AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

News and Comment

26th December 1907
Page 8
Page 9
Page 8, 26th December 1907 — News and Comment
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?

This journal fosters, represents, and chronicles commercial motoring in all its branches ; it has the largest and best circulation throughout the United Kingdom, the Colonies, India, and foreign countries generally. No part of our exclusive and valuable circulation is due to the forcing of sales in useless quarters.

Contemporaneously with the introduction ()f the 6d. basis for horsedrawn cabs fitted with taximeters, the four-mile radius has been abolished in relation to that class of vehicle, New Australian Customs Tariff.

The following alterations and decisions in the Australian Customs Tariff, which took effect on the tith instant, will be of interest to our readers. In item 377, sub-items I and J, the wording will be as follows :—Sub-item I: (a) bodies for motor lorries and wagons, and parts thereof, n.e.i., 35 per cent, ad val., general ; 30 per cent. preferential; (b) chassis for motor lorries and wagons, 5 per cent. ad val., general ; free, preferential. Sub-item J : (a) bodies for motorcars, and parts thereof, n.e.i., 35 per cent, ad val., general; 30 per cent. preferential; (1)) chassis for motorcars and one set of rubber tires for one car, 5 per cent. general; free, preferential.

Self-Propelled Gun-Carriages.

What is called an automobile Gatling gun has just been dispatched from Marseilles to Oran, whither it will be forwarded to the seat of the Moroccan trouble for the use of the French trcops. This machine is furnished with a Panhard motor and fitted with the Lavatette magneto. In the car are mounted three machine guns, firing boo shots a minute, and 6o,000 cartridges are carried by the vehicle, as well as spare parts for the car. Four men divide the work of operating the guns and the vehicle.

Captain Gentil (de la Touloubre), who has charge of the machine, is confident of the success of this new departure in the adaptation of the motor to army purposes, and if it is found to be a success after its baptism of fire, other automobile " mitrailleurs " will follow quickly.

The Royal Automobile Club has signed a lease for 99 years for the site of the old War Office in Pall Mall, and a splendid new building will be erected.

The Prussian Railway Ministry has been experimenting with a four-cylinder petrol motor of 6oh.p. for railroad work and intends to run a number of rail motorcars on various branches, both for mixed traffic and other light services.

Automobile Engineers.

Messrs. Max R. Lawrence (Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Co., Ltd.), G. D. Flather (Sheffield), D. Fl. Simpson (Manchester), and Fredk. R. Simms (Simms Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) are amongst the latest elections to full membership of the Institution of Automobile Engineers. Mr. George Pollard, Chairman of the Society of Road Traction Engineers, has been elected a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Mr. William Peto, of Peto and Radford, Limited, has been elected a member of the Tire and Accessory Section of the S.M.M.T.

De Dion Bouton (1907), Limited, has recently greatly extended its stores and repair shop at ta, Waterloo Terrace, Upper Street, Islington, N.

The French Syndicate of Motor Manufacturers has circulated a request from Konia (Turkey) for estimates for ten motor lorries required for the transport of cereals.

We are informed that Mr. Algernon Hollis, secretary to Smith, Parfrey and Company, Limited, of the Pimlico Motor and Wheel Works, has resigned his position on that company's staff.

A t6h.p., 2-ton van has been purchased by the Gas Department of the Glasgow Corporation, and this vehicle will be used for the delivery of stoves to various out-district depots. The vehicle is of the Albion Company's manufacture.

General Motor Cab Company.

Further to the figures which we were able to publish a fortnight ago, our readers who follow motorcab finance will be interested to note the following extracts from the chairman's speech at the last general meeting : a net profit of 4'41,887, after writing off

. 5,8o8 in respect of preliminary expenses and underwriting commission, after expending .4-5,835 on maintenance of chassis and bodies, and .11,185 on tires account, and after setting aside

. 10,035 for depreciation; an average of 306 cabs at work during the period of six months; a mileage by these vehicles of 3,977,119 miles, for 184 working days, or an average of 71 miles per cab per day; average receipts

of 3s. 6d. per cab per day; average petrol cost 35. 51-d. per cab per day, leaving an average for each driver of 7s. 5-id. as his net earnings apart from tips ; the best record, for any one driver, of .4;2 19s. 8d. per day in amount of receipts recorded by the taximeter. It is interesting to note that the average receipts are 8s. 6d. per day above the prospectus estimates, and that the maintenance during the first six months has worked out at about two-thirds the prospectus estimates for chassis and body, the estimate being 3s. 6d. per day, or 4.32 for the period, compared with about £tg actual, a result which accords with the newness of the vehicles. The company's staff dinner, on the night of the 17th instant, appears to have been a great success, and it explains why so many people were unable to obtain a taximeter motorcab in London that evening.

"Veeder" Mileage Recorders.

One of the Form B, " Veeder " odometers supplied to the London County Council by Messrs. Markt and Company, of 6, City Road, Finsbury Square, E.C., shows a record of 40,000 miles running, and is still in perfect order.

Encouraging the Careful Driver.

