The Wheels of Industry.
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This journal, dealing as it does with the "Chariots of War," no less than with the "Wheels of Industry," continues of national importance. Its interests embrace impartially the transport wagon and the parcelcar, the military tractor and the steam lorry.
We note with pleasure that Mr. F. Churchill, of E. Hall, Ltd., has been elected chairman of the Commercial Vehicle Committee of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders for the ensuing year.
Foden's Works.
We are interested to learn that more than 600 men are now busy on production at the Elworth Works, Sandbach, and turning out Foden wagons at high speed. These are, of course, required for military service.
£970 for a Two-tonner.
It is reported that a two-ton Edison battery vehicle is to be purchased for the sum of 2970 by the Sheffield City Council for refuse collection. There is .spare money in the cutlery city, as well as in Ilford, it seems.
Whitsun Holidays.
Our issue dated 27th May will be published at 6 p.m. on Thursday, 27th. This is a little later than usual owing to the Whitman holidays. Advertisements should reach the' business department not later than first post Saturday, 22nd.
Our Fund.
The total in hand, up to Saturday last, was handsomely in excess of £4600. One of the latest donations of ten guineas comes from a subscriber, Mr. L. Noel Hill, in Australia. The tedium of delays behind the firing line, as, for example, on the part of A.S.C., M.T. Columns for Ammunition Parks, which Columns may have to stand at" the ready" for days 'or weeks on end, according to the artillery work in progress, is about to be relieved by the gifts of cricketing sets from the Fund. Other particulars are to be found on page 237.
L.C.C. Tramcar Stoppage.
Some 7000 men in the employ of the Highways Department of the LOG., and engaged upon work in connection with the electric-tramway undertaking, ceased work on Friday night last. They had not returned to their work at the time of our going to press. The basis of the strike is essentially that the men should be brought into line, as to favourable conditions of employment, with the men who are in the service of the London intotorbus companies, and particularly with regard to rates of pay and rules concerning spread-over ,time. One hardly recognizes the streets of London, in their state of -freedom from congestion, to say nothing of comparative .silence, without the tramcars. Of the SuffoIks.
As a last poor tribute to Capt. Stephen Garrett, so well-known and so much held in remembrance by many in this industry, we $ladly find space for the reproduction of an excellent photograph of that gallant Territorial officer, who fell while on active service in France at the head of " " Company of
the 4th Suffolks. The photograph from which our illustration is prepared is a. very good one, as we so well remember him. His was an active and attractive personality, and one that was typical of the new virile influence that has done and is doing so much to bring Great
into nto line with younger and less conservative nations.
Busy Birmingham's Ambulances.
The Birmingham Watch Corninittee has decided, subject to the approval of the Council, to .purchase. a further motor ambulance at a cost of 2630. The Chief Constable has reported that last year the city's motor ambulances-were used 2790 times.
The Old Dennis Company.
The paragraph we published last week concerning a meeting for the purpose of the -Dennis Iiquidaton referred, of course, only to the formal winding up of Dennis Bros., Ltd.; which concern was taken over so. successfully.. lay Dennis Bros. (1913) Ltd. The formal notice on page • 213 of. our last issue might easily have been explained in this way. Gazette.
Steam Cars, Ltd., is to be voluntarily wound up. Mr. H. B. Leah, Warren. Street, Stockport, is the liquidator.
New Registrations.
Motor Cab Garages, Ltd. (21000), by R. Bell and Co.,-7, Southampton Street, Strand, "W.C., to carry on the business indicated by the title.
Garage, Ltd. (23000), by pl
rvall
T. U. Evans, Walsall, to carry on the business of motor garage proprietors and dealers in taxicabs, etc.
Multiple Motors, Ltd. (255,000), office 46, Queen Victoria Street, RC., to acquire an improved twOcycle internal-combustion s motor under Patent No. 28,830 of 1910.
Central Motor Hiring_ Co., Ltd. (25000), office, 330, Kennington Road, S.E., to carry on • th& business of hirers and manufacturers of motorvans, trolleys and other vehicles, Proposals and Purchases. Derby Corporation is purchasing a Foden motor wagon.
Kensington Borough Council proposes to purchase a third Laftly sweeping machine at a cost of 2628.
