WHEELS of INDUSTRY "The wheels of wealth will be slowed
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by all difficulties of transport at whatever points arising, as a carriage is by the
roughness of the roads over which it runs."---John Beattie Crozier.
Petrol from British Coal.
In connection with the Prime Minister's important announcement of a guaranteed preference on light hydrocarbon oils produced from indigenous coal, peat, shale, etc., which is formally announced in our page of Parliamentary news (p. 826), a statement has since been made by Sir Harry McGowan, chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., to the effect that it has been decided to erect a plant, costing about £2,500,000 for the production of motor spirit from coal. The statement records that for six years the company has been conducting research on methods of hydrogenating oil from coal, etc.
Now that the Government has given an undertaking that there shall be a preference extended over a. reasonable period, the directors of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., have authorized a scheme to erect a large commercial plant at the company's works at Billinghamon-Tees, Co. Durham, where special facilities are available. The plant should be capable of producing about 100,000 tons of motor spirit, or, roughly, 30,000,000 gallons, yearly, and for this it will require about 350,000 tons of coal, or approximately 1,000 tons per day. For the operation of the plant permannt direct employment to 2,500 miners and other workers will be ensured, as well as much indirect employment.
To construct the plant will take about 18 months and will occupy some 7,000 men in direct employment and probably 5,000 men in indirect employment, for it will call for considerable activity in the iron and steel and heavy industries.
Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., has ample resources to furnish the new capital outlay of £2,500,000.
Representatives on London Traffic Committee.
A private meeting of representatives of Metropolitan borough councils was recently held at the Ministry of Transport to select six representatives to serve on the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee which is about to be reconstructed under the London Passenger Transport Act, 1933. Two Labour representatives who were nominated were not elected, all the representatives selected being from the Municipal Reform Party,
An M.P. Severely Criticizes the Bill.
Speaking recently, at Coventry Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland, M.P., explained his attitude towards the Government in connection with the Road and Rail Traffic Bill. He expressed the opinion that the Government was making a big mistake in hampering and limiting the freedom of the road-haulage industry. He was all in favour of improving conditions of labour, working and safety for the public, 'but thought it a great pity that.the Government' should hamper the liberty of the industry.
When the trade depression was over B20 and international trading resumed, it would, he said, be essential for export purposes that production and transport costs should be no higher than necessary.
He sympathized with the railways, but believed that their plight was due to the fact that they were working on an antiquated system of scheduled rates. These, be added, should be overhaukd and, in the interests of industry generally, such arrangements made as would leave road and rail transport respectively to undertake those forms of transport for which they were best fitted.
Next Year's I. of T. Congress.
The council of the Institute of Transport has decided that its next Congress shall be held from June 6-9, 1934, and Leeds has been provisionally agreed upon as the venue.
Amendments to the Bill.
The Road and Rail Traffic Bill, as amended by Standing Committee A, is now obtainable from His Majesty's Stationery Office, Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2, price 9d. The various amendments have been referred to in our pages by our Parlia• mentary correspondent during the passage of the Bill through its committee stages.
More Members for R.U.A. in the North.
Negotiations were completed on Tuesday last at Hexham between representatives of the Northern regional area committee and the committee of the Tyneside Livestock and General Hauliers Association for affiliation with the Road Haulage Association, on the terms agreed by the National Council at its recent meeting in London. The affiliation means a substantial increase in membership in the Northern area.
The Tyneside Livestock and General Hauliers Association has the distinction of being the oldest established body comprised purely of cattle hauliers in the country, and will, it is understood, be the first cattle hauliers section established by the R.H.A.
Mr.. H. C. Spark will continue to act as secretary for this branch, which will lave direct representation on the committee for the Northern area.
Import and Export Returns.
The value of commercial vehicles, cars, chassis and accessories imported during the month of June this year was £181,744, compared with £187,742 in 1932, and 1110,593 in 1931. Although the number of complete commercial vehicles (229) exported in June last was only one higher than for May, the value increased from £44,127 to 151,102. In June, 1932, 207 complete vehicles were exported, their value being £60,594.
