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Correspondence.

21st March 1907, Page 21
21st March 1907
Page 21
Page 22
Page 21, 21st March 1907 — Correspondence.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Too Many Services on One Route.

The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MoTok."

Sir :—I see in " TUE COMMERCIAL MOTOR that the Eketrobus Company intends running a service from Victoria to Liverpool Street. Surely this is a mistake; there are two motor services running over the whole route and several running from Charing Cross to Liverpool Street. A reallyneeded route would be from Richmond to Shepherd's Bush. At present horse buses and trams ply between Kew Bridge (south side) and Richmond, but passengers have to cross Kew Bridge and take the electric cars to Shepherd's Bush. A considerable amount of dissatisfaction exists in the town on account of the unsatisfactory communication with London, and an " Electrobus " service would be much appreciated, and would save Richmond from desecration by the

tramway pest.—Yours truly, A. F. H.

Motor Threshers.

The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."

Sir :—It seems strange that, while motor lorries are coining so much to the fare, makers have not taken up a matter on which a very considerable business ought to be

done, namely, in motor threshers. I have spent several thousands on traction engines, and to me it seems sheer folly in spending anything from four to six hundred pounds on a traction engine to drive a thresher worth when new from Zi4o to ;6T5o, which standsidle more than half the year. What we want is a motor lorry carrying and driving a 4 feet 6 inch finishing thresher, and capable of moving it from place to place. When the threshing season is over, one should be able to remove the thresher and us( 'be lorry for other carrying purposes as may be desired. We are large users of threshing machinery and should like to know if any makers are going into this matter.—Yours truly, ALFRED HALL AND SONS. Ringstead, King's Lynn,

March r8th, 1907.

Motorvans for Tradesmen.

The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."

Sir : --Your leading article, in your issue of March i4th, is much more reasonable than are the majority of articles on this matter. Makers have signally failed to make a motorvan which can be put in the place of the horse of the shopkeeper in small towns in agricultural districts, in which the number of residents are nearly stationary with decreasing numbers in the surrounding country, resulting in a smaller volume of goods being sold. The first cost and running expense of a motorvan are both prohibitive, and, if a shopkeeper in these towns sent a motorvan over a bigger radius, he would surely bring along a cut-throat competition, and lowering of prices, by his ill-advised action, as traders in the nearest towns will immediately procure and send motorvans over the special ground he has been serving, thus proving to the unlucky shopkeeper in two ways that, " It is the pace that kills." What is wanted is a simple, durable motor to do exactly what the horse is now doing, at no added cost. if at less cost, then the more reason why a motor should be used. Horses can be very cheaply kept by the traders above mentioned, corn, hay, and straw being obtained from their farmer clients. I may add that I have kept horses, so am acquainted with cost.—Yours faithfully,

FRED PAGE, Romsey, March i6th, 1907.

[The class of van demanded by our correspondent will be produced later on, though he is asking motor engineers to tackle the hardest problem in competing with a one-horse van over a small daily mileage. The Editorial to which our correspondent refers was intended to point out the necessity for an increased radius of action, if a motorvan is to pay. We are, however, unable to agree with our correspondent that he should be content with a one-horse van, and its capabilities, for fear of increased competition. If an argument of that class were to be allowed to carry weight, we should never witness any advance or progress in the region of locomotion.—En.]

Motor Transport in South Africa.

The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."

Sir :--Some months back I corresponded with you regarding the prospects of motor transport in South Africa; since then a friend and I made the preliminary arrangements to proceed to South Africa to take advantage of the opportunity of establishing a motor service between two important towns there, but, after exhaustive trials here in OUT own land, we were compelled to abandon this owing to the unsuitability of present motor vehicles for the work, as we must admit the worst of roads we could find here are much to he preferred to the average South African roads or, shall we say, tracks, and we also concluded that the only type of vehicle to take these roads was one fitted with a four-wheel drive. We could not at the time find a satisfactory four-wheel driven vehicle, so we set about devising a drive which we have completed and patented.