Edinburgh Town Council has recently taken delivery of its new motor fire-engines----one a Dennis, and the other a Meru weather. I Chelmsford Town Council is considering the adoption of an old motor lorry for street-watering purposes. The total coat, when fitted with a new tank, is to be 268.
Folkestone Corporation is to purchase a second-hand motor chassis for £180.' An additional 235 will probably have to he spent in fitting for use to collect house refuse.
The L.G.B. has refused to sanction the Rotherham Corporation's application for a loan to purchase a motor ambulance: • The order placed with Straker-Squire, Ltd., has accordingly been cancelled.
Ilford 'D.C. has, at last, decided to purchase a mechanical wagon for the cartage of coal, and an Edison electric vehicle with automatic tipping gear has been chosen The cost will be no less than 21240. ,
Bradford Guardians have ordered a 20-30 h.p. Armstrong-Whitworth motor -ambulance from Chalmers and Cth, at 2619. The Board has since been advised that the War Office has commandeered the chassis, and the company has been interviewed with the object of -substituting a chassis of another make.
We learn that within the last three weeks the following authorities have placed orders for Sentinel steam wagons : —Newcastle and
Gateshead Gas hree-tonner ; Shotley Bridge Co.,das Co., sixtonner ; Hull Corporation, sixtanner.
Agrimotor Tests.
Informative tests of a Saunderson agricultural tractor have recently been taking place at Icilteragh on a farm belonging to Sir Horace Plunkett. There is a distinct movement in Ireland with a view to the furtherance of the cooperative purchase of implements of this kind.
Goodrich Developments.
B. F. Goodrich, Ltd., the makers of solid pneumatic tires and almost all rubber "mechanical goods," opened branches recently in Glasgow and Manchester at 22, Renfrew Street, and 235, Deansgate, respectively. The company is engaged in the inauguration of a big scheme of representation. Two further depots were opened in March, one at 8, Victoria Street, Bristol, and another at 50, Albion Street, Leeds, and we understand that further additions to these depots are already in hand. The Goodrich Co. considers that the remarkable increase of business which has in
each instance followed the establishment of these branches, is due to " the fact that these depots are simply attracting the floating Goodrich goodwill which has been maturing for years past." Copies of the various Goodrich catalogues and price lists can be obtained from any of the branches, or from the head office, 117-123, Golden Lane, E. C.
NoJens Volens.
We are asked to make it quite clear that the use "in the Stores Department of a big Coventry works" of lorries of another make is solely due to the fact that the War Department allotted these machines for this particular use, and would not permit the factory in question to employ more of its own lorries for departmental work of this kind, requiring all these to be delivered for W.D. work solely.
Ample Ambulances.
Asked by Sir George Scott Robinson whether there was any deficiency in motor ambulances for carrying British wounded from the Front to the hospitals, particularly in the fighting at Neuve Chapelle, Mr. Tennant, the Under Secretary for War, replied that there was no
truth in the suggest-ion. A s matter of fact, the motor-ambulance service during the Nenve Chapelle period was deserving of special praise.
Hitchen-Blaikie, Ltd., 28, Cathedral Street, Manchester, has been appointed sole agent of rerodo clutch and brake linings for Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire and North Wales.
The Hoffmann Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a well-known British concern of which the works are at Chelmsford, has opened offices in Victoria Buildings, 21, Grainger Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne, with Mr. T. B. Brady in charge, telephone 3756 Central, telegrams "Hoffmann Newcastle-on-Tyne." This is a facility which Northern users and manufacturers will appreciate.
Numbered " for a Joke."
The driver of a tractor was summoned at the last Worcester County Petty Sessions for driving his machine, whilst unregistered, on the highway at Broadway on the
15th April. The police gave evidence that the number on the back of the trailer was AB1313 and on the front of the engine AB3131. The defending solicitor stated that these numbers had been put on the engine while it was at work on the farm by way of a joke ; defendant did not know it was not registered. A fine of 21 was imposed.
A Combined Wagon.
