Answers to Queries.
Page 20
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Alleged Evasion of Extra Petrol Duty by Recourse to Use of Hackney-carriage Plates.
[4221] (Ploe).—You may take it from us that there is. no general evasion of the law by registration as hackney carriages. There may be exceptional " swindles " of that kind, but nothing else. It is not a feasible course to register a car as a hackney carriage unless it is used bona. fide for private-hire work or as a taxicab Cushion Tires for Motorbuses.
[4222] (Weight Reduction).—The N.A.P. cushion tires are manufactured and supplied by the N.A.P. Pneumatic Tube Tyre Syndicate, Ltd., of Wertemburg Street, Clapham, S.W. The managing director of the company is Mr. W. Clifford Earp. We are fully in accord with the wisdom of your ordering a set for trial on a motorbus, as you will have gathered from orir published opinions.
Speedometers for Steam Lorries,
[4223] (Coal Tar).--We believe it is Still very difficult to obtain satisfactory results from speedometers when they are fitted to steel-tired wagons. We are informed, however, by users of rubber-tired steam wagons, that they have obtained very good results from the mileage recorders supplied by S. Smith and Sons, Ltd., 179-185, Great .Portland Street, London, W. 1, from the " Watford " obtainable from North and Son, Ltd., 14, Seho Square, Lend* W. 1, and the "Jones" supplied by Markt and Co., Ltd., of 88-100, Clerkenwell Road, London, E.O. 1. We shall hope to pass other names to you if necessary.
Present-day Running Costs for Three.tonners.
[4224] (Govan).—We reckon that on the average you should find your present-day running costs of a 3-ton motor vehicle to show a 40 per cent, increase on prewar costs. For motor hiring, owing to the fact that contractors have to charge everything against the vehicle, it is usual to obtain not less than Is. 8d. per mile run for a three-tonner at the present time, adding light. and loaded • mileage together, or, if a rate per hour is adopted, about 10s. an hour at the present time, the mileage rate to apply, if more than six miles an hour is covered during the hire period. Thcharges are made on the mileage basis, you must have a guaranteed payment of £18 10s. a week, with the mileage rate added for each mile during the week excess of 200. If you. cannot broadly obtain these _rates and conditions, the margin is likely to prove unsatisfactory.
.Enrichment of Coal-gas to Get Full Power from a PetrolEngine.
[4225] (Engineer).---The euggestion for the enrichMent of coal-gas is entirely our own. Nobody has yet done more than experiment with it, as a result. 'You Merely need to introduce a closed Vessel, with the gasdelivery pipe near the base, and with a gas-outlet pipe to the engine above the surface. The column of petrol or other enriching liquid should, we think, be no deeper than 10 ins., hut the suction of the engine should be quite enough to cause the gas to rise through a column of that depth. The vessel in which you have the enriching liquid must also. have an admission pipe for replenishment of the liquid as. it is taken up by the gas. There should be no difficulty in scheming a combination to . suit your ewe engine. We are sure that for hilly routes something of the kind will be a great advantage. The vessel containing the petrol shouldbe jacketed with an annular space, or a coil, through which part of the hot water entering the radiator, or part.of the exhaust gas, passes. Detail presents no difficulty. •
058 Motor Ploughs for Kent. .
[4226] (Local Interest).—The Government is still dealing with the matter of. allocating mechanical ploughs. Arrangements for the County of Kent are in the hands of Mr. G. It. Barrett, 30, St Peter's Street, Canterbury,
Petrol Consumptions for Agrimbtors.
[4227] (Supply).—We are not publishing petrol consumptions for different makes of tractors, as the average consumptions for these are scarcely yet settled. You possibly had in mind the references on pege 2 of our issue of the 1st March.
Mileage on Petrol in Conjunction with Coal-gas.
[4228] (Proportion).—We did mention five times the distance with one gallon of petrol, if used to enrich coal-gas, as on petrol alone. This was more by way of example than in a quantitative sense. We are, after making further investigations, able to inform you that coal-gas is not likely to be enriched so much as 20 per cent. A more-likely enrichment is 10 per cent.--say, from 480 B.Th.U's. per cubic foot to 530. This being so, one gallon of petrol used in Conjunction with coalgas will account (plus the coal-gas) for ten times the mileage onthe road that you could get from the gallon of petrol if used as such and alone.
Can He Get Permanent Conditional Exemption as a Motor-lorry Driver?
[4229] (Two Mouths).--The Local Tribunal well probably renew your exemption if your employers make an appeal when the two months temporary ex emption runs out. You are most unlikely to be refused at the eed of that period. You will be entitled to put in an appeal on private grounds at the satin) time that your employers appeal, but not to make an appeal on private wends in the event of their appeal failing. You should be guided by a local solicitor who has had experience in dealing successfully with the particular Tribunal before whom the appeal is to • be made, as that appears to be the best way to handle the matter. It appears to us that you are in fact entitled to conditional exemption, so long as you follow your present employment., but it is, of course,. open to the military representative to challenge that exemption on the ground that you are more urgently
wanted for the Army. • Issues of "The Commercial Motor" Dealing with Use of Coal-gas Instead of Petrol.
[4230] (Traffic.----We append a list of the issues of THE COMMERCIAL Moroe which contain articles on the _subject of coal-gas for motor vehicles (apart from odd paragraphs). That for the 2nd November, 1916, is now out of print. The others are 3d. each (post free). Our reprinting some of these depends upon the extent of the demand and evidence of interest_