Utility Motors in France.
Page 9
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New Cab Details from Our Correspondent in Paris.
The Paris Commercial Show.
Permission has been granted by the Paris Prefect of Police for gas engines to be in operation during the commercial Salon to be held in the Grand
Palais next December. It had been feared that, by reason of the show's being held in such a valuable building, it would be difficult to obtain official consent for the usual display of machinery in motion which has characterised the commercial-vehicle section of previous shows. Special precautions, however, will be taken against the outbreak of fire, with the result that—for the first Erne since it was opened—the hum of heavy machinery will be heard in the Grand Palais.
Darracq Cab Modifications.
Some rather important changes have been made in the Darracq taxicabs built for the Compagnie Commerciale and in general used in Paris, London, and New York. With a view to simplicity, the gear-driven water pump has been abolished, the radiator put on the dashboard instead of across the fore-end of the frame, and circulation assured by thernm-svphon. At the same time, the pressure-fed lubricator has been replaced by one of the positive gear-driven type. The most striking result of the change has been to give the Darracq taxicab the familiar appearance of the Renault, the shape of the bonnet of the two makes being now almost identical. The till-Oil:wiry stops here, however, for the Darracq radiator consists of a series of circular copper tubes, with a flatblade fan in their centre which is driven by belt from a groove in the flywheel. The speed of the fan is reduced to about one-third less than that of the engine shaft. Owing to the passage of the steering column through the dashboard, the radiator is not placed centrally, but slightly to the left. As the front is completely enclosed, however, the tubes being visible from the sides only, the lines of the car are in no way affected. Advantage has been taken of the change in the water-circulating system to improve on the lubrication of the cab. The fan spindle passes through the dashboard into the Lefebvre lubricator, which is thus positively driven, the oil being sent by two feeds to the forward and rear ends of the crankcase.
Modifications on the chassis are a strengthening of the steering gear, and particularly an improvement of the connecting bar by which the parallelism of the front wheels can be more readily assured, and the changing of the rear suspension, the transverse spring being supplanted by three-quarter elliptics, 1 am informed that the first 3oo of this new model will be supplied to the New York Taxicab Company, a concern employing, Darracq cabs exclusively.
Charron Cabs.
Charron, Limited, the French firm constituted under the English limitedliability law, but probably still better
known as " is the latest to enter the British market with a taxicab. The first models of a special Sinful). wo-cylinder car, and a 12-14h.p. four-cylinder, were brought out a couple of months ago. The first batch of the smaller type, 5o in number, is under contract for delivery in London this month. It is declared that the company has an order for 400 of the IwoCylinder taxicabs for use in England. In general lines of construction, there is a close adherence to modern slandards in the new Charron model, with, however, a considerable amount of individuality in simplification and accessibility. The engine has two cylinders in one casting, 3.1 inches by 4.7 inches bore and stroke, mounted on a subframe with gilled-tube radiator on the dashboard. Transmission of power is by means of a very broad-faced cone clutch, to a compact little gearbox giving, three speeds forward and reverse, final drive being by propeller shaft to rear live axle.
The high-tension Bosch magneto at the fore-end of the frame is driven by an intermediate gear off the crankshaft, and connected up by a simple dog clutch ; it is about as accessible as could possibly be imagined. The gears, too, can be examined by the mere withdrawal of six bolts attaching the face of the aluminium casing. The metallic inlet and outlet water pipes are interchangeable, the only difference between the channels through which water arrives at and leaves the cylinders being in the length of the rubber connection. Lubrication is by means of a gear-driven pump contained within the crankcase, and driven off the rear end of the camshaft : the valves, of course, are all on one side. Engine control is by accelerator pedal operating the throttle only; in addition, there is a dashboard regulator, similar to the type first used by Renault on taxicabs. At the. base of the vertical spindle operated by the throttle lever is a cam, by means of which, on the lever's being pushed round to the right-hand side, the ignition is cut out. This is the only means of stopping the engine, the pedal in its normal position giving just sufficient gas to keep the engine running.
The carburetter is a new model of extreme simplicity. The top of the float chamber is not screwed down, but merely laid on the walls of the chamber, and held in position by a blade spring from a vertical spindle. Thus, no tool whatever is required to examine the float. The single-jet nozzle, to the right of the float chamber, enters into a vertical copper tube with a bell-shaped bottom through which the vaporised petrol passes into a mixing chamber provided with three different-sized automatic air inlets. The connecting fuel pipe from carburetter to engine is, thus, a six-inch length of copper tubing attached at one end only.
A feature of the gearbox is that the primary shaft is mounted on plain bearings, the secondary shaft alone having ball hearings. With left-hand steering, as designed for Parisian service, the change-speed lever passes direct into the box without the aid of any intermediate controlling mechanism ; on the vehicles intended for London service, the same direct control of the gear is obtained, though, of course, the lever is on the outside of the chassis. Brakes are the usual two on the rear-wheet drums, and one to the rear of the gearbox, all shoes being interchangeable. Suspension is by means of three-quarter elliptics in the rear, and semi-eliiptics in front.
The four-cylinder cab, which is similar to the two-cylinder in general linesof construction, is not intended for taxicab work,