The Roads for the People.„
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Tho special article from the pen of Mr. W. Joynson-Hjeks, M.P. which article appears on page 406.of this issue, is one which cannot fail to command the earnest attention of all owners of motor chars-hbanes at the present juncture of events. Mr. Joynson-Hicks, apart from his being President for many years past of the Automobile Association and Motor Union, is known to many supporters of this journal as one of the country's ablest lawyers, and above all as one who has given many years of a keen professional life to personal investigation and study of most matters concerning highways and highway traffic. Mr. Joynson-Hicks's prominent association with politics also appeals to us, by reason of the fact that he has always lent a ready ear and a willing hand to those who have sought his assistance in matters of legislation or threatened legislation. It has never been his fault that everything sought has not been attained.
We wish to direct particular attention to one significant phrase in his article. We refer to the words " The roads for the people." This war-cry is one which we shall hope to help to develop, and in the near-future to carry against the camp of the County Councils Association.
It looks as though the matter of road traffic must of necessity be moved from the ordinary sphere of industrial negotiation into the political arena, before many years are passed, if not—subject to war conditions—at once. "The roads for the people." is a necessary corollary to the fundamentally-sound cry. of " The land for the people," We deliberately write "fundamentally," becatise many excrescences have fastened themselves on to the underlying principles which support the economic demand for better and better access to the land, and simpler means of getting there.
Members of the County Councils Association are largely landed proprietors. They usually represent the largest landed interests in any, county, although we agree that there are some exceptions. Taken as a whole, the vote of the County Councils Association is the vote of the big landowners of the country. Many of them have individually fought in the past, and in their own opinion with every justification for their contentions, to keep so-called" trespassers "off their land; they apparently now seek also to keep the general public off the roads which bound or intersect tfteir estates. The means of prohibition is to be found in heavy taxation of the poor man's motorcar —the motor charrh-banes. Incomplete and misleading statements are being circulated, although we do not for one moment ascribe them to the County Councils Association, in which it is alleged that petrol consumption of a motor char-a-banes is enormously higher than the petrol consumption of a motorcar. This special pleading, of course, refers to the consumption per tulle run, but does not in any sense refer to the consumption per passenger-mile, which is the true test. The average consumptions of petrol per passenger-mile are, according to careful averages which are well established, these: by motorcar, on the basis of 24 m.p.g. and three' passengers, 1.67 oz. ; by motor char-a-banes, on the basis of 8 m.p.g. and 24, passengers, 0.62 oz. The comparative consumptions of petrol, for 1000 passengers conveyed 30 miles, are the following: by motorcar, 417 gallons; by motor char-h-bancs, 156 gallons. These figures must be considered, before anybody can claim that the case for or against the motor char-a-banes has been wholly presented.
"The roads for the people" is a phrase for the origination of which• we feel that many of our supporters will in the future be under a real debt of gratitude to Mr. Joynson-Ricks. "The people." must not be kept off the roads, owing to unintelligent or selfish opposition. They will, in due time, see to this themselves. An interval is undoubtedly required for their further education. The growing popularity of the motorbus and the motor char-hbanes, which vehicles are in fact but variants of the one type, and both of which are conveyances for people without capital, will make itself felt in voting• pbwer the more quickly that it is sought to repress such means of relaxation for vvage-earners and other Workers.
The Status of the Char-a-banes.
The possibility of a defence for owners of motor chars-h-bancs, in the event of their being challenged as to their continued right of user of such vehicles on any highWay the administrative area of a county council, becomes more interesting. We suggested the probability of legal complication, due to the absence ouicersaing power for county councils, when writing on this subject a week ago. We then decided to refer the matter to a legal authority, and it will be observed that Mr. W. Joynson-Hicks, M.P., in the course of the article to which we have already referred, indicates that there are certainly good reasons, on several pleas, for contesting the rights of county councils. One of these is, that the The Status of the Char-a-banes—con.
words "plying for hire" may be taken, by the context in the early lines of Clause 20 of the Local Government (Emergency Provisions' Act to refer to the vehicles only. If motor chars-à-bancs have used a particular route, and if they have been licensed as hackney carriages to ply for hire in terminal areas at the ends of that route, eitherboroughs or urban districts, it then appears, according to the judgment of Mr.:Joynson-Hicls, that any county council will find itself on highly-debatable ground, if it should seek to stop such traffic under the new powers. Prospects of litigation are thus invited by the action and attitude of the Cotinty Councils Association, whereas its constituent 'councils 'looked for instant and large revenue. It goes without sayi4 that charh-bancs Users all over the country should stand together financially to support and fight, a test case. It may easily prrive that the " silartness " of the county councils Will have availed them nothing. • We again most strongly urge upon all provincial owners of motor chars-à-bancs the expediency of their making no terms with any county council, exoept in consultation with the Commercill Motor Users AsSociation (83, Pall Mall, "S.W.), or the Provincial Omnibus Owners Federation (11, Old SeWry Chambers, E•.C.).
The Petrol Shortage Solved.
