COMMERCIAL MOTOR
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Recognized in Business Circles as the Leading Journal.
The Authority on all forms of Mechanical Road Transport.
Largest Circulation.
Conducted by EDMUND DANGERNELD.
THE proprietors of The Commercial Motor, the Editor and the staff extend their best wishes to every reader this Christmastide.
OUR Special Press Gallery -Correspondent, in his notes this week, deals with matters connected with road transport which have arisen in both Houses of Parliament during the past week. Page 650.
WE deal with the new Orcier of the Minister of Transport on the question of the brake equipment of steam-wagon chassis, and explain the circumstances in which such an Order has come to be thought necessary. Page 652.
WE are able this week to describe a very interesting proposal—to dispense (for the purpose of saving weight) with the usual road spring, and to cause the tyre only to carry and insulate the load, by supporting the load on the tyre and by deflecting the tyre at more than one place on its periphery. Page 654.
THERE is often felt, by farmers and others, a need for a light portable pump that can be easily fitted and operated from some rotating part of the motor vehicle which conveys it to the site. We describe such a pump, which, when fitted to the rear axle, can be driven by belt off the road wheel of the vehicle. Page 657.
A SEASONABLE touch is given to the issue by a full-page drawing showing the passage of a load of Jive and dead poultry, scented and chased by the fox, who, when the driver and• his mate pull up for refreshment, raids the load and meets his death at the jaws of the hounds who have followed his scent. Pave 659.
THE development of the large fleet comprised of vehicles of one make, or even of one model, has brought into being special tools and special appliances not intended for, nor adaptable to, any other vehicle. These appliances, of which two are described in our pages, ' greatly facilitate repair and overhaul of vehicles.
Page 663.
ENGINEERS in motor factories and repair works have to use the English scale of measurement and also the metric scale, and, if one micrometer only be used, references to conversion scales are necessary. A new micrometer has been placed on the market, and is described by us, which gives a measurement in either scale. Page 664.
FORETHOUGHT, care and attention to a number of details, consideration and the possession of that uncanny gift—a knowledge of what "the other man" will do or endeavour to do—enable the driver to avoid mishaps and thus conduce to general traffic safety. Our centre-page article deals with the subject of safety
first from the driver's point of view. Page 660.
New Official Demand for Better Brakes on Steamers.
THE crusade of the police forces throughout many districts against ineffective brakes on commercial motetvehicles is now being rounded off by the Minister of Transport, who has, at last, con. demned the practice of relying upon the reversing of the steam engine and of regarding this action as the equivalent of one of the brakes demanded by statute as the standard equipment of all heavy vehicles.
The new Order of the Minister (No. 1229 of 1925) takes effect as from January 2nd, 1927, so that manufacturers have a clear year in which they can effect the redesign of their standard chassis, but there is a further section of the Order (Article III) which makes two concessions in the matter of the brakes on trailers used in connection with road construction or maintenance works and which comes into effect on January 1st next.
It is contended on behalf of the Minister that, whilst the Amendment Order of 1913 was made on the grounds that, with a steam vehicle running forwards, the engine has a considerable braking effect if it is in reverse gear, this effect, actually, cannot be relied upon if there is a change-speed gear between the engine and the driving wheels, owing to the inability of the driver, after a certain speed is attained, to put, the engine into gear from the neutral position, for, of course, account must be taken of all the circumstances and potentialities when granting any concession such as the acceptance of the reversed engine as the equivalent of a brake. When, for example, a vehicle without a clutch is climbing a hill and a change to a lower gear is necessitated. the engine (and,' therefore, the vehicle) must be brought virtually to a standstill. During the change and when the lever is in the neutral position the engine is not available as a brake. Should the driver then miss the change, the vehicle may (as has actually happened in several instances) run backwards owing to the one brake exerting insufficient stopping power.
• In the case of those steam wagons which have only a brake that acts on one wheel the concession in the Order of 1913 has never applied, and it is to many wagons of the type that the police crusade previously referred to has chiefly been directed. A large number of these vehicles has already been equipped, or is in process of being equipped, with auxiliary brakes. Provided that they have one brake in good working Order (which is defined as " of such efficiency that the application of that brake shall cause two of the wheels on the same axle of the vehicle to be so held that the wheels shall be effectually prevented from revolving "), that they are not used as stage carriages or for the conveyance of passengers for gain or hire, and that their engines shall be caPable of being reversed, existing vehicles are still held to be legal, whilst the concession will apply to vehicles similarly constructed during the year 1926 (actually up to and including January 1st, 1927, although for what reason the extra day is allowed Is not at all clear unless it be that it will be a Saturday!).
Our own opinion is strongly in favour of getting away as quickly as possible from admittedly insufficient brake power. Roads• are becoming so smooth, traffic on every hand is speeding up, and with increased speed the need for the fullest brake power is becoming more and more insistent.
Economizing on Insurance Premiums.
