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News of the Week

A.E.C. GROUP REORGANIZED: NEW DIRECTORS

AS from to-day, the manufacturing and selling business of the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd., will be known as A.E.C., Ltd. A company of this title has hitherto operated as a subsidiary

• of the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd.

Like the Crossley and Maudslay concerns, Mr. C. W. Reeve, C.B.E., has resigned from the board of A.E.C., Ltd., but remains chairman of Associated Commercial Vehicles, Ltd. Mr. R. F. Fryars, F.C.I.S., who will continue as secretary of Associated Commercial Vehicles, Ltd., has been elected a director of that company.

The other directors are:—Lord Brabazon of Tara, M.C., P.C., Sir Kenneth 1. Crossley, Bart., J.P., Commodore The Earl Howe, P.C., C.B.E., V.D., R.N.V.R., Mr. A. W. Hubble, Mr. 0. D. Smith and Major-General Sir Frederick Sykes, P.C., G.C.S.I.

Lord Brabazon has been elected chairman of A.E.C., Ltd., with Earl Howe and Sir Frederick Sykes as deputy-chairmen.Mr. Fryars has resigned his position as secretary of A.E.C., Ltd., and has been succeeded by Miss G. L. Knight, previously assistant secretary to the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd. Mr A. S. Chattey, general sales manager, Mr. R. G. Eagle, purchasing agent, Mr. E. J. H. Jones, works manager, Mr. G. J. Rackham, chief engineer, and Mr. G. E. Still, production control manager, have joined the board of A.E.C., Ltd., as executive directors_ The capital of A.E.C., Ltd., is to be increased from £1,000 to £5,000,000.

THE NORTH INVADES EARLS COURT

DECAUSE of the interest displayed

by workers in the Commercial Motor Show, the directors of Norris, Henty and Gardners, Ltd., and L. Gardner and Sons, Ltd., have made arrangements for more than 1,250 employees to visit the Exhibition. They will travel to London in two parties. The first will come south to-night and the second next Friday night. The Lancashire United Transport Co., Ltd., is supplying some 38 coaches for the two coraingents.

Transport and tickets of admission are being provided by the directors.

A large party of craftsmen from Fodens, Ltd., will also arrive at Earls Court to-morrow morning. About a dozen Foden coaches are to be used for the trip.

B28 PETROL-INJECTION ENGINES AT THE SHOW

OF the many new power units which are introduced to the public for the first time at Earls Court, to-day, the petrol-injection engines shown by the . Thornycroft concern are of outstanding interest. One of the units exhibited on stand 72 is of substantially the same design a§ that used in the Trusty I4-15-tonner, of which a road-test report was published in "The Commercial Motor" on April 4, 1947

The bore is 104.8 mm. and the stroke 152.4 mm., the swept volume thus being 7.88 litres. As an oil engine the Thornycroft unit produces 100 b.h.p. at 1800 r.p.m., but with petrol injection, another 50 b.h.p. is obtained, the r.p.m. being 1,900. Maximum torque is 445 lb.-ft., and b.m.e.p. is 140 lb. per sq. in. at 800 r.p.m., with a compression ratio of 6.92 to I. Petrol-injection equipment is of C.A.V. make, this concern having been responsible for the developthent work on the injection pump, injectors and other components.

A smaller six-cylindered 'petrolinjection unit has been produced. It is of a type suitable for installing in a 5-ton chassis, and probably opens up a new field in petrol-injection engines as a class. C.A.V. equipment also figures on this unit.

VAUXHALL £1,500,000 CREDIT

A CCORDING to the "Financial, 1-1 Times," Vauxhall Motors, Ltd., has been granted by Morgan Grenfell and Co., the well-known London merchant banking house, a revolving acceptance credit for 11,500,000. The purpose of this arrangement is stated to be the financing of exports.' The company is producing more than 300 vehicles a day.

TARGET EXCEEDED DESPITE SETBACKS

AL-THOUGH the incidence of holidays, a strike at the works of the Austin Motor Co., Ltd., andother reasons caused the exports of commercial vehicles in August to fall below recent high level, 5,700 units were sent overseas during the month, states the Society of Motor Manufacttirers and Traders. Their value exceeded £3,200,000, which is the monthly average target set by the Government for attainment at the end of this year.

At more than £1,700,000, the value of agricultural tractors and parts exported during August exceeded by over £100,000 the July figure.

OIL ENGINE RUNS SMOOTHLY AT 125 R.P.M.

A CONVINCING demonstration of 1-1, the new C.A.V. injection pump and hydraulic governor, fully described in "The Commercial Motor" on September 17, was given to the Press last week. Two units were shown running, one with standard equipment employing a mechanical, governor and the other with the new instruments.

