Opinions from Others.
Page 20
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Non-skids for Steel-tired Wheels.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,450] Sir,—Pertnit me to compliment you on your issue of the 9th November with the references to, and excellent illustrations of, " Wheels, Rims and Tyres." No doubt it will prove of very considerable benefit to
-all users of commercial vehicles. One must, how. ever, regret the paucity of the catering, by manufac-turers, for the owners of steel-tired machines, and the -small amount of effort made to help them to overcome the difficulties of winter transport.
The illustration of winter wheels which you repro duced, and your references thereto, are proof that some attention is being paid to this matter, but the provincial user requires an article which can be guaranteed to complete a mileage which would give a reasonable return on outlay, and, also, that the wheels would comply with police requirements in regard to the treads wearing flat. The added weight must not be so great as to place the vehicle outside the legal limit. My experience of such wheels is that they are much heavier than the ordinary composite type of wheel usually fitted to steam wagons. The importance of having suitable tires for steam wagons, excluding rubber tires, is likely to be more emphasized this winter than ever, as the tarring of roads is calculated to render them extremely difficult for the steel-tired wagons.— Yours faithfully,
"SKIDDING."
The Right to Steal.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,451] Sir,—I desire to take an early opportunity of expressing my appreciation of your editorial article, on " The Right to Steal," which appeared in your issue dated the 9th inst.
It is an article which will no doubt be widely read by the drivers who are or were on strike, and however they may differ from you as to the morality or otherwise of the claims they have set up, they will have to admit the frankness and courage with which you have expressed your sentiments. This alone merits the gratitude of the public, for there is a tendeney of late to wrap up the clear facts of labour disturbances in soft words.
Never was there more need to call a spade a spade than at the present time, and the best proof that this is so is 1in4nished by the title of your article. Without question, the taxi-drivers are claiming the right to steal, and their leaders are not ashamed to advocate a departure from a standard of morality recognized as necessary even by savage races, and to a considerable extent in the animal world. To -commercial-motor owners, honest dealing as between master and man is a fundamental necessity, and unless this is to be clearly recognized the industry must fall to the ground like a pack of cards. The driver of a commercial motor carries his master's fortunes in his keeping to a far greater extent than most employees, and in most cases he receives this trust under conditions which prevent the possibility of his work being supervised. The employee, in fact, becomes a departmental manager, and he enjoys oportunities of displaying his individual abilities to a degree which has been almost unknown in the field of labour before. Is it not, therefore, suicidal for the men's leaders to adopt a policy which supports any action on the part of the men which might tend to curtail the freedom they enjoy ?
A point which is being sadly missed in labour cir cles at present is that a job in itself is worth respect and careful consideration, apart from its immediate return financially ; it contains possibilities of improvement to all parties concerned. If more attention were given to getting the best out of a job by intelligent application, we should hear considerably less about the right to steal—Yours faithfully,
LANCA STRIA N."
Mixed Treads for Vehicle Wheels.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,452] Sir,—The heading of the first leading article on the 2nd inst. at once attracted my attention, viz., "Wheels, Rims and Tyres," and your editorial found me devouring every word of it.
If no one has contributed something on the subject already, I wish some experienced firm, manufacturers or users, would give to " CM." readers some lucid data as to the durability and wear of mixed treads : I mean those in which the edge of the rim is a steel band, and the " biting surface is composed of wood or rubber blocks, or both. This is a grave matter. What can be done to ensure that the treads wear something like evenly ? Does wood or rubber wear the more quickly ? and is it not an offence against laws or by-laws if the rim is so uneven as to subject a road-surface to unduly rough treatment? If a rim is supposed to be 5 in. wide, comprising 2 in. of steel edges, and 3 in. of rubber or wood blocks, what is the owner's liability to prosecution when the blocks are worn, and the rims are left to grip and grind a road ?—Yours faith
fully, " Alley and MacLellan's "New" Steamer.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,453] Sir,—If it be true that imitation-is a sincere form of flattery, then Messrs. Fodens, Ltd., must be feeling very gratified at the numerous compliments which their competitors continue to shower upon them. At the same time it is depressing to reflect upon the wholesale manner in which originality is being cast upon the scrap heap of experience in an almost indecent haste, in order to imitate the form of an undoubtedly-successful design of motor wagon. In some cases, the policy of imitation has been excusable, as being the only means of concealing a lack or originality, but, in the case of the "new" Sentinel wagon, it is impossible to adopt this line of reasoning. Messrs. Alley and MacLellan already possess a machine which embodies all the best practice in modern steam engine design, and they can certainly claim to have done this with success. They have carried the use of superheated steam, supplied by a water-tube boiler to a poppet valve engine, into motor wagon practice, and other makers who have noted the results of this policy have been tempted to follow their example. Surely, under these circumstances, it is natural to inquire why the " new " Sentinel, at least from an engineering standpoint, is so far behind the machine it is presumably to displace.
From the user's point of view, there are several matters of interest upon which more information would be welcome ; the " old " Sentinel wagon was exceptionally-well proportioned for weight carrying, and it is possible, I believe, to carry nearly 5 tons on its own platform and yet come under the legal limit for axle weights.
It would be interesting to know how the " new " machine compares with the old one in this respect. Again, in the matter of control, we are invited in the " new " model to adopt dual control in place of single control in driving ; has the Sentinel patent brake been retained on the new model? [No, it has not.—En.] This has always been highly appreciated by the drivers. Why is the use of superheated steam abandoned ? There must be some reason which is of first interest to users of motor wagons I think the old model will be a "die-hard."—Yours faithfully,
"A MOTOR-WAGON CARRIER."