Correspondence.
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The Van Trials Deadlock.—Paraffin Carburetters.—Oscillating Front Axles.
A Letter from the Chairman of the Automobile Club. The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—I have only just returned from abroad, and have, .therefore, seen for the first time an article which appeared in your paper of August 3oth, headed "The Van Trials Deadlock." In the first paragraph of that article I observe that the following statement is made :—" The Chairman of the Automobile Club . . . has deliberately refused the .active co-operation of the Users' Association." As I cannot believe that the writer of the article intended to misrepresent my action, I can only conclude that the sentence in question .appeared in your journal by mistake. You were yourself in a position to know all the facts of the case, and you are, therefore, aware that I did not refuse the co-operation of the Users' Association. On the contrary, I said that the Club was anxious for that co-operation. What 1 did refuse was the claim set forward by the Association of equal representation with the Automobile Club on the joint cotnmittee. feel sure that you will make the necessary correction in your ,next issue.—Yours faithfully, ARTHUR STANLEY. 119, Piccadilly, W., September t8th, 1906.
[We refer to this matter editorially.—En.j _Mr. H. Thomson Lyon's Views.
[The following letter appeared in a recent issue of " The Times."] Sir :—The comments of your correspondent in " The Times Engineering Supplement " of September 5th on the • dead-lock between the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland and the Motor Van, Wagon, and Omnibus Users' Association brings the discussion before the general , public, and it is only fair that the Association should have an equal opportunity of exposing its case.
The facts are briefly these :—The Automobile Club, which is a social and sporting body, occupying itself with the promotion of the interests of the users of pleasure cars, has in the years 19o5 and 1906 attempted to promote competitions for commercial vehicles, without securing a sufficient number of entries to justify the trials being held.
The Association, which was formed as an advisory body to assist users of commercial vehicles, both owing to recog
• nition of the steps that had already been taken by the Club and in deference to its position as the senior body, suggested that trials should be held under a joint committee of the two bodies. With this view negotiations were carried on for some time, but eventually the Club delivered an ultimatum that it had determined to carry on the trials alone, and without the co-operation of the Association.
The Association, finding its overtures rejected, then formally applied, as being the proper body for the purpose, for a permit to conduct the trials themselves, under the jurisdiction of the Club. This was peremptorily refused, and the Council of the Association is now forced to consider what steps it should take to carry out the duties which its members have confided to it.
The conflict is not an academic one, but is of the highest • economic importance. The pleasure car, when it has left the manufacturers' hands, ceases, with the exception of its consumption of stores and repairs, to have any industrial value, whereas the commercial vehicle, when it passes into its proprietor's hands, begins its profit-earning career. The • Club desires the improvement of an instrument of luxury, while the Association seeks to assist the trading community in the selection of dividend-earning machines.
The trials of the two classes of vehicles are of an entirely • different nature. The Club's competitions are agreeable spectacular meetings conducted on a sporting basis and lasting but a few hours, or in some cases days. The trials which the Association seeks to promote will be lengthy tests extending over weeks, or even months, of such vehicles as :heavy lorries, omnibuses, or dust and water carts, conducted under service conditions, and affording no opportunities of interest to the onlookers.
Under these circumstances, it is to be hoped that the members of the Automobile Club will bring pressure to bear on their committee to confine themselves to their proper functions, and not allow a desire of self-glorification to cause a disastrous rupture between two bodies which, although possessing distinct spheres of action, have so many interests in common.—I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient
servant, H. THOMSON LYON, M.I.E.E. 34, St. James's Street, S.W.
Paraffin as a Fuel for Motor Vehicles.
The Editor, "'ma COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—I am much interested to see the description of the Dorwald automatic carburetter for paraffin in your current issue, as I believe this to be the only direction in which a useful method of combating petroleum-spirit interests will be found. I observe that the Motor Union, at its meeting at Scarborough on Saturday last, appointed a Fuels Committee, in order to prosecute enquiries into the recent alarming rise in the price of petroleum spirit. Whilst it so happens that some of the motor omnibus companies, including the one in which I am personally interested, have secured themselves ahead by contracts at prices ranging between sid. and 7d. per gallon, there are a number of more recent or contemplated undertakings which are entirely at the mercy of the oil monopolists.
It is true that a fresh source of supply, viz., that of the Peruvian fields, is about to be exploited, but I fail to see how the addition of only some io,000,000 gallons of spirit per annum can be expected, in any way, to alleviate the present situation even temporarily. I have myself tried various paraffin carburetters, but none of them have proved to work in a really satisfactory manner on the road, and particularly has this been the case where the escape of blue smoke exposes one to the risk of prosecution. It is to be hoped that all motor omnibus companies have, during the past six months, followed your advice and have ordered their chassis to come forward fitted with two tanks, or with one divided into two sections, one each for the holding of spirit and ordinary paraffin, because the introduction of auxiliary fittings, after delivery, especially when such fittings occupy much room, is by no means an easy matter.
