The Motor Omnibus World.
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Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers.
Reply to the Discussion on the Paper by Mr. Worby Beaumont.
At the conclusion of the discussion on his paper, Mr. Beaumont, in reply, said he gathered that a good many had placed rather too much trust in there being some meaning in the title that was given to his paper. With regard to the history, he would admit that he did happen to know something about it, and a good deal of that, he was sorry to say, by personal recollection. He would promise them he would never trouble anybody any more about that history, not even when he knew that that history included some of their recent patents. (Laughter.) He must remind them that, when he began to jot down notes for that paper, he thought it would be too ridiculous for him to begin to describe any of the parts, or the desirable modifications in those parts; in the many omnibuses in use in London, to the men who formed the body of that Association. Then, if be had tried to go on and prophesy or make suggestions with regard to modifications, he did not think there would have been an end to that discussion, and he thought they would have had to take those rooms for a very long time in order to get the suggestors to agree among themselves. But, having had a good deal to do with many of the owners of omnibuses, and having seen a great deal of the direction in which the most urgent improvements might be made, he thought he might put before them a few suggestions. Further, he had thought that having some omnibuses now, and some coming to them, which were better than those they had had, and that there were some which were better than those which were coming to them, it would be well that they should see that it was good that they should hear something of the past. In a good many places where the omnibuses were attended to, there was hardly a place to put them in, hardly any tools to do what had to be done, and the whole place was so uncomfortable that no one could be expected to do the work with any pleasure. When even the overseers had to put their hands in their pockets in the winter, and everyone got away from the place as soon as they could, it could hardly be expected that they would get the most out of the best machinery that was ever made. When, too, it was remembered what a lot there was to look at in the omnibuses, even of simple design, after they had been running 120 miles, it would be easily understood, even by those not responsible for the omnibus garage, that a good deal must be provided for those who had to do the work, and that a good deal must also he provided for those who had charge of those who had to do the work. They must have a proper place, proper tools, and proper time, in which to do the work. One of the greatest difficulties of all had arisen from the fact that so many of the omnibus owners had in previous days conducted horse-omnibus services. The difference between the requirements of the horse-omnibus and of the motoromnibus was so great that it could hardly be expected that they would in two years have arrived at that kind of knowledge that would enable them to grasp what those differences meant. He therefore thought that he could not possibly do better than say in his remarks to them, what he thought many of them would agree with, namely, how necessary it was that the attention of the owners should be drawn to the fact that things were not as they should be in motor-omnibus garages, and that, while that was so, money was being wasted that might be saved ; money was being lost where profits might be made. Therefore, there was very little in the paper as to modificatien of gearings, or of carburetters, or of those several details of the many things to which he referred in one part of the paper, He would say just a few words in reply to the remarks of some of the speakers Captain Deasy referred to the increase in fares suggested in the paper. The speaker thought that in a great many cases there would be no difficulty whatever in increasing the fares, and he was very sorry to see recently some printed notices stuck on some omnibuses announcing a decrease in fares. The public simply wondered why they were making the reduction, and he was certain that in many London districts the length of some of the penny stages might be reduced, which would be equivalent to art increase in the fares, an increase which was necessary. Captain Deasy and many others differed as to his suggestion with regard to single-deck omnibuses. It was perfectly true that he (Mr. Beaumont) said very little with regard to that, but he still thought that it was odd that this should be the only country, and that this should be the only big city, where it was not found possible to run single-deck omnibuses at a profit. In summer they might have, as they had abroad, single-deck vehicles, easily reached by footboards along the side, carrying 22 people, and attended to as easily as those which were used profitably abroad. Further than that, he thought, there was plenty of room in London for an entirely different type of single-deck vehicle, a kind of omnibus-de-luxe. There was room in London, he felt satisfied, for an omnibus charging two or three times the fare usually charged by the everyday omnibus, and there were a go-at many districts in London where people would wait for a really comfortable, nice, clean, first-class omnibus to take the place of something between the vehicle of the populace and the hansom cab. It might cost something like one-third to one-fourth the cost of a hansom cab drive, and being a nice and light vehicle, it could run at as high a speed as the powers would permit. He would not say anything more about single-deck vehicles, as he thought it was sufficient to draw their attention to their success in other countries.
