Correspondence.
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Where are the Steam Lorries?
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :---The dearth of steam motor vehicles is a very noticeable feature of the present motor exhibition at Olympia ; only a few examples of this type of motor traction are to be seen among the many petrol cars exhibited, and one is led to ask if the steam wagon is dying out entirely and giving place to the petrol engine in the fields of omnibus and heavy wagon construction. Many favourable reports of the excellent work done by various makes ofo. steam vehicle have reached my ear from different users, and it therefore seems to me an extraordinary thing that the makers of steam wagons should have held aloof from the very interesting and otherwise representative exhibition now in progress at Kensington. By doing so, they are apt to give to the user of motor vehicles, and to the public generally, the impression that the steam vehicle is ashamed of itself, and afraid to show itself in public. When I went to the last show prometed by Messrs. Cordingley at the Agricultural hall (March of this year), there were numbers of splendid steam lorries, and the makers had no lack of testimonials. Opinions cannot have veered round in so few months to favour petrol for heavy loads, quite apart from the fact that such enormous prices are asked for heavy lorries with in combust'on engines.—Yours faithfully,
STEAM ER .
[There is no room at Olympia for additional exhibits, and thosewho wish to see a representative lot of British steam wagons can do so in March next, at the Ag-ricukural I hill Show. It is certainly not true that the petrol-propel:ed lorry has ousted the five-ton steam kin-v.—EMI Agricultural Organisat The _Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR. "
Sir :—T beg to advise you that the business, which has hitherto been transacted by the advisory business department of our society, on behalf of our affiliated societies in England and Wales, for the supply of their agricultural requirements, has now been taken over by the Agricultural Co-operative Federation (a federation of our affiliated societies), which has been registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies' Act, the provisional directors being :—Robert A. Yerhurgh, Esq., M.P., president of the Agricultural OrganisaLiou Society ; the Hon. Thomas A. Brassey, chairman of committee of the Agricultural Organisation Society; the Marquis of Zetland, vice-president of the Agricultural Organisation Society ; Hugh C. Fairfax Chohneley,. Esq., member of committee of the Agricultural Organisation Society ; Augustus Brig,stocke, Esq., member of committee of the Agricultural Organisation Society ; Charles Bathurst, Esq., junior president of the Lydney District Farmers' Co-operative Society, Limited; and E. J. Cheney, Esq., member of committee of the Agricultural Organisation Society.
All correspondence with manufacturers, merchants, and others, for the purchase of agricultural requirements for our affiliated societies will, henceforth, be done in the name of the Agricultural Co-operative Federation, and not by the advisory business department of the Agricultural Organisation Society, as heretofore.—Yours faithfully, (For the Agricultural Organisation Society), J. NUC;ENT II.Mzurs, Secretary, Darr! House, Westminster, S.W.,
November iSth, mos. The Training of Drivers.
The Editor," THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—Permit me, as a reader from the first number of
TOF. COMMERCIAL MOTOR," CO say that your correspondent " W.A.W." will not find it possible to bring up men as motor drivers in the same way that it is done in loco.. departments on railways. The men would leave the omnibus companies when they began to get proficient and take places in private service, leaving them with what one might term "cleaners " only on their hands, unless the companies made their places better than private service, which appears to me to be very unlikely for a bus company to do. Now, as for driving schools, I do not see why a man who has had a few years at locomotive work should not be a fair workman after a six weeks' course of instruction, as he should only want the practice to make him first-class. 1 find, however, that the late loco. man is not wanted. It seems to me the late groom-gardener, who does not know what a worsted trimming is, is the only man that is wanted on motor vehicles, for when I have tried for places I have only to say I have been a fireman on the railway and that pets the finishing touch on it. Perhaps it is on account of :N1r. T. C. Aveling's article in your number of March 23rd (page 46), but he surely does not know the loco. man in his true light, because they are men who are never too old to learn, and expect to learn something every day they go to work. They can adapt themselves to different circumstances in their work, as any loco. man knows it is a mistake to be too methodical in his work, but they must do it just at the right time or they would be busy answering reports all day. Now, " G.W." (July 29th, page 319) would not have to tell a loco. man his eccentric strap seized, after running 12 miles, without any warning. Any man would know it must have been overheated to cause it to seize. In answer to " II.E.W." (May iith, page 195), had he been working for the G.W. Railway, they would have wanted to know why he did not disconnect the valve spindle and secure the valve in its central position, instead of trying to stop the glands. Again, " J.S.," on same page and date, might be pleased to hear that the Cape Government Railway supply hard wood plugs for the same purpose as he used his iron rod and lead washers for. They expand inside the tube when they get damp and so hold themselves in, and when they have burnt off level with the tube plate he will find it more trouble to get them out than one might anticipate. Hoping I have not intruded on your valuable space, as I am only a common electric tram driver now. Wishing every success to " Tim COMMERCIAL MOTOR," I remain—Yours faithfully,
A LATE LOCOMOTIVE MAN.
