AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Passing Comments .

24th December 1943
Page 16
Page 17
Page 16, 24th December 1943 — Passing Comments .
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Chasing the tLuftwaffe r-INLV lately has the story By Agrieutt ural N-"f been revealed of how a Tractor ..... V.V.L.A. driver went in pursuit

of escaping German airmen with her tractor. The incident occurred during the Battle of Britain, in the Home Counties, where, incidentally, tractor drivers quite often came under ,machine-gun fire, to say nothing of having narrow escapes from bombs. When ploughing 'a field one day, this young lady saw a Ju 88 pass overhead, well alight and obviously about to crash. Quickly unhitching the plough, she set off at full speed on her International Farmall, and during the chase across three fields she picked up a Special Constable and a Home Guard, who clung on precariously. The occupants of the blazing machine had succeeded in escaping with their lives and tqolc to the woods, which gave their pursuers, who had by that time swelled to a large party, some exciting minutes. However, the four Huns soon surrendered to a couple of farm workers. We have been asked not to broadcast the name of the heroine of this episode, but it happens to be one that is exceedingly well known in the roadtransport world, in ishich her father is a prominent personality.

A14

Poor Results from ABLY experiments with

U.S. A. Tests with "synthetic-rubber tyres in the Synthetic Tyres U.S.A. have not proved that

these tyres' are entirely satisfactory. A few weeks ago the Indiana Department of Rublic Safety reported that about one-third of 158 of such tyres, with which it had been experimenting on police cars since last July, were found to be unsuitable after 1,500 miles. The maximum mileage for any one tyre is said to have been 9,000, and one example was returned to the factory after only 50 miles, owing to the development of a blister.. Such blisters, caused by the heat of running, are said to be the chief weakness of the tyres under test. Colombus, Ohio, also reported unfavourably on synthetic -tyres used on similar service, the main trouble being cracking of the side walls and rapid cutting on bad road surfaces. They were also said to be less pliable, causing harder riding. There had not been an opportunity of wearing' out the treads because other defects • showed up first. The general opinion is that they are fairly satisfactory for local work on good roads, but at present they are of little -use for long-distance work, particularly when the surface is of an indifferent nature. WHAT is the record size of load carried by road on a motor vehicle? We have, in the past, dealt with the ,;tranSport of many heavy and awkward Consignments, including the huge main girder employed in the con-P struction of the. Cumberland Hotel, which had an adVenturous journey between Marylebone Goods Station and the site of the building, near Marble . Arch, London. Hundreds of locomotives for foreign cOuntries have been carried in their finished form; ivhilst some of the largest loads have consisted of electric transformers. Now news of one huge consignment comes from America. This was a high-. octane-petrol still weighing 40 tons; the main difficulty, however, was its length, which was 93 ft. It was calried on a tractor-trailer. Has any haulier in. Britain carried any object longer than this? Interesting Possibilfr OR seven years the existence

effective than 100-octane .

petrol, which itself is 50 per cent, more efficient than pre-War petrol, has been known, but only as a laboratory ,product. On the authority of Dr. Gustav Egloff, president of the American Institute of Chemists, this sue ) fuel, which is known as Triptane, is now in commercial production in quantities of -military significance. The producing company say that it is " the most powerful hydocarbon known." so far as use in i.e. engines is concerned. Its anti-knock properties, to which its enhanced power possibilities are chiefly due, are so high that no existing engine can make full use of them: The inventors of this , fuel, Dr. Vladimir Haensel and Professor Vladimir N. Ipatieff, both of them Russians, have a pilot plant at .work.


comments powered by Disqus