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• TRANSPORT TIPS FOR TRADESMEN.

18th January 1921
Page 15
Page 15, 18th January 1921 — • TRANSPORT TIPS FOR TRADESMEN.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Particularly Addressed to Those Who are Replacing Horsed Vehicles by Motors, or Contemplating So Doing..

HE PETROL saving competitions in course of organization by the Royal Automobile Club represent quite a useful attempt to encourage fuel economy, and will, no doubts be the means of providing motor users with a number of valuable hints as to how their petrol consumption might be reduced.

Petrol Economy.

• At the same time, there is nothing strikingly original in the idea of saving petrol by reducing the size of the carburetter jet. , One .woutd rather imagine,from seine of the paragraphs that have appeared in the daily papers forecasting a saving of forty million gallons of petrol per annum-, that some new 'and revolutionary scheme had been recently devised, whereas, in point of fact, the poesibilities of economy at the expense of speed and flexibility are well known, to all properly informed motor owners.

Reference has been made to a recent test carried out at Brooklands, in which six different ears were used. In each case the carburetter jet was reduced, with the net result that an average increase of 2,2 per cent. in the mileage per gallon of fuel was obtained. The average loss in maximum speed was only two Miles an hour, and the average extra time taken to climb the test-hill Was only one and four fifth seeonas.

At the first glance this seems to indicate very big possibilities of improved economy. No doubt there are plenty of commercial vehicle owners who have not given this matter sufficient attention. Their drivers may be using unnecessarily large jets merely because they find it saves time and trouble if they do so. Under some conditions it may be a little easier to start the engine, and occasionally an otherwise necessary change of gear may be avoided. If, however, the motor owner keeps a proper record of the performance of his vehicles, any seriousfalling

i off n fuel economy that might be caused by the enlargement of a jet would be inevitably detected . almost immediately. Loss of economy ioa.y result also from; other causes, and it is only by keeping proper 'records that the owner of trade motors can tell how he stands in this respect.

Proper Records Should he Kept.

In any really complete organization such records are, of course, kept, and periodical experiments are made to see whether better fuel economy can be obtained without any serious loss of effectiveness resulting. The trader has to remember, however, that fuel economy is not the only kind of eessnoniy at which he must aim, The result of going to extremes in the attempt to reduce petrol consumption may quite probably be the loss of equally important

economies in. other directions. If we reduce the pulling power of an engine, we not only lower the maximum speed of the vehicle, but we also render more frequent gear changes 'necessary. Frequent gear Changing tends to increase the cost of maintenance of the vehicle mechanism. Again, if the vehicle is largely used in traffic, the loss of power, and therefore of flexibility, may mean a very considerable reduction in the average speed. This may be a serious matter if there is plenty of work to keep the vehicle occupied throughout the day. In that case, slowing down may lead to overtime on the part of the driver and his assistant, and is thus quite likely to result in an increased expenditure much in excess -.of the saving effected.

Registering a Van on the h.p. Basis.

Reverting to the old subject of the licensing, of vehicles under the new scheme, I am informed that, in many cases, registration authorities are refusing to licence vehicles of the van type, hut required to give miscellaneous service on the horse-power basis. Apparently the official argument is based on. a provision of the Roads Act (Section 5 [2D recently passed, which says that the authority "shall not be required ti issue any licence for. which application is made unless satisfied that the licence applied for is the appropriate licence for the vehicle specified in the application.'

This is confusion worse confounded. The registration authority may refuse to be satisfied that. your vehicle should be licensed other than as, let us say, a traetor or a trade vehicle. The police, who are merely concerned with seeing that you keep the law, may decide that your vehicle is being used for'purposesi not authorized by the nature of its licence. It is inconceivable that a registration authority shall be given the power of saying that, because your vehicle is fitted with a certain kind of body, you shall only be allowed to use it for the carriage of certain kinds of goods or paseengers. If you, as a trader, see fit to use it at weekends as a motor caravan for holiday jaunts, one can hardly imagine that the registration authority has the right to say that you shall in no'•case do so, even though you are prepared to pay whatever duty is applicable to such a vehicle so used. Thus, a motor owner who has a staiPid registration authority to deal with is apparently to be in the rather unpleasant position that, if he accepts the decision .of the authority after informing it as to how he may use the vehicle and then uses it in that wasi, he is immediately liable to be prosecuted by the police. It would be interesting to know what would, be the position of the authority in this case. The motor owner has stated what he means to do with his vehicles, and has asked for a licence of a certain kind which he believes to be the right one in view of his intentions. The authority replies : "We refuse to give you this licence, but will give you something different. If, when you have got this something different, you use the vehicle as you eay you mean to use it, you will be committing an illegal acts", I shouldimagine its is 'very questionable whether any authority has the right to coerce any citizen into disobeying the law, 'which seems to he very much what this amounts to.

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Organisations: Royal Automobile Club

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