Photographs we reproduce are of a new type of combination street-watering van and convertible tipping wagon supplied by Thomas Green and Sons, Ltd., of Leeds, to the Southport Corporation. The chassis has a 35 h.p. four-cylinder engine. The tank is fitted with a filling lid and cap, and two sprinklers at the front. The width of spread is under the control of the driver, thus enabling a narrow or wide track to be watered, as desired. The distributing apparatus is complete, with a special rotary pump driven from the engine shaft, and delivering the water to the sprinklers under sufficient pressure to give a spread, if desired, of about 60 ft. A clutch is fitted to the pump-driving gear for disconnection of that part of the mechanism when it is not required. The snrinklers themselves are of the American type. A large flushing outlet with a short length of pipe is fitted for use when it is necessary to flush drains. etc. The tank can be taken off bodily by means of lifting eyes, and the wagon body, of the endtipping type, can then be placed in position. This is fitted -with a screw-tipping gear, which is
• operated by hand from either side • of the vehicle. The body is made of mild-steel plates, the sides and bottom being strengthened by angle irons and channel bars. The door at the back is on hinges, and can be detached if required. Suitable lifting eyes are also fitted to this body. . Bayswater Fire Station is to be enlarged and equipped with motor plant at a cost of i5220.
Of the £1200 required to purchase a fire-engine for the Stour. bridgeBrigade, £150 has been subscribed by an anonymous donor, .2100 by W. J. Turney and Co., Ltd., and 250 each by the President of the brigade and Mr. R. L. Matthews.
The County Surveyor of Cumberland has decided, in order to economize expenditure during the present period, to repair certain sections of his roads with the cheapest, local stone available in_ stead of with granite or whinstone, so as to keep them in some sort of condition until further expenditure can be undertaken.
A Mobile Hospital Unit.
Particulars are to hand of a new class of automobile ambulance equipment which has been presented to a French ambulance organization by Dr. Hallopeau. It is stated that this consists of three wagons and a traction engine, The latter supplies steam for heating an operating theatre in one of the trailers, keeping it at a constant temperature of 75 degrees Fahr. The trailers carry 120 beds, a hospital surgery and kitchen. It is Intended that the whole of the outfit shall render it possible to perform operations at the Front as well as in the base hospitals. In addition to the tractor unit there are six motorcars each carrying four beds. These are intended to keep in communication with hospitals and neighbouring first-aid stations. A complete hospital can, with this equipment, be established in a field in a few hours.
Particulars have been sent to us by the Mason Motor Spirit Distributing Co., Ltd., of 155, Upper Thames Street, E.C., of its special scheme to extend its business. It has decided to donate to war charities one penny for every. gallon of its motor spirit or lubricating oil, or every pound of grease bought at retail prices.
The accounts of the National Motor Cab Co,. Ltd., for the year ended the 31st July last, just issued, show a loss, after meeting debenture interest, etc., and writing off £19,978 for depreciation, of £13,553, making the total debit balance £27,946. The board is pursuing the policy advocated last year—that is to say, reducing the capital by onehalf, and converting the business as quickly as possible into a motortransport company, using the vehicles for the conveyance of merchandise instead of for carrying passengers.
The New Tube Bill.
It is stated that the object of the Bill which was announced last week, to authorize the Tube railways, the Metropolitan District Railway, and the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., to give effect to new arrangements to facilitate " the interchange and alternative routeing of traffic," is " to mitigate as far as possible any inconveni
once •to the public from the withdrawal of large numbers of motorbuses for military purposes, together with the recruiting of men from both the surface and underground companies." This is as it may be, but as the capital of the whole of these concerns has for some time past been under single control, the real object now would seem to be merely to give legal effect to closer co-operation than has hitherto been possible.
Who Should Pay for Fire-engines ?
Poole Town Council has again shelved the question of adopting a motor fire-engine. In the course of the discussion, the interesting view was advanced that insurance companies were the people who ought to keep up fire brigades, as they were the people who saved money by them ! The owners of shops and other property were no gainers.
City of London National Guard M.T.C.
A convoy of six Hallford vehicles was paraded on Sunda' latt, the 16th inst., under the charge of Convoy-Commander Frank Churchill. The vehicles were lent by the following owners, respectively, and the names of the drivers are given in parentheses: .Barrett and hers, Ltd. (A. Rivers), J. and E. Hall, Ltd. (J. Bates), Wm. Hampton, Ltd. (W. lir inslow), Michell and Aldous, Ltd. (C. W. Johnson), Messrs. J. Taylor and Sons (W. Pethwick), and Venesta, Ltd. (C. Leech). The route was from Trafalgar Square to Ashtead Common, via Epsom.