not overworked or excessively busy, and we have never regarded the police force as hard worked.
Various ideas occur to one when consitetering the methods of working the scheme, but it—seems as if the best way would be for the Commercial Motor Users Association or the Motor Trade Association to draft a scheme and offer it to the Minister of Transport for consideration.
More Braking Power for Heavily Laden Vehicles.
ONLY BRIEFLY described in our Patents page a fortnight ago, when the patent specification was published, we devote more space in this issue to a fuller description of the new Westinghouse brake system for heavy road vehicles, and we should not be surprised if considerable,idiscussion centred upon the principles Underlying the system, the methods of putting them into practice, and even upon the need for the adoption of what is, it first glande, an elaborate piece of mechanism.
The name of Westinghouseebehind it has not only drawn, but has held, our attention to the system, for one is apt to feel, when first studying the subject, c15 that it is too complicated for everyday use—that there are too many valves, unions, and dia hragm .
operated piston rods for the driver of averag ability and intelligence to maintain in working ord r. One is brought, however, to the admission that, with a growing tendency towards loads of from 8 tons to 10 tons, something more effective than maim 1 application-of power through a series of levers is equired if safety on the road is to be kept ever to e forefront. We do not expect the driver of a railway locomotive to be able to check the speed of a train by an application of his own manual energy, owever much it may be multiplied by levers, and the e is no name more famous throughout the world in railway brake developments than that of Westinghouse.
Tests with the new system on a demonstration lorry having a 4-ten load show that, as compared with a hand brake, the vehicle could be pulled up with a saving of one-third of the distance over which the brake had to be applied. In the case of the articulated six-wheeler and the lorry and trailer, the Westinghouse system overcomes the difficulties brought about by the pivotal connection between the two• vehicles or the two parts of the same vehicle, and a distinct advantage is offered by the automaticity by which all the brakes are applied should the drawbar coupling between a tractor and trailer come adrift.
Thus, it will probably be admitted that this or some other pressure system is desirable on vehicles, or trains thereof, waere the total load exceeds 4 tons, hut it is open to question whether the 44onner itself calls for its use. Frankly, we fear 'that the modern driver would not welcome the addition of a number of vital parts to the mechanism under his charge, and we also fear that in many cases neglect would only be disclosed after a mishap had occurred. The makers claim that the apparatus is simple and rugged in its construction, and certainly there is an entire absence of parts where wear can take place.
We shall be greatly interested to watch the commercial application of this system, and to see how it stands up to, say, a year's use under heavy haulage conditions.
Mud! A Bad Weather Measure.
ALL OF US who are unfortunate enough to be compelled to walk sufficiently close to fasttravelling motor vehicles which, unavoidably, squirt mud on to the pavements by the action of the wheels, would welcome the invention of seine efficient form of mud-splash arrester, and have learned with regret that no device out of the many submitted for trial recently by the Royal Automobile Club was considered good enough, either for the receipt of an award or even art encouraging commendation.
The difficulty is the kerbstone. In the case of the lorry, there are also gatepost protectors at the entrance to factories and, if a kerbstone or a pro-, tector stone be touched (and they are there, in all their immovability, to protect the pavement, or the post, or the wall), the weaker element would he torn away, or damaged to a lesser or greater extent. In fact, one visualizes a piece of channel steel firmly bracketed to the chassis frame as being required to meet the requirements of hard (and yet ordinary) usage.
It almost seems as if the question of mud-splash prevention must be attacked at an earlier stage. if we prevent the mud from forming we prevent the mud from splashing, and we also dimieish the aide-slipping and skidding evils. And the way to do that is to flueh and sweep the streets where the traffic is heavy and where the mud forms apparently from the wear and tear of tyres and road surface. Water is cheap, and one wonders why, in the case of London, to take an example, unfiltered (or, perhaps it would be better to say, merely partly filtered) Thames Valley water could not be brought to the gutters of the main streets, the dirt being swept at regular intervals into the gutters and the road surface flushed. The sight el6 ofskidding and slipping vehicles in London after a slight drizzle is one . of which, no great city has a right to be Proud, or a reason to excuse.
