Out and Home. By " The Extractor."
Page 12
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As Bad as the Horse-drawn Petrol Tanks.
Why should not pleasure ears be mainly delivered from the factory by motor lorries ? Some few do it, in occasional instances it is true, but. I doubt if the subject has had very serious thought, because the advantages would immediately be all on the side of the agent or the user. Take the Midlands for instance or Manchester, where hosts of agents are within a radius of (30 to 100 miles ; quicker delivery could be effected, and, what is more important, safe delivery could be assured.
It's Not Too Early to Start.
Three concerns to whom I have spoken of the forthcoming Commercial-vehicle Exhibition in July next had never heard a word of it, and had received no circular from the S.M.M.T., the last firm spoken to being members of that body and moreover exhibitors at the last heavy-vehicle show at Olympia. I met a gentleman in the solid-tire trade at the Edinburgh Show who had never received any circular regarding the Manchester Show. Then only a fortnight off he applied for space at my suggestion and obtained it. All this looks as if some people should bestir themselves at headquarters and see that circulars go out to the whole of the trade so that no chances are missed. [As we go to press we learn that circularizing is now taking place.—En.] An Exclusive Appointment for All of Them.
" Get together " is, I believe, a famous Lancastrian watchword and a very good one too. There was a nice little sociable gathering of commercial-vehicle men recently in charming but inaccessible Cumberland. Londoners. went up there, Bonnie Scotland was represented, Lancashire and Yorkshire sent their delegates. and a. comfortable homely evening was spent, I understand, in the one hotel. One can see at exhibitions and the like that business opponents in the motor trade are almost invariably quite friendly, so they no doubt had a cosy time. But when a man travels miles into a remote spot thinking he has an exclusive appointment and finds nearly all the others there, some with demonstration vehicles, he must obviously feel a momentary shiver. It was a co-operative society which was interested and which must have got in touch with all the principal makers. When these learnt the exact time the committee would be deliberating, each had a natural inspiration to go down armed with his choicest arguments. The town was crowded that eventful evening, but no matter. Each had his interview with the committee. each fired off a convincing speech and eventually a. vehicle was selected. I,clon't know if the result of the poll was declared that evening, but if it was, I reckon the winner had to get his hand doWn.
In this connection, I wonder whether they have ever experienced that queer suspicion with which one naturally eyes everyone else in the railway carriage when one is journeying on special business where unsuspected competitors may appear. They tell me, on the Editorial side, they often suspect the man opposite to be from "The Steam-Wagon and Trailer Gazette" or "The Inner-Tube Times "—out to spoil a " scoop." An Acetylene Trade Headlight.
Youth must have its fling" and Leonard M. Fox, the head of Acetylene Illuminating Co., Ltd., was, in his salad days, a glorious exemplification of the truth of that rule. I should judge he was a capable youth ; high health, high spirits and companions who suffered from an acute ,disinclination for work of any kind maybe made hin a trifle uneven at his then, avocation. He held what should have been a responsible position with the Leeds Forge Co. with his father and uncle, but he was of aroving disposition. Like many bounding youths he thought his metier was the sea and not. commerce ; his people acquiesced, perhaps dolefully, and so the " rolling main " claimed him for some years. It wa-s a proud young man who eventually deposited a chief engineer's certificate into the hands of his forebears. He had " made good " at last.
However, Fox at se.a soon found his feet and polished up his engineering in earnest. He was at one time in the mail service, then on tramp steamers ; lie settled down in some engineering shops in New Zealand, and afterwards met with his wife at Cardiff and settled down still more. He accumulated knowledge of marine engineering which stood him in excellent stead when he returned, as, of course, he did, to the old fold, the Leeds Forge Co., a concern which was chiefly managed by his uncle, Mr. Samson Fox, and his father, Mr. William Fox. Out of this ooncern arose the present company---AcetyleneIlluminating Co., Ltd., which embraces also the vastbusiness in autogenous welding. It was in 1907 that Fox took charge of the business, and it is interesting to note that in '07 they had six stockists of D.A. cylinders : now the number is over 1000. The welding side of the business has progressed proportionately, and what will interest our readers especially is that a small complete welding plant has just been introduced suitable for garages and fleets of vehicles. This, together with the special large cylinders of dissolved acetylene for lorries and delivery vans,brings this company intimately into the commercial-vehicle community.
In conclusion, Leonard M. Fox was born in Leeds, was educated at the Leeds Grammar School, the mention of which revives most precious i memories, because t is associated with my own halcyon days. Mr. Fox is Past President of the British Acetylene and Welding Association, M.I.M.E., and has read papers on autogenous welding before many learned and scientific bodies. He is an enthusiastic Freemason. Fox, like most men reared near the Yorkshire wolds, delights to spend his brief vacations there, but it is with London as his centre where he finds the scope for his tremendo:is energy. His geniality, his scrupulousness, his love of his fellow-men have brought him hosts of wellwishers.
There is little doubt in my mind, from what practical men tell me, that there is an enormous and growing future before the commercial use of acetylene. I have myself seen some wonderful-looking bits of construction recently, made up out of sheet metal bent to all sorts of shapes, and then welded up, until they were as good as new.