The Motor Drivers News.
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Some Temporary Fittings or Motorbuses.
" S.O.B." (Hampstead) writes the following letter :— " A few of my experiences may bring to the mind of your readers different wayside mishaps which, at the time they happened, probably seemed almost insurmountable.
" I remember one occasion when a clutch leather belonging to a motorbus was worn out, the consequence being that the clutch slipped so badly that the bus had to be kept in the garage. I had to think for a considerable time before I could decide how to get over the difficulty temporarily. The leather in question was not burnt, nor had it been badly used, but it really was worn out, and, to make matters worse, it was impossible to adjust the spring any more. I then looked in the stores and found that there were no new leathers in stock. As there were more motorbuses in dock at this Lime than was desirable, through repairs, stop notices, etc., I was asked to look at the clutch in question to see if anything could be done with it. I took away the male portion of the clutch and found that there was plenty of " life " still in the leather, although it had worn extremely thin. I thought for a bit, and at last hit upon an idea which, I hoped, would do what was required. I had a look round all the benches, and collected all the old hacksaw blades that I could find. I then proceeded to break the blades into pieces, equal in length to the width of the clutch leather. Then I roughly knocked the teeth off each of the short pieces, and proceeded to drive these short lengths of steel underneath the leather and between the rivets all the way round the clutch. I drove the bits of blade in as near to each other as possible, and thus increased the diameter of the clutch by about 1-16th inch. After the foregoing operation, I sent it to a lathe and just had the merest skin ' taken off the leather to get rid of any high places.' I assembled the clutch again, and tried the bus to see how the makeshift acted, and I am pleased to say that the clutch worked well for three days, after which time the vehicle was sent into the garage to have a new leather fitted.
" The second occasion upon which I had to exercise my wits was regarding a different thing altogether, and one that was really a neat job. I was out with a car one day for a test run, when the engine suddenly stopped, and, on making an examination, I found that the little, brass arm, carrying the roller wipe in the contact case, had broken off. As a battery and coil ignition was the only one fitted, I was properly hung up.' I had to think of some method of getting out of the hole, as I could not stop where I was for ever. While looking through the oddments in my toolbag, I came across a hack-saw blade, and at once saw a way (no pun intended) out of my difficulty. A farm labourer who was taking an interest in me undertook to look after the vehicle while I walked back to Reading, carrying with me my saw blade and wiper parts. I went to a bicycle shop, and they allowed me to use their blow lamp, drilling machine, etc., and I soon made a sort of spring arm. With the arm I had thus made I got back to London without a misfire, and perhaps might have gone hundreds of miles with it, if it had been necessary. I can well remember that, in my apprentice days, I used saw blades to make squares, small callipers, etc., and ever since that time I have kept two or three in my tool-box. I find that by keeping a good supply of small bolts and nuts I can often avert stoppages."
False Economy.
" W.B." (Greenwich) writes as follows :—" The little incident which I am now about to relate may possibly interest
both drivers and owners of steam-propelled vehicles. I have been driving a well-known type of steam lorry for a considerable period, and I also have done my own repairs. During Christmas week, I had a good opportunity for overhauling the machine, and, while doing this, I determined to open out the boiler to see what sort of condition it was in, The boiler was of the water-tube type, and I found, after examination, that the two top rows of tubes had become very thin, and, indeed, could not work much longer without collapsing. I told my views to the man who was responsible for the working of the wagon, and, as I half expected, he replied, ' Let it go ; fix it together again.' I did put the boiler together again, much against my will, and the result was that, after the vehicle had been running for about to days, it was laid up with some of the tubes badly split. The old saying, Penny wise is pound foolish,' is without doubt a very true one, and one that should be believed in before all other maxims by commercial vehicle owners. From my point of view, however, the bursting of the tubes was the least serious happening, for the simple reason that I lost my berth, because I was supposed to have been careless in the performance of my duties. Had my advice, as a practical man, been taken upon the subject, the accident would not have occurred, and the VC..
hide would not have lost a certain number of useful journeys. What inducement is there for a driver to take any interest in the machine of which he is put in charge? If you do not make any remarks about the wagon you drive, you are said to take no interest in your work, and if, on the other hand, you do give advice, no notice is taken of what you say."
A Clutch Repair.
" F.S.J." (Catford) writes the following :—" As a constant reader of your paper, and being, also, a driver, I, naturally, take an interest in motor matters, and some hints may be of use to others. I had, some time ago, a good deal of trouble one morning when taking out my motorbus, owing to the clutch slipping badly. The slipping had begun the day previously, and the mechanics had made the complaint worse instead of better. I had a look at the clutch, at the end of the journey, and found that the clutch cone was a little worn, but I adjusted the springs, and this made things rather better. I found out afterwards that the reason of the trouble was that, in fitting a new leather, the face had not been trued up, and, therefore, the cone did not make a proper contact with the fernale portion of the clutch. A good tip for making a slipping clutch all right is to put some French chalk on it ; if on the other hand the clutch is too fierce, sonic people advise an application of powdered graphite, but after all the best plan in this case is to slacken back the tension springs. I consider that nothing brings out the inward character of man as much as motor driving, and this can be easily noticed under the more or less trying ordeal of a hitch by the roadside. The patient man may light a pipe, and then go about the job systematically and quietly. The fussy individual, on the other hand, will fume and fuss, and, more often than not, will say unkind things about the maker of the engine or vehicle. A man whom I know, while driving his car one day, had a great deal of trouble with the engine, and, after some time, in a fit of depression, he threw a heavy spanner at the engine. This broke one of the plugs, so he fitted a new one, and after this the engine ran perfectly. The driver did not know it, but the plug that he broke was really a faulty one."
