Correspondence.
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The Largest Storag Tankfor Fuel Oil.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—We note, by the correspondence columns in your issue of the 9th instant, that the British Petroleum Company, Limited, disputes your statement that our tank at Manchester is the largest storage tank in England. Personally, we are quite indifferent as to the situation of the largest storage tank in England, but, as a matter of public interest, we hope the British Petroleum Company will inform your.readers as to the capacity of the tank to which it draws attention at its Royal Albert Docks installation. Our Manchester tank has a capa.,ity of 2,240,000 gallons, and we do not know of any other tank in this country which has a capacity of 2,000,000 gallons....Yours faithfully, i',IF.ADE-KiNc, ROBINSON, AND COMPANY. Liverpool.
Plain-tube Radiators.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—" Radian " dues not seem to understand the type of radiator to which I referred in your issue of 25th June. The thick plates are used in the construction to which the top and bottom castings are bolted. What I claim, is, that by nnakin.g the joints at the ends of the tubes, above the plate, as described, the plate takes all the strain off the joints, whereas, if they are made on the plate, they frequently break underneath. My letter explains the benefits of welding, viz., expansion and contraction. Another benefit is, in using the oxy-acetylene process for welding, the heat is concentrated in a very small area, not softening and weakening the tubes below the plate, which brazing, as " Radian " describes, does.—
Yours, etc., TVVILLTAM MACKENZIE.
Motor Wagon or Tractor?
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir was interested to read your short leader on " Self contained Motor Wagon or Independent Tractor?" in last week's issue. I have seen many cases of damage to the road surface by tractor driving-wheels, but in such cases the trouble has been due to the maker's defiance of the regulations regarding the width of the spaces between the stropcs of the tires, or too much anxiety to meet these regulations, and therefore to fit the stropes so close that, after running but a short distance, the tires are practically smooth. With a properly-designed tread, the large-diameter wheel of the tractor must be less damaging to the road than the smalldiameter wheels which it is the fashion to fit on wagons.— Yours, etc., " Bic. DRIVER." Is Some Noise Desirable ?
The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—At Westminster, recently, Mr. Troutbeck, in the course of an enquiry touching the death of a man who was fatally injured by an electrobus, remarked that these vehides were " comparatively " noiseless. I would like to raise the question as to the expediency of noiselessly-running motor vehicles. Not that I wish to commend the present terrible clatter of some of them; but, so much having been made of this quality of noiselessness by the electric-vehicle people in particular, I will go so far as to assert that the worship of noiselessness will result in motor vehicles becoming too quiet.
It must be taken into account that a large proportion of road users, including pedestrians, persist in trusting Lo their sense of hearing for information as to the movements of other users of the highway. When practically noiseless running has been attained, as it will be, for petrol, as well as electric, vehicles, there will certainly be, among the accidents, a number which would have been avoided if a judicious amount of din had been retained for the benefit of those who have eyes yet see not. There is an illustration of this in the bicycle. It is, as a rule, a practically noiseless vehicle, and, writing from experience as a cyclist who rides about town every day, I am painfully aware of the extent to which I have to be on the qui vivc, in consequence of the very noiselessness of my vehicle. In fact, I am debatingwhether to obtain the desired din by means of the jingling bell of the old-time ordinary, or to devise a dapper to engage with the
wheel spokes.—Yours faithfully, F. GRUBB,
High-grade Lubricants.
The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR. "
Sir : -In reading your article on the relative merits of lubricating oils, in your issue of the znd instant, I was much interested as to the nature of the test which had been employed to determine the " nature of deposit " and the " nature of the fluid," and I therefore telephoned you, and was informed that this test consisted of treating the oils with a mixture of strong acids. This test, when applied by oil travellers, I have always regarded as a piece of " claptrap," but, when it is approved by your paper, it merits one's, earnest attention, and I therefore should very much like to know why such test is applied, as everybody is aware that acids are used in the refining of mineral lubricatingoils, but only in very small quantities, chiefly to remove sulphur, and various impurities; but, if such treatment with acid be overdone, the quality of the oil is in no way improved.
