A New Threat of a Petrol Shortage.
Page 35
Page 36
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THERE have, in the past, been scares about a possible petrol famine, and various estimates as to the oil resources of America, hitherto the largest producer, have been made. Demands were made in America for a curtailment of exports, and largely because thereof the President of the United States appointed, two years ago, a Special Federal Oil Conservation Board, with powers to inquire closely into the question of supply and demand. This• Board says that at present the oil reserves in the United States in proven territory amount to 4,500,000,600 barrels, which, at the present rate of consumption (America alone consumes 4,000,000,000 gallons of spirit per annum), will be exhausted in six years. The result is that the Board foreshadows difficulties similar to those adsing from foreign control of such raw materials as rubber, nitrate, potash, etc., and urges strict conservation of supplies combined with the acquisition of all available foreign oil reserves.
Our own import of motor spirit for the seven months January to July last was nearly 300,000,000 gallons, showing an increase of no fewer than 67,500,000 gallons, some part of which increase may have been due to the strike. In addition, large quantities of heavy oils are being cracked, and motor spirit to the extent of over 37 per cent. is being recovered by this process.
This country is stilf largely dependent for its supplies of motor spirit upon the United States, and almost entirely upon oversea sources both for spirit and crude oil. Hence, it should be abundantly ,apparent that any attempt on the part of the United States to restrict exports of oils would be fraught with serious consequences to this country.
The Call for Six-wheel Buses in London.
THE next development that one may not unreasonably anticipate in omnibus construction in London, as well as in provincial towns and cities, Ls the introduction of the pneumatic-tyred doubledeck bus with top-deck cover, the vehiele being mounted on six wheels. Already a start has been made at Wolverhampton, where a bus is in service, and at Birmingtam, which is now adding the type to its fleet of municipally owned buses. Oldham, Morecambe, Norwich and Salford are adopting the six-wheeled principle for their buses. London must_follow, for the six-wheeler offers certain distinct advantages. Where the roads are rough—as, for instance, in the region of the docks and in manufacturing districts—the improvement in riding comfort, brought about by the use of a four-wheeled bogie at the rear, is well worth aiming for. London roads, generally, are surfaced with asphalt or wood, and vibration is not a serious trouble in consequence. The advantage offered by the six-wheeler which would, therefore, be most appreciated in London, is the possibility of using a larger vehicle, say, one with an overall length of from 30 ft. to 32 ft., and which will accommodate from 04 to 70 passengers. Birmingham is able to seat 66 passengers (32 on the lower deck and 34 on the upper 'deck) in a bus which is rather less than 30 ft. in overall length and which has a practical turning circle. The argument hitherto advanced against the motorbus Is that is has not been able to combete with the tramcar in the handling of the heavy traffic at peak hours, but if the seating accommodation can be brought from 50 to 70 by the employment of six wheels to each chassis, we think this so-called defect will have been eliminated, and here will be one reason the fewer for the retention of the already obsolete tramcar wherever a tramway system is being unremuneratively worked.
The Covered Top-deck Bus a Proved Success.
TFIE year 1926 will go on record as the year of test for covered top-deck buses. The London police authorities, upon whom falls the responsibility for approving new forms of construction of public-service vehicles, have shown a commendable degree of caution in sanctioning a type which exhibits so great a departure from former practice in the Metropolitan area, their caution being inspired by the fact that conditions affecting London routes vary to a much greater extent than do the conditions affecting the routes in any provincial area, and a type safe on one route might not necessarily be safe upon another. Four covered topdeck buses were sanctioned for trial on admittedly difficult city and suburban routes last year, and they proved so successful that the Commissioner of Police gave permission for a further and larger batch of bus chassis ta be so equipped, the lowplatform level NS type being the only chassis to be approved for this class of body construction. We are now able to say that the whole of the NS buses are being converted to covered top-deck, with upholstered seats and roof lighting, at the rate of 40 per week. This work has been going on for some while, and by the time the bad weather Is really upon us—usually soon after Christmas— the whole of the 1,700 or more NS buses will have been converted and put into service in their new guise. They will confer a boon on theY regular bus passenger. By some people it had not been thought possible to convert the open top deck of a bus to a covered top deck, but the development had been foreseen and provided for by the bodybuilding department at the Chiswick overhaul factory of the London General Omnibus Co., and the work; therefore, merely consists of detaching the existing roof, with its seats and guide rails, from the pillars framing the lower part of the body and dropping the new roof section into place. Experience has not only shown that the upper deck cover is a protection against bad weather and that, with upholstered seats, it makes a comfortable smoking saloon, but the sheltered upper deck, with the direct rays of the sun cut off and with the windows open, is found to be cooler than an open upper deck. The method of constructing the roof which has been adopted for some months gives an extra two inches of headroom in the aisle of the upper deck, the roof being of sheet aluminium and the hoopsticks not being continued across the aisle, whilst the "checker plates" are fastened direct to the floor. This matter of headroom is not one that affects the passenger, for he, if tall, had merely to bend his back for a few seconds when entering and when leaving, but it affects the conductor, who, when collecting fares, must stand in a bent position the whole time he is on the upper deck. A curious advantage, one that had scarcely been anticipated, has been disclosed in connection with the working of the covered top-deck bus, and that is that it may be employed on routes where there are low railway arches and where the open topdeck bus ma Y not. Provided there is a clearance of three inches above the roof, the covered topdeck bus can pass under a low bridge, but so large a margin of clearance is necessary with the open top-deck bus in order to safeguard the tall passenger that single-deck buses were necessarily employed on routes rendered dangerous by low bridges.