:A CONSIDERABLE saving in one of the items of expenditure in connection with a vehicle or fleet, namely, insurance premiums, can be effected by a careful annual revision of vehicle values. The common ,tendency, without question, is to over-insure, the reason for this being the unwillingness of the owner of a vehicle to admit as a basis of valuation the sum he would obtain if he sold in the second-hand market. A vehicle costs first-hand, we will assume, £1,000. The owner would at_ once insure such a vehicle at £1,000 or, if he were unusually depreciative of his own property, at £900, but it is more likely that he would enter £1,000 on his application to the insurance company. Each year he would reduce the value for insurance purposes by about 10 per cent., and in the period of six years he would have paid premiums on an average annual valuation of about £780. Yet, at any point in that period he would, if forced to sell in the second-hand market, have realized considerably less for his vehicle and, if at any time he had, .through fire or serious accident, suffered a total loss, have recovered from the insurance company only the second-hand value.
An instance of this kind came before us the other day (and it is not, by a long way, the only one) where the value of a vehicle had. in a few years, been reduced from £1,750 to £1,000, proportionate premiums being paid; when a total loss occurred, the insurance company could not be induced to pay more than £550. In other words, in the current insurance year alone, an unnecessary expense, to the extent of the premium on £450. had been incurred.
There should, of course, be unlimited cover for third-party risks, and all other risks involving claims should be adequately covered. It seems to us that the proper course would be to ask an insurance company, at the beginning of the insurance year, to agree to a total loss value in each case and to undertake to pay such agreed value in the event of the total loss of the vehicle. Such a course would have the advantages, first, of a material reduction in the cost of insurance, and, secondly, of securing a quick settlement, instead of a prolonged and acrimonious discussion ensuing whenever that unusual occurrence, a total loss, happened. It is the fact that these occurrences are rare that prevents the revealment to a vehicle owner of what amounts to an overcharge arising from over-valuation by the owner of his property. It may, of course, be contended that, if every vehicle owner economizes on premiums in the manner suggested, insurance rates may have to be raised. Even this, however, would be preferable to paying premiums on greatly enhanced values. s16
Necessary Bridge Construction as Relief Work at Rosyth.
N view of the reduction of Rosyth Dockyard to a care and maintenance basis, Mr. Watson, the Labour member for Dunfermline, has made a suggestion which road users in the northern half of the kingdom would like to see adopted. It is that, instead r of allowing the dockyard with its machinery and equipment to lie idle, it should be utilized as a base for the building of the two road bridges over the Forth and the Tay. If this plan of preserving for some years longer the new community of Rosyth were to receive encouragement from those local authorities in Scotland who have been the most vigorous protesters against the abandonment of the dockyard, there might be some hope of advance towards the much desired direct route from the lowland counties to the northern counties. But it is to be feared that bridge-building schemes, paid for mainly by local road authorities, will be viewed as a very different proposition from the maintenance of a Royal dockyard at the expense of the Imperial Exchequer. There is some hope of the bridge over the Tay being proceeded with, but in the case of the Forth the Minister of Transport's offer to pay 75 per cent. of the cost of preliminary survey has not yet been accepted. Mr. Watson's suggestion deserves serious attention. Not only are the two road bridges urgently required for the rapidly growing motor traffic to the north, but now is the time to provide employment in the engineering and iron and steel trades, the stagnation of wiiich has caused much distress in the, West of Scotland.
Will Horse Transport Survive ?
WE still hear occasionally, although seldom at first-hand, of firms which either still employ, or are considering the employment of, horses in connection with their transport, and it is sometimes difficult to convince them that mechanical transport is not only far more efficient in respect of speed of delivery, but is actually considerably cheaper in the end than animal power. It may be that for short-distance work, and for that requiring a large number of stops in comparison with the distance travelled, the horse still proves satisfactory; but we believe that, even for this, its popularity is on the wane, and that eventually it will be replaced by special types of petrol vehicle or battery-electric machine. Even from the humane point of view the further employment of mechanical power would be most advantageous. No one who has witnessed the difficulties and struggles of heavily laden horses during the recent periods of snow and frost can have failed to wish that the horse could be freed from employment on road surfaces which, whilst being excellent for the rubber-tyred commercial vehicle, are totally unsuitable for the ironshod hoofs of the horse. Even when the surfaces are not frozen it is apparent to the close observer that a horse has great diffiCulty in obtaining satisfactory adhesion, and, except when the roads are perfectly dry, slips at every step. Many types of horse shoe have been devised with the object of overcoming slipping trouble, but not with any outstanding success. There are numerous other objections to the horse which have already been referred to by us on several occasions. By its slow progress it adds greatly to the congestidh of our streets, and is also unsatisfactory from the sanitary point of view. Even in the consideration of control, the motor vehicle takes precedence, for a heavily laden lorry can usually be arrested far more readily at a traffic stop than can -a horse hauling an equivalent load.