Better Vehicles Would Conserve the Roads.
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WHEN Mr. Arthur G. Bradshaw, the County Sur . veyor to the Lindsey (Lincs.) County Council, read his paper on "Roads and Road Transport" before the. members of the Lincoln Rotary Club last month we felt that his views deserved to be circu lated amongst those who manufacture and those who use heavy motor vehicles—the clientele of this journal. We felt that he was right in his arguments and that he was justified in asking us all to consider this question of road wear and tear from a new and correct angle. We have produced powerful road engines capable of hauling heavy loads at high speeds, creating a set of eonditions far removed from those under which roads had been developed up to the end of the nineteenth century, when the loads and speeds were, perforce, Icept within the capacity of a team of horses.
Stressing the roads with heavy weights and forces which have crumbled the foundations and pulverized the crusts, we have tried to meet the situation by rebuilding the roads to suit the vehicles and the loads, and there is this to be said, that our road surveyors have, unquestionably, advanced the science 4.if road construction to a point far ahead of anything that had been expected. If this had not been the ease, motor travel an the highways would not have reaehed its present stage of development, and would be hampered by restrictions that would have tended very materially to destroy its usefulness. ,It must also be agreed that motor manufacturers have not been idle, whilst some users (and, in par ticular, we have in mind the larger omnibus-operat ing concerns) have themselves taken the initiative in conducting research into problems of springing and tiring of their vehicles, and have encouraged the makers to do the same. But there is much to be done, for merely the fringe of possible improvement has so far been touched.
There has been little reduction, if any, in unsprung weights, the snubbing of spring rebound has had little or no attention, whilst it cannot be claimed that suspension systems are greatly different from what they were in the early days of motor design. In tyres there have certainly been improvements, and, in the case of one of the largest users in this country, costly and valuable experiments have been made to reduce the weight of wheels by the employment of aluminium in place of steel in their construction.
We pin a great deal of faith upon am inerease in the nuinber of wheels and in the distribution of the load and the drive, so that the proportion borne by each wheel is substantially less than in the case of the conventional four-wheeled vehicle. When asked why they do not embark upon the design of the multiwheeled vehicle, however, makers tell us that the user will not pay the increased cost. We think this is begging the question. If they will produce vehicles of a more advanced type, which will show substantial economy in maintenance of both road and vehicle, users would be encouraged to bring their fleets up to date by substitution of the better type for the old; whilst the Minister of Transport could be pressed to obtain powers to give an attractive relief from taxation in the ease of vehicles which are so designed as to avoid causing damage to the roads.
It is an advanced idea, but one that is perfectly practical. eMuch has already been. done in America to produce a multi-wheeled vehicle reasonably cheap to construct, and we feel that markers here who did the same would not be long in reaping a reward commensurate with their efforts, for, as Mr. Bradshaw' says in a short article which he cominunicates to The Commercial Motor this week, no other country offers such opportunities for the development and extension. of road transport as does the Old Country.
The Need for Traffic Acceleration.
TT MAY be (in fact, it is very probable) that /considerable thought and consideration are being devoted to the elucidation of the traffic problems of London, but the fact remains that traffic delays are rapidly increasing, and the congestion is becoming so bad that the time-loss is almost insufferable.
