Opinions from Others.
Page 22
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The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should he on one side of the paper only and typewritten by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for ,views expressed is accepted. In the case of experiences, names of towns or localities may he 'withheld.
Solid Tire Economy.
The Editor, TEE COMMERCIAL .MOTOR.
[1633] Sir,—We beg to advise you that we are now successfully retreading solid band tires ; in fact, we believe we are the only people that can handle this work satisfactorily. The cost of retreading solid tires depends upon,the condition of the old bands, but it invariably works out to less than half the cost of a new tire, and, when it is taken into consideration that we guarantee tires retreaded by our process for 6000 rates, you will no doubt appreciate that considerable economy is effected by having such tires thus treated. —Yours faithfully,
ASSOCIATED RUBBER MANUFACTURERS, LTD. Amalgam Mills, Harpenden, lelertii..
Condensation of Paraffin in Engines Using that Fuel.
The Editor, TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1634] Sir,—I notice that you -have been publishing some warning hints about the possible risks of paraffin condensation when that fuel is -Used in an internalcombustion engine. I am sure that your readers will wish to know more about the precautions that should be observed, in the event of any user of a petrol engine changing over, wholly or in part, to paraffin. The suggestion, by Mr. Lester, that 10 per cent. by volume of the lubricating medium in circulation may safely be paraffin, appears to me to be "putting it too high. Surely, the thinning of the oil to that extent might lead to trouble even with the main bearings, let alone with the gudgeon-pins anti big-ends ? I am interested, as a partner in a certain mechanical-transport undertaking, in this subject, but I should hesitate to assent to our manager being given carte blanche to adopt paraffin to the virtal exclusion Of petrol, unless I had further assurances in regard to this possible trouble.
Anything which you can do to enlighten me will, I am confident, also enlighten many others.—Yours
faithfully, H. J. WILLIAMS. [The statement by Mr. a".H. Lester, M.Sc., which we quoted in our issue oi last week, was based upon careful observation and experience, so far as we are able to gather. No effective paraffin vaporizer delivers the
fuel into the c i
ylinder n such a physical state, or at such, atemperature, that condonsatten is appreciable. so long as the paraffin which condenses is intimately mired with the heavier oil, we cannot see that. damage will necessarily be done'. by an adulteration of the lubricant so high as 10 per cent. On the other hand, after standing and stratifying, as insist occur overnight or during any stoppage of some hours in duration, the paraffin night become predominant at one section of the oil circulation, and so do harm_ It in a practice, we know, in some oil engines, to provide a suitable draining pipe and cock as part of the oil-well arrangements, and to run off the paraffin each morning until the thicker oil shows. We shall, of course, .,welcome assistance in this matter which any readers of Tux COMMEROIAL MOTOR may be prepared to offer to others who are interested-ED.] "Oil Trays" for Horses.
The Editor, THE. COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1635] Sir,—One of the most remarkable of the many sociological changes which the war has brought in its train is the almost ridiculous unanimity with which we concur, as a people, in new legislation, however drastic, however revolutionary. The Irish problem, which may have reached settlement before these lines are printed, would have remained the Irish problem in all its complexity, had it not been for the Kaiser. There is no evidence of public anuazerrient at what is likely to be the relatively-simple, well-begotten answer • to this hitherto unanswerable question.
We have swallowed conscription, as we swallow our daily food—or what is left of it. Labour has submitted to restrictions of its modern policy, with praiseworthy reticence. At eight e'clock DI the morning, we are catching the seven ofeloek train for town—the few of us who are still civilians. We have almost forgotten that the daylight-saving scheme, rushed through
B20 most of the Parliaments of Europe within the last few months, was a year or two ago regarded amiably av the ingenious idiosyncrasy of a crank. Why should we stop at putting the clock forward an hour ? Is not this a golden opportunity, or •a wartime plea to hasten other reforms which, though criticised as fantastic in peace days gone by, might be accepted with public blessing in our present receptive and non-contentious mood ? With this thought in our minds, does it even sound ridiculous to suggest that the horse shall no longer be allowed to render the streets of inhabited districts insanitary? The thought at the back of the minds of those who, but for certain insufferable administrative obstacles, would a few years ago have, for a whole Sunday, freed the streets of Westminster from horse insanitation, might now with reason be pushed to a conclusion.
Effective street cleaning is being, for obvious reasons, dangerously neglected. Here and there, women. are being enlisted by the public authorities for this unsuitable task. Why Ahould not the opportunity be taken, now and promptly, to force all horse users to provide their horses with efficient equivalents to the necessary oil-tray of the motor vehicle ? Is there any insuperable reason why the great task of street cleaning with unsuitable and insufficient labour should not be reduced .enormously by tackling the problem by preventive measures ?
The daylight saving touch should characterize such legislation and facilitate it. A prize for the best design of protection would readily produce a practical solution, and the horse, once so restricted, would have to behave better, in towns at any rate, ever afterwards. Street cleaning would be a vastly-simpler matter, and the present menace to public health would disappear. Certain public authorities have already rightly been considering, the filthy state of many suburban thoroughfares, on account of the dog-owning habits of a growing proportion of householders. It has already been s'uggested that the keeping of house-dogs should be prohibited in inhabited areas. That is a closelyallied matter.
The horse should at once be compelled to wear an "oil-Jay." There is a war-time reason for such a provision, and one that easily out-distances the sense of the peace-time proposals. If we can daylight save without a murmur, we can opportunely press other proposals which hitherto have been casually dismissed as being,born of brain storms. In peace-time, such a scheme would inevitably be killed by ridicule. Wartime focus presents another aspect altogether.—Yours
faithfully, "HARROWED."