The Development of the Tractor-lorry.
FEW VEHICLES designed for the transport of goods have developed so rapidly as has the tractor-lorry. It is not very long ago since the Scarninell made its bow to the public, and until this machine had been thoroughly tested designers were
somewhat chary of following the example' set. How- ever, the Seanamell soon proved a great success in that it would carry double the load of an ordinary lorry without anything like commensurate increases in the running or maintenance costs, and once this fact was established numerous attachments suitable for converting ordinary vehicles into tractor-lorries were soon placed on the market, and have, in some eases, already achieved definite success. • Finality has, however, by no means been reached, and clever brains are constantly at work endeavouring to improve existing types or to conceive new ideas in this connection.
In our issue of December 19th we gave particulars of an invention which is said to permit the use of from eight to twelve wheels, although following, in the main, the ordinary idea of the tractor-lorry. We also gave the first details of a tractor-lorry in which the front wheels and centre wheels are driven. It so happens that the tractor portion of this vehicle has always had four driven wheels, but we are of the opinion that the development of the use of the folirwheel-driven tractor, in combination with a trailer attachment, is a very important one.
We do not wish to decry any of the successful vehicles which have already been made, but we feel
that if the tractor-lorry continues to be developed—
and there appears to be no reason why it should not —designers should pay attention to this matter of spreading the drive over more than one pair of wheels. A two-wheel-driven machine to carry anything up to 12 tons may prove perfectly satisfactory on the very strongest of our English roads, but we must always remember that of our roads less than 19 per cent. are included in Class I, and only 20 per cent. in Classes I and II, and we must also think of our foreign trade. For this it may prove advisable to develop vehicles which do not depend for their drive on a single axle, particularly as the ratio between the total load hauled and the pressure per unit area of road is practically halved in the case of the six-wheeled machine.
The Danger of Steel-studded Tyres on Taxicabs.
IiiSPITE of the many protests which have been made, the licensing authorities at Scotland Yard still enforce the use of two steel-studded tyres on taxicabs, and these must be staggered on the four wheels, that is to say, taking the vehicleas a rectangle, there would be rubber-treaded tyres at the ends of one diagonal and steel-studded tyres at 'die ends of the other.
The modern paving of the streets of London does not call for the use of steel studs ; in fact, these studs rather assist skidding than otherwise, and it is a common sight to observe a back wheel equipped with a steel-efodded tyre whizzing round in the reverse direction when the brakes are applied, this being due to the greater grip of the road obtained by the rubber-treaded tyre, thus causing the other wheel to be reversed by the action of the differential. This is, however, only one objection against the steel-studded tyre. The other is that its lack cf adhesion greatly decreases the braking efficiency, and it is quite possible that many taxicab aceidents could be averted if it were not for this seemingly foolish stipulation. Steel-studded tyres are expensive and are by no means long-lived ; they also create an objectionable purring noise when the vehicles are running on hard, dry surfaces. If they were of any material use, they would still be, employed on private cars, but on these they have long since gone out of fashion, and although many of the taxicabs on our streets are themselves somewhat ancient, there is no reason whatever why they should still be saddled with Antiquated equipment.
Welcome Criticism.
AVERY interesting suggestion has been put forward and adopted by the Institution of Automobile Engineers. For some time past, the Institution has been holding informal meetings at the various centres, where it is customary to put up some class of motor accessory or other proprietary article for discussion and criticism. This idea is to be more. fully developed. Inventors or manufacturers of any devices connected with the motor movement will be invited to appear before what might be termed the critics' circle of the Institution,there fully to set forth the merits of the particular articles which they have invented or made. Criticism would follow, and the reputation of the articles would be greatly enhanced if they came through the ordeal successfully.
The scheme lends itself best to the criticism of small accessories or fittings, such as power starters, magnetos, anti-dazzling devices, etc., but it could be extended later to cover an even more ambitious range.
No doubt the frank criticism to which each device will be-subjected will, in some eases, be rather trying to the makers,-but it is better to be criticised in a friendly spirit by unbiased -observers than to suffer at the 'hands of indignant buyers. In any case, the criticism will be constructive rather than destructive.