We quote the following from the " Sanitary Record," of the i8th instant :—" Nothing but praise can be given to the movement inaugurated by Mr. E. Shrapnell Smith, Editor of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR,' for encouraging efficiency on the part of drivers of commercial motor vehicles. There can be little doubt but what this method of traction has come to stay, and nothing is better calculated to secure public confidence than the knowledge that such vehicles are worked by careful and efficient men." Many other similar notices have appeared.

Engine Repairs.

Further extensions have recently been made at the Pimlico Wheel and Motor Works of Smith, Parfrey and Company, Limited, and this is now one of the largest and best equipped repair establishments in the kingdom. One department of the business, which may be kept busy in the winter, is that which deals with the repair of cracked water-jackets, cylinder heads, water connections, etc. The company has, during the summer, carried out a large number of experiments with a view to ascertaining how to treat such damages in the minimum time, with the utmost efficiency, and at the lowest possible cost.

Commercial Motors, Ltd.

In the Chancery Division, before Mr. Justice Parker, on Tuesday, 17th December, Mr. Vernon mentioned the case of Commercial Motors, Ltd., in which a petition for compulsory winding up had been presented by Mr. J. F. Walters, a judgment creditor. The matter had been adjourned twice; the petitioner was told he was the only creditor and that the company would be able to satisfy his claim. Counsel asked his lordship to make an order on the petition.

The company was not represented. Mr. Justice Parker : There is a difficulty, because you have not served the company with notice properly. The service was on the housekeeper and not on the company.

Mr. Vernon said the representative of the petitioner was unable to find anyone connected with the company at the premises in Dover Street, Piccadilly, and so he left the notice with the housekeeper.

Mr. Justice Parker : If you had left it at the offices, it would have been all right, hut the housekeeper might do what she liked with it. His lordship added that, as the petitioner had been in negotiation with the company before, he would treat this as proper notice. The petitioner was entitled to his order, and it would be made accordingly. An Adams Testimonial.

An interesting testimonial has been received from a business user of a toh.p. Adams vehicle by its makers, the Adams Manufacturing Company, Limited, of io6, New Bond Street, W. In this letter, Mr. C. H. Moore, managing director of the Sturtevant Engineering Company, Limited, says : " I have driven one of your one-cylin. der, xoh.p. cars about 4,000 miles without any mechanical difficulty of any kind. The silent running, changespeed features, 'by means of pedal control, hill-climbing properties, and reliability, make this car unique amongst small cars."

An Edition de Luxe.

We have received from Mr. Claude Browne, the managing director of the Lacre Motor Car company, Limited, a copy of the edition de luxe of this company's latest catalogue. The publication, to which we referred at some length in our issue of the 7th November, is one of great interest to commercial motor users, and much time has been spent on its compilation by Mr. Claude Browne himself. The resulting volume is one of which the company may be justly proud, and which should be of considerable help in still further increasing the large business which is done by it in the sale of commercial motor vehicles.

A Fortnight's Business.

We are interested to learn that orders for it commercial motor vehicles have been taken by Dennis Brothers, Limited, of Guildford, during the past fortnight. This total includes three vehicles for the Metropolitan Asylums Board, and one each for : the Birmingham Motor Car Company ; Stareys, of Nottingham ; Cordoba Railway Company, of Buenos Aires ; Carter, Paterson and Company, Lhnited ; Messrs. S. and J. Watts and Company, of Manchester; Midland Counties Motor Garage Company, of Leicester ; and one for the Derby Co-operative Supply Company. These orders go to show the great demand which exists for the popular manufactures of the Guildford works, and are further refutation of the view that trade is dead.

• London and the Manufacturer.

We have received, from the First Garden City, Limited, an interesting booklet which has just been issued by this company. It is entitled, " London and the manufacturer," and it sets out a number of comparisons between London and Letchworth which show large savings in capital expenditure, and in rent and rates, in favour of the latter town. The book includes many excellent photographs of the existing works in the Garden City.

Municipal Motors.

At the meeting of the Westminster City Council, on the loth December, the highways Committee reported having considered a quotation from the Dunlop Rubber Company for supplying indiarubber tires for one of the Council's steam motorvans as follows :— Two wheels fitted to existing hubs, and driving attachment With steel felloes and side flanges, suitable to take 36-inch by 4-inch twin tires (at ..61 6s.),. .4'12 I2S.; four 36i-inch by 4-inch Dunlop solid band tires (two twin tires), 4.41 18s. 6d. The tires were guaranteed to carry loads a between 3t to 4 tons for six months, commencing one week after delivery. The Assistant City Engineer reported that the offer appeared to be unusually low. The company was, however, well known, and he thought it would be worth a trial if the wheels could be fitted, as the use of motors with rubber wheels in time of snow is likely to be infinitely greater than with steel wheels, which, as past experience had proved, are difficult to start. The Assistant City Engineer also reported that the trial of the Peter Union rubber tires, already provided to No. 3 motorvan, appeared to be satisfactory. The tires are very little worn ; they were fixed on the 1st October, 1907, and have been running ever since. The Committee concurred in the Assistant City Engineer's viewthat it would be in the Council's interest to accept the Dunlop Rubber Company's offer, but it was of opinion that the company should guarantee the tires for to,000 miles, or twelve months. It recommended accordingly that the company's tender, at ,C,54 TOS, 6d. be accepted with this condition. This recommendation was agreed.


comments powered by Disqus