Lacre Vans to the Fore.
Page 12
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The Lacre Motorcar Co., Ltd., of /-5, Poland Street, Oxford Street, W., is reaping the benefit of its go-ahead policy in the matter of giving adequate demonstration trials to furnishing warehousemen and large stores generally. Little more than three months ago Messrs. J. Shoolbred and Company, the well-known house in Tottenham Court Road, gave practical form to their intentions which were exclusively announced in No. i of " TtiF. COMMRRCIAL MOTOR." It required only a few weeks of experimental running to satisfy this firm, whose stable account averages ,4-30,000 a year without taking outside hiring into consideration, that motor delivery was vastly superior to two-horse vans for their suburban and outside rounds. The result is seen in the autograph letter of which we reproduce a .facsimile below. Beginning with the trials on April 25th, with the intention of extending them over six weeks, Messrs. Shoolbred found the results at the end of that period to be :Lost journeys, nil; involuntary stops, one ([our minutes to loosen and clean tappet rod, which had jammed); total distance run, 1,483 miles; average of journeys per day, 41.2 miles; total deliveries, 1,429; average of deliveries per day, 39.7; maximum distance on any day, 70 miles; actual running time, including deliveries, 250hr. tomin. ; average distance per hour, including time spent in making deliveries, 5.9 miles; maximum deliveries on any day, 61; petroleum spirit used, 136.25 gallons ; gear oil used, 6 gallons ; lubricating oil, 26 gallons Mechanical feed now saves much oil wastage which previously occurred.
It is interesting to note that the consumption of petroleum spirit over the period of six weeks gives an average of 10.9 miles on one gallon. On the occasion of the test of a Lacre van from London to Swansea nearly four months ago by "Tnr. COMMERCIAL MOTOR," as is reported fury in our issue of April 13th, the average consumption was one wilco for 15.25 miles, which serves to show the necessity for compulsory stops in any official trials of commercial motors, The Lacre demonstration van pleased Messrs. Shoolbred so much that they have since placed orders for several with Mr. Claude Browne, the chairman and managing director of the Lacre Motorcar Co., Ltd.
Following on its services for Messrs. Shcolbred, the van, which is on a standard underframe taken from stock at random, underwent similar practical tests at the hands of Maple and Co., Ltd., and T. Wallis and Co., Ltd„ in an un broken sequence. We commented in our first number upon the interesting wall-poster used by the last-named house; this depicts the front of the famous Holborn establishment with four motor vehicles in a total of eleven of all types shown in the picture. It is now seen that the design was the forerunner of a very wise intention on the part of the principals, whilst Maple and Co., Ltd., has followed suit. Mention of the trip to South Wales, to which we make allusion above, enables us to quote an extract from a letter addressed to the Lacre Company by Mr. G. A. Sutton, of Messrs. Sutton Brothers, 21, Sr. Helens Road, Swansea. He I have a few photographs of your van ascending and descending Constitution Hill, up which a cliff railway used to run; it has a gradient of i in 3 at the steepest portion, and an average of r in 4?i. Your van is the only motor which has ascended and descended it successfully, although several attempts have been made. I may say that I am certainly very pleased with the way the van went through its trials; it never had a stop of any kind, and the only adjustment that was made was the taking up of the brakes. I think it a wonderful success."
The Lucre vans are throughout designed to be " foolproof," and there is no question that the arrangement of the parts, in particular the change-speed gear, is simplicity exemplified. To clash the teeth is physically impossible, for all are in mesh. Then the horizontal metal jaws which do engage, one set of which are on the sides of the toothed gear wheels and the other on sliding sleeves, have frequent points of entry, so that they fall together without any appreciable interval from one ratio to another. This most desirable end is achieved by making each alternate jaw piece a little shorter than its neighbour, the result being that, should the movement of the change-speed lever happen to bring the longer jaw pieces butt up against one another, a fraction of a second sees them slip into proper lock, as the long jaws instantly come opposite the short jaws, and then fall into the spaces between each corresponding short and long jaw, thereby completing the engagement. All this takes place silently, with certainty, and in less time than it takes to explain it. The magneto ignition is of the simplest
lowtension form, with fixed armature and revolving field magnets, and its effectiveness is largely contributed to by the care exercised in selecting the magnets and in stocking them for many months to ensure that no " wasters ''are fitted to any van, i.e., those which for sortie reason will not retain their magnetism. Another point of practical utility from an owner's point of view is the Murray patent governor. This acts simultaneously and automatically on the mixture supply, the point of ignition and the air inlets, whilst it is also coupled to the single hand control lever on the steering wheel, which is all the driver has to look alter so far as the engine is concerned. The r6h.p. van, to carry r5cwt. as a normal load, is priced at 4385, and we regard this as the type most likely to interest wholesale and retail furnishing warehousemen and stores. It can be easily strengthened and geared down to carry as much as two tons, for which uses the price is advanced to £505. All prices are inclusive of Royal Sirdar Buffer solid rubber tyres.