Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
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'Ten Shillings Weekly 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 or 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 prow of en crest to our readers. We shall be glad to hear of anything interesting that has come under any driver's or mechanic's notice, either en the shops or on the road. Long and successful runs; services with no 'lost journeys" ; workshop tips and smart repars : all are suitab'e subjects. Send us a Post-card, or a letter, or a sketch—no matter hAv 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 tublicalion), and to state whether you wish your own mune, 07 initials only, to be published. Mark your envelope " Li. and address it to The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MoToa," 7-15, Rosebery A v.nue, London, E.G.
For Next Week.
We are holding over until next week's issue a number of replies to the letter by " Hammersmith Bridge," as to the driver's choice of a machine, which appeared in our last page of " The Motor Drivers News."
Temporary Repair with a Penny.
The s‘nder of the following communication is awarded the 10s, prize this week.
E. 1.1. KEIGHTLEY (Brixton) sends the following letter :—" I forward you herewith a short account of how I got home an an ISh.p. van with a broken pressure valve. Coming to -wards London from Southend, I had nearly reached Romford when my engine stopped. I found the carburetter was ,empty, but I could not pump any petrol through with thy hand pump : there was a leak at the pressure valve. I took the fitting to pieces, and found that the spring had gradually fretted a hole through the valve itself. I wrapped a penny in a piece of rag [shown at A on sketch above.—Eol, and put it on to the seat in place of the valve, and screwed it down tight, when it held well for the rest of the day," trt is surprising to what useful a.-eount we use the adjective in a nonfinancial sense) a coin can he turned by a man in charge of motor mechanism We remember one occasion when a penny with a hole In it made an excellent substitnte for the spring washer of an auxiliary air-valve, -A halfpenny and a little red lead, inside the union out, bas served to blank up a damaged water-pioe connection. It is also useful to remember that it halfpeimy measures exactly 1 inch in diameter, and that three new pennies weigh due +Ounce. -En.]
Keep an Eye on your Split Pins.
" L.T.P." (Leicester) writes :—" I have seen a number of useful hints in your paper at various times, but I do not remember having seen anything relating to the experience 1 will now describe. While driving my steam wagon the other day, on my way h-Orne, I suddenly heard a peculiar thumping noise, which appeared to come from the engine. The engine had been running well up to then, and l could not under-stand it. I stopped, however, and ran the engine free,' and the noise then disappeared. Directly I put the engine in gear and started off, the noise again commenced. By pulling the reversing lever back a notch, I was able to improve matters a bit, but, under full steam, the reversing lever was snatched forward with a bang. I then decided Ito run no further risk before I located the trouble. " After considerable examination, I found the fault on the low-pressure valve stem. A split pin had broken off, and this had allowed the nut to work back and project over the end of the spindle. This caused the nut to knock against the cover of the valve casing every time the stem reciprocated, and, at the same time, it gave the valve itself nearly a t-inch of play. A new split pin and readjustment of the nut put all right again, but a trifling oversight had caused me a deal of trouble."
Drivers' Wages: Private versus Public Service.
A correspondent, signing himself " ROADSTER" (Ramsgate), sends us the following letter, in which he sets forth his views on the relative conditions under which drivers work in public and private service. He writes :—" I was originally a driver on commercial motor vehicles, but have recently taken up private service. 'The straight talk to motor lorry drivers ' in your last issue but one was of considerable interest to me, as I was able to look at it from two points of view. I agree with your contributor in his description of some of the drivers he has had to deal with, but I think it only fair to add that, in my opinion, a number of commercial vehicle drivers have been forced, like myself, to take up private work, owing to the fact that they have found it a matter of considerable difficulty to obtain a reasonable wage in the heavier work. I commenced to drive seven years ago on a commercial van—an experimental one : after leaving this job, I applied to several different advertisers for employment. " My first position brought me in 35s. a week, with a week's holiday at full pay every year to compensate for overtime work in the summer. The replies I received from the advertisers who were seeking men showed me that I was expected to work for Considerably less than the abovementioned sum, and I did not think it would be fair to myself to take a position at such low rates. I then decided to take up private service, my character and qualifications being good enough to enable me to do so, and I consider that I am now paid according to my ability. I had no difficulty in securing 355. a week, free quarters, and driving clothes for my first private job, and, when I had been in this service for fifteen months, my master raised my wages to 42 a week, as he expressed himself very satisfied with the way in which I had looked after my work. I contend that commercial vehicle work is more congenial to a man of my temperament than private service ; I detest the ignominy of private work ; but I do not consider that 25s. to 3os. a week is a sufficient wage to offer a man who runs his vehicle as economically as possible, and endeavours by all means in his power to keep his machine on the road.
" The bugbear of private service is the extreme
flunkeyism ' required nowadays, when compared with commercial .vehicle work, and the irregular hours. If commercial vehicle owners would only take the trouble tb look into the previous records of applicants, and to reward them pro rata to their abilities, they would have considerably less trouble than many of them have at present. The tendency, however, is for employers to treat a man as though he were an ignorant fool, instead of a thinking unit of the community. No one will deny that this treatment fails to bring out the best in any man, and, of course, he will not study his employer's interests when such treatment is applied."
