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Now the Engine ?
Page 47
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ATTENTION has once again been focused on the uses of aluminium alloys in the road transport sphere, this time through the excellent symposium organized in London by the Aluminium Development Association and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the proceedings of which are summarized on pages 165 to 168 of this issue. Delegates were attracted from many countries, including the U.S.S.R. and Japan. Although, as would be expected, the papers presented did not, of themselves, contain revolutionary new thoughts they did, en masse, present a thoughtful and expert compendium of current knowledge on a subject that is assuming increasing importance to operators.
The uses of various aluminium alloys for bodywork purposes receive a good degree of publicity; indeed, The Commercial Motor featured this aspect, in particular, in a special number on September 8 last. Less public discussion is accorded to the applications in relation to engines, transmissions and chassis, where very little use is made of alloys. This aspect of aluminium was clearly brought out in the symposium—both the aspirations and the problems—and is possibly the more interesting purely . because it has not been brought so much to operators' neitice as the bodybuilding applications.
Largely different considerations arise when the use of aluminium in chassis applications is considered. With bodies, the prime question is the saving in unladen weight thus achieved. With engines, weight-saving is less spectacular; such matters as improved heat conductivity also arise. And the most important aspect is cost. Pound-for-pound, alloys are more expensive than ferrous materials, and as other advantages become less marked in engine applications cost becomes more critical. Pressure diecasting techniques of manufacture offer the means by which quantityproduction economies can offset higher first cost of the material. But whether demand will ever be sufficient to warrant many manufacturers looking seriously at the matter is a doubtful quantity; it is unlikely they will do so off their own bat unless the cost of aluminium drops substantially, which is doubtful.
Therefore, in providing operators with more information about the possible advantages of alloys in engines, transmissions and other chassis components, the symposium enables them to examine the question— which is a good thing to have achieved.
Stones in the Pond
WHETHER the ripples caused by dropping a stone into a pond _ reach the sides of that pond depend, as any schoolboy can explain, on the size of the stone and the surface area of the pond. Whether, if the ripples do get there, they then have any profound effect on the structure of the bank of the pond is unlikely.
One inevitably tends to evaluate in the same fashion such gallant events as the celebrated charge of the Light Brigade, or the annual deputations to protest about the completely unbalanced and iniquitous fuel tax. Into the pond this year, however, has been dropped a different stone which might generate noticeable ripples. It is an Aims of Industry booklet entitled " Wanted—a policy for fuel," by Georg Tugendhat, an international authority on fuel matters. He not surprisingly lambasts fuel-tax policy vigorously, but realistically recognizes the unlikely chance of its reduction. As an alternative he suggests the present Government income be treated as a ceiling and, as consumption increases (as it undoubtedly will), the actual rate of duty per gallon be adjusted downwards accordingly.
How about operators taking that one up with the Treasury?