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 Crosier.
New Guy Policy.
At an agents' meeting held at the works of Guy Motors, Ltd., recently, the new programme and policy of the company was indicated. In outlining this policy Mr. Sydney S. Guy, the managing director of the company, made reference to the fact that his concern prefers to sell through the trade. Three well-known agents said they had found the Guy commercialvehicle agency more profitable than the touring-car trade.
Mr. Guy said that the number of vehicles sold for the expired period of the 'present financial year (from October 1st last) constituted a record, and showed an increase Of 37 per cent. dyer the ' same period for the previous financial year.
The discount given by the company to agents and the trade has been increased. The service department has been entirely reorganized and transferred to new buildings having adequate storage accommodation, so that improved facilities for immediate service can now be given.
Improving Insurance Facilities.
For many years there has been a rapidly growing amount of dissatisfaction with regard to the clauses embodied in policies of insurance for
motorcars. No practical action has been taken in the matter until the advent of The Motor policy; the terms have been arranged with Lloyd's underwriters by Willis, Faber and Dumas, Ltd., of 54, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.3. The aims in the preparation of the scheme have been the avoidance of all ambiguities. and the obtaining of absolutely complete cover at prices which do not exceed normal tariff rates. Many of the provisions of the policy are not obtainable elsewhere.
A New London-Liverpool Night Service.
We learn from the Central London (Road Transport) Station, Ltd., of Cartwright Gardens, London, W.C.1, that Imperial Motor Services, of 308, Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool, has introduced as from Friday, July 12th, a new night service between London and Liverpool. Coaches leave both termini at 10.30 p.m., arriving at their destinations in time for breakfast. The fares are 17s. 6d, single and 30s. return, the route being by the way of High Wycombe, Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon. Warwick, Lichfield, Knutsford and Warrington. Leyland Tiger coaches are being employed.
At the Central London Station we also learn that Cestrian Coaches, of 46, Front Street, Chester-le-Street, has increased its service between London and Glasgow from four times weekly to once daily. The Gilford 26-seater saloon coaches used for this service now leave Glasgow and London at noon daily, including Sundays, arriving at their destinations the following morning in time for breakfast. The bodies of the coaches in question, which were built by Duple Bodies and Motors, 1i20 Ltd., of Heudon, London, are exceedingly comfortable, as is the case with all the products of this company.
The Bean 25-cwt. Model.
It is announced that Bean Cars, Ltd., of Tipton, is to commence the immediate production of a 25-cwt. model, which will be sold at attractive priees. The price of the chassis with five 33-in. by 5-in. tyres, self-starter, mechanical tyre pump cnd other equipment will be £285, whilst the flat platform lorry will sell at ±320, the drop-sided lorry at 1335 and the van at 1340.
A iflus Mileage Record.
In the course of a period of. 11 months a Commer bus running on a daily service between Nottingham and Leicester has recorded the remarkable mileage of 105,600. The vehicle is a 32-seater single-decker and it was put into service in August of last year. Barton Transport, Ltd., of Beeston, Notts,, owns the vehicle, and the concern states that, until 96,000 miles had been accomplished, nothing had been spent on repairs. This fact is attributed, in some measure, to the use of pneumatic tyres.
Annual Meeting a the A.A.
The 24th annual meeting of the Automobile Association was held a few days ago, when Mr. Charles McWhirter, chairman of the committee of the ' Association, presided. It was announced that the membership was now well over 400,000, whilst the accounts for the past year showed that subscriPthins amounted to 1695,125.
A recent innovation at Fanum House, the London headquarters of the Association, is the provision of a permanent 24-hour service. The night road-service of the Association has been extended, whilst the road-patrol service is also much larger, and the number of miles covered by the patrols during the past year was 26,000,000.
So far as the accounts are concerned, the result of the year's working shows a surplus of income over expenditure of £7,699.
The Roadway Time-table.
In the course of the next few days it is expected that the first issue' of the motor-coach and motorbus timetable, which has been compiled by Roadway Time Tables, Ltd., Regency House Warwick Street, London, W.1, will be in general circulation. The time-table covers express, cross-country and local services (excluding purely town services) in England and Wales, and is a most comprehensive work.
The express routes occupy about 80 pages and deal with 350 services, whilst the general tables cover over 770 pages and deal with about 4,000 services. The index 'occupies 80-90 pages, and coiltains a reference to about 20,000 names of places, including sub-indexing. The county is given after the name of every . place, and the index contains information relating to market days and early closing days. A key map and 30 sectional maps should, in connection with the index, be of considerable assistance in working out cross-country routes on which changes are necessitated.