Promptness over Renewals.
The Editor. "TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—We have been interested many times in reading your" Editorial Notes," and our staff always looks forward eagerly each week for the coming of your journal. We noticed particularly your articles laying stress on manufacturers supplying spare parts quickly. We cannot think that our firm would be blamed by anyone in this matter, as we have always made this one of our strong points. In this connection, we think, you will be interested in the following extract of a letter we have received from one of our numerous London clients this morning :—" I must compliment the management on smart delivery of front arm for our No. 5 motor, broken and replaced within 24 hours, and delivered over 200 miles." We think this is a point, and a very strong one at that, in favour of " all-British productions."— You rs faithfully, (Lancashire Steam Motor Co., Ltd.), RD. SCIINF.R.
November 20th, trios. [We agree with Mr. Sumner that it is most important to give first attention to cases of mishap, and promptness of this kind is essential to business success.—Erej Fuel for Agricultural Motors.
The Editor. "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—It may possibly be of interest to your readers to learn iluit I have been conducting some experiments recently in regard to the use of alcohol on the !vet Agricultural motor. Some months ago I was able to arrange a simple attachment whereby paraffin could be utilised for the running of the motor which was originally designed for petrol, and was able to secure absolutely satisfactory results; that is to say, it is possible for me either to start up on petrol, and, after live minutes' running, to turn on paraffin and run on same, for the rest of the day, or, in case it is impossible to obtain petrol, it is possible for me to start up on paraffin, and run on continuously. This, I may say, is accomplished without the slightest trouble in regard to sticking up of valves or fouling of the engine. My company has, however, in connection with our foreign trade, had demands, from time to time, for a motor to run on alcohol, and it was with the object of finding exactly what couid be done with alcohol spirit that I have been conducting further experiments in the field.
In the first place, I found the greatest difficulty in getting the alcohol spirit. It does seem an extraordinary thing that it is impossible to obtain alcohol spirit which could be used for fuel in internal combustion engines, because it is a product in the production of which the whole agricultural community in England would derive some benefit. There are so many products of the farm, such as potatoes, beetroot, manglewurzel, vegetable marrow, apples, wheat, malt, etc., from which alcohol spirit could be obtained, and, therefore, it does seem to me extraordinary that this very important point has not been taken account of before by those who are studying ways and means for the benefit of the English agriculturist. Of course, one of the most important points, in connection with motors for agricultural purposes, is the fact that they should be run cheaply, that the upkeep should be small, and the running expense light. Therefore, the question of fuel consumption and the cost of same is very important. Petrol at the present time is expensive. It is easy for a wealthy owner of a car, used for sporting or pleasure purposes, to buy petrol without feeling in any way that it was a burden to his pocket. At the same time, to the agriculturist using his machine only to help him with his work, the expenditure is an important item; therefore, the first step I took was the utilisation of paraffin, which can be obtained at one-half the price of petrol. This shows a decrease in the running expenditure of one-half for fuel, and at the same time does not carry with it the many risks that are bound to occur through the storing and handling of petrol, which has a lower specific gravity, though it is a clean spirit to handle, and has many other advantages. Therefore. following up my experiments, I used alcohol for the third fuel tests, and may say that the same have been attended with most successful results; the same machine with the samecarburetter, with a very small attachment and with no alteration to it, gives nearly the same h.p. and the same pulling results. The consumption is practically the same, and I feel. that I have to congratulate myself on having carried out experiments so successfully on a fuel which has up to the present time baffled most of the motor engineers, in so far. as its successful use is concerned. At the present time alcohol in this country is much more expensive than petro!, but I think, if it can be proved beyond all doubt to those in authority that alcohol can be manufactured and used successfully, and that there will be a very big demand for it in connection with motor vehic;es, that the restrictive duties at present imposed on alcohol spirit would be done away with and a market opened for the product of the fuel, which, as I have before mentioned, would be of inestimable value to the farmer and to the country. To set out my experiments in detail, I may say that the following results have been achieved with the three fuels running the same machine on the same soil, and, in fact,. the experiments were carried out on the same day.
2 galls. of petrol, 3 roods of land were ploughed. With 2 galls, of paraffin, 2 roods 35 poles were ploughed. With 2 galls, of alcohol, 2 roods 25 poles were ploughed.
I think these results are, to say the least of them, very interesting indeed as showing that there are many possibilities in connection with the motor vehicle which have not been worked out, and, personally, I consider the successful use of alcohol in connection with a high-speed engine of the utmost value to the industry. As probably it may be of interest to you, or one of your representatives, to see one of the motors working on the three different fuels, I shall be %cry happy, if the matter sufficiently interests you, to arrange for a demonstrtition of this, when you will be able to satisfy yourself that the various facts I have set out in this letter have been, and can be, accomplished without trouble.—Yours.
faithfully, DAN. ALBONE. Biggleswade, Beds., November 22nd, 1905.