Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 17
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Ten ShillingsWeekly for the Best Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for anything else published.
Drivers of commercial motors, and mechanics and foremen of garages OY shops, who are engaged in any branch of the industry, are invited to contribute short, personal experiences, opinions, or suggestion, on subjects which are likely to prove of in'erest to our readers. We shall be glad to hear of anything interesting that has come under any driver's or mechanic's notice, either in the shops or on the rood. Long and successful runs ; services with no "lost journeys"; workshop tips and smart repairs : all are suitable subjects. Send us a post.card, or a letter, or a sketch —no matter how short, or how written,-or how worded. We will "knock it into shape" before publication. When writing, it is as well to mention your emPloyer's name, as a guarantee of bona fides (not for publication), and to state whether you wish your own name, or initials only, to be published. Mark your envelope "D. and M.," and address it to The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL Morox," 7-15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
Notification of New Services.
We wish to draw the attention of the readers of this page to our offer elsewhere, to remit a small reward of two shillings to the person who first sends to us concise and accurate information with reg-ard to new or altered -services. We shall be glad to hear of new seaside passenger services, iew goods-carrying undertakings, as well as to have information with regard to London omnibus changes.
Roe(' Surveyor Exchanges Views with Steam Wagon Driver About Damage to Roads and Droppings. The s‘nder of the follow:71e; communication is awarded the lOs prize this week.
VoRESIHREMAN " (Skipton, Yorks), who is the driver of a steam wagon, forwards this communication :—" During the past month, I was asked to have an interview with the road surveyor of C--, in Lancashire, with regard to the damage which was alleged to be done to the roads in the district by steam and other motor vehicles. I was received with courtesy by this surveyor, who asked me every conceivable question about my wagon, and questioned me as to the causes of such machines, breaking up the surface of the roads. The result of our conversation was that the following two conclusions were reached : (a) most drivers of heavy wagons religiously keep to one track, and so cause excessive abrasion of two strips of the road surface ; (b) when these old tracks have been repaired, and new metal has been laid, many drivers immediately start to cut a track by the side of the newly-made strip, even if this has been duly rolled.
"The narrowness of many of the main roads in Lanca
shire and in the West Riding of Yorkshire must be admitted, hut, by the exercise of more care in driving, it would be possible to equalise the wear on the road surfaces to a large extent. When two or three wagons are following each other, it will be seen, as a rule, that they will take the same tracks, whereas the hind drivers should keep .a foot or eighteen inches out of the line of the front one, and -so leave a different impression on the road, and give the depressed crust time to' spring back.' Roads would last much longer, if this practice were adhered to.
" The surveyor in question also complained of the clp-ty and unsightly accumulation of grease and oil near_.to water troughs. If drivers -would carry a bit of sacking, to stretch under their wagons, when there is any danger of oil dripping while the machine is standing, this nuisance might be obviated. Most of the trouble arises from overfilling-, lax packing of covers, and carelessness when oilcans are used. I know of some steam wagons which can be tracked for miles by their oil droppings, and drivers should remember they are liable to be prosecuted for permitting the nuisance. Sometimes, it looks as though cows had been along the road I One more complaint, which this surveyor had to make, was concerning the way in which greasy suction-pipe nozzles are thrust into water troughs, thus contaminating the water for the horses. I have actually seen cases where very thirsty horses have refused to drink, because the water has been discoloured by the oil left in this way, although there was no more water for three or four miles.
" Fast driving and its effects, both on the roads and on
the machines, were discussed at the interview, but there is no purpose served in drawing attention to this already wellventilated subject on the present occasion. In response to an enquiry as to how best these points could be brought to the notice of all other wagon drivers, I promised I would submit a few remarks for inclusion in the Drivers column of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR '—hence this letter."
Temporary Coupling Takes Car Home.
" ROAD FirrrEE " (Battersea) writes as follows :—" I am sending you an account of how I got a double-decked bus home, with a broken distance-piece in the card an shaft and with one key missing from one of the couplings. I put a liner under the remaining key, and then drove the flange back to such a position that there was only inch of the key in shear, instead of the full 2 inches ; this reduced the gap between the two flanges by ri inches. I next coupled the two flanges together with four bolts, and filled up the gap of i inch between the flanges by driving two pieces oh wood between the bolts, and I then pulled up the bolts en to this wood. The car was able to proceed slowly to the garage under her own power, in order to have a new distance-piece fitted. I enclose a sketch showing the method I used for securing the temporary coupling ; only two bolts are shown in the drawing to render it as clear as possible, "and the wood was wedged up tight between them to take all the bending action off the bolts."
Driver Temporarily Makes his Steam Engine • Single Acting.
" T.D." (Fisher Street, Canning Town) sends the fol., loving account of a temporary repair to his steam wagon :— " I .trust you will think the following account of how I brought my steam wagon home, after breaking the lowpressure cylinder cover, of sufficient interest to include in your Drivers' and Mechanics' Columns. One day, when out on the road, I heard a knock in the engine, but, when reported it, the trouble was put down to wear in the cross-head brasses of the low-pressure engine, and I was instructed to keep the wagon running a bit longer, until time could be found to take up the slack. One night, however, on the homeward journey, the knock suddenly got worse, and, before I could pull up, there was a bang and a lot of steam blowing. When I got down, I found that the low-pressure cylinder cover was badly fractured. The smash was apparently caused by the slacking back of the low-pressure piston-red; it should normally be screwed up tight into the slipper-block of the cross-head. "After a few minutes' thought, I decided, as the piston was still fit for work, to make use of the back-end of the cylinder and piston, so I screwed the piston rod back into its proper place, and plugged the steam port of the damaged end of the cylinder by driving a wooden wedge well into it.
thus managed to reach home without any further trouble."
[We consider it remiss to have allowed the machine to run, under any circumstances, when the knock had grown so serious as to become notice. able. Lack of care, such as that shown in the above instance, generally leads to disaster, and always necessitates a high rate of depreciation on machinery. The ingenuity of the driver was counnendable.--Em]