[" Roadster " should remember that the hours and fatigue vary considerably in the Iwo classes Of s.,rvic,%, When considering the relative rates of remuneration, all the varied circumstances must be very carefully taken into account, including each man's qualities—ED.]
A Broken Silent Chain.
" BRRAKDOWN LORRY DRIVER" (Clapham) sends us the following letter :--" I take the liberty of sending you particulars of the way in which I repaired the long silent chain of my breakdown lorry on the 3oth March. The chain came off owing to the breaking of a rivet and damage to the links. On looking through my bag of odds and ends, I found that I had four spare single links, but not one rivet. The chain was of the silent type, with which your readers are no doubt " I found some quarter split pins, and, as the original chain was 3i inches wide and should have three links and two links alternately, the best I could do was to put in one instead of the two, and two instead of the three. I then connected up by inserting the split pins I had found. This, of course, was a very temporary and flimsy repair, but I was surprised to find that I was able to do the rest of the day's work fixed up like this without any further trouble. As the lorry is kept in service for breakdown work, it is practically on duty for 24 hours every day."
1" Breakdown Lorry Driver" was twining considerable risk by using split Fins to eonneet the links, for they are made of comparatively soft and ductile material. Split pins should never be used when there is any shearing action, even if only temporarily employed ; a long thin bolt with the nut riveted over, or a long taper pin with the ends slightly bent, would have been eaten—End
An Irish Driver's Idea.,
" E.T." (Ballymoney, Co. Antrim) writes as follows :— " It is, of course, quite a usual thing for lubricating pipes to get choked up, especially those dependent entirely on gravity feed. It is unnecessary to draw attention to the trouble that follows when a bearing gets starved of oil. A few days ago, I had a clogged pipe on a wagon I was driving, and I had considerable difficulty in clearing it. I had a small copper pump made, something like an ordinary cycling pump, but with a long taper nozzle, so fitted that it would go down into a lubricating pipe a distance of about an inch. It was then an easy matter to disconnect any troublesome pipe, insert the nozzle of the pump, and force air through the passage. I have since then never failed immediately to clear a choked lubricating pipe. It is surprising the amount of dirt that can be got out of the ordinary oil pipe in this way, even if it has not given warning by fouling up altogether. Although this is not probably an original idea, you may possibly think it worthy of notice in your columns."
A Coachbuilder's Suggestion: Bus-tops in Wet Weather.
A contributor using the nom-de-plume " COACHBUILDER " (Holloway) sends us the following interesting suggestion for the protection of passengers using the outside seats on omnibuses during inclement weather. We certainly consider the idea is worth the careful consideration of the London companies, who are the principal users of double-deck omnibuses, and whose unsympathetic attitude has a direct effect upon that of Scotland Yard :— " I have often experienced surprise at the lack of initiative and enterprise shown by the larger omnibus companies of London, but never more so than when I saw, on Monday last, the first Pullman single-deck buses put on the road by a cab company. We are told—T am a small shareholder in one of the London companies—that bad weather and a severe winter adversely affects the takings of an omnibus company to an enormous extent, and I can well understand it. For half the year, most of the buses are perambulating the streets with less than half their full load. No serious attempt has been made, I believe, even partially to protect outside passengers from the fury of the elements. I arm given to understand that the Scotland Yard authorities will, on no account, license an enclosed top for a bus, although they readily do so for a tramcar. [The Board of Trade deals. with this point for tramcars.—En.] In the Midlands, double-. deck, enclosed cars run on narrow 3-foot or 31-foot tracks. In Paris, the General Omnibus Company is allowed to use a light awning over the tops of its conveyances. Surely the police authorities are not afraid of the vehicles' overturning/ If not, why are the companies content to let their machines run about with no attempt to induce passengers to ride outside in a shower or in cold weather? Smokers only want half an inducement. Can the companies seriously afford to neglect any source of income?
" My suggestion is to carry stout iron standards, at intervals, round the outside of the top of the omnibus, to aheight of about 4 feet 6 inches. In unsettled weather, and throughout the winter, sailcloth weather-sheets should be stretched round the sides, over the tops of the present handrail, exactly in the same way as that adopted at sea, on the bridge, etc. This arrangement would afford complete protection from the wind, and would allow the use of umbrellas on top, if necessary, in addition to keeping off agreat deal of rain. I have enclosed a rough pencil sketch, which will show what I mean, although I fear it is not good" enough for publication. [We have re-drawn it and inserted) with this letter.—Eol " It is my opinion that very many passengers, smokers especially, would be tempted to ride on top when these. weather screens were up, even in the roughest weather. The additional wind pressure might mean a slight loss irv speed, but that can very satisfactorily be conceded. Theprime cost to the companies should be very small, and it would soon be recovered from increased winter traffic. The fact that the view is obscured would matter very little.. It is probable that Scotland Yard would sanction such a scheme, although, of course, everything depends on that. The amount of weather one can stand at sea, when protected by such a shield, even if there is no roof, is remarkable; and some such scheme should at least be worth a trial by the London companies. Rather than run about the streets with the maximum capacity at less than half load, the machines would, in my opinion, be doing better service. for the shareholders were they kept in garage during the. winter under present top-deck ' conditions."