Some Difficulties of the Manufacturer.
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By a Sympathiser.
The evolution of the present-day automobile must rank as one of the most rapid processes through which it has been necessary that any manufactured article should pass on its way to comparative structural perfection. Mechanical and physical science have, at this period, reached the stage at which any mere general indication of some direction in which the inventiveness of man may find remunerative scope is sufficient to cause almost panic-stricken concentratiun on the potsible line of improvement to which attention has been drawn. Competition is now remorseless, and technical and scientific knowledge are no longer regarded by the vast army of workers as a peculiar and almost mystical attribute of a very restricted class. As a result, inaprcwements and modifications follow each other at inappreciable intervals, and the evolution of types proceeds at almost too keen a pace, whether such types be of phonographs or typewriters, of mammoth warships or motor vehicles, or, indeed, of any of the hundred and one structural wonders which are the product of our ultra-scientific age. All this hurrying to attain perfection presses with exceptional severity on the manufacturer, and those who are not personally interested in whatever industry may be under consideration are often thoughtlessly inclined to blame the designer or the manufacturer because he has not universally succeeded in the immediate fulfilment of ideals. It is forgotten that the race for improvement becomes more strenuous every day—too strenuous for a great many, and that no thought, through ignorance or apathy, is given to the many inflexible practical restrictions with which the maker and the inventor have to contend.
The Perfected Pleasure Car.
In but few cases of modern industrial development has progress been so rapid as it has been in the production of what is, at the moment, the last word in the construction of motor vehicles for pleasure purposes. Such rapid evolution of type has not been accomplished without the failure and disappointment of many makers. The path of progress, since the passing of the " Emancipation Act " in mSe6, has been thickly strewn with failures, but, in spite of all, a general type has been evolved. The fittest has survived, as usual, hut at what a cost to the maker! After only 12 years, we are in possession of a self-propelling road vehicle which meets virtually every human requirement for the conveyance of the private passenger. This progress has all been dearly gained, and the result most probably justifies the means, but, when we come to consider the case of the evolution of the commercial-motor vehicle, we find an even more trying set of conditions to have existed, and it will be conceded that those who have survived—and who will survive— the ordeal in this almost limitless branch of the business will have fought a good fight.
Comparable Evolution.
When the design of a practicable, automobile, pleasure car was set as a task before certain wen-defined branches of the engineering industry, the conditions were onerous, but the difficulties to be overcome were by no means insuperable. A not-insignificant clienthle, imbued with curiosity a /1(i willing to pay handsomely for their enlightenment, soon became available to the experimenters. The conditions under which the new machines were to work were easily ascertainable, and, taking everything into consideration, the prospects were not unfavourable to the rapid development of a great national enterprise. The public knew nothing of the novel machine, and most people were lost in wonderment at its elementary performances. Each step of advancement in design was hailed with appreciation. In 1896, the public did not ask for 4oh.p. six-cylinder limousines which NVOILId accomplish an average speed of 35m.p.h. from London to Monaco, hut, in mno5, this same public curtly expected the immediate production of an entirely new class of motor vehicle, which should weigh over 5 tons gross, which should travel at speeds up to r5rn.p.h., and which should run moo miles a day for seven days a week. A brand-new type was to be evolved in a few weeks, and this was to be effected
with little more specific experience upon which designs could be based than was relatively available for the production of the earliest and crudest of private cars. It is true that the design of the petrol engine had advanced in its adaptation to pleasure-car work, and that a deal was known of the structural requirements for wheels, axles, brakes, gears, and many other details. All this experience, however, was not a very valuable asset when the heavy petrol vehicle was suddenly demanded. Its early failure entirely to fulfil requirements brought a certain amount of ridicule in its train, and it is to be feared that the element of distrust, which it has been difficult to eradicate, was seated in certain quarters. It will be at once realised, therefore, that since commercialmotor vehicles are actually now being manufactured in very considerable numbers, and that they are satisfactorily fulfilling all the complicated requirements of the many classes of users, the manufacturers, who have had to evolve these new types so suddenly, have performed well, and have even outrivalled the makers of the ordinary pleasure car in the rapid overcoming of difficulties.