Eight issiies of the time-table will, in all probability, be published annually, sa that the tabular matter can be kept up to date. The time-table is priced at 6d.
New Services in the North. •
The West Yorkshire Road Car Co., Ltd., announces the inauguration, jointly with the East Yorkshire Motor Services, Ltd., of a service between Leeds and Bridlington. via York. Fourteen journeys will be provided daily, some by way a Stamford Bridge and others via Pocklington. The single fare for the whole distance will be 5s., and the return fare, Is. t3d. TillingStevens model B10 coaches will be employed.
Another new service announced by the West Yorkshire concern connects Bradford with Scarborough, via Shipley, Leeds, York and Mahon. The single fare on _this route is 5s. (3d., and the return fare 9s., the vehicles used being Leyland Lion saloons.
Developments on the Newcastle-London Service.
Another coach-service extension from Newcastle recently, came into operation.
The Majestic Saloon Coaches, who work a day and night service between Newcastle and London, are providing an alternative route which opens out the Northamptonshire area to coach passengers from the north. Bedford, Luton and St. Albans are now included in the rtiute, which is identical with that over which the Majestic coaches operated when they first started on. the Newcastle and London run. An alternative route is by way of Biggleswade, Baldock and Stevenage, to London, whilst on the new extension the • coaches leave the North Road at Eaton Socon for Bedford. Fares to Bedford, Luton and St. Albans from Newcastle are the saine those from Newcastle to London, i.e., 20s. single ; 30s. six4lay return, and 35s. period return. Mr. F. G. Bristow, F.C.I.S., F.S.S., M.lnst.T., the popular general secretary of the Commercial Motor Users Association, has been successful in the ballot for election of members of Council of the Institute of Transport, and he will, therefore, act in that capacity for the next three years.
We reproduce on this page a portrait 31 Mr. P. J. Woodward, who has recently been appointed a director and general manager of Guy Motors (South Africa), Ltd. Mr. Woodward; who was general sales manager of the parent
concern, Guy Motors, Ltd., at Wolverhampton, until the end of 1925, has acquired a most extensive knowledge of conditions obtaining throughout East, Central and South Africa. After having been on a visit to this country, he sailed for South Africa on July 19th.
In addition to a wide range of Guy commercial vehicles, Guy Motors (South Africa), Ltd., will be handling certain products of its associate concern, the Star Motor Co., Ltd. During Mr. Woodward's visit to England arrangements have been made for covering the sole agency for Riley cars in South and Central Africa.
Mr. C. A. Featherstone, Mr. Wm. Lee and Mr. Ji Russell Knowles have recently been elected to the board of Silvertown Lubricants, Ltd. They have all been associated with the company since its formation : Mr. Featherstone as secretary, Mr. Lee as chief chemist, and Mr. Knowles on the technical and sales staff. They were previously for many years with the firm which preceded the company.
A Directory of British Roadstone Quarries.
In anticipation of a record period of road construction, as a result of the Government's proposal . to expend £37,500,000 on roads and bridges during the next six years, the National Federation of Granite and Roadstone Quarry Owners has just issued a directory of British roadstone producers, containing the names and addresses of, and materials produced by, over 110 roadstone quarries in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands.
This directory, arranged according to the geographical situation of the quarries, is issued free of charge to all highway engineers, surveyors and contractors and those interested in roadmaking, and can be obtained upon application to the general secretary, the National Federation of Granite and Iloadstone Quarry Owners, 5 and 6, Coventry Street, London, W.1.
Prince of Wales to Visit Tyre -Works.
On the occasion of his official visit to Burton-on-Trent to-day (July 23rd), in eennee.tion with the municipality's Jubilee Celebrations, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales has consented to visit the Pirelli tyre works, the erection of which has just been completed. .These new workilare situated on 60 acres of land, and when the present buildings are in full production will give employment to approximately 1,500 people.,
• Inst. -of T. Examinations.
Examinations for graduateship and associate membership of the Institute of Transport are to be held in London and several other centres on April 24th20th, 1930, inclusive, and details of the subjects to be set can be obtained frbm the. secretary of the Institute of Transport, 15, Savoy Street, London, W.C.2. It should be noted that the latest dates for the deposit by candidates of forms or application are :—for exemption, November 30th, 1029; for examination, February 1st, 1930.
Younger Bus Conductors Recommended.