I am sorry to observe that, in the Dorwald carburetter, the driver is, notwithstanding the fact that the inventor calls it an " automatic" one, given the means of throwing over from one jet to the other. Is it not possible for the ether capsules," which operate the controlling: lever and valves, to be placed in such a position that their temperature will correspond at all times with fluctuations in the temperature of the vaporising chamber?—Yours faithfully, R. J. WILLIAMS. London, September zsth, 1906.
Mr. Herbert Guthrie's Reply to his Critics.
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—Replying to my correspondents on this matter, I think most of your readers will agree with me, when I say to Mr. Fulton that, provided the vehicle is decently sprung, it matters not whether we have an oscillating front axle. The mean vertical movement of a body is only half the rise of the wheel on the obstruction side. I think, also, that Mr. Fulton is inclined to make too much of the influence of the rise and fall of one axle, which only brings on extra strains in what we might call a straightforward way, to the belittlement of the very much more important matter of throwing to one side and, consequently, putting greatly increased strains on the lower side of the vehicle, and the additional knocking about of goods on board. I shall look forward with pleasure to Mr. Fulton's promised further information about his new system. " Driver Mechanic's " letter is an excellent challenge to makers generally, as well as to the authorities, and brings up many questions of great interest outside .my article which he must excuse my not dealing with. I quite agree with his statement that "a four-wheeled vehicle with pivoted front is, for all practical purposes, a three-wheeler." If so, why do not the makers of the "oscillating front axle" take to that style? I will answer for them. They dare not trust a high load to the side-rocking of an entirely uncontrolled front end, on account of its liability to topple over altogether. There must be a check against an extraordinary tendency to cant. Then the question arises, taking all circumstances into account, which is the best method? Under some most unusual conditions, such as damage to special goods carried on a flexible deck, 1 admit it might be advantageous to have a very rigid body and a pivoted front axle, but, for my part, I never came across such a case, whereas goods which can be knocked about sideways are very numerous, and this feature, I think I have already shown, is decidedly against the " oscillating front axles."
Now, let us hark back to the times of no steam vehicles. When horse traction was universal, did any wagon builder ever trouble his head about a stiff deck and an oscillating front axle? No, both lorries and wagons were, and are, still built flexible. It is true we have an approach to the free front in the circular steering race or table upon which the front end of a horse vehicle loosely rests. But, since it has a considerable width of base, it is only very partially effective, and, on a fully loaded lorry, never parts company. If we watch any horse lorry deck as it goes along fully loaded, it is easy to see that it is constantly bending about in every conceivable way, and, I say that steam-lorry builders would do well to take a note from that fact. If the main side frames were free to rise and fall, each independently of the other, loose rivets would never be heard of. The use of flat, horizontal, "springy " cross-plates, instead of the stiff cross members, seems to me the better plan.
The next question, perhaps, would be, what about the machinery attached to such a frame? My answer is, he is a bad engineer who does not provide for twist of frame! And, again, it is practically impossible to build a still deck, so why pretend to do this? Is it not better at once to acknowledge the fact, and to build it flexible? As to the general subject of springs, the whole of a number of "Tumi COMMERCIAL. MOTOR" would be insufficient properly to review all the incidents and fluctuations of a journey. The time element, in connection with the inertia of the load and the flexibility of springs, brings about an almost inexhaustible number of conditions and results. If these three elements happen to be all in harmony, a vehicle is better
without springs at all, for that would be a condition when movement of deck would be increased instead of modified. In practice, this condition is rarely realised, but it is experienced, and the extra strains have to be absorbed by the secondary provisions made, such as bumper or check springs. With regard to the letter from Mr. Neal, of the St. Pancras Iron Work Company, Limited, I think he does not show, in the style of his remarks, that consideration and respect which is due from every correspondent to another one. He may not intend it, but he practically first accuses me of great ignorance or deceit. But, since I only seek the truth, and am not personally interested in any particular make,
will ignore his personalities. Mr. Neal may have had great experience, yet nevertheless, others may have had experience which he has not had. In his third paragraph, he starts off well in acknowledging that " flexibility in its suspension is wanted." My only point of disagreement is in confining the flexibility to the hanging. No matter how free the front of a deck may be made by the application of the oscillating apparatus, one cannot prevent the twisting strains on the frame which are brought about by side motion. So it seems to me that, if springs of the maximum practical flexibility be used, the better all-round results will be obtained, and the same arrangements would be conducive to general smooth running. Speaking from railway practice, we might liken the four-point supported deck to the multiple-point supported dining cars of our main lines. The steadiest bodies are those supported on the most wheels, and most of these cars have never less than 12 wheels, and often even still more springs. The former, because one wheel out of the 12 going over an irregularity only imparts one-twelfth of the shock to the body, and the latter—the multiplication of springs of different kinds—because "dancing "is prevented by making sure that all cannot be in harmony of movement at once under any circumstances. The above remarks answer, to a large extent, Mr. Neal's last paragraph, which may be admitted, after discounting its intensity some so to rs per cent. For instance, he says that without the oscillating arrangement the wheels, axle, springs, and other parts, would all have to be constructed to carry twice the weight. I have not found it so in comparing different makes, and he knows it is not a fact. -
Yours faithfully, H ERBERT GUTHRIE. 1, Marshall Road, Levenshulme, Manchester.