Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 15
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Ten Shillings Weekly for the Best Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for anything else published.
Drivers of commercial motors, and mechanics and foremen of garages Of shops, who are engaged in any branch of the industry, are invited to contribute short, Personal experiences, opinions, or suggestions, on subjects which are likely to prove of in!erest to our readers. We shall be glad to hear of anything interesting That has come under any driver's or mechanic's notice, either in the shots or on the road. Long and successful rims ; services with no " lost journeys " ; workshop tips and smart repairs : all are suitable subjects. Send us a post-card, or a letter, or a sketch—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. We will "knock it into shape" before publication. When writing, it is as well to mention your employer's name, as a guarantee of bona fides (not for publication), and to state whether you wish your own name, or initials only, to be published. Mark your envelope "D. and M.," and address it to The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," 7-15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.G.
Another Temporary Clutch Adjustment.
[395] In the following letter, a correspondent (" J.C.," Cardiff), tells us of a method he employed to enable him to keep his machine running after he had experienced trouble with a badly-slipping clutch :—" My occupation is that of a driver of a motor omnibus near Cardiff, and, while on service on a busy day recently, my clutch began to slip badly. I had had occasion previously to report this defect, as all the available adjustments had been utilised, but the engineer-incharge had been very pressed with extra work, and had not been able to find time to deal with the trouble effectively. As a new leather was required, it would have meant at least a day off the road, so that resort was had to the temporary expedient of dressing the clutch in the usual way, with a promise that, immediately the time could be found, the clutch should be taken down and relined. On the day in 4uestion, however, the slipping became very troublesome, and, as I had several bad hills to traverse, and as I found that I was unprovicled with any dressing, it occurred to me that, if I could insert a thin packing between what was left the leather and the metal of the male clutch casting, I night be able to last the day out. With the help, therefore, 3f my conductor, I collected a few empty wooden matchioxes from passengers and picked up a few more from the -oad. I then broke them up, and managed, with the aid of a knife, to insert the thin, flat pieces of wood beneath the cattier. By careful selection of the pieces which were of a fimilar thickness, I was enabled to obtain a fairly even ;urface on the clutch leather.
" At the time of writing this, it is three weeks since I ixed up this temporary device, and not only was I able to Terate the machine satisfactorily on that day, but I have reen at work with the same vehicle ever since, and have not io far had finally to call in the services of the garage staff o make a better job of it."
[The leather must have been very slack to have allowed the insertion of he pieces of wood. Many cone clutches are, of course, made with small at springs beneath the leather to ensure ease of engagement, and we have lready published a letter, in our issue dated the 1st of November, 1900, in 'Inch a driver related his use of ordinary matches for the same purpose.—En)
rhe Driver's Choice.—A Word for the Maudslay.
[389] " E.G." (Paddington) asks to be allowed to say a ew words in favour of the Maudslay three-ton machine, and fives his opinion, as a driver, of this vehicle :—" I have been reader of 'THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR for two years, and Lave taken great interest in the letters which you have rublished to follow the original communication from Hammersmith Bridge.'
"I have driven a considerable number of different makes ,f machines, so that I can hardly be accounted to express my hoice from prejudice, in the manner your Slough correpondent indicated last week. For accessibility, economy of uel consumption, and reliability, I claim that the best, eavv, petrol-engined chassis at present purchasable is the fauaslay. Haphazard praise is no guide to anybody, so that must back up. my few remarks with a line or two as to the dvantages presented by the machine I recommend.
"I have been driving my present Maudslay for the past ighteen months and I am correct in saying that I have had radically no trouble with her during that time. I do both ity and suburban work, with a regular load of about two ails and a half. With that weight on board, I have success shy all the big hills in and around London, includIg Gipsy Hill and Knight's Hill, Norwood. I have only three speeds fitted to my van, and I have climbed the lastmentioned hill on the second speed with a full load.
The chief feature of a Maudslay, which should endear it to the driver or to the mechanic who has its adjustments to attend to, is the perfect accessibility of all its parts. The valves are all interchangeable, and can be replaced in two minutes; I can take out any one of the pistons on my engine in fifteen minutes, and it is a very simple matter to change the brake blocks. I have no trouble with my clutch ; it never slips and is always in perfect condition. I have had no considerable repairs to make since I have been driving the van, and to hear the engine running now, after many months of service, one would think the machine had just come from the makers. My average consumption of lubricating oil is about zoo miles to the gallon, and 800 miles to the gallon of gear oil. I do not wish for a better car to drive," [While giving all credit to the Mandalay Company for the excellence of its machine, we cannot help stating that we think this particular vehicle is in the hands of a careful and painstaking driver, who is giving the machine every possible chance, The machine which our enthusiastic correspondent drives is well known to us, as it happens.—End New Method of Making Radiator Joints.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 10s. prize this week.
[394] WILLIAM MACKENZIE (London) writes to us about an improved method, which he has introduced, of making the joints between the tubes and the header castings on radiators :—" With your permission, I should like to draw the attention of your readers to my improved design for the jointing of radiators for commercial vehicles.
