Opinions from Others.
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The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one side of the paper only, and type-written by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility Joy the views expressed is accepted.
Users Experiences (No. XXII).
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[990] Sir,—Referring to my letter of last week, I should like to explain that the suggestions it contained are the outcome of personal experiences in other branches of engineering; having occupied the position of outside inspector to a large engineering firm. I have been able to see at first hand the advantages which accrue from adopting the system I described.
The costing of repairs and replacements is a subject which requires most careful consideration by manufacturers. Manufacturers fully appreciate the fact that the price they can obtain for a complete vehicle is determined by the value their customers care to place on the machine, and, therefore, exercise every care in trying to arrange an attractive figure, but, in the matter of repairs or replacements, they are conscious that they hold a different position, and, in some cases at any rate, are content to arrange their prices by a hard-and-fast rule of adding so much to the actual cost for establishment charges and profit, etc. Whilst this is a perfectlylegitimate method of reckoning, it may have a very bad effect on business, and it often is a very serious matter to users. The value of an article to a user is in exact proportion to the service it renders him, and, if he is aware that there is one detail of his machines which is costly and requires constant renewals, he will most certainly lay the blame on that part for any loss he may incur over the whole, regardless of whether the facts warrant such a course or not. How often does one hear that such a maker's machine is all right—but for a certain part, which casts a fortune to keep in repair!
There is a further point in connection with the attitude of the maker to the user, which I should like to mention before leaving the subject. It is, no doubt, very galling to a maker who has spent the best years of his life in
perfecting" a machine to be calmly informed by a user that a certain detail is defective, and that it could be substantially improved in a certain way, or again when he finds that a nicely-finished detail has been discarded by a driver from his wagon and been replaced by some homely device the crudeness of which suggests the methods of prehistoric times as they are commonly depicted; but it will often pay him (the maker) to pocket his resentment and try and view the matter from an unbiassed standpoint. On the other hand, it is very annoying to a driver, who has overcome a mechanical trouble after painful experience, to have his little device made light of because it is composed of the rough materials he had to hand at the time. Perhaps the most tantalising experience a user has to contend with is to find his suggestions, which had apparently been rejected with scorn, being served up to him at a later date as one of the maker's latest improvements. Manufacturers can hardly go too far in encouraging drivers to make suggestions or improvements, and at the same time offering them some small acknowledgment for anything they may decide to adopt.
The work of the week has been dealt with quite 1; atisfaetorily; in fact, the greatest difficulties I have to contend with would never exist if customers were to co-operate more fully in arranging the work. It is not an unfrequeut occurrence for a customer to describe a load as urgent, which is not the case, or to say he requires five tons carting, and then ringing up to say the order should have been for 12 tons. Such a case occurred last week, and it entailed no end of extra trouble in rearranging the work. It is amusing to note the general ignorance of the public concerning the possibilities of motor wagons. In one week, I have received two enquiries from engineers to know if I could move weights of 12 tons and 30 tons respectively; in the.former case, the article was only 70 ft. long I shall be pleased to pass either (or both) of these enquiries on to any interested motor-wagon carrier.
Our log sheet for the week is as follows earnings, £70; mileage, 1,016; tonnage, 172; percentage of work done, 100; coke used, 10 tons; oil (gear), 13 gallons; and oil (cylinder), 4 gallons.—Yours, etc., " MOTOR-WAGON CARRIER."
Learning the Streets of London.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[991) Sir,—That portion of the examination made by the authorities of Scotland Yard, in connection with the licensing of cab drivers, which deals with the knowledge possessed by candidates of the highways and by-ways of the Metropolis, is one which has always been a sore point to many intending motoreab drivers, the more so that it is not the easiest thing to acquire. London, as we all know, is a big place, and, whilst one may have an extensive acquaintance with one or two quarters of the county, it is only the man who has often wandered far from home who can expect to be " at home," so to speak, in any district he may be called upon to visit in charge of a " fare." Scotland Yard insists that all drivers of hackney carriages shall possess this knowledge, and the interesting question arises: How can it best be secured There is no doubt but that the drivers of horsed-cabs obtained their intimate knowledge of the streets by the spending of years on the boxes " and "dickies " of their cabs, in a well-nigh ceaseless " crawl " from end to end of the county, but, with the sudden demand for men to " man " the large number of mechanical cabs which are being put on the streets, this method is hardly likely to find favour, owing to the length of time required. It is interesting to note, therefore, in this connection, that a school has been opened recently for the purpose of imparting to intending taxi-drivers this necessary knowledge. The aim of the institution is to make candidates thoroughly conversant with the whereabouts of all places of interest and note, together with the best routes for reaching them. The candidate must also learn the situation of all large public buildings, squares, police and county courts, sessions houses, fire-stations, hospitals, museums, hotels, clubs, and, last but not least, theatres and musichalls. These should make an excellent ground-work on which to build up a solid grasp of London's network of thoroughfares. This school isin the Clerkettwell Road.