The watch committee of the Weymouth Corporation recommends, on the representation of the National Omnibus and Transport Co., Ltd., that the regulation of the council to the effect that no person under the age of 18 years shall be licensed as a conductor of a bus, be varied by reducing the age from 18 to 16, in respect of eondnctors working on buses with not more than 20 seats. The Saurer Commercial Vehicle Co. Ltd. 21, Augustus Street, London N.W.1, announces that the price of it SAD chassis, which has a useful load
capacity of tons and can haul a
trailer which doubles its transport capacity, has been reduced. The chassis with a standard wheelbase and shod with solid tyres now sells at £950, and with pneumatic tyres. at £1,050, whilst the long wheelbase chassis on solid tyres sells at 1960, and on pneumatic tyres at £1,060. The reductions amount to 140 in the case of the solid-tyred chassis and £00 on those on pneumatics.
We understand that favourable delivery can be made of either type, which can be equipped, when required, with the Saurer patent brake-operating gear and trailer hook.
Checking the Water Level.
Details have reached us of an Australian invention which takes the form of a radiator cap for tractors. It is attached by. a hinge on one side and held down by a hook at the front. A hole is drilled through the radiator cap to take a screwed-in guide for the float, which has a rod extending well above the cap. When the vehicle is stationary and the water is reasonably steady the operator can see at -a glance whether the radiator is due for replenishment. The cap makes contact with a tight gasket gasket o» the top of the radiator header.
Free State Imports Up.
An increase in the number of commercial motor vehicles imported into the Irish Free State is again recorded, the returns for May last showing a total of 170 vehicles, with ii value of £39,144, as against 63 vehicles and 119,613 in the. coresponding month of 1928. The aggregate for the first five months of the year is returned at 449 vehicles (f84,099), as Contrasted with 248 vehicles (i77,640) in the corresponding period of last year.
Facilitating Spring Lubrication.
According to, a recent invention, provisionally protected in the names of Messrs. T. Perry and A: R. Green, metal interleaviags are used in' latainated springs as a means for regulating the passage of lubricant injected
through grease nipples. Each interleaving has a central slot, and this connects a hole drilled through one spring leaf with another drilled through the
next one, but at a considerable distance from the first. In this way grease travels along the channel through the next lower leaf, and so on. According to the patent, one grease nipple may suffice for the spring, or any number may be used, as desired.
The patentees are desirous of dialinsing of their rights in the invention, and parties interested should address their letters : " Spring Lubrication Patent Rights," care of the Editor.
For Protecting Passengers' Clothes.
While entering or leaving a privatehire ear or one of the older-type motor coaches in which the doors are disposed at the ends of each row of seats, it is extremely easy for the clothes to become smeared with mud if weather conditions be at all unfavourable.
With the object of combating this nuisance, C. H. Mason and Co., Ltd., of 60, West Street, Gateshead, Co. Durham, is now marketing, under the name of the Thwaites Patent Splash Wing, a device which may be attached E22 For the purpose of giving dental attention to school children, a local council in Germany has recently purchased a travelling dental surgery. 'IV body is built on a Mercedk-Bens 50lnp,six-cylinder, low-frame chassis, and it is equipped as rt most up-to-date dental clinic. Apart from the dental sPPliances, the lighting and heating systems and the hot and cold-water installations have been so planned that a perfectly equipped' surgery is available.
The use of a travelling dental surgery has the great advantage that it enables the visiting surgeon to carry out his examinations with his Assistants at the schools, so that the erection of many clinies is 110 longer necessary.
Engine-operated Advertising Signs.
In commercial-motor circles great Popularity has been attaiued by the type of sign which shows its Written message to the public on an inclined mirror, the light for which is provided naturally or artificially. Hitherto these advertising media have been of the fixed type in most eases, but g. G. Vokea, Ltd., 95, Lower Richmond Road, Putney, London, S.W.15, has introduced a pattern which has a rotating member carrying the actual wording on two of its glass sides. This member can turn
through 90 degrees under the influence of a suction-operated motor of the pattern usually employed for windscreen wipers ; it is connected to the induction system of the engine and can be thrown out of action or its speed regulated by means of one screw on the body of the vacuum. motor.
We tested the device and found that tha vacuum motor was capable of rotating the moving member with ease.
increase in the Road Transport of Sugar-beet. _
At the Second annual meeting of those interested in the King's Lynn sugarbeet factory, it was mentioned that 39,563 tons were delivered by road in 1028 as compared with 4,747 tons dileing the previous year. So far as the Ely sugar-beet factory is concerned, 67,180 tons of beet were delivered by read in 1928, as compared with 41,247 in 1927. A Scheme to Co-ordinate Licensing.
