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The Triumph of the Commercial vehicle Designer.

20th October 1925
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Page 1, 20th October 1925 — The Triumph of the Commercial vehicle Designer.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

HERE is every indication that the Commercial Motor Exhibition, which will be staged at Olympia on the 29th of this month, will prove to the world in general, and to Britain in particular, that more real progress in design has been made during the two years which have elapsed since the Show of 1923 than in any equivalent period since the -inception of the commercial-motor vehicle—in

fact, during any period of even greater length than this •

Why this should be the case may, at first thought, appear somewhat obscure, but it will become clearer if all the facts be taken into consideration.

To commence with, until comparatively recently there has been no great incentive towards the production of really high-grade vehicles. The many thousands of part-worn and, in some cases, almostnew vehicles surplus to Army requirements which had to be absorbed into the road transport industry within a short period, whilst doing good in one way (to give users the incentive of cheapness which induced them to change over to motor haulage), yet were a grievous affliction to the manufacturer, and until the stocks of these vehicles were absorbed and those in service became unfit, the available market for new chassis (necessarily far more expensive) was extremely limited.

Another factor which has exerted a tremendous influence upon design is the vast increase in the employment of the pneumatic tyre. Both designers and makers have realized that this progress will continue until the majority of vehicles, perhaps with the exception of the heaviest load carriers, will eventually have this form of tyre equipment, and its use has brought forward for solution many prOblems which were not present when vehicles were running at comparatively low speeds, on solid ,tyres.

The most important developments are naturally in connection with passenger-vehicle design, for, whilst the trade in goods vehicles is progressing,. the Movement is at present somewhat slow, whereas passenger transport, particularly in connection with buses, is advancing in a most remarkable manner and there is a constant call for new chassis and bodies incorporating features all tending towards safety in operation and easy maintenance: It will be found that braking on all wheels has received considerable attention in an increasing number of chassis, and certain of the brakes are now servo-operated, not so much by the provision of a separate. servo-motor as by the actuation of one brake through the servo 'action of another.

The other great -tendency, so far as the passenger vehicle is concerned, is in the development of chassis having a low-frame level, and practically all the latest passenger models embody this feature, some to a marked degree.

Owing to the official attitude that the wheels of the rear bogie are not sufficiently separated to justify the claim that pressure on the road surface Is widely distributed, and therefore that an increase in axle weights cannot be permitted, the rigid-frame multi-wheeled chassis has not yet, in our opinion, received the attention which it merits, yet it is by no means being neglected, and there will be exhibited at least one strikingly interesting chassis of this type equipped with a bus body, this vehicle, incidentally, also embodying an unusually low platform and being braked through all four wheels of the rear bogie.

Although the progress made with the goons chassis has not been quite so general, steady improvement has been effected during the whole period under review. Many new models have been brought out, some possessing features of exceptional merit, and one remarkable development has been in connection with what may be termed the town runabout.

It must not be thought that all progress has been in petrol-vehicle design, for .this is by no means the case. The steam wagon and the steam tractor are now being built on lines vastly different from what was formerly the case, but they have not lost their individualitythrough benefiting by the adoption, in certain instances, of practices which have proved successful in the petrol vehicle. Even the steam bus has received attention, and there is • a possibility that this type of passenger vehicle may find a field of action of its own.

Another London Traffic Muddle.

THE Ministry of Transport and the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee were extremely unfortunate over their little experiment, long debated, discussed and considered, in one-way traffic working between Kingsway and the Strand, London, last week; The idea is an old one, and the situation is not one of the happiest, because the traffic from and to Waterloo Bridge is heavy, and serves to interrupt the perfect flow eastwards and westwards that is so desirable at this busy junction. The scheme could have been greatly improved again by definitely devoting the (to all intents and purposes) parallel roadsAldwych to east-hound traffic; and the Strand, between St. Clement Dane's Church and Wellington Street, to west-hound traffic. Then we should have had an instance of the rotary system of dealing with busy road crossings ; but, as the police have condemned that system, its adoption round el 0 the island embraced by Aldwych and the Strand could not be permitted. Hence the half-and-half measure which could merely save the collection of a block of vehicles waiting to proceed from the _ western end of Aldwych into the Strand.

Where the misfortune came in, however, was in the delightful exhibition of official humour on the part of the Westminster Council, which• chose 8 o'clock on the very morning when the new scheme —long discussed, as we have said, and loudly heralded—was to be initiated to send a squad of roadmen to erect a barrier of poles, trestles and red lamps within which they began to open up the roadway at the very corner of Kingsway and Aldwych. The beautiful white lines and directions to turn left painted on the roadway began to disappear under the influence of the pick, and the accumulation of wood blocks, broken concrete, etc., and the traffic, already confused by the new arrangement and harried by a posse of constables, was brought down to a pitiful crawling procession In single file, picking a precarious way through the obstruction. Verily, London does need a traffic autocrat, somebody who would put an end to all this muddle that to a visitor from the United States seems incomprehensible and ineffably foolish.

Through the Want of a Simple Precaution.

imaginative, and this is the cause of one-half of the troubles of this world. There was an instance which could be adduced in support of this a fortnight ago on Meriden Hill, on the main Birmingham-Coventry road, and the result was the destruction of valuable property. Two lorries got into collision on the hill, one being forced into the hedge and the other being wheel-locked to it. The petrol tank of one was started and a stream of petrol trickled down the hill. For some very obscure reason the bulk of the male population has a lighted cigarette eternally between its lips, and whenever there is trouble on the road there is always present, in a greater or lesser number, the unintelligent class of person who smokes and spreads around him a litter of ash, burning matches and glowing cigarette-ends.

Now, Observation on the part of any one of the transport men concerned would have detected the flow of petrol and the extension of the stream for some considerable distance down the hill, and imagination would have told him that here was a serious source of danger because of the ubiquity of the smoker. A little ready resource would have resulted in the digging of a cross-trench close to the interlocked vehicles that would have formed a barrier against the threatened risk. But, all of these useful attributes being absent, the inevitable happened. Someone farther down the hill, an hour and a half after the collision, threw a match just where it could do harm, the petrol was lighted, the flames crept • quickly up the hill, set fire to the two vehicles, and in a little while they and their loads had been destroyed.

We are afraid that there is no useful moral to be drawn from the incident. Intelligence , and imagination are gifts and cannot be created, but it seems a great pity that so heavy a penalty has to be paid by other people.


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