The January Subsidy Trials.
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First-published Illustrated Account of the Opening Runs of the 1913 W.O. Subvention Tests of Three Special Models.
Between 11 and 12 a.m., on the 9th inst., three heavy vehicles, made by Commercial Cars, Ltd., J. and E. Hall, Ltd., and John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., respectively, arrived at the headquarters of the Army Service Corps (Mechanical Transport Section), at Farnborough, Hants.
These machines had been specially designed to conform to the requirements of the War-Othce subsidy scheme, of which wehave made mention from time to time in the columns of this journal. . On arrival at the sheds, the vehicles were inspected by a small committee, consisting of Colonel Boyce, Major W. E. Donohue, and Captain A. E. Davidson. These gentlemen had the assistance of Messrs. Ashton Heath (chief engineer) and W. E. Wimperis, of the Crown Agents' Inspection Department, in this work. The footboards, bonnets and other portable fittings of all the lorries were removed, and copious official notes of constructional detail taken.
After luncheon, the machines were again assembled for the purpose of weighing in. The bodies were removed by a squad of "Tommies," and the tanks, radiators and oil reservoirs filled with their separate supplies to their utmost capacity. Next, the partially-stripped chassis, which included the driver's cab, etc., together with the specified spares and tools, were weighed separately. Each of the three makers represented then supplied to the Inspection Committee the certified weight of the cabs and bodies fitted to the respective machines. The net load was made up to the specified figure by means of iron pigs. The gross load carried was in excess of four tons. The lorries were afterwards placed under an armed guard in the Army Service Corps sheds throughout the night. They left the depot at 8 o'clock on the following morning, the 10th inst., fot the first day's run, which was intended to be 76 miles in length. A start was made without any incident. of importance occurring.
The route lay from Aldershot to Winchester, via the Southampton road, and a detour was made from the Cathedral city to the old Roman Road, which was followed as far as Compton and Otterbourne. The road to Winchester through Hursley was next taken. A halt for lunch was made at Alresford, and the machines then returned by the morning's route to the depot. The photographs reproduced on this page give a good idea of the conditions under which the machines were run up to the time of going to press with this issue.
In many respects, the designs of the various modelsare very similar, owing to the necessity of the respective makers' conforming to the subsidy requirements. The Thornycroft gave an observer.the impression of being the lightest machine of the three. Its behaviour on the road seemed, also, to single it out as the most speedy of the machines.
The Commer Car vehicle is a new model ; it possesses several differing features from the already wellknown existing types of Commer Car machines. The engine is more powerful, it haying a bore and stroke of 120 mm. by 140 mm. respectively. Larger bearings of the usual plain type have been incorporated, and a Commer-type gearbox, giving four forward speeds and a reverse, has been embodied as usual on this machine. The illustration-on this page gives a good idea of the compact quadrant used in conjunction with this gearbox. The double-reduction back-axle is of a special type and conforms to the requirements of the official scheme ; it gives a reduction of 8 to 1 on top gear. The Hallford machine is of solid and substantial appearance. Its bulldog build and powerful lines seem to indicate that it has been made for hard work, and is the more to be regretted, therefore, that, on the first day's run, a distinct loss of power was observed at intervals. This was apparently, we should say, due to a choked jet, which cleared and, choked itself alternately. No adjustment was allowed during the run, and, consequently, this little trouble could not be remedied until the return of the machine to the depot.
Both the fuel and the lubricating supplies carried in the tanks were calculated to take the machines throughout the whole of the trial. In case of necessity, however, each vehicle carried a reserve supply of four gallons of petrol. Captain A. E. Davidson accompanied the machines for some distance on the first day, but then returned to headquarters, leaving the vehicles each in charge of officers of the Army Service Corps, who were very assiduous in attention to their duties.
Throughout the running, the machines attracted great attention on the roads and created a good impression by their steady going, and the ease with which they were handled on the muddy and narrow country lanes. The drivers had in some way become impressed with the notion that the trial was a competitive test between the various makers' models, and each smiled triumphantly as some minor point was scored by the machine under i his charge, which would, n his opinion, count in its favour.
At the opening of the present account we indicated the route which was followed on the first day of running. The Thornyeroft, on this occasion, ran throughout without any trouble at all, and, as a matter of fact, kept ahead of the procession throughout the day. The three cars finished the first day's run within 13 minutes of each other ; the Commer Car, however, appeared to have suffered from some slight clutch trouble en route. The Hanford had one stop of two minutes duration, owing to a broken fan belt. An average of 12 m.p.h. was made on the first day, and this, considering the abominable state of the roads, may be considered as very good.
On Saturday the trials were run under merciless meteorological conditions. The route was a "shortened main road" from Aldershot, through Odihain, to Basingstoke, and thence to Whitchorch and back —a total distance of 58 miles. Stai t ing was not an easy matter, owing to the bad atmospheric conditions_ The Thornycroft again led all day. An air-inlet valve, which had worked open, gave some trouble to the Hanford. The Commer Car had to make a short stop on this run, owing to overheating. All the machines reached Whitchurch within 10 minutes of each other, and on the return journey it was obviously everybody's sole aim to get to Aldershot out of the abominable weather as quickly as possible. The consumptions of petrol per ton-mile were undoubtedly very high for this day, as so much running had to be done on low speds.
On Monday last the conditions had changed entirely. It was bright, frosty and bitterly cold.
We shall briefly report further
occasional days of the trial. It should be remembered that these three-tonners are more suitable for many export uses than for general home employment, and are so priced as to render the W.O. subsidy of doubtful advantage.