From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
German Trials Results.
I note that Berlin furniture-removing firms are showing a tendency to avail themselves of mechanical propulsion. " Enter den Linden," recently,
I saw a particularly bulky superstructure, which took up half of the width of the roadway, being whirled along at some 10 miles an hour.
Recently, at Hamburg, a DaimlerMarienfelde " train " of the subsidised type, namely, with carrying tractor and trailer, demonstrated its fitness for traffic in the here-and-there very narrow streets of the city. The Commissioner of Police and many Hamburg magnates attended the trial, which included various evolutions in the courtyard of the head police office. It is proposed to work subsidized lorries in Hamburg, hence the demonstration, which was highly successful.
Standardization of Heavy Lorries in Germany.
In the presence of representatives of the German War Office and the Army Transport Service the Association of German Automobile Makers held a meeting with a view to deciding upon the standardization of certain parts of automobiles, and, after a. protracted discussion, came to an agreement respecting a standard pattern of wheel and tire for heavy lorries. In conformity with the War Office's suggestions, the wheels of the 4-ton lorry will conform to the following dimensions :—Outside diameter of frontwheel rims, 670 mm. (26.378 in); width of front-wheel tires, 120 mm. (4.7 in.); outside diameter of hack-wheel rims, g50 mm. (33.46 in.); width of backwheel tires. 140 mm. (5.5 in.); outside diameter of front-wheel tires, 830 mm. (32.6 in.); and outside diameter of bark-wheel tires, 1,030 mm. (40.18 in.). It Was unanimously resolved that the rubber tires should be attached to the rims by means of bolts. An agreement will doubtless be arrived at later in regard to other parts. Note how the heavy-lorry industry is being made subordinate to military expediency. The official awards for vehicles which participated in the recent industrial-vehicle trials were recorded in THE COMM RRCIAL MOTOR dated the 10th ultimo. The officials of the Imperial Motor Club must have obtained much interesting and instructive information respecting the performances of the various competing vehicles, and it is to be regretted that the club has not issued to the Press any table of comparative results. Can it be that the club has refrained from doing this because such a table would have clearly shown the superiority of the Swiss machines (Saurer) over those of German manufacture ? Saurer was awarded the lion's share of medals, and he certainly deserves all the praise that can possibly be given to him. His machines are fine examples of splendid design, coupled with first-class workmanship. J. and E. Hall, Ltd., of Dartford, should feel quite happy in the possession of the English manufacturing licence.
Relative Consumption of Fuel in the engines of the medal winners at the recent German Trials.
The accompanying table shows the cost for fuel per net-ton-kilometre, for each of the medalists, and their relative costs, as compared with those for the Selmer vehicles, for the classes in which Saurer competed. The fuel awards were based on the formula B x P divided by S X N, where B is the consumption of fuel in kiln., P is the price of the fuel in pfennigs per kilo., S is the distance travelled in and N is the useful load in tons of 1,000 kilo.
Automobiles for the Transfer of Heavy Guns in Austria.
The Austrian army authorities have been giving a trial to Daimler (Austrian) lorries, fitted with six-cylinder engines of 100 h_p., for the transport of heavy siege-mortars—the 24-centimetre type. Two such pieces of artillery can be transported by a lorry at the rate of nearly 10 miles an hour. Each vehicle is fitted up with a drumand-cable arrangement for winding where the ground is too heavy to admit of the weight's being trailed. According to reports, the trials have proved highly satisfactory, and the War Office will propose that the next Budget include an amount to cover the price of several machines of the kind.
The Defective Speed-limit Clause ol the German Motor Liability Act.
Section 8, sub-section 2, of the German Motor Liability Act, which came into force on 1st June, exempts from its scope automobiles serving for the transport of goods at speeds not exceeding 20 kilometres an hour (12 miles 754 yards). The wording of subsequent sub-sections of the Act, however. is SO vague that much uncertainty exists as to administration of the Act. One of the results of this uncertainty is that private insurance companies do not. see their way to give owners of industrial vehicles the benefit of a lower tariff as applying to a lesser degree of liability ; and, thus, the multiplication of the very class of automobiles which the Government wishes to increase for military purposes receives a set hack.