"To commence with the honeycomb design : I think your readers will agree with me that this type, or, in fact, any radiator with soldered joints, is not satisfactory for commercial motor service. Such fittings are very expensive to keep in repair properly, although a deal of the cost might be saved by many users if a first-class solder (tin and lead) were employed in the place of some cheap composition which is too soft to give any strength to the joint.
"My experience has taught me, in common with many other men who have had the upkeep of a large number of radiators in their charge, that for omnibus and van work there is nothing to beat the vertical, gilled, copper-tube type with cast, detachable, top and bottom casings. This description of radiator has been generally adopted by a number of the London omnibus companies, and has been embodied in most of the more recent designs of commercial motor vehicles. The jointing of the tubes on this approved type of construction is the particular point as to which I w ii,li to indicate my improved method. It is this joint which is the difficulty with most radiator manufacturers and repairers.
" I enclose a sketch which with a short description should suffice to explain the arrangement I have found so satisfactory. The joidt itself is made outside the drilled tube plate proper, and the tubes are not expanded or soldered into the plate in any way. A sheet of copper (A), one-sixteenth of an inch thick, is marked off from the top or bottom tube plate (B), as the case may be, and holes are accurately punched in the copper to correspond with the position of the tubes. The metal round each hole will then form a collar Or spigot into which the tube ends (C, C, C) may enter. The tubes are next placed in position and located by the tube plates, and the prepared copper sheet is forced down over the ends of the tubes, which should protrude about threeeighths of an inch above the tube plate : the dimensions must be so settled that the ends of the tubes and the edges of the punched holes in the copper come flush, and these edges should then be welded by the oxy-acetylene process. This procedure is repeated for the two ends of the radiator. When the top and bottom covers are now bolted on, the copper plate forms an efficient joint. Expansion and contraction of the joint takes place equally all over, as there is only one metal (copper) used in the welding. A radiator constructed on this principle has been fitted to a Paris omnibus, and is giving every satisfaction."
The gilled or plain-tnbe radiator, with removable top and bottom covers, has been generally adopted in London, and, with the notable exception of the Mines-Daimler, most omnibuses in London now carry a fitting of this type. The London General Omnibus Company, Limited, is adopting a new combined gilled and plain-tube radiator on its De Diens—ED.]
Catch Lines about Drivers in Advertisements.
[3931 GEORGE H. WARD (Barnsley) takes exception, in the letter which follows, to the familiar catch-line employed in the advertisements emanating from a well-known maker of commercial vehicles :—" As a regular reader of the C.M., I am bound to admit that I have elicited a great deal of very valuable information from your columns, but one of the advertisements which has appeared regularly for many months contains a line that I never read without feeling somewhat humiliated, as I have always considered that I have some claim to be described as a skilled mechanic. The line in question reads something like this : After two days' tuition,
your carter can drive with the best '; and there is another line—' No skilled mechanics required.'
" Now the point which makes me uneasy when I read these lines is that, if a man, without any mechanical ability whatever, be it latent or otherwise, can get the same results out of a petrol motor, with regard to its power, fuel consumption, and general reliability, as can an employee with many years' mechanical training to his credit, it is a serious matter for the man who spends many years at his work, and always finds something is left to learn. One is almost tempted to assume that such men, who boast no particular training or knowledge, must have placed themselves under the protection of St. Christopher, who, if my memory serves me rightly, is supposed to ward off all road troubles.
" It is not easy to understand why, if the claims quoted are correct, so many car owners are found who are ready to pay large wages to competent and reliable men, of whom a sufficient supply is not even now procurable. In my opinion, the worst effect of such claims on the mechanical driver class is that they are liable to depreciate the value of good men, inasmuch as the prospective buyer acquires the impression that the manipulation of a motorvan and the necessary attention which it requires to keep it on the road are mere child's play, and should be paid for accordingly.
" I am pleased to say that my individual experience points to the fact that, if the design and material of the vehicle are good, and the owner has enough suitable work for the type of machine he employs, it will earn sufficient to enable such a wage to be paid that the money will command the services of both skill and intelligence above the ordinary. The employment of such assistance is bound to redound to the interests of both builder and owner. I have had experience with more than one make of vehicle, and also of teaching and driving, and I have yet to discover a man who can drive 'worth speaking about' after two days' tuition. T have no sympathy for short-sighted owners."
[One of the advertisements named is evidently that of the Lucre Company, whose claim is that its machine is of such a type that it does not require a highly-skilled technical garage staff to superintend its maintenance. With regard to our correspondent's criticism of unskilled drivers, we have frequently stated in these columns that we have never been in favour of the cramming course adopted by some training schools, whereby fully-fledged drivers are turned out automatically after a few hours of entirely superficial training. The evolution of a "fool-proof " machine, however tiresome its effects may be on the individual, skilled driver, or mechanic, is bound to be beneficial to the industry on the whole, but a far-seeing employer will always select careful and intelligent assistan[s.—Em]