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Vital to the Nation
FEW people fully realize the extent to which the
people of Britain rely on the road transport of goods and travel by road in its several forms. According to the Road Research Laboratory, the total expenditure on these during 1955 was £2,000m., representing 14 per cent. of the net national income, and 80 per cent. of the whole expenditure on all means for inland transport.
It is interesting to compare these remarkable figures with those for 1950. The total for that year was £1,200m., or 11.5 per cent. of the income.
'hen there is any question of the financial policy of the nation being to devote hundreds of millions of pounds to the railways, and starve the country of roads, these factors should be taken into urgent consideration.
To restrict road transport and travel, and even to fail to plan for their continuous and healthy growth, is to put a throttling hand on the throat of the country's economy.
Road Transport on Television
IN the United States, the first television message I concerning the great work being performed by the American trucking industry was sponsored on August 25 by the Reynolds Metals Co., over the NBC TV network.
The message, conveyed to millions of viewers, pointed out how fast, modern and economical road B30 transport ensured that the food on their tables was fresh and wholesome, whether it was milk from nearby dairy farms, meat from the Middle West, or special vegetables from Florida or California. Road tankers carried the fuel they used in their cars, the materials needed to build homes and factories, and the clothing and appliances employed in their daily lives. In fact, practically everything they eat, wore or used, came at least part of the way by road.
Now is the chance for important British concerns to sponsor similar messages here.
Oil from Old Wells
rINE well at the Tuimaza oil fields in Russia is
now yielding more than was produced in the whole of the country in 1913. It has been delivering petroleum for over 12 years, which is almost unprecedented, for most wells peter out much earlier, some in a few months, others in from two to three years.
This does not, however, mean that all the oil available in the non-producers has been extracted, but is the result of the decline in seam pressure. This is being counteracted at Tuimaza by applying pressure artificially by the hydraulic rupture of hard strata, which can more than double the total oil obtained. At least one oil company in the U.S.A. has successfully adopted a similar method and buys older wells to boost their production.
In some wells also the use of explosives helps in their recovery by .operting out the seams.
Sitting on Air
"SOMETHING in the air" is an expression with
"1 which most people are familiar. Usually, the something is nebulous, but on at least one stand at the recent Engineering exhibition at Olympia, there was a solid object literally hanging in the air without any visible means for support, and it took the simple form of a screwdriver.
The secret lay in the concentrated current of air at 25 lb. per sq. in. coming from a heavy-duty vacuum cleaner acting as a blower and shown by Tellus Super Vacuum Cleaner, Ltd., 39 Sheen Lane, Mortlake, London, S.W.14. This was the type used for cleaning buses and other means for transport.
Many observers could not understand why the screwdriver was not blown away like a piece of paper, and were looking for threads or wires by which it might have been held, but the secret lay in the rounded handle. At a certain distance from the air jet, which was at an angle of about 45 degrees the reaction of the atmosphere against the pressure formed a neutral zone and with a steady flow there was no perceptible movement of the tool. With a ball, the suspension is much the same, but, there being no balancing weight, it rotates rapidly.
A Darby and Joan Coach D OLLY has become an immediate favourite of the A old people of Hendon and neighbouring boroughs. She is not a parrot, but a used but wellpreserved Bedford coach, purchased by Mrs. Gerald Legge's special fund, and handed over to the Hendon Old People's Welfare Committee.
This will be used for conveying the eligible to and from their clubs, also for holiday trips.. Volunteer drivers from London Transport depots at Hendon, Cricklewood and Colindale will be at the wheel of this coach, which has been provided with a toilet and carries equipment • which will permit even the seriously infirm to make use of this facility.
The Fund has also provided £200 to help in covering the running costs for the first year.