OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
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The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one , side of the paper only and typewritten by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted.
A Tyre Puzzle.
The Editor, THII COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1613j Sir,—Can any of your readers enlighten us as to the reason why the solid tyre manufacturers of this country, in conclave assembled, should, whilst agreeing to the necessity of an all-roundeincrease in prices which is perfectly reasonable, also agree that the value of old bands should decrease by about 50 per cent., and this while users have been given to understand that all such scrap as steel and rubber has an increased value 1—Yours faithfully,
C. AND G. YEOMAN.
Suction Gas as a Motor Fuel.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1614] note from Mr. Raymond's letter, No.
1608, in your issue of 4th July, that he agrees that his remarks on motor gas plant were largely based on stationary practice.
I quite agree -with Mr. Raymond that the conditions of working of gas engines and motor engines are not identical, but they very 'closely approximate on some works notably in the case which I mentioned in. my letter of 13th June.
Several of our leading gas engine makers now turn out vertical multi-cylinder gas engines, running on suction .gas, and these engines differ very-little from motor engines, and, in work, they are frequently subject to very great variations in load, though not speed, the engines being goVerned. The speed of the engine, however, is not a vital factor from the producer point of view, but the quantity of gas demanded by the engine in a given time is vital,, and, therefore, the conditions between one of these engines on a variable load and a motor engine do not differ greatly.
With regard to smell from the plant, -while it is working, there is a negative pressure inside the plant, and any leakage would consist of air inwards ; thus there can be no smell while working. While standing or being fanned up, the conditions of a stationary plant are very different from those affecting a plant on a motor vehicle. With a stationary plant, the wind constantly blowing in one direction might blow the gas inte the windows of houses. Also, at mealtimes, it is usual to open the gas cock and let the gas out into the air. A inotor vehicle is hardly likely to• do this for an hour at a time in one place, so I do not think there multi be any objection on this point from residents ; whilst, so far as the driver is affected, there is no noticeable smell from the 'small quantity of gas dischargdd. It would not be safe, however, to let the gas escape in a garage or other closed building, as the gas, under these.conditions, is poisonous.
, With regard to tar, how much tar does Mr. RayMond find in the scrubber of his stationary plants When. running on good anthracite, even after some weeks constant running ? If it can be kept out of a Stationary engine it can certainly be kept out of a motor engine. Again, the gas from a Auction plant is cleaner than the charge drawn in by a motor engine (mat dusty day, as the gas is washed, and is thus free of all matter in suspension. I do not know on what lines Mr. Stewart is working, so cannot say why tar is troubling hini. •
• With regard to the loss of power, in adapting an ordinary petrol engine to suction gas, there is undoubtedly a loss, but it is not so serious asto debar the use of this fuel, and has not debarred the use of coal-gas, which gives approximately the same drop in
B46 power. I gave, in my last letter, the reason why suction gas could make no headway six years ago ; the same remark of Mr. Raymond would equally apply to coal-gas. Given a cheap and ample supply of petrol, neither coal nor suction gas would be considered. If theresreallyis a shortage of petrol at the present time, suction gas will be taken seriously.—Yours faithfully, DAVID SMITH, 0.11.E., Major,. M.Inst.A.E.
Overseas Markets After the War.
Tlie Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1615] Sir,—Nothing could be more appropriate at the present moment than your article in the issue of 4th July oil "The Investigation of OverseasMarkets." All that could possibly be said upon the sub-' ject should be put before the public.
After the war, our most formidable competitor overseas will undoubtedly be the American motor industry, which has assumed dimensions of 80 colossal a magnitude that very few people know its real extent. I believe the figure invested in the U.S.A.-motor industry renresentS something like $750,000,000, and it is estimated that from four to five million people de
rive a living from that industry. Statistics prove that, already, every one person in 24 owns a motor vehicle in the U.S.A., and that, therefore, the home American market approaches satiation state. The logical conclusion is that quite a large proportion of the immense output of the American factories will have to find an outlet"overseas."
A "second forinidable competitor for foreign and -colonial markets is the industry in Italy, which is producing motors, even at the present time, on an im
mense scale. .
Now, that is what the British motor industry will he up against, and here are some of the means that are being proposed and used to lanneli the American production in foreign and colonial-markets :—
Firstly, they have created a National -Automobile Oh-amber of Commerce, which embraces a very large financial section to finance large stocks of cars and parts. Even at the present moment, mountain races and competitions are being arranged in certain nen' tral countries by the Americans.
Without a break, the inotor'journals of a large number of countries, each of which is a prospective buyer orBritish products, appear, month in and month out, crowded from cover to cover with American advertisements, with useful propaganda material in the editorial columns. I could mention Spanish, Danish, Norwegian and British colonial papers by the score, where the existence of the British motor industry is not as much as hinted at, and—apparently, so far as these Motor journals are concerned—might not exist at all. .
Your article refers to one proposal, among others, • viz., to send out a representative to investigate the foreign markets ; but, to any mind, there are very few features of the foreign trade that could not be satisfactorily dissected in' London, and for the truth of this statement I am prepared to voila.. If the British industrY wank to retain its grip on the 'expert markets, it will. have to begin by sinking the netty jealousies of One firm against 'another, Set aside and''arrange a sound financial working basis and policy, launch .a cooperative advertising and publicity campaign in the most propition's markets, and await events.—Yours faithfully, • • L. BR ANDES.