Loose Leaves.
Page 40
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
AMAN who is beloved by dogs and children can generally be regarded as all right in the eyes of his fellow-men. We have Mr. Tom Thornycroft in mind at the moment, for he is universally liked, and it is quite a matter of pleasurable interest to see him with his three dogs and to observe their affection for him and their readiness to obey his commands. In the course of the many years that we have known him we have travelled with him on some extremely interesting vehicles and in some equally interesting craft—for the really conventional product has no attraction for him. He wants to learn all the time, and that is why he will use a .commercial vehicle power unit in his private car. For some time now he has been using a saloon ear with a 30-cwt. power unit, exactly to standard except that the gear lever is shorter, and now he is having a car built at Basingstoke which will have the new 58-85 h.p. six
e18
cylindered engine which has been designed and produced for fast motorcoach work. At first we expected to find a car that was all engine and no body, but so compact is this engine that it takes up no more room than a Hispano-Suiza engine. A gearbox smaller than standard has been fitted and quite an early type of back axle; for what Mr. Thomyeroft wants to learn—and to do so first hand—is whether the engine is in every way up to the mark. Even the front axle of the car is a lorry axle and the springs have novel features that he intends to test for himself.
WE wonder how many peers of the realm have driven commercial vehicles! A few days ago we were in the cab of a 5-tonner which was temporarily under the control of the Earl of Cardigan. The particular vehicle was a Diesel-engined Mercedes-Benz and, at the first attempt, he was able to take it along Old Bond Street, Oxford Street, and down to Piccadilly Circus without any trouble, which says something for the controllability of this type of power unit. CHATTING with Mr. Muzzell, of the sales depart ment of British Merc&ks-Benz, Ltd., we learnt, with great interest, of certain tests carried out on petrol and Diesel-engined vehicles carrying loads which are subject to deterioration through the absorption of fumes, etc. It was found that the absorption figure of cheese, in the case of the petrol vehicle, was 2.6 and in the Diesel type 0.2. This is certainly very striking, as this absorption of noxious vapours by certain loads, such as butter, fats, etc., is of the utmost importance and may have a serious effect.
IT always seems extraordinary to us how many drivers, immediately they run into country districts, make wide sweeps when cornering, just as if there were no possibility of vehicles approaching from the other direction. Motorcyclists are particularly prone to this fault, which is not only extremely dangerous to themselves and other users of the road, but is most disconcerting ; quite a number of vehicles which have been kept well in to the near side have been forced to take to the grass—or the ditch if no grass he present. Only a few days ago one of our staff came across a case in which a motorcyclist had charged full tilt, with drastic results, into the radiator of a vehicle which was on its proper side of the road.
WE have referred on several occasions to the futility of certain "inventions." Recently one was brought to our notice in which a petrol vehicle was equipped with a dynamo propelled not directly by the engine but by the movement of the vehicle, and this was claimed to produce so much current during a run that it would be sufficient to act as a source of power for supply to other vehicles or machines. The inventor appeared to be quite convinced that the idea was feasible and that the vehicle engine would not be called upon to do any more work !