Chassis exports for last month show an improvement over the figures for June, 1932, hut there was a big fall in comparison with the figures for May, 1933. The number of chassis exported in June last was 961, with a value of 1118,694, as compared with 614 chaa.sis and £99,449 in June, 1932; the figures for May, 1933, were 1,360 vehicles, value £181,962.
Exports of chassis under 28 cwt. continue to make good progress, but exports of chassis above this weight are, for the first hair of this year, down by 25 per cent, in value on the 1932 figures, although showing an increase of 2 per cent, in value on the 1931 figures.
German Railways to Spend £50,000 on Road Transport, The German State Railway authorities are reported to have made availabls a large sum of money, stated to be a minimum of about 150,000, for the purchase of lorries and for the establishment of goods road services.
The plan is said to involve a number of new services, including the collection and delivery of shipments at works removed from the railways, thus giving such factories the equivalent of direct railway connection through the special road-transport facilities.
Big Contracts for Thornycrofts.
One of the most important contracts recently placed for motor vehicles is that which John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., has secured for the supply of 44 10-12-ton rigid six-wheelers to the Metropolitan Transport Supply Co., Ltd. The chassis chosen incorporates the company's 100 b.h.p. six-cylindered engine, the Thornycroft over-speed gearbox and 13.50 low-pressure tyres, Insulated boxvan bodies are to be fitted to all the chassis, one of which will be specially built for exhibition purposes. The total value of the contract is approximately £60,000.
Another important order recently received by the company is that for 31 forward-control short-wheelbase twotanners for the .London and NorthEastern Railway Co. This is the fortysixth repeat order placed by this railway, and all the new chassis are to be fitted with platform bodies built at the Basingstoke works. On the completion of this contract 42 new Thornycrofts will this year have hem added to the fleet of the London and North-Eastern Railway Co.
Company Registrations Higher.
In accordance with its practice, Jordan and Sons, Ltd., the well-known company of registration agents 116118, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.2, has prepared a half-yearly statistical report dealing with the registration of new companies. This shows that, from January 1 to June 30, 1933, 155 public companies and 5,485 private companies were registered in England. The capital of the former amounted to £16,046,275 and of the latter to £26,279,694. For the corresponding half of 1932 108 public companies and 4,985 private companies were registered.
There were no public companies registered under the heading of "motors," although 257 private companies, with an aggregate capital of £533,330 are listed in this category. For the class dealing with oil one public company (capital £200,000) and 44 private companies (capital £150,750) were registered. Another class of interest is that of carriers, in which 138 private companies, having a capital of £391,300, were registered.
It is pointed out that it cannot be claimed that the increases of the publiccompany statistics are attributable wholly to reviving trade, as the easing of the embargo on new issues has to be taken into account, although the figures give an indication of improvement.
Sales Representative Required.
A prominent British concern manufacturing a wide range of commercial vehicles requires for the South-London area an experienced and energetic man to represent the company on the sales ride. Letters addressed "Sales," care of the Editor, will be forwarded.
New Cylinder Liners.
Cylinder liners, known as Centrard, are being manufactured by the Sheepbridge Stokes Centrifugal Castings Co.. Ltd., Sheepbridge Works Chesterfield. They are made in a special alloy cast iron, hardened by the nitrogen process. The bores have a hardness of over 900 Brinell, whilst the iron is centrifngally cast and has a tensile strength of 25-30 tons per sq. in.
Registrations in Canada.
According to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics at Ottawa, motor-vehicle registrations in Canada last year totalled 1,114,503, including 157,990 goods vehicles and 1,739 motorbuses. Canada, with one motor vehicle to every 9,4 persons, ranked fourth amongst the motor-vehicle-using nations of the world on a population basis, the figure for the United States being 5.1 persons per vehicle.
A New Quick.cutting Cylinder Hone.