The simplicity of certain of the two-fuel carburetters and fittings, to a number of which we are devoting a descriptive series, is further borne out by the example with which We deal in the current issue: • Two-fuel carburetters cannot for long be ignored by any user of a commercial vehicle, by reason of the growing risk that petrol will fail. Nobody can give a. • guarantee of any kind, or one of any value, as to future degrees of curtailment in the supply and distribution of petrol, or as to 'prices seven Months henee. A beginning in the arplication of control 'bee been made, and for -the moment only the owners Of Particular classes of chars-h-banes are adversely affected to a serious extent. They are, within our knowledge, availing themselves of the opportunity to get out of their difficulties which the fitting of a: two-fuel carburetter offers. Their choice; of,course, Must fall upon one of the devices which is on general sale, such as t.he KingeZenith, The King-Smith, the Knox, or .the Binla. The Wolseley, the Thor4croft,. the Marshall, the Albion; andeather proprietary twofuel Carburetters,, which are manufactUred and sold, according to -demand and facilities for production, for use upon Vehicles of those makers' types respectively, are not readily adaptable to vehicles of other makes and types. There is, non t the less, seen to be a fair choice for the would-be pur-ehaser of a twofuel carburetter, and definite promise of' healthy competition between makers, for general sale.
We anticipate an early increase of attention to the • Matter of production of two-fuelecarburetters, not only amongst traders who seek to do business in such fittings on the accessory side, but also amongst makers of chassis generally, seeing that it will soon become a sine' qua, nonthnt a two-fuel carburetter Shall be a part of the Standard equipment of may: commercial-vehicle chassis.
The Control of Compression in Relation to the Shortage of Petrol.
The real difficulty in the way of the general use of fuels other than petrol, in an engine which is primarily designed to use spirit; is that of arranging for the necessary alteration in the compression pressure. With alcohol, for example, a much higher compression is necessary than for petrol, if satisfactory and economical working is to be obtained ; with benzole, a slightly higher compression can be utilized to advantage, whereas with paraffin less trouble is experienced, 'and greater efficiency results, if the pressure of the mi.ture when ignited is somewhat less than when a lighter and more volatile fuel is in use. Paraffin requires means of adjustment. It is generallSr believed in academic circles that the difference between the compression for petrol and that necessary for paraffin is considerable, the latter being stated dl about 40 per cent. of the former. In practice, however, a much smaller variation is found to give good results. So slight, indeed, is the alteration adiiiisaible, that in quite a number of cases paraffin is sliccessfull5c used in warmed-up engines without any steps whatever being taken to increase the volume of the combustion chamber. The concomitant disadvantages, which are principally an inability to run slowly, and tendency to knock on less provocation than usual, are deemed inconsiderable• by the side of the economies which are effected by the use of the cheaper fuel.
It seems hardly worth while to put up with the above-mentioned inconvenience, when the means for correcting the failing, by increasing the volume of the compression space, are simple and readily applied. The most obvious way, and one which is available on most engines, is to fit new, shallower valveplugs, thus adding a portion Of the space Which is ordinarily taken up by these fittings to the cylinder volume. In some cases, the design may allow stitfi cient metal to be turned off the inner end of the existing plugs, or packing pieces be laid between them end the faces of the cylinder against which they bed. Alternatively,.an ingenious device, which we describe elsewhere in this issue (page 308), rnay be used. Its effect is to add to the cylinder volume a " peninsula " of space, surrounded by the metal of a bottle-shaped casting, and connected to the " mainland " of the cylinder itself by a narrow opening through the hole which, in ordinary circumstances, receives the sparking plug. The latter is inserted in an orifice which is provided in the body of the "antipinker," as the device is named, so that the firing points of the sparking plug project into its interior. That this instrument attains the object desired, experience and our own personal test have proved ; that it rnus-thave other and peculiar effects seems likely from even a passing consideration of its design. Besides lowering the compression—its immediate and avowed object, it must also, we should think, have the additional effect of retarding4the ignition, owing to the fact that the electric spark will first ignite that portion of the mixture which is forced into the "anti-pinker "on each compression stroke, the burning gases, as they rush from its interior into the cylinder, serving to explode the main body of the charge: The lag due to this operation, will, of course., be very small, and may only become noticeable, if at all, at high engine speeds. It is likely, too, owing to the wire-drawing effect of the small entrance, that at high• speeds the pressure at the instant immediately preceding ignition will be slightly less than that in the main body of the mixture, thus diminishing the compression of the mixture, when primarily ignited, and therefore the velocity of flame propaga:Eon, still further. The cumulative effect of these small factors will probably be merely the loss of a percentage of efficiency, so small as to be negligible, in view of the advantages of ease of operation with the cheaper fuel, together with the resultant economy in actual outlay, as realized in practice. It is important to note, when considering the effect of the extra cylinder space, that it must be regarded, aq to. ignition and early explosion effects, in relation to the compression space, and not the total cubic capacity of the cylinder. The practical application for users, who may wish to be able to run alternatively on petrol and paraffin, by using a. two-fuel carburetter, and another day to revert to petrol, is this : if the Milks " anti-pinker" be used, it can be removed and the plugs replaced in the usual position for working on petrol only ; if the compression reduction be effected by a modification of the valveplugs, either of two sets can be employed according to intention, and changed at the expenditure of only a few initiates labour.