An Unfortunate Venture.
" T.H." (Exeter) writes :—" This is not, perhaps, strictly speaking, a driver's letter, from the point of view of being helpful, but it will show what a lot of damage can be done to a vehicle by omitting to keep it in proper repair. About 18 months ago, I was driving for a man who kept a garage in the Midlands, and who had a certain amount of money, but an uncertain amount of brains. My master took it into his head to start a little sight-seeing business on his own during the summer months, .and, for this purpose, he removed the body from a i2-i6h.p car which he had, and fitted the chassis with stronger springs, and then fitted a new body of a wagonette type to hold three each side arid a passenger beside the driver. Well, I told him that the engine would not do the work, and, for my pains, was simply laughed at, so said no more upon the subject. On a certain Monday, the service commenced, and took people arriving by train, or townspeople, a total distance of 30 miles for 7s. 6d. per head. The work, from my point of view, was all right, as I got plenty of tips and fresh air, but there was a fly in the ointment l On the Thursday, the engine began to knock loudly when about halfway through the journey, and, when I returned late in the evening—about 8.30 p.m.—I told my master that the wagonette would have to stop in the day following. He didn't like it a bit, and asked me to run the engine so that he might hear for himself. When he heard it he said in forcible language that it was not a knock at all, but that I had not oiled the machinery enough. He also told me that he would not have it touched, and that I had to be at a certain station at a fixed hour to pick up a party of six people, and that I had to return to the same station in good time for a train which left at nine o'clock, as it was the last one by which the party could catch a connection at a distant junction for their homes. The morning dawned bright and sunny, so I put an extra supply of food in my bag, and started for the station. The engine still continued to knock, and I picked up the people and their picnic baskets and we set off for a happy day in forest glades, etc. We got to our destination, and I
was told to be ready at seven p.m. for the return journey. We started home, and the vehicle ran all right for about a mile, and we were just going up a gentle slope when there was a fiendish noise from beneath the bonnet, and the thing stopped dead in its tracks. I remember the elderly gentleman in the party saying, Dear me, how very extraordinary,' and I couldn't help smiling. Well, I looked in the base chamber, and found that both big ends had very much 'gone.' I had, then, the unpleasant task of telling the passengers that we were quite is miles from the nearest station, and that I could do nothing to repair the damage—the elderly gentleman used a slightly different remark this time. After waiting for about three-quarters of an hour, a gig came along and it carried a message for us to the nearest telephone office asking our people to send out two of the light cars to take us home. They arrived in time, and of course came so late that it was impossible for the people to catch their train home, and there was a lot of unpleasantness. If my master had listened to me, the thing would have been in decent running order, but he would not listen. He closed down the service shortly, because the passengers on that eventful day spread such reports about the incident that very few people who came from a distance would use our wagonette and preferred the more Slow, but sure, horse-drawn vehicle."
From Steam to Petrol. "
TB." (Keighley) writes :—" I send the following letter to be published with your permission in 'The Drivers 'News ' columns. It has reference to the communication from M.N.' (Bristol). I am sorry to see that another man besides myself has been so ill-advised as to attempt to change from driving a steamer' to managing a petrol ' lorry. I sympathise with M.N.' at his first attempt to make the change, and I may tell him that his application was not the only one which has been refused, even in cases where services, with no salary, had been offered for three months. If ' M.N.' will Lake my advice, he will stick to steam wagons, and let those who cannot drive a steamer be the ones to look after the petrol vehicles. I quite agree with him when he says that he considers that steam is superior, in many ways, to petrol, and my opinion is, that before very long we shall see only those of the first type made for heavy work, whilst petrol will be relegated to the 'two-ton-and-under' class. I do not agree when he writes that the man who can drive anything stands a better chance than the one who can only look after one type of machine. Like others, I have driven most sorts of steam-propelled engines, including steam ploughs, and road locomotives; I have also looked after threshing tackle, and I have driven steam wagons for upwards of five years, and have been in my present situation for nearly three years and a half. I drive a wagon which is nine years old, so I think that I must, almost, hold a record for the age of the vehicle I look after. I think that my experience ought to enable me to change over to petrol without much trouble, but it does not seem to, I am afraid. As far as I can see, when a man buys a petrol lorry, he does not get a man who has had some experiences to drive it, he, on the other hand, generally sends a horse driver to have lessons for about a week from the manufacturers. The cost of repairs never seems to trouble the owner so long as his man learns to steer the vehicle. Another thing which owners of vehicles do, and which is a wrong policy to pursue, is that of paying drivers of these expensive machines wages that may satisfy a man who, perhaps, has been raised from a horse driver, and, after a week or so devoted to lessons,' is put in charge of a new van or lorry. Men, on the ether hand, who are thoroughly up in all the necessary wrinkles, which have been learnt after some years of experience, often have to accept a salary, only equal to that given for the comparatively unskilled labour of the man who has been specially taught to drive some new vehicle which may have been acquired by his employer. That is where the unfairness of the case is so apparent. There is no doubt that, if a steam wagon is to give its maximum efficiency, it must be controlled by a man who has been at the game for a long time. I do not say for one moment that an ordinary man without experience could not learn in a week to steer a lorry and put on coal or supply the boiler with water ; far from it, it is possible to acquire this necessary knowledge in a short time. But look at the difference between two wagons of the same age and make, one of which has been in the hands of a 'good ' driver, the other in the charge of a 'fair ' driver. The result will eloquently speak for itself."