Although much can be done with the aid of a map, I fear that a really-adequate knowledge of the subject can only be finally obtained by actual experience in the streets, hut, in so far as a good theoretical and preliminary coaching is the first thing to secure, such an institution should prove of distinet value to the novice.—Yours faithfully.
" QUANTOCK."
Concerning Solid Rubber Tires.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
[992] Sir,—We have read with interest the article in your last week's issue from the pen of " Homoc," and can only state that we agree practically in their. entirety with the remarks contained therein. The dimensions of tires which " Flomoc " gives would make a fine proposition, and if only -users would act on the lines suggested it would be to their undoubted advantage.
We have all along endeavoured to persuade customers to purchase tires under the suggestions laid down by " Homoc," even at a loss to ourselves in a way. With our tires, which have a good life, and when sold under a guarantee, we certainly obtain a higher price to cover the risk; but, as we have been most anxious to forward the movement in every way, and that our customers should run their vehicles on an economical basis, we have invariably advocated that they should buy their tires on the lowest possible basis, viz., for cash, without guarantee other than an undertaking on our part that the tires do not fail from faulty workmanship or material. In our new catalogue, to which you, Sir, made reference on the 1st July, we specify sizes of tires, and gross loads. which we estimate they are capable of carrying, and, although we observe that in some instances " Homoc " has increased the tire section, yet this has its advantages from the user's point of view.
We repeat certain words which appear in this article: " Any larger-size tire pays for its extra capital outlay in an increased life." That is true.
We wish, finally, to compliment the writer of the article, and ire consider that it must prove of real interest to coramereial-vehiele users.—Yours faithfully, THE POLACK TYRE AND RUDDER CO., LTD. F. Poppe, Managing Director. 31, Basinghall Street, E.C.
Petrol Rail Cars.
The Editor, THE COMMERcIAL MOTOR."
[993] Sir,—I have been extremely interested to read the account in your journal of the Straker-Squire tramcars at Shepherd's Bush Exhibition, and I trust, now that people are beginning to take the motor vehicle for business purposes so seriously, we shall see a very considerable. development of the movement to employ small self-contained motor rail cars in sparsely-populated districts, where the costly electric car is out of the question and where locomotives would not prove to he a paying proposition. If I remember rightly, the Great Northern Railway Co. nibbled at the same problem some four or five years ago in conjunction with the Daintier Co., but it was a half-hearted attempt at the best. I saw the car, I believe, in Doncaster ; it was a sort of overgrown tramcar with the engines and gearboxes on a separate fourwheeled under-frame. Then there was the N.E.R. experiment with four-cylinder 81 in. by 10 in. engines, driving electrical transmission gear. But the railway companies have almost entirely confined their experiments to steam, and that upon big 50-ton coaches as a rule. It is to the small tramcar-type of vehicle that I am looking for further development. The running of the machines at Shepherd's Bush is admittedly slow (because of police restrictions, I understand), but they are easy-riding, clean and convenient. I should bo glad to hear what StrakerSquire's estimate to be the cost of running. The tractive effort must be very high as the track is a very poor job, and it occurred to me that, although there are, at present, very few people about in the exhibition grounds, these few would Use the trains more, were there more trams to use. There seems to be a good number of machines, but the service is so haphazard. T feel sure the cars are a practical proposition and that considerable development will soon take place in this branch of commercial motoring—as it has already done, for instance, in fire-brigade organisation.—Yours faithfully, WALTER A. WICKHAM. Amhurst Road, West Hackney.