A self-lubricating cylinder hone, which possesses the advantages of the dry type of hone, -without the drawback of flying dust, is being marketed by E. P. Barrus, Ltd., 35-37, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C.4. Known as the Ammco, it is equipped with two cutting stones and two buffing guides, which are impregnated with a special dry lubricant.
It does not require a stroking stand, as it can be used with an ordinary i-in. electric hand drill. Besides producing a high polish on the cylinder bore, its cutting speed is claimed to be more than twice that of the wet type of hone.
The Am/nee self-lubricating hone, which is a product of the Automotive Maintenance Machinery Co., of Chicago, is available with three sets of carriers in two sizes—one for all cylinder bores from 2-11 ins. to 4 ins., and the other
for diameters from 2i-} ins, to n ins., the price in each case being £13. Extra carriers for larger bores are available.
Expert Evidence Essential in Defective-tyre Cases.
The Tenby magistrates have ruled that expert evidence must be submitted in cases hi which persons are summoned for the alleged use of defective tyres. They dismissed two charges against heavy-vehicle drivers, who denied the use of defective tyres, on the admission of the police witnesses that they were not experts.
In a third case, also dismissed, the defendant called an expert witness, Mr. A. G. Perrett, assistant to the technical director of the Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., who said that, at the request of chief constables, he had lectured on the subject of tyres to the police many times.
Personal Pars.
Dewsbury Corporation has appoinied Mr. Laurance Banham as transport manager and cleansing superintendent.
Sir Maurice Bonham-Carter, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., has been appointed a director of Armstrong-Saurer. Commercial Vehicles, Ltd. Sir Maurice, who was called to the Bar in 1909, has had a distinguished public career. He was private secretary to the late Lord Oxford, served as assistant secretary to the Ministry of Reconstruction in 1917, and to the Air Ministry in 1918. At the present time he is also a partner in the well-known concern of investment bankers, 0. T. Falk and Co.
The appointment of Mr. Hilbert Holliday as joint managing director of the Vacuum Oil Co., Ltd., is announced. Mr. Holliday joined the Vacuum organization as a junior in July, 1901. After graduating through many positions, he became secretary to the board of directors, and was eventually elected on the board in December, 1919.
Mr. Holliday, whose portrait appears on this page, has been closely associated with the motor trade throughout the whole of his business career and is well known to leading manufacturers.
Mr. Maurice F. G. Wilson, M.Inst.C.E., who has been chairman of the main committee and chairman of the general council of the British Standards Institution for the past five years, has retired, in accordance with the by-laws, and Mr. F. J. Elford, M.Inst.C.E., borough engineer and surveyor of Wandsworth, past president of the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers; and chairman of the Building Divisional Council, has been elected to succeed him as chairman of the general council for the text year.
Mr. Elford has been connected for the past 20 years with the work of the Institution, and is chairman of several committees as well as a member of many others.
We reproduce on this page a portrait of Mr. W. H. Cooper, who is the London sales manager in charge of the new stock and service depot which the India Tyre and Rubber Co. (Great Britain), Ltd., has recently opened at 30, St. John's Wood Road, N.W.8. Mr. Cooper has been connected with the India Tyre concern since its inception, first in Ireland, then at the factory at Inchinnan, and finally, for the past 18 months, in London. His experience of the tyre trade, however, goes back much farther, and he is fully conversant with all branches of the trade.
The opening of the company's new service depot does not affect the business ht present conducted from its other London branch at 80, Clapham Road, S.W.9.
Auster's New Depot.
Auster, Ltd.. advises us that it has opened a northern depot, under the supervision of J. D. Morrison and Co., at 10, Whitworth Street West, Manchester, where a complete range of Auster products, which includes a number of devices used on commercial vehicle's, will be available.
S.A.E. International Automotive Congress.
The International Automotive Engineering Congress of the Society cf Automotise Engineers will be held at the Palmer House, Chicago, from August 28 to September 4. This coincides with the Century of Progress Exposition and a number of other important events, including the International Air Meet and the Gordon Bennett Trophy event.