The Steam Wagon's Antecedents.
The various types of heavy motor vehicles can roughly be classified, for our present purpose, under the following heads : the steam wagon ; the steam tractor; the heavy petrol wagon and omnibus chassis; and the delivery van with a mean load capacity of ton. In the production of a satisfactory steam lorry, the sequence of types has not been abnormal. A difference in the distribution of weights, an increase in road speed and the closer grouping and arrangement of mechanical details were the principal considerations that had to be taken into account by early steamwagon builders, and, as a rule, much data that were good in steam traction-engine and locomotive practice were at their disposal, although it must freely be admitted that the first steam-wagon models did not show very much evidence of careful study in either of these two directions. The British maker soon achieved a position of pre-eminence in the manufacture of steam wagons, and he has, since, had no serious rival to challenge his position from abroad. The construction of the steam tractor was, in a way, child's play to the traction-engine builder, who had behind him many years of road experience which was directly applicable to the evolution of the smaller model : from the manufacturer's point of view, there should not have been an abnormal number of difficulties to be encountered in the production of the steam tractor, but of these suspension has been the chief. It was found extremely difficult to convince some makers that an efficient road spring did not necessarily consist of a very few, very heavy leaves.
The Sudden Demand for the Motorbus.
It is when we come to the various classes of petrol-driven vehicles, which have been specifically intended for commercial employment, that a certain amount of sympathy may legitimately be extended to the manufacturer. In spite of early desultory attempts to apply the services of a heavy type of commercial vehicle to various industrial requirements, it may fairly be assumed that a full realisation of the immense possibilities which would accrue from the employment of independent motor vehicles for moderate loads was not reached by the public and by the manufacturer at large until, in the year 1905, the great omnibus companies of the Metropolis showed a desire to improve their facilities for competition with the other ever-growing rapid-transit systems throughout Greater London. This sudden indication of a coming demand found British manufacturers largely unprepared. It was at once perceived that no adaptation of the five-ton steam wagon would meet the new requirements. A new type would have to be created, and one which should be able to carry loads of about three tons :it comparatively high speeds, and to work abnormal hours. Abroad, curiously enough, there were already in existence a few models which appeared to be, to some extent, adaptable to the new conditions, and astute business minds were not slow to make arrangements for the wholesale importation of certain of these models. The first large market for heavy petrol-driven commercial vehicles in England was secured by Germany, through various channels. France followed soon after, and then English makers began to study the question as carefully as possible. In certain quarters, development had been taking place slowly, in England, before this boom arrived, but lack of any considerable outlet for the machines had seriously retarded the development of a type. The coming of the motorbus called for immediate action by the English manufacturer. A type had to be evolved and that quickly. Recourse was had, in many cases, and with some degree of satisfaction, to the copying of the few existing foreign models, or to the adaptation and enlargement of early English models to ideas taken front the German and French designs. In a number of instances, however, English manufacturers set themselves, with characteristic pluck, the herculean task to design an entirely new model which should fulfil most exacting conditions, of which they had practically no information. Intelligent anticipation was the principal asset, besides a sound knowledge of mechanical principles, and upon these the home manufacturer had to rely. Extremely trying as are the whole conditions of London omnibus service, it was not surprising that English and foreign models developed many shortcomings.
The "Trying-out" of the 5-ton Model.
