From Our U.S.A. Correspondent.
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An American Polack Co. Formed.
I received an unexpected visit this week from Mr. Fritz Poppo and his colleague Mr. Hanschild. I am able to announce the formation of an American Polack Tyre Co., :which will both manufacture and market its well-known ligh-grade solid tires for commercial vehicles in the States. An agreement has been made with an established ammeern, the Pennsylvania Rubber Co., to take over the work, and it new corporation has been registered, under the name of the Polack Tyre Co., with a capital of 500,000 -antlers. The President of this concern is Mr. A. Do Puy, -whei is widely known in New-York financial circles as the :President of the Crucible Steel Co. Mr. A. Hanschild is the Vice-President and Manager, and he will bring such *expert knowledge of the business, direct from the head laetory at Waltershausen, as will insure the production of tiiwn which will well sustain the reputation of the German arm. I am informed that moulds are already on the -way over, and that operations will be immediately corn4nenced ; it is hoped to put the new tires on the market --arty in November.
"Freight Automobiles."
'The United States have now awakened to the appreAiation of that portentous question " What is a commer
• ,:tial vehicle ? " It was bound to come, sooner or later, zand the only cause for surprise is that it hasn't been :sooner. Far be it from me to rouse this ancient controwersy from its well-earned repose, but the native ingenuity of the American has put an entirely-new coinIdeation upon it. Following the well-known railway diviion of " Passenger Trains " conveying passengers and -their personal baggage and " Freight Trains" carrying Inerehandise only, it is now proposed to apply the expres -agon " Passenger Automobiles " to all motorcars in which limman beings are moved about, whether in single spies or in battalions, and " Freight Automobiles " to all those -which perform that office for inanimate objects, in which elan may, I presume, be included horses and dogs, if eoneyed in a veterinary surgeon's motor ambulance? The
old idea, that a commercial vehicle is one used for pur
,Amines of profit or gain, and a touring car for pleasure away. is thus entirely destroyed, though one can hardly imagine any person-certainly not an American—submit ' tang to so cumbrous an expression as " Passenger Auto mobile ;" one might safely wager on the things' becoming within three months " Passobiles " and " Freightotiles," or similar enormities of etymology. If proof of this be needed, is there not still in existence that dread
• fo1 combination word " Buggyaut," applied to a small two-seated pleasure car?
Where Should the Driver Sit? Another cause for acute controversy is the question: from which side should a ('Sr be driven? It formed the basis of an animated debate, at the recent Detroit meeting of the Society of Automobile Engineers.. Of course, the rule of the road in America is " keep to the right," and it is argued that, in England, the rule being " keep to the left," the driver is correctly placed on the right side of the vehicle; therefore, it is higically concluded that in America he should sit at the left side. It is consoling to think that even one good English custom should be admitted to exist in automobile matters, but what of the huge number of vehicles built and running on the Continent with the driver seated on the right, and adhering to the same rule of the road as in America? The pros and cons, are, as already stated, agitating many builders, some insisting that the driver should sit next the traffic meeting him, others that he should be on the side of the traffic he is overtaking; others, again, go to the mechanical aspect, and say that the hand levers ought to be operated by the left hand, leaving the right free to steer, whilst yet others hold this impossible, and would arrange the hand levers in the centre of the car, and place the driver on the left. There are certainly some obvious advantages in the left-hand seat, but the only one which impresses me is that, in turning to the left, out into a crowded street, the driver can look round the side of his car at the traffic behind him. The public will presumably one day he the judges, and will decide which shall be adopted. Until they do, the builders will be wise to sit on the fence and leave things as they are.
Miscellanea.
The motor fire-engine is now fairly " discovered," and New York has tenders out for several, after which it may be supposed that an increasing number will soon be required in various cities. A gentleman, in conversation recently, expressed the greatest surprise to me that such things had already been used in England! After some talk on the subject, he seemed to entertain serious doubts of my veracity.
The. final results of the Philadelphia reliability run are now published, and they are remarkable, as anticipated, for the marked diversity in petrol consumption for the various makes of cars. "The Power Wagon" makes some caustic remarks on the subject. This journal says: " It was chiefly remarkable for the opportunity it gave for the presentation of a mass of figures which are quite misleading in their application. . . . At the conclusion of the trial is developed: (I) That the ten-mile cost of a two-ton electric wagon was the lowest recorded ; (2) that the variation in cost per ton-mile of gasoline wagons of the same rating was as high as 037 per cent.; (3) that 13 per cent. of the gasoline wagons which started failed to finish; (4) that the extreme variation in cost per tonmile with different makes of eleetrics was 37 per cent." This contest was, as before reported, promoted by a daily newspaper—presumably to find its reporting staff something to do in a slack season. One of the yeilowest of I he Yellow Journals published in the Eastern States (although its home is in Boston) was advertising a similar undertaking. Such ridiculous exhibitions cannot he sufficiently condemned. Conducted without expert knowledge, they are a mischievous source of expense to the industry, and they furnish no information which is the slightest use
to either buyer or manufacturer. The sooner the
Lakes the matter up and discounthanees such so-ealkds trials the better for everyone. Fortunately, the municipal elections will soon be on, and the daily papers will have scope for their surplus energies in more-legitimate, and better-understood directions.
On reading the full report of the trial, it is apparent that the manner in which it was conducted precludes the possibility of its being—as in my former notice 1 stated it might be—of some use to the manufacturer. It was., ins, the end, shorn of even that amount of usefulness, as by the behaviour of the competitors as by the want of:
knowledge on the part of the organizers. H .K, .T ,