Although the former gave a performance far superior to many of which our representative has had experience, the unit fitted with the new equipment proved something of a revelation in respect of idling speed. silence and pick-up. The governor was set to give an engine speed of about 125 r.p.m., at which the bolts in the coupling on the drive shaft to the pump were easily discernible. " CLOSED-SHOP" ACTION SETTLED FOR £60

AN action brought in the High Court against Leeds Corporation, Mr. W Vane Morland, transport general manager, and certain members of the Transport and General Workers' Union, has been settled out of court by the payment of £60 by the defendants, who denied liability.

They were sued by a former bus driver for alleged wrongful dismissal. The man refused to join the T.G.W U. and was discharged when the corporation adopted a closed-shop policy.

MINISTRY COMMITTEE'S ROAD SAFETY PLANS CRITICIZED QTRONG criticisms of several recomOmendations made by the Ministry of Transport Departmental Committee on Road Safety are contained in a memorandum recently submitted to the Minister of Transport by the Royal Automobile Club, Automobile Association and Royal Scottish Automobile Club Standing Joint Committee.

The Departmental Committee was appointed not only to frame plans for promoting greater road safety, but also to review the proposals made in 1939 by the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Prevention of Road Accidents (Alness Committee) and to advise on those measures which should be adopted.

In their memorandum the motoring organizations point out that the findings of the Alness Committee were based on evidence heard openly from almost every authoritative source concerned with roads and. road traffic, whereas the Departmental Committee's deliberations took place in private. Moreover, of its 17 members, nine were officials of Government Departments, the remainder being representatives of the police and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

The memorandum is stated to have been submitted because the A.A.. R.A.C. and R.S.A.C. were not represented on the Committee or invited to give evidence before it.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO C.M.S.?

NO information is yet available regarding the future of Cumberland Motor Services. Ltd., in which a third interest was held by the Tilling undertaking. Another third was held by the former L.M.S. Railway Co. and has already passed to the British Transport Commission.

Mr. T. Meageen, managing director, said he had received no official information on how his company would be affected by the transfer of the Tilling bus concern to the R.T.C. C.M.S. was founded soon after the 1914-18 war and employs 800 men and women. Recently it spent £150,000 on new buses.

ELECTRIC LOCK PREVENTS THEFT OF VEHICLES

A DEVICE to prevent the theft of .1"i vehicles is being shown by Centrix Precision Products, Ltd., Free Wharf, Shoreham by Sea, at the Sussex Industries Exhibition at the Dome and Corn Exchange, Brighton. which closes on October 9.

Known as the Centrix electric lock, the device consists of an electromagnetically controlled perrnutation lock and ignition switch. It is stated to have been produced in co-operation with the police, and consists of a oneknob control with which a predetermined combination can be selected from a possible total of 10,000.

Until this combination is found, the ignition circuit is not completed and the vehicle cannot be started. When it has been selected, a further slight adjustment enables the bonnet or the doors of a van to be opened.

The maker claims that a vehicle fitted with this device can he stolen only by towing it away 1130

STANDARD'S FIRST POST-WAR CONVENTION •

AT the Distributor, Press an Suppliers' Convention of the Standard Motor Co., Ltd., held on September 22, the chairman, Mr. C. J.

• Bland, paid tribute to Sir John Black, deputy chairman and managing director of the company, and his team for bringing to fruition the new policy laid down. Since the war the factory floor space had been increased 2i times and the manufacturing facilities five times.

Sir John Black said that 5,000 Ferguson tractors were completed in August, and the total to date was 56,000. The company had spent over 0,000,000 on new plant since the war, New models included an estate car, a delivery van and a " pick-up " truck. The company is building up to a capacity of 1,000 vehicles and tractors a day. it is now nearly 500 units.

Mr. Roland E. Dangerfield, chairman and managing director of Temple Press Ltd., spoke of the excellent way in which the tools and equipment had been laid out in the factory. There had been enormous advances in recent years despite many obstructions, and the Standard Company had become entitled to be considered as a national asset.

Col. R. E. Maude, an.E., said that again the distributors were beginning to• mean something to this great company; they would be proud of the new commercial models.

Mr. C. L. Breeden, responding for the suppliers, referred to Sir John Black as that virile personality who had been introduced to overcome the company's difficulties. All this progress had been made despite the hold on industry of the icy hand of bureaucracy, and • showed what private enterprise could do, given relative freedom.

HOLLAND lb BUILD LORRIES ' NiTANUFACTURE of goods vehicles al is expected to be started early in 1950 by Van Doorne, of Eindhoven, Holland, a company which already makes trailers, bodies, and passenger vehicles. They will be the first goods vehicles to be built in Holland. A new factory is to be constructed.

At the outset, engines and certain other components will be imported from America.--Experiments with prototypes have been in progress for some time, and 3-tonners and 5-tonners are to be manufactured..