To keep abreast with the development • of motorbus traffic in Lancashire, the Lancashire County ;Council took the initiative in calling a conference at Preston on July '18th, to which representatives of 137 local authorities were invited, to discuss plans for solving the difficult problem of the licensing of service coaches. The suggestion is to create a new authority to operate over as large an area as _possible without impairing or restricting in any way the existing powers of municipalities as licensing authorities.
It is proposed to divide Lancashire into four sections, each of which would have a licensing authority, composed of represeutatives of the various local eouncils, the duties of which would be to control routes and services, to, grant licences, etc. Possibly from these Committees will be appointed a central
body to deal with appeals from a decision of any of the four area committees.
If the representatives of the local authorities approve of the Lanes County Council's proposals a Bill will be promoted in the next session of Parliament.
An A.J.S. Instruction Book.
An instruction book dealing with the A.S.,S. 25 h.p. six-cylinder Pilot chassis has just been issued by A. J. Stevens and Co. (1914), Ltd., Wolverhampton. It has been prepared for the benefit of drivers of this make of vehicle, and a particularly interesting point is that the cover, as well as its inside pages, is washable, in that any dirty finger marks left by oily hands can he quickly reMoved. A copy of the hook is given free with every chassis sold, but further copies can be obtained from Graiseley House. Wolverhampton, price 2s. 6d., pest free.
Apart from giving leading particulars of the chassis, the book contains useful hints on how to obtain the best results, the subjects of -lubrication and minor adjusttrients being treated very fully.
Licensing Conditions to Govern Doer • • Catches:
The licensing committee of the Bradford Corporation recommends the amendment of. the bus-licensing conditions so as to require that all emergency doors on new vehicles be . fitted with hush-handled automatic door catches.
The Ministry and Trolley-bus Routes.
The finance committee of the Bradford ' Corporation reports that the Minister of Transport is about to make a provisional Order in regard to the running of trolley vehicles on certain
routes, some of which are within and the remainder • without the .city of Bradford. • Unfortunately it was not possiblq for the Minister tomake the provisional Order in time for it to be introdticed into the past . Parliament, and it appears Unlikely that the Order will be confirmed Ulla year. -
The matter has been an exceptionally difficult " one, and it involved the holding by an inspector of the Ministry of Transport of a local inquiry.
Another Goodyear Factory.
At 6, p.m. on July 11th, the factory siren etthe works. of , the, Goodyear Tyre and Rubber CO. (Great Britain, 1927), Ltd., at Bushbury, Wolverhampton, sounded 15 blasts. The reason for this was that, in Alabama, at 12 noon (American time), machinery was set in motion at another Goodyear factory where tyres are being made at the rate
of 5,000 per day. This is the 15th Goodyear rubber Plant to be opened.
Municipal Purchases and Proposals.
GODALMING Town Council is buying a new Dennis fire-tender at £520.
The streets committee of BRADFORD Corporation has decided to purchase a steam wagon.
A new motor ambulance is to be bought by WHITEFIELD (Lanes) Urban District Council.
The health committee of BAnKmo Urban District Council recommends the purchase of a motor ambulance.
A Morris-Commercial motor ambulance is to be• purchased by the MALvEnN Urban District Council.
The tramways committee of YORK Corporation is inviting tenders for the supply of two 32-seater saloon buses.
The tramways committee of Etna. Corporation is inviting tenders for the supply of 12 double-deck trolley-buses.
The electricity, committee of BARNSLEY Corporation recommends the ,purchase of a Morris-Cowley 10-cwt. motorvan.
Bray Corporation has placed an order with the Equipment and Engiiteering Co., Ltd., for a four-gun Cyclone vehicle-washing plant.
The health committee of Wryn;torrn Corporation has accepted the tender of Messrs. Tilleya for the supply of an Austin 20 h.p. ambulance at £755.
The tramways committee of BRADroan Corporation has accepted the tender of Herbert Morris, Ltd., Loughborough, at £025, for a tower wagon.
A Committee has been appointed by the WELLINGTON (Somerset) 'Urban District Council to consider the provision of an ambulance for the town.
The lighting and cleansing committee of Exicrna City Council, having studied the refuse-collection system of Bristol, is now to purchase a tractor (at £425) and three containers (at £175 each) for refuse collection.
Growth of the Midland " Rod" Traffic. . A. record has been kept of the mmaber of passengers travelling by 'Midland " Red" buses on August Bank Holidays, and a surprising increase in the past eight years is revealed. These are the figures : 1921, 107.146; 1022, 71,501; 1920, 148,793; 1924, 197,897; 1925, 222,386 ;• 1926, 324,005; 1927, 375,8S2; 1928, 453,782.