OPINIONS
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QUERIES
THE PROSPECTS FOR HOME-PRODUCED FUEL.
[5011] In fairness to a great new British industry, may I be allowed to correct certain statements made in the House of Commons on March 19 by Sir Samuel Hoare, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Mr. Kenneth Lindsay, Civil Lord, in regard to oil produced from British coal?
In the first place, it must be realized that the extraction of oil from coal is no longer an experiment and, whilst it is true that the Government is continuing its research work, it is equally true that the process has long since passed the experimental stage. The production of oil from coal on a commercial and profitable scale is now definitely established in Great Britain as a new industry. Low Temperature Carbonisation, Ltd., which supplied the first consignment of fuel oil to the Admiralty as long ago as 1932, has already four works in operation and has embarked upon an extensive policy of expansion. Only last week Mr. Ernest Brown announced in the House of Commons that this company is to establish new works in South Wales.
Regarding the question of cost, it is to be assumed that, when foreign oil is purchased for use in the British Navy, it is not subject to the standard import duty of d. per gallon, as the petroleum would not actually be released from a bonded store.
It is beyond argument that British oil can now be produced from British coal at an economic price. The large quantities now reaching the market are being readily absorbed; indeed, although the supply is not yet equal to the home demand, certain distillates of British coal are actually being exported to buyer g in North and South America. This new industry is, in short, self-supporting, and there is nothing to stop an immediate expansion such as would enable the country to have at its disposal greatly increased supplies of oil derived from its own coal. If that expansion could be helped forward the result would not only confer substantial benefits on the mining industry, but the population as a whole would have at its command a considerable reserve not only of oil fuel but of petrol, both of which would be of appreciable value for the purposes of home defence.
Coram BUIST, Director, Low Temperature Carbonisation, Ltd.
London, S.W.1. PROGRESS IN AMBULANCE DESIGN.
[5012] The suggestion in an article in your special municipal number that front-wheel-drive should be utilized in ambulance design, meets with my wholehearted approval. Forward drive, like every other form of road-vehicle transmission, has its advantages and its defects, but in the case of an ambulance the " ayes " have it without any question at all.
The writer of your interesting article, "Ambulance Progress Demands New Designs," says that front-wheeldrive lends itself to independent suspension. This is an understatement. Without independent springing to the front wheela such a transmission would not be possible and independent rear springing follows naturally.
There is one advantage attaching to front drive which is not mentioned in the article—that is the ease of maintenance. The entire vehicle, aft of the facia board, is virtually a trailer. Thus when overhauls to engine, gearbox and transmission become necessary; the complete traction unit can, in most of such designs, be detached and wheeled away. It can even be temporarily replaced by a spare unit. This is of especial importance in the case of ambulance vehicles, which, like fire-fighters, Must be always available for instant use, yet are seldom kept in fleets.
The advantages of front-wheel transmission, when the idea is properly carried out, are very real indeed, and the writer is an enthusiast in this matter, having tried almost every Continental car yet made with this form of drive. One cannot insist too much upon the importance of correct design in the transmission layout, as there is no halfway house. Either the design is correct, in which case the chassis will behave splendidly, or else it is wrong and performance will be, to put it mildly, disappointing. A big V-8 engine, turning at a moderate • speed, would be the ideal power unit for a front-wheel
driven ambulance. . L. GRAHAM DAY/IES. Paris.
PROBLEMS IN PARCELS CARRYING [5013] I have read with considerable interest " S.T.R.'s '! recent articles on Parcel carrying.
Whilst I appreciate his encyclopedic knowledge of costs, I am afraid things would not work out in practice in anything like the manner he suggests. I have had unusual opportunities for observing the work 01 parcels-carrying concerns in all parts of the country, and I have never met one that could be operated on the lines your contributor advocates.
Our -actual experience will probably suffice to show what I mean. What we call our "own area" extends from Leicester to Shrewsbury, and from Rugeley tc Worcester, so that it includes one of the most important industrial centres and is altogether a well-populated area. Apart from shops and warehouses in the centre of Birmingham, we find that there is no demand at all for a service which picks up in the morning and delivers the same afternoon.
Those carriers who give such a 'service limit theii operations to comparatively small districts. Fm example, we pick up only in the centre of Birnninghanin the morning and deliver within five miles. We very much doubt whether this service pays, but we have kepi it going for reasons of policy. We have, from time tc time, made efforts to attract more traffic, but •withoul success.
Most of our men go out in the morning and we do no' see them again until night. They are delivering up tc about 4 p.m. and then start collecting. In considering what a man can do, attention must be paid to the number of consignments and not the number of packages. This is a point where it seems to me " S.T.R.'s" articles are not true to the actual facts. A considerable number of our consignments consists of more than one package. In such cases weights arc bulked and the consignment treated as a unit for charging.
A man's work is governed by the number of consignments he has to pick up or deliver, rather than by the number of packages. About 70 per cent. of our consignments (not packages) weigh less than 56 lb. To check on or off a 30-cwt. to 2-ton load of such traffic takes the best part of an hour, so that out of an 11-hour working day, 9 hours are left for deliveries and col lections. We find that three hours is an average time for collections, leaving six for deliveries.
