OPINIONS an QUERIES The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects
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connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be written on only one side of the paper. The right of abbreviation is reserved and no responsibility for views expressed is axepted. Queries must be accompanied by a' stamped, addressed envelope.
• FORGET PRE-WAR RESTRICTIONS WHEN LOADING OR UNLOADING THE remarks by Mr. R. E. Elwick which you published on October 24 much impressed me. His experience while unloading his wagon is not by any means the onlji incident of this kind within my personal knowledge, and I think that most drivers experience such events quite frequently.
In most union circles, the members are referred to a.s "brothers "; yet how often do we find in prattice that the idea of brotherhood is not being carried out?
I well remember giving assistance in the loading of my wagon at our own works a short time ago, and the foreman stopped me. I said, " I usually give a hand," and he replied, "Yes, I know; but the union people do not like it."
Some drivers consider it a matter for congratulation that they deliver loads to a concern whefe they are not allowea to touch them. I may be wrong, but this seems • to me to be entirely the wrong spirit. I would think it even more encouraging to help people, to load or unload when they are also members of a union. One of the finest phrases adopted by the workers is "All for each and each for all." Yet this great principle is too often forgotten, as when we find two old grandfathers struggling to deal with heavy loads on a vehicle while the driver or other men merely watch their efforts.
Croydon. B. PARRIS.
DRIVERS REFUSED EVEN A CUP OF TEA FINDER the stress and strain of present-day transport y-1 there are one or two small points which, in my opinion, if allowed to go on, may encourage drivers not to exert themselves, and will tend to bring this fine industry of road transport under the heading of slipshod, and one of these very sore points seems to be the humble
cup of tea. • Now, I am very interested in my work, and for this interest to materialize into happy working, such small points must be given a little consideration from the drivers' point of view. In writing this letter I hope that the Editor and readers of this square-deal journal will not think I am trying to involve them in any political movies.
When, recently, six men and three wagons went to a big industrial establishment of ours near London they found that the congestion of traffic there was so great that it meant some two to six hours of wailing in the cold for a load. They did not mind this as they are tough, but their faces and their hearts dropped when they found that the works canteen refused to serve them with a cup of tea.
Is it that such canteens cannot obtain the tea or because they do not know where to apply for it? Perhaps it is that those in charge of them just don't 'care. If only people could be brought to understand the effect that these little rebuffs have on drivers. Most of these men have obeyed the call to "go to it" since the war started, and many of them leave their depots at 7 a.m. and work until their vehicles are nilloaded, which may be about dinner-time, and the small reward they aslc for
their efforts is a cup of tea and' perhaps a cake, just.to keep them going until they finish work or are near a café. Why this cannot be amicably arranged puzzles me. Concerns employing casual men or even some regular men are going to find that these men will not do a' day's work for them when they And out what to expect.
London, N.12. INTERESTED.
ARE INFANTRY DRIVERS CARELESS IN SIGNALLING? •
lkiTAY I, as a regular reader of your excellent journal, VI compliment you on your article entitled "Intensive Education for Infantry Mechanization "? As a soldier of this establishment, I see a lot of these students during their training, and I appreciate the way in which you recognize, the hard task that the instructors have before them.
There is only one fault that I can find with these students on road vehicles (wheeled) and that is the careless manner in which hand signals are given. As a driver of a duty vehicle, I pass many of these trainees and so am in position to know what I am saying.
A. F. FINCH, Army Armoured Fighting Vehicle School. Dorset.
THE POSSIBILITIES OF CREOSOTE FOR' OIL ENGINES IN your issue of October 31, under the above heading, 'note that Mr. McIntyre has made somewhat crude and provocative remarks in a criticism of my letter of October 17 on the same subject.
There was no dissemination of faulty information whatever in my letter; on the contrary, every word is correct. The investigation was serious—very serious— and carried out by a body of experts who know more about oil-engine combustion than either Mr. McIntyre
or the writer can ever hope or expect to. know.
If Mr. McIntyre will trouble to read my letter carefully,• he will see that it referred to creosote, and not to any " carefully picked and highly refined fractions . . . which are prepared by only relatively few companies in this country, the names of which can doubtless be obtained on application to the Ministry of War Trans' port." One can hardly visualize a busy transport contractor spending his time trying to find out where he can obtain this delectable fuel, and, perhaps, after days or weeks of patient effort, discovering that the nearest depot is, say, 200 miles or more away.
Mr. McIntyre states that "all attempts to use any sort of tar oil other than the above (carefully picked fractions, etc.) are doomed to failure." With this clear statement he actually corroborates all that I have said.
I could show Mr. McIntyre a transport oil engine which, in a period of only 18 months, has ruined no less than three complete sets of elements in the fuel-injection pump, each costing about £10, not to mention other damage which has been done.
Would not he be doing something more helpful if he gave to your readers some useful and definite information, if he has any, on the actual type of fuel he refers to, the cost, the cost of the special washing and purifying plant, tanks, centrifuges, etc., and what saving in fuel costs can be obtained, what proportion of this fuel to petroleum distillate he suggests, and—most important of all—what is the increase in maintenance costs due to this fuel. Also the addresses and names of the companies which market the fuel. There are many other points that would be useful, but the above will be sufficient for the time being, if he will kindly oblige.
