From Our U.S.A. Correspondent.
Page 9
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Limited Use: Bad Roads.
In writing of the commercial vehicle in the United States, one is reminded most forcibly of early struggles in England. Tie industrial car, in this country, is still in the stage of experiment. At present, no large factory exists for its production, though this is a state of things which cannot long continue, and I learn of at least one firm occupying a prominent position in the touring-car business which contemplates the manufacture of really modern and serviceable heavy vehicles at an early date.
Utility vehicles are in operation in the larger cities in some numbers, but whether they can be profitably operated in their present state of development is another question. As was formerly the ease with American touring cars, they are being built much too light for their work, and just as the touring-car makers have discovered that a light vehicle cannot live on American roads, 80 it will be with the industrial side of the business. In the cities, the roads are as a rule fair, and there is a good deal of asphalt paving. The traffic, at present, is of a cry local nature, deliveries only being made over very short distances; hence, the vans now running do not strike the extremelybad roads which still obtain in the suburbs. As soon as the use of th: cemmereial vehicle becomes more general, the improvement in its design and construction will follow before it ean be adopted to anything like the extent it already is in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland.
Motorcab Prospects.
The motoreab industry is one which will develop very rapidly, but here again the operating companies have much to learn. The small American touring car of 12 h.p. to 16 h.p. compares very unfavourably indeed with European models, and it is this vehicle which has been pressed into cab service—with the addition of a heavy and indifferently-equipped landaulet body. The inevitable result is a noisy and shaky vehicle, which becomes, after a short life on tramway tracks, reduced to a condition of which its patrons would be the first to complain were there anything better to be
had. There is no police control, and, even in New York City, the motorcabs are licensed only as motor vehicles, and the authorities take no responsibility for their suitability—or other
wise—for the work required of them. In view of the enormous improvements which have been effected both in cabs and omnibuses in London, under the exacting requirements of Scotland Yard, this freedom from supervision may in the end prove a
doubtful advantage to the operating companies, but it is unlikely that the best firms will take to building genuine cab chassis so long as they can, as at present, obtain a ready sale for large-powered and expensive touring cars.
About Tires.
The tire question offers another interesting problem for heavy vehicles; there is no question that the same mileage we are accustomed to in England is never obtained with any class of tire here. This may be due to indifferent roads, but I am inclined to think, from other signs, that the American-made tire is not up to the European standard. Be this as it may, no rubber company here will think of selling tires with a mileage guarantee, and, as the user has to take his own chances, he generally employs too narrow a tire, and badly overloads it. I do not know if the " Syndicate has in contemplation a branch here, but, from my own experience with these tires in England during the heavy snow of last winter, I 'can say with certainty that they would give satisfaction, and it must not be overlooked that one-third of the year's running nas to be done on snow, often of considerable depth. where smooth solid tires are a certain cause of trouble. H.K.T.