The first practicable heavy petrol-driven machines had, of necessity, to he evolved front a combination of the experience gained on early steam-wagon practice, and of that large amount of data which had actumulated from the suecessive designs of pleasure vehicles, the whole tempered with modifications which were calculated to overcome difficulties that might be expected to arise at a later date. It was all extremely difficult task to reconcile the experience so gained with these classes of work, and, above and beyond all this, there were the thousand and one unknown conditions which always make themselves felt long after the official trial— which usually passes off so satisfactorily—has become a matter of mere history. The exacting conditions of motorbus service, which is .undoubtedly the hardest work to which a motor vehicle is likely to be applied, soon discovered faults. Frames were too strong, or too weak; the whole structure was too stiff, or too flexible; the heavy road springs would not withstand the road shocks at high speeds ; steering gears and brakes gave out in the most remarkable way ; many of the refinements, lavished on the model by the manufacturer, were ruthlessly demolished by harassed garage men, or by ignorant drivers; gears wore away in a few weeks, and noise became appalling; in fact, the lessons which had to be learned in a year or so were almost overwhelming. Operating concerns had, at first, without proper counsel, placed orders for almost anything of the required carrying capacity on wheels, and these same purchasers were, at a later stage, suddenly frightened by the depreciation which was being experienced under the ill-organised conditions. Unwillingness was shown to accept further deliveries; many improvements, buyers said, roust be made before other machines were accepted ; and new orders for a time ceased : the manufacturer was the principal sufferer, The new models, which had cost such an expenditure of brains and money to initiate, were suddenly condemned, criticised, and in some cases refused. The Manufacturer's Ordeal.
On the top of all this frightened hedging on the part the companies, the licensing authorities began to lay do far-reaching regulations with regard to silence and bra efficiency. Very necessary regulations these were, but ti were not calculated to ease the load of the rnanufactur Circumstances, in some cases, compelled the wholesale design of the type. In other cases, the game was not c( sidered to be worth the candle, and, after superhum efforts, in the form of long-distance service trials, had be made to demonstrate efficiency, attention was turned fields other than the motorbus world for future deyel( ments. Through all this troublesome period, the mar facturer was perfecting his type. Stores were being fil: with spares of obsolete pattern ; structural alterations w, being made to chassis of such an extensive nature fi profits had long ago disappeared; and, worse than all, du was the consciousness that finality had then, by no meal been reached, and that, although a perfect type had be anticipated at the outset, subsequent experience, which was all too difficult for the manufacturer to obtain, would, all probability, decree that something else was needed. I evolution of an acceptable 3-ton machine, adapted to quirements which have at length been ascertained, has be secured as much at the cost of the manufacturer as of 1 user. In the end, he finds odd orders for motorbus chas. and an encouraging if spasmodic demand for their appli, tion to goods haulage in special cases where speed coun Ahead, if London's programme is shaped as we foresee, will be asked to tender to the premier omnibus cornpan; own specification, but his own hard-won experience v certainly find an appreciative market elsewhere. It is 01 in the van and light-lorry branches, for loads up to two tot that the petrol vehicle has, so far, enjoyed a sustained yogi Its access to the region of three-ton and four-ton loads an unpleasantly-slow business, and only a few mak, appear to be satisfied with results, although several ordl for fleets, which have recently been placed, show that I heavy petrol vehicle is steadily finding its sphere of empli ment. It must not be forgotten that orders which placed nowadays, are given as the definite result of c( viction that the proposition is a paying one. An order six 5-ton lorries, for a fleet of municipal wagons, or fot dozen delivery vans, is not placed nowadays as an expt merit.
The Manufacturer's Consolation.
Rad it not been for the fact that the heavy petrol mod had been put to work under the worst possible conditk from the period of their inception, there is little doubt ti many of the original designs would have found quite sal factory employment on a large scale without the immedi. retruxlelling which many manufacturers were forced undertake on the basis of their bitter experience in the ea days of motorbus exploitation in the Metropolis. The mar facturer of the heavy, petrol-driven, commercial wagon b an uncommonly hard task set him. The only consolati for the hardness of the lesson which had to be learnt v that a thoroughly practicable machine was evolved nu quickly than if improvement had proceeded on slower a more rational lines.