Answers to Queries.
Page 17
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Motorbus Splashguards.
[2232] (Tryer).—We thialeyOu will find it a difficult matter to make any money out of the device you suggest ; this type has already been exploited very largely. Quite a considerable number of inventors have produced guards of the kind. Unless you have a considerable amount of money with which to exploit your invention, we should advise you not to waste time on it. You must remember that the largest owners will probably produce some such device themselves sooner or later. Unless made legally compulsory, many owners would not adopt them.
Does Not Like His Present Gearbox.
12233] (Ireland).—We have considered your predicament, and are of opinion that it is not likely that any manufacturer or repairer will make a good job of supplying a new gearbox tom the machine in question, unless he is able to have the complete chassis to which to fit it. Moreover, we do not consider it probable that anybody would undertake to do so failing such facilities. Under the circumstances, therefore, we would advise you to go to the best-reputed garage arid repair works somewhere within reasonable distance of your business, to place the whole matter in their hands, and to ask them to get quotations for you from elsewhere for the supply of a suitable gearbox, and to quote you direct for its fitting in their shops.
Drawing to Left When Called on to Stop.
[2234] (Rotherham).—You did quite rightly in stopping, when the signal was given. That is still the 4w, in respect of any person in charge of a horse or a horse-drawn vehicle. A case of the .kind, if an action is brought, cannot fail to be settled otherwise than on the facts which you can prove, but it appears. to us that you have a good answer to any claim. The owner of your machine should at once notify the insurance company of the incident, as the claim would be in the nature of a third-party one, and therefore covered by the policy.
We think the view which, you take, namely, that you were obliged, under the law, to remain at rest in the absence of a specific request to move from the man in charge of the horse, puts you in the right. There is nothing in the. Act to require you to draw to the left or near side of the road, or to any particular part of the road, on stopping, when you are called upon to do so by a man in charge of a horse or a horsedrawn vehicle. Such subsequent movement, indeed, might have been held to increase the risk of accident.
Concerning a Driver-owned Taxicab.
[2235] (County Town).—The alleged working east of 1.84. per mile by no means covers everything. You have to include rent, insurances, taximeter hire and
licences in the cost. Tires, petrol, lubricants and lighting the cab, reckoned together, will reach the 1.8d. per mile run to which reference is made. We cannot agree that this figure is sufficient to cover maintenance, which we are satisfied should be put at another 1.5d. per mile run in the case of a private owner, seeing that an owner in that category is unable to get his repairs done at so low a rate as that achieved by owners of fleets. We are confident that Messrs. = would not take on a contract to include the items which you mention, for .a figure such as 1.8d. per mile. You had better base your total running costs, exclusive of any return for yourself, on not less than 4d. per mile run. There is, of course, a good return for you at that figure, reckoning all takings inclusive of tips. You can scarcely rely upon being hired for more than an average of 150 miles a week. Accordingly, payment on capital account at the rate of 23 10s. a week may be reckoned at approxi
mately 6d. per mile of hire. You will have to judge for yourself whether there is sufficient margin for you to live, between the total revenue which you are satisfied you can get and the effective commitment to pay out 10d. per mile of hire. You are fully entitled to reckon that.you will not have much to pay on account of repairs dining the first 12 months.
An 8 hp. Second-hand Car.
[2236] (Bucks).—If you are offered an 8 h.p. -ear at £45, it is probable that you will have to be prepaaed to spend at least 220 on it, at the outset, in respect of tires and other details.; you must expect to find that the main engine bearings and other working parts will require to be taken up or renewed. You should certainly make inquiry as to this, and get same letter of guarantee in respect of it. We include the likely outlay in the 220.
We consider that a car such as the one you mention,. if in average condition on delivery, and without making any charge in respect of driver, cleaning or rent., should cost you a maximum figure per mile run of 2d., inclusive of maintenance and insurance. Bearing on the question of costs, our published sheet may be of interest to you.
Taxicab Licences.
[2237] (Hants).—The local licensing authorities are not bound to issue a licence to you for ataxicab, unless they choose to do so. If they say that they will only license a new machine-, they are at liberty to hold this view and to act upon it. The stipulation as to its being a new machine is the general rule throughout the country, although there are individual exceptions. We are afraid there may be difficulty in overcoming the trouble in respect of your own town, unless you can persuade the authorities personally of the suitability of your machine. Taxicabs are not exempt from carriage-tax, but only commercial vehicles which are "used exclusively for the carriage of merchandise or in the course of husbandry." The Finance Act of 1910 did not, however, sanction any increase of carriage-tax in respect of any hackney carriage. You are able to secure the 1d. rebate, of course, on the petrol.
Heavy Contract Work.
[2238] (Project).-You cannot pull so much as six tons behind a six-ton lorry. Your friends will be doing unwisely if they reek-on on so high a useful load per unit as 12 tons. Under many conditions of the highway it would be impossible to pull a trailer with six tonsoipon it, and the carrying of six tons net on a steam wagon almost invariably brings the back-axle weight above the limit of eight tons. If, on the other hand, you use a petrol lorry, the wear and tear on the back tires is very heavy indeed with a trailer, whilst the adhesion with rubber, under certain conditions, is insufficient to provide the implicated drawbar pull.
Contractors have generally to charge from 50 per cent. to 60 per cent. higher than owners for their own purposes find their costs, for the reasons which are set out in one of our leading articles of the 23rd October. If you wish to travel 90 miles in the day, you will undoubtedly require to have petrol vehicles, as it is beyond the limits of steam wagons. You might then reckon to put six tons on the petrol lorry, and four tons on a trailer, except when the weather conditions are bad, provided the route includes no abnormal gradients or other factors.
As to the provision of a spare vehicle, this is probably expedient from the traffic point of view, but, from the strictly mechanical point of view, we think h would be a waste of material. It should be at a halfway point, and not at either end of the run.