LEAVES FROM THE INSPECTOR'S NOTEBOOK.
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In Quest of the One-tonner. Safety First for the Disabled.
I.ir IS RATHER remarkable to be reminded, as we were in the last issue of this journal, that if, when we are asked at the present time to name. the British manufacturers who could accept orders for early delivery for one-ton industrial vehicles, no such name could be suggested I have always contended that the day will arrive. before very long when it will be necessary for commercial-vehicle manufacturers as a whole to agree upon a schedule of approved load-carrying commercial motor vehicles, which schedule should cut out the various intermediate descriptions such as 24 cwt., 2itonner and so . on. Much of this catalogue nomenclature is. to say the least of it, misleading. The principal 'firms have in the past done their best to indicate as clearly as possible the exact net load, excluding the body, which each of their line of chassis has been definitely designed to accommodate. There are-, nevertheless, not a few examples of industrialvehicle models of which the rating in terms of load is obviously designed to showa capacity slightly in excess of some machine which may be considered a close competitor, whereas in effect the misnamed machine may be no more capable of carrying the additional 5 cw b., or whatever the difference is, than is the original with which it has to compete.
The whole question of the load rating is perhaps a lot more acute amongst the smaller models than, it is amongst the larger ones. For instance, one never, I think, comes across a. machine which is offered for sale as a 44.etormer. If a mpdel is sold to carry 6 tons, it invariably, as a matter of fact, is found to have greater load-carrying capacity than the accepted and very common type of 5-tonner. When we get down to the newt. machine, the one-tonner, the 25-cwt., 30-cwt. and 35-cwt. and so on, the actual published load classifications are not, unfortunately, as a rule a sufficiently accurate guide to the would-be user. And although the one-tanner, consideration of which raises this issue, is not to be found in British factories at the present time, it 'must be admitted that there are few dealers at any rate who would be at loss if asked to supply such a machine, but would gaily propose the employment of quite a number of touring cars which would make admirable onetanners, with with the springs stiffened up;" and pethaps -the final gear reduced if the design renders this possible. And as a matter of fact, there are a. very large number of these converted touring cars being used to carry loads which, at any rate, approximate one ton; all-of which points to the fact that there is a very considerable demand for a machine of this type, and if such existed on proper commercial lines, there is no doubt that it could be operated very much more satisfactorily and certainly with a great deal more economy in maintenance than would a converted touring car pressed into service.
There is undoubtedly such an opening, but if it is o be a model that will earn its proper reputation, it must be designed and also manufactured by men who have the commercial vehicle idea to the exclusion of touring-car training. It is fairly generally admitted that with very few exceptions a commercial vehicle emanating from a touring-car factory does not enjoy the same success in practice as one which is the product of those at the head of a concern wholly occupied in the solving of haulage problems from a mechanical point of view. The designing staff, production staff, testing staff cannot with the greatest success father the two ideas. Similarly motor-bicycle manufac turers do not make the best producers of touring cars and certainly no established commercial-vehicle manufacturer would be likely to produce a touring car that would earn any very considerable reputation in its class. The one-tonner, therefore, for which there is undoubtedly a demand, must be produced on commercial-vehicle lines, and must not be the product. of a mind that is prepared to adapt what is satisfactor: for touring-car purposes to the new conditions. Nor am I of opinion that the really success
• ful one-tonner will emerge from the 3-4-ton factory. It will require entirely separate handling—and above all standardization of everything but the paint l The Ford one-tanner is, or is not, according to the point of view, the ideal machine of its type, but it appears to serve a certain purpose, modelled as it is in the main on . that wonderful land unique contrivance the Ford chassis—but there is only one Ford. I repeat, the one-tanner for which we are looking will not be the product of the five-ton factory or of the steam-wagon builder. Ikwill have to be built in very great quantities in -order to be offered at a sufficiently attractive figure. There is undoubtedly a great opening for it in many Colonial districts, perhaps in somewhat different guise. One wonders if, in the search for new occupation, some enterprising firm will not conceive the possibilities of production of a one-tanner proper—not necessarily a 25-cwt. machine—on a very big scale, Safety First for the Disabled. L.C.C. Action. Some little while ago I was allowed to make use of these columns to put into print certain suggestions which appeared tome to be appropriate to the conditions arising from the presence of very large numbers of incapactiated comrades with whom most of us will have to live and work during the rest of our lives. Particularly, as is natural, was I concerned in an endeavour to interest,those whose particular function it is to initiate land watch over traffic conditions in the great centres of population, that they should, by propaganda and otherwise, endeayour to educate the public to give special care and wtiy-leave, to the numbers of disabled men who will have to take turn with us in the daily struggles for passenger transport in the Metropolis and other great cities. I suggested, it may be recalled, that-the problem may even become i so urgent a one, when demobilization s nearing completion, that it might even he necessary, or at any rate desirable, to allot special ears, carriages or motorbuses at certain intervals for the exclusive use of such men. It is certainly our duty na to forget that special consideration in the ordinary hurly-burly of everyday business existence must invariably be shown to those who have lost the use of their limbs or are blind or deaf, or otherwise handicapped.
To-day, as I write, I take up my paper and find that the London County Council has issued an. appeal to the passengers on the tramcars under their control asking them to give all possible assistance to disabled soldiers and sailors when they are boarding or alighting from the cars. Such an• appeal is no less necessary in respect of motorbus:traffic, and certainly with regard,to undergroundtube transport. This is a timely hin4 and all in theaight -direction, and I shall watch with interest to see if the authorities pursue these...lines of kindly action still further, and allot specific accommodation on trains, tubes and buses in various parts of the country -where passenger transport is thickest. for the exclusive and rela-, tively comfortable use of the men who are back with us impairedthrough the horrors of the Great War.