News of the Week.
Page 2
Page 3
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Further information regarding the A.C. Van Trials appears on page 458.
The entries for this competition closed at noon yesterday (Wednesday).
A number of motor manufacturers have contributed to the funds of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers, in order to be enrolled as Associates, and other applications are in hand.
We begin publication to-day of a series of articles dealing with the equipment of motor repair shops and running sheds.
There is no truth in the rumour that 2,000 motor cabs will be put on the London streets in November. This report reminds us of the Lawsonian announcement regarding 500 motor omnibuses, which were to have appeared on November 4th, 1896.
The Chelmsford double-deck chassis which is described in this issue furnishes evidence that steam is not dead. Those who have attacked steam in the past have frequently been misled by poor financial results from single-deck cars when employed on unsuitable routes. Both steam and internal combustion have their merits.
The recent order of the Local Government Board authorising the use of the D.plock pedrail under the Motorcar Acts was not issued until the officers of the Board had made extended trials of the pedrail engine.
The Anheuser-Busch Brewery Association, of St. Louis, Mo., employs thirty electric vehicles in the distribution of its beer. Sixteen of these are 5-ton trucks, and eight are 3-ton lorries. There is also a barrel wagon and several quick delivery cars.
Mr. Philip W. Carr, M.Inst.Mech.E., late engineer in charge of the Motor Transport and Cartage Company's fleet of motor wagons, has joined the staff of the Lacre Motorcar Company, Limited, Poland Street, W., where his great experience in effecting commercial motor repairs should be of considerable value.
The Joint Legislation Committee of the Automobile Club and the Motor Union has accepted the recommendation of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers to prepare evidence to be placed before the Royal Commission in support of a right of appeal to the Local Government Board in cases where a local authority refuses to license properly-equipped motor omnibuses or other public service vehicles. The constitution of this committee is as follows :—Representing the Automobile Club, Earl Russell, the Hon. John Scott Montagu, M.P., Messrs. E. II. Cozens Hardy, Claude Johnson and Stanley Spooner ; representing the Motor Union, Messrs. A. Arthur Dale, Chas. If. Dodd, Granville M. Kenyon, G. T. Langridge and E. Shrapnel! Smith. Read through our advertisement pages. Then turn over those elsewhere.
We do not deal with motor boats, rail motorcars or traction engines, as we find enough concerning bona-fide commercial motors. The news always comes to " THE COMMESciAl. Moron."
If any of our readers want accurate and up-to-date information about marine automobilism let them buy "The Motor Boat." This is published every Thursday at the modest price of one penny.
The Secretary of the British Empire Motor Trades Alliance informs us that Mr. W. H. M. Burgess, of 40, Glasshouse Street, W., has been successful in securing an order in Paris for so internal combustion engines, varying in power from 7h.p. to 4b.p., on behalf of Messrs. White and Poppe, of Coventry, which firm Mr. Burgess represents.
We have perused with interest an up-to-date treatise on "The Law of Heavy Motorcars," by Mr. D. H. Pettitt, published by Jordan and Sons, Limited, of Chancery Lane. This is thoroughly weli written and concise in its general statement of the position regarding commercial motors. The price is 35. 6d. net, and it should be found a useful book of reference by many users of these vehicles.
Arising out of the dust nuisance, a new point has been agreed to by the Roads and Bridges Committee of the East Suffolk County Council. This committee has given permission to residents in its area to use hose pipes for the purpose of water,ng the roads in the vicinity of their places of abode. In the old coaching days the authorities watered the roads regularly every dry day, as can be seen by the numerous pumps adjoining the highway along the Bath Road. This old practice may, apparently, be revived in detail.
There was a lamentable collision between a motorcar and a motor lorry at Dunstable last week. We have ascertained the facts of the case because we had noticed one report where the motor lorry was held to be to blame_ A Wolseley lorry had left Birmingham in the morning for delivery to Mr. Joseph Rochford, of Turnford Nurseries, near Broxbourne, Hefts, and was overtaken by the car in question. The cap of the near-side front wheel of the car caught against the cap of the off-side front wheel of the lorry, with the result that the car turned a side somersault, the steering wheel killing the lady driver, and the car's ending by standing right side up again. From the marks on the cap of the lorry it looks as though half an inch would have allowed the car to clear it. We tender our most sincere condolences to the injured husband of the deceased lady.
Seven daily runs from Leicester begin.
Seven daily runs from Cambridge begin.
German Commercial Miter Trials.
The patent abridgments which appear from week to week on the last page of each issue of" THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR" are made by Messrs. Boult, Wade, and Kilburn, International Patent Agents, ixi, Hatton Garden, E.C.
Royal Sirdar Buffer tyres were fitted to all wheels of the car which won the recent reliability trials in Ceylon, whilst the second vehicle had the same tyres on the driving wheels The British Consul at Smyrna reports active developments in connection with the Persian oil fields. The latest successful borings are between Kasr-i-Shirin and Ahwaz, whilst a pipe line to the Port of Mohammerah is projected.