In this time we find it takes a really good man to deliver anything like 70 consignments in a suburban area or on any route up to about 15-miles radius ;• whilst on longer routes and on the city centre rounds the number of deliveries is very considerably less. I could name several places in Birmingham where it is practic ally impossible to effect a single delivery in less than an hour. • I can summarize my criticism of " S.T.R.'s " articles by saying that he is expecting too much of the drivers and imagining the possibility of a demand which, in my experience, does not exist.
On the subject of rates, we have found it absolutely impossible to work economically at a lower minimum than 5d.. except in the case of traffic brought in by other carriers, when, of course, we have no collection expenses.
With regard to the long-distance routes suggested, "S.T.R." apparently visualizes the work being done
during the day. This, however, seems to. me to be
impracticable, because even if the delivery services of The agents on the first sections of the route be not missed, they certainly will be by the time the man gets to the end of. his journey, if the route be long enough to justify the employing of agents.
I do not think it practicable to operate a trunk service of 90 miles or more with anything less than a 4-ton van, and since it is usually impossible to get such vehicles with box bodies (such as are essential to parcels work) within the 30 m.p.h. category, the drivers' hours law has a material bearing on the possibility of reaching the outward terminus. to have deliveries effected the same day.
It seems to roe that with " S.T.R.'s " methods most of the traffic picked up from the senders would not be delivered from the further points until the second day after the collection.
It is, of course, for this reason that most trunk services are run at night.
CHARLES S. DUNBAR, Director and Manager, Birmingham, Red Arrow Deliveries, Ltd.
[I am very. pleased to have Mr. Dunbar's criticism and I particularly appreciate the courteous wording of his letter, Actually, the articles on parcels delivery were based on fact : all the figures about times, mileages and tonnages were taken from cases of which I have personal knowledge. The districts are not, however, anything like so congested as Birmingham, and Mr. Dunbar will be the first to admit that towns like Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool are different from the normal provincial industrial areas. I did not refer to the matter of consignments because I wanted to make the article as simple and easy to understand as possible, and I considered that to try to include reference to consignments of this kind would complicate the issue too much, at any 1342 rate, for the object I had in mind. I did appreciate that the long-distance journeys had to be done at night ; rereading the article I now realize that I did not actually state that that was essential, although I certainly hail it in mind.—S.T.R.]
BRAKING DISTANCES ON PASSENGER VEHICLES.
[50141 We shall be pleased if you will forward details of braking tests on two or three different makes of 32-seater, the brakes being of the servo type.
Our problem is that we own a Halley 32-seater, 1929 .model, in which, whilst we do not claim the brakes to be equal to new, they are in good condition. This bus was involved in an accident. With the passengers on board it weighed approximately 7 tons 10 cwt. The total length of the tyre tracks was 23 ft., whilst the actUaLskid was 3 ft... We claim that the bus could not have been exceeding 20 m.p.h: or it would not have pulled •up in this short distance. We mentioned this fact to our counsel, also referring to the results of braking tests which we had examined from time to time in your journal, and which we would like to produce for
his examination. T.B.
• Port Talbot.
[We have no longer in print reports of braking tests with 32-seater vehicles, but the following inforrnation is extracted-from an article on the performance of British passenger chassis, published in our annual special passenger-vehicle issue dated February 7, 1936:— Braking Distance from 30 m.p.h.
Petrol 32-seaters : 7 tons gross weight, 68 ft. 7 tons 13 cwt. gross weight, 54 ft.
7 tons 7 cwt. gross weight, 57 ft.
8 tons 2f cwt, gross weight, 72 ft.
Average 7 tons 11 cwt. gross weight, 59 ft.
Oiler 32-seaters: 7 tons 16 cwt. gross weight, 55 ft.
7 tons 14-i cwt. gross weight, 63 ft.
8 tons 9 cwt. gross weight, 50 ft.
The braking chart issued by the Ferodo concern classes a pull-up of 23 ft, from 20 m.p.h. as 60 per cent, efficient and, therefore, "very good." That efficiency gives a stopping distance from 30 m.p h. I:451 ft, You will therefore observe that if your vehicle was travelling at 20 na.p.h, when it pulled up in 22 ft., its braking abilities must be better than average, even for modern vehicles, because the proportionate figure from 30 m.p.h. would be 51 ft.—End THE REQUIREMENT AS TO REPORTING ROAD ACCIDENTS.
[5015] we should welcome your advice in the question of reporting accidents to the police. We axe of the opinion that, after an accident, if the names and address of drivers be exchanged, it is not necessary to report the matter to the police, except where bodily harm has
occurred, ZEALAND BROTHERS. Middlesbrough.
[The following is an extract from the Road Traffic Act, 1980, regarding accidents 1—(1) If in any case, owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road, an accident occurs whereby damage or injury is caused to any person, vehicle or animal, the driver of the motor vehicle shall stop and, if required so to do by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his name and address, also the •name and address of the owner and the identification marks of the vehicle. (2) If in the case of any such accident as aforesaid the driver of the motor vehicle for any reason does not give his name and address to any such person as aforesaid, he shall report the accident at a police station or to a police-constable as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case within 24 hours of the occurrence thereof. (.3) In this section, the expression " animal " means any horse, cattle, .ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat, or dog—ED.]