Railway locomotive practice tells us that two-wheel drives are wrong and have been discarded, and four or more driving wheels have been employed with much better results. If this applies to rail practice, and has become absolutely necessary whether for light or heavy traffic, why repeat the error in road practice, by retaining the two-wheel drive? Since it is advantageous on rails, it is doubly so on roads, and the solution of the difficulties is to be found in a four-wheel driven vehicle whether it be a traction engine, tractor, or motor wagon. We do not deny that there are motors which will travel on bad and rough ground, but whilst they do so in a slow and indifferent manner, we feel that the four-wheel driven vehicle would perform this duty in a more efficient manner than any two-wheel driven motor yet designed ; given good, bad, or indifferent roads, this undoubtedly is an advantage. In designing the device mentioned above, we had in view the overcoming of such difficulties as we found to exist from practical experience, viz., loss of tractive power and inability to travel with their own carrying loads over soft roads, side-slipping, and thus not being able to take paying loads under conditions often to be met with in the motor business, which troubles are largely attributable to the present method of two-wheel drives. We have endeavoured to embody all the features absolutely essential for such purpose without introducing any intricate mechanism or freak contrivances, and without interfering with what has come to be regarded as the standard designs, from which it may not be policy to depart.

With reference to the commercial motor wagon, we find from our experience that the advertised capabilities, except under very favourable conditions, are impracticable; for in stance, an average five-ton wagon is stated to take five tons on its own platform and an additional load of three or four tons an a trailer ; this is not possible under average condi tions. If the vehicle meets with a soft surface, the differential gear has to be locked, and, even with this assistance, it is often helpless with only its carrying load. This continu ally occurs on the road or at either end of its journey. There is also considerable difficulty in ascending sett-paved gradients, which are often met with in towns, thereby caus ing obstruction to the traffic. Inconvenience and annoyance are sometimes caused owing to inability to deliver to the exact spot required. Assuming it becomes possible to take the useful load with its trailer under such aforementioned conditions, then it makes all the difference between profit and loss on the running of a haulage wagon, as the running expenses are nearly the same with and without the trailer.

With our method we can achieve these favourable conditions, as it has been proved again and again that a four wheel drive will get out of almost any bad place, and take any reasonable incline drawing its trailing load with it. Further, by a four-wheel drive, less damage is caused to roads and wear and tear of tires and machinery is considerably reduced, and, last but not least, that trouble which is prevalent in London streets in dirty weather, viz., skidding, over the elimination of which so much time and money is being spent at the present time, is largely overcome. The above-named device appears simple and very little mechanism is apparent; it embodies all that is essential to a successful four-wheel drive vehicle, and can easily be adapted to the modern type of chassis.—Yours faithfully,

For LEIGH ARE) WEDGwooD, ARTHUR WEDGWOOD.

Elder Road, Cobridge, Staffs. March i6th, 1907.

The Evolution of Motor Omnibuses.

The Editor, g` THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."

Sir : --We are much interested to see that Mr. S. F. Edge has fully realised the inadequacy of the wooden artillery wheels when fitted to motorcars, but he suggests a retrograde movement when he proposes to utilise wire wheels in place of these. We are pleased to say that there is no need for this, as Messrs. Easton and Jones have recently patented a method of construction which will enable built-up steel wheels to be constructed at approximately the same price as wooden artillery wheels, and whilst the appearance is practically the same as wire wheels, yet the strength is at least four times as great.

We are sure that this fact will be welcomed, as the majority of car owners prefer to risk the insecurity of the wooden wheel rather than adopt the ugly wire wheeh—Yours

" THE MOTOR HOUSE,"

H. MeC.

314, Euston Road, London, W.C. March iSth, 1907.

The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."

Sir :—With reference to Mr. Worby Beaumont's lecture at the Institute of Motor Omnibus Engineers, I think that Mr. S. F. Edge's letter, in your issue of the 7th nst., touches On a very important matter. It is remarkable that, in nearly all lectures that are read, and articles that are written on commercial motor developments, no reference is ever made to the question of wheels, which, after all, form the base upon which the expensive fabric of the vehicle is built up.

I do not know whether it is that the importance of wheels and tires is sufficiently realised, or whether persons interested despair of obtaining a wheel or tire which will overcome