Considerable overhauling of the methods of point control at crossings and junctions is necessary. It is possible to stand at. these spots and see the crossing vacant of vehicles, or solely occupied by a sluggish horse vehicle, whilst two lines of waiting traffic stretch away out of sight. The policemen, having got the way open to traffic going north and south, and having disposed of the bulk of it, will continue to hold the way open for a solitary vehicle, or maybe two, that can. be seen .approaching (often, by the way, to turn left, thus emphasizing the terrible waste of time that has been permitted). We put the' proceeding down to " constable tiredness " or inertia—for, after all, they must be bored with the everlasting stopping and restarting of lines of traffic. That they do not consider individual_ requirements is shown by the way in which they will turn an obviously slow vehicle into a street in front of a line of obviously faster vehicles, with the equally obvious certainty that these will be slowed down to the pace of the craVeler, and will occupy the crossing itself for an unnecessarily long period: The police aet as if they were convinced that theft" job is not to accelerate traffic, but to see that everybody drives carefully and slowly. Unfortunately for that "view, London traffic is growing at the rate of over 10,000 'additional vehicles per month, and old methods must be dropped and replaced by new if our iitreets are not to become impassable. In his recent article in The Timer, Lord Ashfield expresses the view that, whilst our main arteries of traffic require to be doubled in capacity, it is impossible to conetruct double-deck roads • (the secondary way being above or below the present Street level), because of the expense, and he comes to the conclusion that fast traffic must seek the deep level :through the London clay and use the tube railways. But, before passenger traffic takes to these burrowing habits and leaves the fresh air, the street scenes and the historic buildingsto the carman and the drayman, who appreciate none of those amenities, why not endeavour to sort out the traffic into fast and slew and into that going east and that going west?
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To put this into effect, more one-way streets should be indicated, more routes parallel to main arteries should be opened up and heavy and slow vehtiles should be compelled to takemore circuitous routes. The proportionate loss of time, in their case, Would be small—possibly it would be none at all— but the gain on the' part of lighter traffic would be enormous. The experiment is being tried in Paris, heavy traffic being excluded from the main arteries centring on the Boulevard des Capucines between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., but Paris possesses so many alternative routes that the prohibited area can readily be by-passed by • heavy • vehicles which have hitherto only traversed the streets in the centre of the city rout of sheer habit and that dreadful inertia that prevents drivers from trying new experiments and new ways.
The Tyre as Part of the Suspension System.
mHE PAPER read before the I.A.E. last Tuesday, which is described elsewhere in this issue, emphasizes the importance of close collaboration between those responsible for different parts of the chassis if the best results are to be attained. In the past it has been customary for the chassis maker to regard tyres as auxiliaries with the precise design of whieh he was not vitally interested, but with the increasing use of pneumatics it is clear that the tyres and springs must both be considered in arranging the details of the suspension syetem. The efftots of disregarding this point have clearly been shown in the case of certain private cars. Highpressure tyres were replaced by the balloon type, without reference to the spring characteristics, and deplorable results accrued, such as undue rolling and pitching at certain speeds. We understand that the Dunlop Rubber Co. intend to divulge further experienental results as their investigations proceed, and have no doubt that ,ihese will be welcomed by all cencerned.
A Further Effort on Behalf of Power Alcohol.
A T PRESENT it does not seem possible to produce 171.power alcohol from beet at a. price which will enable it to compete with petrol, but it is urged, in justification for the extension, to the sugar content of. beet used for making power alcohol, of the proposed subsidy of 19s. ncl. per cwt. on sugar produced from beetroot, that there is considerable agricultural importance attaching to beet-growing, as it would employ a certain amount of labour, the by-products are of value for feeding cattle, whilst a root crop, in rotation with wheat, serves to 'clean the land and to increase the cereal crop. following it. Besides all this, labour would be employed in the manufacture of the sugar, and there would be the political aspect to be considered. With beet-growing an established industry, with acquired knowledge of its cultivation permeating agriculturists, and of economical production • of main and by-products, the country would be partially independent of imported fuel, which fact, would act as a corrective to an undue 'inflation of prices for fuel and bn of material assistance in case of the blockading of our ports in time of war. Should there be a world famine in petroleum, the ability to produce fuel from. homegrown materials would be extremely important as providing a solution: of a serious transport problem.
The whole of the facts of the case and the arguments in favour of the extension of the proposed subsidy were presented last week to the Government by means of a deputation to the Minister of Agriculture, the deputation including motor-using and manufacturing interests and trade organizations, when it was urged that the amount of the subsidy would, in all probability, be more than recouped by a reduction of the dole and by a saving in exchange on the purchases of American imports. ,