BIGGER AIR CAPACITY IN LOW-PRESSURE TYRES

THE Dominion Rubber Co., Ltd., 62-64, Horseferry Road, London. S.W.!, will shortly begin production in Great Britain of the Air Ride tyre, which was originated and developed in 1946 by the United States Rubber Co. It is stated to have approximately 300 cubic ins, greater air capacity than its counterpart of conventional size, but is designed to operate at lower pressure.

The tread is narrower than normal and less beat is said to be generated than in a conventional tyre. Anti-skid devices are incorporated in the outer blocks.

At the outset, Air Ride tyres will be available only for export

M.C.W. TO BUILD BUSES' I T is understood that Leyland Motors, Ltd., has entered into an agreement with Metropolitan-Cammell-Weymann Motor Bodies, Ltd., for the production by. the latter of underfloor-engined passenger vehicles. The engine to be employed is the Leyland 0.600-the 9.8-litre compression-ignition unit, which has been modified for mounting horizontally,

" The Commercial Motor" believes that the M.C.W. concern has for some time been considering the construction of chassisless buses, and the new vehicle may be of that type.

RAIL OBJECTION FAILS QALFORD and Bolton Corporations t..-) and the Lancashire United Transport and Power Co., Ltd., have been allowed by the North-Western Licens, ing Authority to increase the frequency of the bus service operated jointly between Bolton and Manchester, The application was opposed by the British Railways, although the rail fare is 3s. id., compared with Is. 6d. by bus.

CANADIAN HAULIERS AGAINST ROYAL COMMISSION

THE Canadian Automotive Transport Association, which claims to represent 5,000 hauliers in all provinces, has asked the Canadian Government to exempt road haulage from any Royal Commission investigation on transport. Governments of seven provinces have asked for a. Royal Commission on the railway problem, whilst the Liberal party, at its convention in Ottawa in Augud, called for a commission on rates in all Canadian transport.

The Association expressed willingness to co-operate in the current investigation of the Board of Tra,nsport Commissioners into the railway freight-rate structure. It said, however, that there was no evident public demand for. an inquiry involving the hauJage industry. FOR TRIAL BY ASSIZES THE police-court hearing of theft and

receiving charges involving tyres, cloth and rugs, wireless sets and paint, valued at over £27,000, was concluded at Huddersfield last Saturday. In most cases the goods are alleged to have been obtained on the pretence of seeking return loads on behalf of a London haulage firm.

All four accused—two drivers and two company directors—were committed for trial at Leeds Assizes.

IN A LINE OR TWO An average of 800 lorries per day is arriving at Bury St. Edmunds sugarbeet factory during this season's processing campaign.

The Engineering, Equipment and Materials Exhibition will be held at the Old Horticultural Hall, London, S.W.1, from January 26 to February 9.

Formal opening of the factory of Scottish Road Springs, Ltd., at the Industrial Estate, Dunsinane Avenue, Dundee, recently took place. This is the third works to go into production on the estate.

Oldham and Son, Ltd., Denton, Manchester (Stand 207), should have been included.in the section, "Batteries and Accessories," in the guide to accessory Ind component exhibitors published last week. SCHEME FOR CHEAP FARES.

THE Yorkshire Licensing Authority recently stated, in reply to a letter from Keighley Trades Council, that the Authority intended to ask the Yorkshire Regional Fares Committee to submit a scheme of workers' cheap fares for those people who, because of the staggering of working hours during the coming winter, would otherwise be deprived of cheap-fare facilities.

R.H.O. OFFICES CLOSED

THE Road Haulage Organization offices of the Ministry of Transport at Church Street, Manchester, and at Preston, closed yesterday. Government departments and others who have been passing their traffic through these offices will now have to make their own arrangements. ,

The Road Haulage Association's North-West (Eastern) area shortdistance panel has decided to invite all members to indicate to the area executive officer, Mr. W. Farnorth, the number, carrying capacity and type of vehicles that they could place at the disposal of any department requiring them at reasonably short notice.

LONG RESEARCH ON ANTI-FREEZE

THE producer of Avol anti-freeze, Auto Vaporisers, Ltd., Lymm, near Warrington, has given us some interesting facts regarding the manufacture of Ecion (sub base methoglycerol), produced •after five years' research and the basis of this antifreeze.

The process adopted to give 20 degrees F. frost protection for a 124 per cent. solution (one pint to the gallon) is that of superimposing one element upon another at a pre-determined temperature and pressure in the presence of a catalyst. The solution is then brought into contact with metal powders for which it has an affinity, thus the inclination to attack is exhausted, and there is a lowering of the viscosity, which increases the flow and heat dissipation. The hydrogen ion (pH.) being constant, scaling and corrosion are obviated, whilst the boiling point is high enough to prevent evaporation, even above 212 degrees F. The retail price is £2 8s. per gallon.