£30m. for Roads .
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This Year
1N the current financial year, up to £8,795,000 will be spent on mainten• ance and minor improvements to trunk roads. Grants up to £17,930,00b will be payable to county councils for similar work on classified roads.
For works of major improvement and construction, commitments up to £806,000 on trunk roads and £2,352,000 on classified roads may be entered into this year, but only a small proportion of this sum will be spent on new roads. The Minister of Transport made this announcement in the House of Commons on Monday. He was unable to say what funds would be available for these purposes in the next two financial years.
He added that no responsible party leader would say that Road Fund payments should be devoted solely. to the roads.
• STRONGER TYRE YARN UNDER DEVELOPMENT
DETAILS of new high-strength tyre yarns were given by Dr. J. W. Illingworth, of the Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., when he spoke at the annual conference of the rubber chemistry division of the Chemical Institute of Canada at Windsor, Ontario.
Although the standard high-tenacity rayons were satisfactory, he said, there was world-wide development in the pro duction of stronger materials. The advent of these improved rayons would enable the tyre designer to make stronger tyres with the same number of plies, or tyres of equal strength but with fewer plies.
The synthetic fibres, nylon and terylene, were likely to become of increased importance, stated Dr. thingworth, but their use would be limited by supply. Rayon would maintain its position for some years. He indicated that the present yarns would probably be replaced by rayons of higher strength with none of the disadvantages of nylon and terylene.
One of the three major developments leading to stronger rayons was the Lilienfeldt process, by which a tyre cord twice as strong as the standard yarn could be made.
The Iwo other developments included new rayons with tenacities 20-25 per cent. greater than standard, and the new X-36 fibre developed by the Celanese Corporation of America. This had unusually high tensile strength and might prove an important competitor in the tyre-yarn field.
NEW BATTERY-TERMINAL CLIP ANEW type of battery-terminal clip has been introduced in this country by Messrs. Peslin and Franke, 251 Whitehorse Lane, London, S.E.25, A German device, it embodies no clamping bolt and nut which are liable to become difficult to undo when corroded.
The feature of the Eichler clip, as
it is known, is a U-piece that encircles the two lingers of the main part, which fits on the battery post. At one end of the U-piece, the bared end of the cable may be pushed through, and at the other is an eccentric lock, brought into effect by a short lever. Move•-• ment of the lever both tightens the hold of the main part on the post and secures the cable to the terminal.
The Commercial Motor has not tested the device.
STRONGER TRAFFIC LAW " WE shall take any possible legisla W tive opportunity of improving and strengthening the road traffic law," said Mr. J. Gurney Braithwaite, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, in the House of Commons on Monday.
He was answering a Member who asked what plans the Government hack apart from road-safety propaganda, to reduce accidents.
A Road Traffic, (Amendment) Bill is now being prepared, under which power to experiment with the control of pedestrians at certain points will he sought.
AUTOLIFT CONCESSIONNAIRES
T TNDER a concession granted by the
Autolift and Engineering Co., Ltd.,. Godfrey's, Ltd., 208-210 Great Portland St., London, WI, are to supply and fit Autolift steel tipping bodies and tipping gear for vehicles operating in the south of England. It is expected that the equipment, which has been mainly confined to the export market, will shortly be in full supply at home.