Very little is known of the nature of the deposit which is formed by the action of strong acid on oil. however, there is not the least doubt that it is neither tar nor asphalt. If, for instance, sulphuric acid is the acid used, the deposit consists largely of sulphonic acids, formed by the combination of the hydro-carbon with the sulphuric acid. It is as well, perhaps, to mention here that strong acids have only a very slight action on burning paraffin oil, and on paraffin
wax, which, of course, are two constituents which it is desirable to eliminate from a motor oil, and this is one of the many propositions of the absolutely negative value of such a test. For example, one of the best motor oils on the market, with a very low carbonisation value, is far more markedly attacked by strong acid than is another oil, which, however, is not nearly such a good lubricant for an internaleotribustion engine. Indeed, I cannot understand why this test should be applied to oils to ascertain whether they are good lubricants, ally more than to other commodities as a criterion of their quality, for instance, tires, petrol, or, indeed, the steel of which the car is constructed, or one's boots, etc., for, :under working conditions, the oil is not subjected to the action of the acid, any more than are the tires, petrol, Steel, boots, etc. In my opinion, you have not applied the most essential of all tests, i.e., that of carbonisation, for, after all, I suppose what we really want to know in a motorcar oil, is
I.—Its freedom from deleterious substances, such as acids, resinous matters, fatty oils, etc.
2.—Its viscosity at the working temperatures, as an indication that it will have the necessary body to keep the working surfaces apart.
3.—Its diStillation point, in order to be sure that 'the.. ,• oil will nbt distil on surfaces which it has to lubricate:. , 4.—To what extent it will form carbonaceous deposit. I am aware that, up to the present, no standard method has been adopted for the determination of carbonisations, but some time ago I was favoured with an enquiry from Sir Boverton Redwood as to the method which I was adopting for taking carbonisations, and he was so good as to express his approval of my test, and to suggest that I should carry my experiments still further. I have devoted some considerable time and attention to this matter, and have made a very large number of systematic tests, and have evolved a simple test for determining the carbonisation value of oils which, I think, even if not adopted as a standard, will form a basis for the improvements which would no doubt he suggested by other oil chemists. I hope, shortly, to read a paper stating fully the results of the work that I have done in this direction.
In conclusion, I would say that my real reason for writing this letter, is that I consider your test as to the nature of deposit and fluid formed by treatment with strong acid to be practically of no importance, and simply misleading to motorists, and one which, in the past, has fortunately failed to produce the effect hoped for by those who have made use of it.—Yours faithfully, Millwall, E. A. DuckEttim. loth July, 1908.
[We expect Mr. Duckham's letter will give rise to others, and we shall be glad to give space to all that are of interest. We reserve our own comments, except that we invite our correspondent to consider the high temperatures and degrees of concentration which are required for the formation of sulphonie welds from hydro-carbons. We shall look forward, with great interest, to the new series of carbonisation tests.--E D. I
The Poor Man's Motor.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—I was very interested to read the reports of the recent Mansion House meeting in the various papers and, as a city worker, I should like to make a few remarks on it. I hope, in common with a great many others, that this meeting will not cause any further restrictions to be placed upon motorbus traffic in the City. The majority of those present on the platform at the meeting were men who very rarely have to use a motorbus : they were men who are their own masters, and whose circumstances allow them to take a cab when they want to get about the City. I recently travelled up to town with a gentleman well known in commercial circles in the City, and, after reading a morning newspaper's account of the meeting, he murmured that it was " quite right, too," and that all motorbuses ought to be taken off the streets. This very broad-minded gentleman went on to say that he never travelled by motorbus (although he makes a large number of calls every day in different parts of London) : he travels other and more leisurely ways—as a method of " personally protesting " against motorbus traffic. Being a responsible member of his firm, he can, practically, Lake his own time over his journeys, though, if he has occasion to send a clerk out, 1 warrant that the latter is expected to do the journey in the shortest possible time, and the shortest possible time in which one can travel from one point to another in London is by motorbus.
Then, subordinates in an office are expected to be in and ready to start work at a certain time (9 or 0.30 a.m.), whilst the chiefs can come in " about " any time. The clerk, living in the suburbs, who is so unfortunate as to miss his train, can come up by the next, take a motorbus from the London station, and probably arrive at the office just in time. If the chief misses his train—well, the 'next will do just as well; he need not take a " car of Juggernaut," in order to save a few minutes.
In addition, there are the benefits which are conferred upon the clerk who lives within four or five miles of his office. A motorbus brings him up, or takes him home again, in less than half the time the horse bus takes, and to be able to start half-an-hour later in the morning, and to get home half-an-hour earlier in the evening, is no unimportant matter to the youthful clerk whose holidays are few and far between. I'll guarantee that every one of those employers at the Mansion House meeting is prepared to say that he always does his best to further his employees' interests. It is a pity that the City merchant doesn't realise that one of the chief interests of the very moderately-paid clerk is to have a cheap and quick means of .conveyance at hi disposal.—Yours faithfully, " EMPLOYED," Islington, N.