The London County Council has placed a further order with the MoCar Syndicate, Ltd., of Paisley, for three ArrolJohnston lorries. These will be exactly the same as the one which was ordered at the last Olympia Show, all being on the well-known Arrol-Johnston system.
At the recent general meeting of Macnamara and Co., Ltd., the chairman, Sir John Pound, the present Lord Mayor of London, stated that the question of horse or mechanical haulage was now becoming acute, and that the necessity for purchasing a large number of motor vehicles would probably arise. Other mail contractors are of the same opinion.
In a report just circulated, the borough surveyor of St. Pancras, Mr. W. Nisbet Blair, M.Inst.C.E., says :— "Should it ultimately be determined to substitute steam motor vans for street sprinkling instead of horsed vans, one motor van with a capacity of i,000 gallons, travelling at a speed of five to six miles an hour, would be equivalent to possibly five of our present vans."
It is an admitted fact in the motor industry that memories of early types of vehicles are very troublesome to makers generally. Why is it that one failure appears to undo the good of ten successes? A case in point is brought to mind by a recent editorial reference in the" Irish Times," where the non-success of the several motors purchased and worked by Arthur Guinness, Son and Co., Ltd., in the year 189e, is quoted as proof that motor vehicles are unsatisfactory. A perusal of our Brewers' Issue of April 13th should convince all who are hesitating in the matter that what happened four or five years ago is no criterion of to-day's performances.
During the course of a discussion at the last meeting of the Hitchin Urban District Council, regarding a proposed claim for extraordinary traffic damage by a motor lorry belonging to Mr. G. Perowne Roberts, of the Ickleford Steam Roller Flour Mills, a number of members expressed the view that trade should not be interfered with by restrictive conditions. The clerk was of opinion that the motor wagon traffic, which in the past had been extraordinary in some areas, would be ordinary in future, and that the roads would have to be brought up to the necessary standard to cope with it. In the end, it was left to the clerk to make some settlement with Mr. Roberts.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is making very special arrangements for the collection and preparation of evidence, as to the extent and importance of the motor industry, to be placed before the Royal Commission. The society has drawn up two forms of questionnaire, the first being applicable to manufacturers in this country and concessionnaires here of foreign manufacturers, and the second to dealers generally. These will practically form the first census of the motor industry. The greatest precautions are being taken to ensure that the replies to these forms shall be kept strictly private. They will be sent direct to an independent firm of chartered accountants, who have given an undertaking to destroy the same after extracting the necessary information for the preparation of the tabulated statements which will be furnished to the society without names or details. The information will bear upon the amount of the capital invested in the industry, the number of persons employed, and the salaries and wages paid to them, etc., etc., and it is sincerely hoped that the arrangements made by the society to assure the secrecy of the returns will result in full replies being furnished, not only by all the leading firms, but also by the very large number of agents throughout the country. The report of the Royal Commission will doubtless have a very great effect upon the future of the industry, and the society therefore naturally attaches much importance to obtaining for the first time reliable Statistics showing the extension already obtained by the industry, and in particular the large amount of capital and the considerable number of employees engaged in the same. Mr. W. Eliot Thomas, secretary to the Torquay and District Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd„ points out that where heavy motorcars are within convenient distance of the original registering authority, it is sufficient, under Article IV, section 5, of the Order, to submit the vehicles to the proper officer. This, in point of fact, constitutes re-registration.
The Metropolitan Water Board gives every encouragement to those who wish to supply water to steam motor wagons. The following resolution was adopted some months ago :— "That as a tentative measure licenses to sell water for the 1,..se of motor vehicles be issued to any persons who may be already supplied by meter, or who may be willing to be so supplied, a charge of ms. per annum being made for any license issued, such licenses to be revocable at pleasure."
Additional to the points dealt with in our Editorial of last week, it is important to remember that the owner of any wagon registered prior to September ist, 1914, the unladen weight of which exceeds five tons but does not exceed seven tons, will receive a special permit to run, provided his vehicle passes the examination of a registering autho rity and is found to comply with the law in every other particular except its weight unladen. Such seventon vehicles must never, however, be loaded so that the
axle-weight at any time exceeds eight tons on any axle or twelve tans on the two.
In regard to trailers, these vehicles are not required to be registered, and, when the weight is less than one ton, are not subject to any requirements as to wheels and tyres. If the weight unladen is over one ton, the tyres must in no case be less than three inches wide, but, where heavier weights are carried on the trailer than this width of tyre justifies, the wheel and tyre dimensions must agree with the provisions of the Order which apply to the wheels of heavy motorcars. For example, if a trailer has wheels 3ft. sin. in diameter, and is employed with loads which bring the axle-weights to four tong each, the owner is required to use siin. tyres. It is also necessary to paint on the trailer the weight unladen in any event, and the axle-weights where the weight unladen exceeds one ton.