their present difficulties. Mr. Worby Beaumont himself made a slip when referring to the earlier history of motor passenger traffic. He stated that Hancock had invented what is now known as the artillery type of wheel, in connection with his steam carriages, over half a century ago, and that practically no radical improvement had been made in the principle of the construction of wheels since that time. As a matter of fact, in the last three years, an entirely new principle has been invented and developed, in which wood spokes are used, and placed tangentially to the hub, instead of radially, as usual. Probably this principle of using tangent spokes in compression is one of the greatest improvements which have been made in wheel construction, since the first wheelbarrow. Mr. Edge goes right to the root of the matter, in saying that the great problem that confronts motor engineers, is, " how to convey weight with speed, over unsuitable surfaces, without injury to the vehicle and its machinery." The usual practice that has been adopted has been to make a wheel strong. If it will not stand, make it stronger, and if still it shows signs of shaking to pieces in time, make it stronger still, or rather, which is not quite the same thing, make it more rigid. One of the chief objects in using a wood wheel is to take advantage of the resilience which is the property of the wood, otherwise, one might as well have a steel wheel, as indeed have been used, and are still being used in some cases on heavy motor vehicles. The use of these excessively rigid wheels, however, simply results in excessive vibration, which causes fracture and destruction in the ease of steel wheels, and working of the spokes in the case of wood wheels, besides transmitting vibration, due to the inequalities of the road, direct to the vehicle, to the injury of its mechanism.

It is to overcome these faults, and not because the police require it, at least not in the first place, that rubber tires are fitted on motor omnibuses. The motorbus companies would be only too glad to avoid the expense of rubber tires if they could do so. Numerous attempts have been made,

and no doubt many more will yet be made, to obtain an elastic or spring wheel. But hitherto all inventions which have involved moving parts in the wheel, or devices for absorbing shock on the hub, where it is concentrated, have proved unsatisfactory in extended practice. I am referring, of course, to heavy vehicles; the case is somewhat different where light cars are concerned, though even then such devices have not always proved satisfactory. The tangentspoked wheel, to which I have referred, involves different principles, which, I feel, I should not be in order in enlarging upon in this place, but three years' use on vehicles of all kinds over the roughest roads have shown that the principle, as carried out in practice, is correct. Apart from any question of one particular type of wheel or another, I am convinced that it is to improvements in wheels and tires, not in the direction of rigidity, but in the direction of modified elasticity, and increased wearing qualities, that owners of heavy motor vehicles, whether motor omnibuses, motor lorries, or tractors, have to look for reduction in their expenses of running.—Yours faithfully, REGLD. G. L. MARKHAM, l'v1.1.1Mech. E. March 19th, 1907.

The Character of the Spark in Relation to Power.

The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."

Sir :—In connection with Professor W. 'Watson's paper read at the Automobile Club on the 2ISt ultimo, and Mr.

S. F. Edge's letter relating the results of his experiment, it is interesting to know that Messrs. De Dion-Bouton et Cie., who were almost, if not quite, the first to use electric ignition successfully, have arrived at somewhat similar conclusions in respect to the advancing of the timing, when a magneto is used. In the " De Dion-Bouton Journal " of the 9th ultimo, they say :—

" Although these precautions be taken, I would draw attention to the fact that it is extremely rare that it is

necessary to vary the firing point in the four-cylinder

motors; the magneto gives in reality a more intense current the faster the motor runs, the spark at the sparking

plug is also the hotter, the firing, therefore, Lakes place all the quicker, and the advance of the ignition becomes useless; the regulation of the speed of the motor should be effected solely by throttling the gases of the carburetter and as, on the other hand, the compression release with which our motors are fitted considerably reduces the chances of the starting handle flying back, the contact breaker could be set, and the advance gear abolished." They explain that their reason for not dispensing with the advance gear is that they provide a dry battery as a secondary source of electric current, to be used in emergency and to facilitate starting. It may also he noted that Professor Watson confirms Messrs. De Dion-Bouton et Cie. 's practice when in his conclusions he states :— " 2. With a trembler coil, the time at which the spark occurs is liable to vary greatly, and on this account the power developed may be considerably reduced. " 3. The variation in the time of firing obtained with trembler coils is different for different coils, and, hence, a multicylinder engine, in which a separate coil is used for each cylinder, is unlikely to develop its maximum power, particularly at high speeds; the reason being that, although the tremblers of the coils may possibly be so adjusted for some particular voltage that each cylinder fires at the same point of the stroke, yet this adjustment will no longer be true if the voltage of the battery alters, particularly if it falls much below the value for which the tremblers were adjusted.

" 6. Except for the fact that the engine cannot be started on the switch, the plain coil with a rapid break on the two-to-one shaft seems preferable to a trembler coil, since over a very large range of current—in fact, whenever the current is large enough to cause the passage of a spark in the cylinder—the timing is exactly the same."

De Dion-Bouton motors have always been made with a non-trembler coil and a make-and-break on the two-to-one shaft, and the four-cylinder motors have always had a single coil with a distributor in the high-tension circuit.—Yours

truly, WALTER MUNN, Secretary. to, Great Marlborough Street, London, W. March i8th, 1907.


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