A good many of those present had repeated his prophecies as to the omnibuses running only 60, to his 90, miles a day, and having only one driver. As to his remarks on the road question, they were made not simply from the point of view of the road vehicle, but from the point of view of everyone who used the road for any purpose whatever, whether for cab, omnibus, or for walking. It would be an advantage, not only to those who ran those vehicles, but an advantage to those travelling in those vehicles, or receiving goods by those vehicles, to have the roads well made and well maintained, and to have improvements made in the roads both in the cities and all over the country, such as were found desirable before the horse coaches were taken off the road, and such as they had near Dunchurch, on the Holyhead road, where it was found desirable to snip off the tops of the hills and use the stuff for filling up the holes in the road at the bottom. He had shown that it would pay this country at Si per cent, to spend £103,000,000 in making the improvements that were necessary, not from the point of view of the mechanical vehicles, but from the point of view of the horse owners only. Mr. Mackenzie had spoken about 40-passenger omnibuses. That was again an attempt to introduce the leviathan, elephantine vehicle which was objectionable from every point of view. If the present vehicle, with all London's press of traffic, could not pay unless it was made of that large, inconvenient and room-taking size, then, he thought, it seemed that that vehicle wz.s not wanted. That anything in the shape of such a vehicle was wanted for long distaeces was out of the question, for, when it came to long distances, they had the better travelling vehicles. Those used in the streets, and that had to be considered then, were not for the long distances that could be better served by tubes or trains, but for the shorter distances. Mr. Douglas Mackenzie thought the police at Scotland Yard were afraid of the question of stability ; but he could satisfy that gentleman on that point, as, some time before, a report of his showing them that the motor-omnibus had far greater stability than the horseomnibus, had been received in Scotland Yard, so that they knew there was perfect stability. He (the speaker) would like Mr. Mackenzie to add to his remarks by telling him how he arrived at the figure of £100,000 which he said had been lost to the public by something the police did not do. Mr. Parker made an interesting contribution to the discussion, By referring to the 12 mile-an-hour question, he might reply to several speakers together. It had been mentioned by Mr. French for one, and by Mr. Brakenridge for another, that, by having engines of a certain power, and having certain improvements, it would be possible to use a two-speed gear only. Mr. Parker agreed as to 12 miles being the normal maximum speed. The speaker had sug
-gested that motor-omnibuses should adhere to and abide by approximately 12 miles art hour for their normal speed, but he had not suggested that the motor-omnibus should be fitted with a machine of less than 30h.p., so that when he suggested the maximum speed should be 12 miles an hour, he did not suggest that their average speed should he a low one. In talking about 12 miles art hour, it meant that the motor-omnibus would he faster than the hansom cab and the horse-omnibus, and, in a general way, it would be something like 50 per cent. faster. It was true the public liked the motor-omnibus because it was faster, but it was only necessary that it should be faster, and not that it should go at a speed which was ruinous to the owners of the omnibus. Once they had succeeded in getting the authori. ties to put the road surfaces into a better condition than they were in now, he thought they might have more than a 12-mile
limit, but so long as things were as they were he should prefer to have the vehicles run at a speed which would keep them from being taken off. Mr. French had mentioned the immense pitch of the gear which he used and also the carburetter, which he did not describe, lie was probably quite right, and be was following the example of many others as to the slower-speed engine and, where they could at present use the slower speed, it was better than using the higher speed. With regard to accelerating at 3 feet per second per second, that might be uncomfortable to the passenger. The average omnibus in the street now accelerated at from 1.1 to 1.25 feet per second per second. Mr. Beaumont concluded by thanking the Association for the patience with which they had heard that interruption to their usual proceedings ; it had been a pleasure to him to come to the two meetings to address them.
Mr. V. F. Boreham has been appointed Secretary of the Vanguard Motorbus Company, Limited.
Mr. William Edward Turner Price has been appointed liquidator of the Edinburgh and District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, whose registered office is at 236-239, Finsbury Pavement House, E.C.
Burnley greatly regrets the limitation of RawtenstalEs powers to run motorbuses to services within the limits of the latter authority's rateable area. The Town Clerk of Burnley, Mr. Peregrine Thomas, took all possible steps to support the promoters of the Bill, and to adduce evidence to show thai it was highly desirable to have a more reliable and efficient means of communication between Burnley and Rawten
Thc Highways Committee of Shoreditch Borough Council is a sensible body of men, On Tuesday it reported having considered a letter from the inhabitants of Acton Ward complaining of the " intolerable nuisance " caused by the buses of the Pilot Motor Bus Company in Shrubland Road. The committee had resolved, as the best way of dealing with the inconvenience complained of, to put the roadway in question in thorough repair. This action was approved by the Council, and it is one which might with advantage be copied by other of London's Borough Councils at the present time. The Expert and Technical Committee of the Royal Automobile Club has drafted its report on the recent Sideslip and Skid Prevention Competition, and this report will go before the Club Committee on Wednesday next.
Omnibus Engineers.
The annual general meeting of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers was held at the registered offices of the Society, m, Albemarle Street, W., on the 25th ultimo, when the chair was taken by Mr. Percy Frost Smith (Thomas Tilling, Limited), who has succeeded Mr. R. Bell (London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited) as vice-chairman. The accounts, which had been duly audited by Messrs. Andrew W. Barr and Company, Chartered Accountants, of T, Queen Victoria Street, E.C., showed a total income of .4;324 mos, for the 18 months ending 31st December, 1906, and a surplus on the period of only .48 6s. mod. This, however, was the result after charging the whole of the registration expenses, amounting to L:27 os., against revenue, whilst the expenses of meetings have been very heavy. We observe that the Society's lubrication re,earch, in connection with its laboratory premises at Putney, has already cost upwards of ,L'8o, and it is to be hoped that good results will follow the investigations which are now in hand by a representative committee, which includes Mr. Dugald Clerk, M. I n st. C. E. , F. C. S. The report paints out, in this connection, that consider able delay was caused owing to the request of Messrs. Straker and Squire that the engine they lent to the Society in September last should not be used. Jr. regard to the reporting of the proceedings of the Society, the report states that it was considered advisable that neither the Press nor visitors should be invited to the meetings that were held during the winter of 1905-6, but that, after that period, it. was resolved to send out invitations to both the Daily Press and the Technical Press, and to permit associates to bring visitors with them. It adds that the Society has benefited from this change of procedure.