The papers from September 1-4 will mostly deal with aircraft and aircraftengine design, construction, operation and maintenance, whilst those for the opening session (August 28-30) will cover lorry and passenger-vehicle design, etc. A session on tractors will be held, and on August 31 one on oil engines and their fuels.
President Dickinson and other officers of the society have asked the Commercial Attaché, American Embassy, Bush House, Aldvrych, London, W.C.2, to extend an informal invitation to engineers in Britain who might wish to attend the meetings, and communications should be sent to him. Visitors from abroad will be welcomed at all the events and invited to participate in the discussions. A number of papers by foreign authors will be made available.
The S.A.E. now comprises 7,000 members, and its journal is one of the most interesting technical publications which we receive in this country.
Part of Cardiff By-pass Now Open.
One section of the orbital road around Cardiff, on the northern side, has, with the new bridges, now been formally declared open to traffic. This portion is known as Western Avenue and runs from North Road to Cardiff Road. It has a 40-ft. concrete carriageway.
The western section will cost alto-gether £190,000, there being a farther stretch, to cost440,000, to be completed. The Ministry of Transport is paying 75 per cent. of the total cost. The orbital road will describe an arc around the city from Rumney to Ely Bridge.
Oil Development in Iraq.
Important developments have been decided upon, it is learned, with regard to the exploitation of the concession granted by the Iraq Government originally to the British Oil Development Co., hut now transferred to the Mosul Oilfields, Ltd., under the chairmanship of Viscount Goschen.
Since the formation of the new company, in which the Iraq Government is represented, exhaustive research has been made into the question of immediately commencing the programme of full exploitation of the concession, which comprises a rich belt contained in an area of 46,000 sq. miles west of the Tigris. The necessary plant and machinery have been ordered in this country and drilling operations will commence forthwith.
Many Orders for A.E.C.s.
During the past few weeks a big batch of orders has been received by the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd., Southall. One of the largest municipal orders is that for 10 Regent oil-engined double-deck buses for Bury Corporation. Amongst many buyers of the Regal single-decker are Keith and Boyle (Lon don), Ltd., which has ordered four oilUnglued models, the Caledonian Omnibus Co., and Fingland's Hire Cars, Ltd., each of which is buying three machines. Many of the orders for this model are repeats and, in some cases, oil engines ere specified. The South Wales Transport Co., Ltd., has ordered five oil-engined Renowns.
On the goods-carrying side one of the largest orders in hand is from the AngloAmerican Oil Co., Ltd., for 34 Mammoth Major 12-ton six-wheelers, another buyer of this model being W. V. Bowater and Sons, Ltd., which has ordered nine oil-engined vehicles. W. and 0. French, Ltd., is buying eight A.E.C.Hardy 4/4 vehicles.
R.B.A. Meets at Preston.
A meeting of the Preston sub-area of the North-Western area of the Road Haulage Association was held at Preston a few days ago, when Mr. Chris. Miller presided. The principal speakers were Mr. E. C. Marston, the president of the R.H.A., Mr. R. B. Stockdale and Mr. L. B. 0. Heilbrun.
Mr. Marston dealt with the objects of the Association, and said that if it had been as strong at the time the Salter Committee was appointed as it is now, it would have been represented on that committee. He referred to the scheme which is on foot whereby it is hoped that all members of the Association will eventually be able to obtain free legal aid in any part of the country. The scheme also includes free legal assistance in connection with the renewal of licences. He mentioned that, at present there were 1370,000,000 invested in goods vehicles on the road.
Crossley 011 Engines Described.
Pamphlets dealing with the foureylindered and six-cylindered oil engines produced by Crossley Motors, Ltd., Gorton, Manchester, have recently been issued, in which brief specification details are givfn of each model, as well as a power curve. Each unit incorporates the Ricardo 'swirl-chamber system of injection.