Leeds. NORTHERN ENGINEER.
PRESENT LAWS DISCOURAGE SPEEDING-UP OF TRANSPORT THE proposed speed-up of road transport which has been outlined in the Press during the past few days, makes interesting news, as it provides evidence to show that there are delays and inefficiency under existing conditions.
When, however, transport operators endeavour, in spite of difficulties with regard to insufficient skilled labour, shortage of spare parts and vehicles, etc., to cope with the amount of work in hand, the law steps in and inflicts penalties for allowing drivers to work longer than their normal pre-war hours.
The company I represent, and one of its drivers, was on October 28, in the local police court, fined a total of £43 5s., including costs, for exceeding, in August, the regulation pre-war driver's hours.
Evidently we are urged to "Go to it," and in "so doing incur the risk of heavy penalties. Is it surprising that the transport of the country is in such a chaotic state? TRANSPORT CONTRACTOR. Maidstone.
SPECIALIZED TRAINING FOR ARMY AND CIVILIAN WORK MY attention has been called to page 153.of "The Commercial Motor" dated October 3, wherein you remark, under "One Hears ":—
" That A.E.C. also indicates Army Education Corps."
"That perhaps the other A.E.C. could give it some useful tips."
I thought, perhaps, you would like to know that it has been doing so for some considerable time past, as, with the permission of the chairman and managing director of this company, I have been assisting the Director of Army Education at the War Office by taking over the education, by correspondence, of men in the Forces stationed widely apart, in the subject of "Fundamentals of Industrial Administration," and the enthusiasm of the men who have entered for the course is a proof that the scheme is met with approval.
I have also just finished the second of a series of Saturday afternoon lectures at the London Polytechnic, Regent Street, on "Workshop Organization and Management," sponsored by The Institute of Industrial Administration. This has for its primary aim the training of managers and supervisors in factories, who have been rapidly up-graded as a result of the present abnormal conditions, and the second course was attended by upwards of 100 such people. The enclosed copy of a letter (received by my chairman, Mr. C. W. Reeve) will, perhaps, be the best indication of the results of this effort.
Finally, I am spending two nights a week at Acton Technical College with over 100 men of mature age, all holding positions of responsibility in engineering establishments within this area, in a scheme inaugurated and sponsored by the Ministry of Labour, called their " M " Scheme. This, again, has for its primary object the training in " Workshop Organization and Management" of foremen and other supervisors in engineering factories, with the object of equipping them better to undertake the increased responsibilities that they are now having thrust upon them.
I think you will agree, therefore, that one might apply the old saw about " a true word being spoken in jest " to this particular instance, and I would hasten to add that my own company has merely perpetuated its pre-war policy in giving me not only encouragement but time and opportunity to foster such work, which both the company and I consider to be of such importance. J. B. STILL, A.M.I.A.E., Superintendent Production Control, The Associated
Southall. Equipment Co., Ltd.
Now that Mr. Still has completed his group of lectures in the second session of the Polytechnic Study Course, I should again like, on behalf of the Institute Council, to express appreciation to you and your company for having let us have his services. I can say in all sincerity that the two groups of lectures that he has given have been perhaps the most valuable in the course; and certainly the most highly appreciated. There have been, from many of the participants in the courses, expressions of appreciation of the value of Mr. Still's lectures and of the amount that they have been able to learn from his analysis of production management principles.
In addition to the formal letter of thanks which the Institute is sending to Mr. Still I should like to express to him, through you, my best thanks for his very kind assistance in these important courses.
E. F. L. BRECH, Hon. Secretary, London Branch Council, Institute of Kew, Surrey. Industrial Administration.
WHAT IS THE BEST FORMULA FOR BRAKE TESTING?
WHEN reading "The Commercial Motor" of October 3, n' we noticed the article on page 161, headed "New Formula for Brake Testing Suggested," which we read with interest. We note that the formula for arriving at V2 brake efficiency is given as :—Efficiency (per cent.) = -3d V2 x 3.34 Surely this should be :-.---Efficiency (per cent. ) when V -= initial speed in m.p.h. and d = stopping dikance in feet.
W. E. Snn.ToN, Technical Department,
Chapel-en-le-Frith. For Ferodo, Ltd.
[On taking up this matter with Mr. G. Friend, he pointed out that, inadvertently, a decimal point had been omitted from in front of the 3 in the divisor, which would have made all the difference and would have brought the formula very close to that which you now give, for the omission meant that the efficiency given by the formula in the article would be 10 times below that which was intended —ED.
HO.W SHOULD THE HEAD LAMPS BE FITTED?
PLEASE allow me to correct your correspondent, " Aclolad," who, in a letter published by you on October 31, advocates mounting the head lamp lower.
think he will agree that a safe and useful masked driving light must illuminate an object 2 ft.. 6 ins, from the ground at a distance of 30 ft. Now, if a lamp be only 1 ft. from the ground, it must be tilted upwards, and at 100 ft. it will shine directly into the eyes of any oncoming driver.
The remedy is to mount the lamp 3 ft.' from ground level and tilt it slightly downwards; then, at 100 ft., the cut-off would be 18 ins, from the ground and dazzle on a level road would be impossible.
Withington . W. H. WALKER.