From Our Berlin Correspondent.
Page 58
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On ist June, a new State motorbus line opens between Bad Kissing-en and Brtickenau, Bavaria.
In 1907, Austria imported 43 industrial vehicles, and exported 46. Her collective imports in the motor class were valued at 7,900,250 crowns, compared with 4.443,550 crowns representing the worth of exports.
Russian Motorbuses.
I hear that Count Sheremtjev, the owner of several sugar factories in the vicinity of Moscow, has acquired three N.A.G. omnibuses, two closed and one open, for the purpose of conveying the farm hands from their dwellings to the .fields, and also with a view to establishing a regular passenger service, twice a week, between Moscow and the Count's estates.
Financial Results.
Reports by the Lolcalbahn-Aktieng,esellschaft, Munich, on the working neriods (from 15th May to the end of September) of the automobile lines, Partenkirchen-Mittenwald and MittenwaldWalchenses-Kochel, represent results as favourable, the lines having been unaffected by the establishment of the State line between Partenkirchen and Mittenwald. The company carried 16,749 passengers, against 16,338 in 1906, and 10,371 in 19.35. Receipts reached 56,502 marks, against an expenditure of 52,035 marks.
A Russian Industrial Competition. Under the mgis of the Moscow branch of the Russian Motor Club, on 241h May, a competition for industrial ve
hicles be held over the MoscowSt. Petersburg road, as far as Podsolnoschuoe and back, a distance of 72 miles. Competing vehicles are arranged according to useful load : Class I, automobiles for a load over 2.5 ions; Class II, automobiles for a load of i.65 to 2.5 tons ; Class III, automobiles for loads under 1.65 tons. From the maximum useful load set forth in the makers' catalogues, 330 kilos., or 6 cwt. 56 lb., will be deducted for weight of bodywork and the accompanying observer. Competitors are free to choose their own ballast. There is no limit to speed for the third class, but some to miles an hour constitutes the maximum speed for the first two classes. Further, neither of these two classes may be shod with pneumatics or iron tires. At the conclusion of the run proper, vehicles have to mount a 16 per cent, gradient near Iliinky in two " bites," stopping half-way and re-starting after a minute's rest. All repairs must be effected by the driver and persons accompanying the vehicle. Half an hour is the fixed duration of repairing time. The awards for the first two categories will be determined on the formula :---
--where P=. value of fuel consumed DXR,
during trial, R =useful load, and 1)— distance covered. For Class III the P x
formula --forms a standard of R x D valuation. Here V=average speed. The Berlin General Omnibus Co. is about to open a new motor line which will connect Oranienburger Tor, the northern end of the busy Friedrichstrasse, with the suburb of Rixdorf.
Self-propelled Fire Brigade Vehicles.
Why Petrol Vehicles were not Tried.
In his report on the protracted trials with self-propelled vehicles by the Berlin Fire-brigade, Branddirector Reichel brings forward three reasons for not having included internal-combustim automobiles in the scheme of the trials. In the first place, they are, in his opinion, lacking in the reliability necessary for fire-engines; in the second, petrol is too inflammable ; and in the third, the chassis of the petrol vehicle allows neither the building in of the steam-pump boiler and appurtenances, nor a low position for the hook-ladders. Respecting point 2, he observes that, in the course of a twelvemonth, the brigade received 98 calls to extinguish fires in connection with petrol vehicles, and, on point 3, " the chassis of any petrol vehicle can easily be fitted with superstructures for carbonic-acid-gas engines and for carrying firemen, whereas, in the case of an internal-combustion motor, the solution of the steam-pump and ladder problem would probably present considerable difficulties, not to lose sight of the danger of combining, on a single chassis, large, heated boilers with petrol motors and tanks. If the extraordinarily-effective extinguishing power of the larger fire-engines, and the application of large mechanical ladders for extinguishing and life-saving work, were not to be sacrificed, some other driving power than petrol would have to be adopted, unless the abovementioned, steam-pump and ladder problem were satisfactorily solved. But preference cannot be given to this solution, since the readiness and efficiency of a set of self-propelled fire-engines depend materially upon the selection of a uniform and simple method of propulsion." These objections, however, refer only to the application of internal-combustion motors for fire-engines proper, and, as I pointed out in a previous notice of Herr Reichers report, an electric and a steam-driven vehicle figured in the trials in question.
At the same time, the captain of Berlin's fire-brigade admits the " urgent necessity " of acquiring petrol vehicles for the rapid transport of officers, lifesaving apparatus, first-aid men and material, to the scene of the fire ; nor does he think there is any need for " costly trials " with vehicles for this purpose, considering that any first-class automobile firm could supply brigades with the light class of vehicle required.
Front or Rear Drive.
This still remains an open question, as far as results with the two vehicles on trial were concerned. The steam fire-engine was rear-driven ; the electric, front-driven ; yet Branddirector Reichel can bring forward no evidence tending to prove the superiority of the one system over the other, although both vehicles were driven under similar conditions. He remarks : " No matter whether front or rear drive, side-slip of the vehicles can be prevented by the use of anti-skids, the provision of a large wheel-base, the laying of the centre of gravity as near as possible to the centre of the vehicle, and careful driving, especially round corners."
Experiences with Tires and Antiskids.
The steam fire-engine, which weighed 4,1 tons, was shod with solid rubber, wired-on " Continentals," all four wheels having the same diameter, namely, 900 millimetres, or, approximately, 3 feet. It was found that each tire required to be wired afresh after 5,000 kilometres (3,225 miles) had been covered ; on the completion of to,000 kilometres (6,450 miles) the tire was worn out altogether and required replacing. A Hamburg firm supplied Kalmon rubber tires, vulcanised on, for the electromobile. After a run of fiofi kilometres (378 miles) the front pair of wheels had to be removed, giving way to a pair shod with another make of tire, this time a wired-on rubber tire, which was totally used up in 4,978 kilometres (3,112 miles); whereupon " Continentals," of the same type as those used for the steam fire-engine, were supplied as substitutes, and these held until the finish of the trials (to,000 kilometres). Yet the back tires procured from Hamburg answered well, requiring no repairs. On the ground of the experiences gained in the trials, the rubber tire, vulcanised on, is preferable to that wired on, says Herr Reichel.
Four makes of anti-slipping devices were used : " Continentals," Samsons, Kalmons, and Fidorra, with the following results :—
A front wheel and a back wheel were fitted with anti-skids, yet Herr Reichel holds that at least three wheels, both rear wheels and a front one, should bear anti-skids. Actuated by the results of trials he decides for the Hanover make, but for a new construction, in which rivets vulcanised in the solid rubber serve to prevent side-slip. These rivets are 12 millimetres (under
inch) long and level with the periphery of the tire ; when this depth has been worn off, the ordinary "Continental" anti-skid will be vulcanised on.
" Blaugas."
In my preliminary notice, through a typographical error, I was made to speak of " coal gas " for heating the burner. It should have been " blaugas," manufactured by an OberhausenAugsburg firm, Riedinger and Blau. This is an oil gas, liquefied and forced into steel containers under a pressure of 40 atmospheres. It works rapidly and effectively, without developing smoke or soot.