We regret to learn of the death of Mr. V. P. B. Steward, C.B.E., a director of William Beardmore and Co., Ltd.
The "Midland Red" Parcels Services.
A good idea of the extent of the general carrying business run by the Midland " Red " Commercial Motor Services is contained in a handbook which the concern has recently issued. The title "Midland Red," is, of course, instinctively associated with the operations of an important passenger-carrying concern, and it is not always appreciated that, in addition to its operations on this side, the company also controls an efficient parcels and goods-carrying organization.
This system was started in 1905, and the company now has a fleet of 35 vans, ranging from 1-tonners to 4-tonners, which work to a definite time-table. In addition to the ehief parcels office, all "Midland Red" booking offices receive parcels, and there are about 600 agents spread throughout the towns and villages in the Midlands. Many towns are served daily, and, when required, the
vehicles pick up special large consignments from local works. A collection and delivery of parcels and goods are made at frequent intervals daily in and around Birmingham.
All goods and parcels collected during the day are transported to the chief goods office and sorted during the night, the vans setting off early in the morning for the first deliveries. By arrangement with other long-distance carriers, it is possible to ensure a 24-hour service to all the chief towns in the country.
The handbook which has recently been issued contains the names of the towns and villages which are served, the lists being split up into distinct areas. There is also a list of agents who receive small packages suitable for conveyance by the buses run by the company.
Hammond Metering Pumps in Demand.
Hammond Pump and Equipment Co., Ltd., Hammond Works, Victoria Road, London, N.W,10, has recently received orders for its low-pressure petrolmetering columns from a number of important transport operators, including the London Passenger Transport Board, Southdown Motor Services, Ltd., Trent Motor Traction Co., Ltd., and Crosville Motor Services, Ltd., as well as from the Leicester and Bolton municipal authorities.
Beardmore's Oil-engine Progress.
The annual general meeting of William Beardmore and Co., Ltd., was held a few days ago, when Mr. H. A. Reineke, chairman and managing director, presided, and discussed the progress of the oil-engine section.
He said that, at the beginning of the year, the high-speed oil-engine department was removed from Parkhead to Dalmuir, which has better facilities for economic manufacture. The results of the transfer are now beginning to be felt, and orders are being executed for oil engines of various sizes for different transport applications.
The good results obtained with the company's oil engine for motor vehicles encourage the hope that its adoption for road-transport purposes may ultimately recompense the company for all the money and energy which have been expended upon the work of development. He mentioned that the manufacture
of taxicabs by Beardmore '(Paisley), Ltd., has been discontinued, because it is not possible to produce the limited number of taxicabs for which there is a market at economic prices. The company is, therefore to change its name to that of Beardmore (Diesels), Ltd.
Taxi Hiring Fee to be Raised.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Home Secretary announced that, as from August 1, the initial hiring fee for taxicabs in London would be increased ICY 3d. The fares remain undisturbed.
'Keighley Hauliers Active.
When a number of haulage proprietors of Keighley recently met, it was decided to form a branch of the National Haulage Contractors Protection Association, and a provincial committee was formed with Mr. Charles Keighley (Messrs. Keighley Brothers) as chairman, and Mr. William Thompson (Messrs. Allan, Bradley and Thompson) as secretary.
Alliance of Owner Drivers Developing.
The new licensing and how it would affect the owner-driver was the subject of discussion it the second meeting of the Alliance of Owner Drivers, held a few days ago. Capt. E. H. B. Palmer, the honorary organizing secretary, whilst adopting an optimistic view, gave as his opinion that indemnity against adverse results could most surely be obtained by mass representation.
It was evident that many feared that the fate of a large number of small bus and coach concerns would overtake them. He pointed out that provision had now been made for appeals to be presented personally, by counsel, or an agent, and suggested that, for the small man, the Alliance of Owner Drivers offered effective service in this respect.
It was decided that the question of admitting to membership those owning more than two vehicles should be left to the advisory board.