A list of nine papers and discussions is given, this carrying the business of the Society down to the end of last year, and we may remark that the whole of these have been reported in " DIE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
The. Chairman for the ensuing year, in succession to Mr. F. C. A. Coventry (Great Western Railway) is Mr. W. 0. Spiller (The Gearless Motor Omnibus Company, Limited), and we understand that the Secretary, Mr. C. E. Esse, Will be pleased to receive any suggestions for incorporation in his contemplated programme for the summer meetings, which matter is now engaging the attention of the Council.
Applications for entry forms, or requests for any other information in reference to the society's work, should be addressed to the secretary at m, Albemarle Street, W. The registered office of the Torquay Road Car Company, Limited, is situate at 7, Tor Hill Road, Torquay, this being the same address as that of the Torquay and District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, which recently disposed of its Chelmsford vehicles to the Harrogate Road Car Company, Limited. The new Torquay company has also taken over the lease of the older company's garage in Market Street, Torquay.
The posters of various daily papers on Tuesday morning last, in their announcements of the tramcar accident on the South Metropolitan Tramway Company's system, near Croydon, could not fail to suggest what might have happened had it been a motorbus smash. We quote several : " 67 in jured " (" Daily Mail "); " injured " (" Daily Chronicle "); " 35 injured " (" Morning Post "); and " 32 injured " the majority of the others. One might almost think that a guessing competition was on hand!
The accompanying illustration is part of a fortnight's delivery from the commercial motor department of the De Dion-Bouton works at Puteaux, near Paris. No motorbus is more popular with the public on London's thoroughfares than are those of this make, whilst recent improvements in detail are tending to make it more satisfactory from the point of view of the operating engineer. Our readers will he aware that the Motor Car Emporium, Limited, of Addison Road North, London, W., had the enterprise to place large orders with this French company at the beginning of the year 1905, and it is still in a position to give reasonably early delivery notwithstanding the large number of orders in hand.
The next meeting of the Institution of AutomObile Engineers will be held on the loth instant, at 8 o'clock p.m., at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate, S.W., when Mr. F. W. Lanchester will read a paper on " The horse-power of the petrol motor in its relation to bore, stroke, and weight."
One of the most interesting and bestcompiled catalogues of commercial and public-service motor vehicles is that of the New Arrol-Johnston Car Company, Limited, of Underwood Works, Paisley. The company's several types are suitably illustrated, and the essential features of the mechanism are depicted in a manner that should appeal to buyers.
F.I.A.T. Motors, Lunitcd, of 37 and 38, Long Acre, W.C. whose works have supplied a large number of commercial motors to the Italian and Portuguese Governments for military purposes, dating back as far as the year 1903, is about to take very active steps to develop its trade in Great Britain. The company's engineers visited this country last year, with a view to observing the running of certain of their vehicles which were already in service, and to modifying the design and construction so as to render the new models thoroughly suitable for the English market. One of the first results of this policy is found in the fact that the North-Eastern Railway Company has ordered to Fiat omnibus chaSsis, whilst the Soudanese Government recently placed an order for one of the Fiat lorries, of which three are at present in use, for time conveyance of stores, in connection with the Cape to Cairo Railway. All types of this make can be seen in London, and trials can be arranged with the company, of whose operations we hope to be able to give more detailed particulars shortly.
The annual dance in connection with the Underwood Works (Paisley) of the New Arrol-Johnston Car Company, Limited, which took place on the 22nd ultimo, was a great success. The Managing Director, Mr. John S. Napier, was unavoidably absent in London, but he wag represented by the Secretary, Mr. Walter S. Macharg-, and the Sales Manager, Mr. Ernest A. Rosenheim, B.Sc., B.Eng. Many friends of the last-named gentleman will be interested to know that he was married at Liverpool, on the 26th ultimo, to a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eliot Levy, and that he is now spending his honeymoon in Italy.
The Year's Trade Fires.
According to the annual report of the London Fire Brigade, which has just been issued, 27 fires occurred in motor omnibuses on the road, during 1906. There were also : 13 tires in motorcars on the road ; one in a inotorcab (due to overflow of petrol); one in a motor brake (due to overflow of petrol); one in a motor omnibus (caused by vapour of spirit coming in contact with flame); one on a motor tri-car (due to overflow of petrol); two on motorcycles (both due to overflow of petrol); and six in motorcar manufacturers' premises. These were due to the following causes : —Overflow of petrol, i • vapour of spirit coming in contact with flame, 3; unknown, 2. The fires in the buses were attributed to the following causes :Friction, 3; friction of machinery, 2; overflow of petrol, 21; and vapour of spirit coming into contact with flame, 1. The motorcar fires were due to :—Overflow of petrol, it ; vapour of spirit coming into contact with flame, ; unknown, r.