Gas asa Motor Fuel.
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THE INTERIM REPORT of the Gas Traction Committee, published on Tuesday last, and now summarised in another part of this issue (although, let it be said, that our summary is rather a brief paraphrasing of the report than a mere suininarised version of just the parts thought to be interesting) ,.cannot be said to advance the knowledge of those who have deeply studied the subject of gas as a motor fuel, but the bringing together of all the vital information and the presenting of it in a Government report to official departments will at least go a long way towards the creation; in official minds, of a clearer understanding of what is, after all, a simple economical question.
The Committee expresses the unanimous opinion that ordinary town gas can be effectively, safely and promptly substituted for motor spirit as a fuel, for 'use in internal-combustion engines, as commonly fitted to motor vehicles, without the need for reduction of the compression space in the cylinders and the engines. The economy attaching to the use of town gai is shown, and then details of fitting containers, of supply of gas, of filling Arrangements, price, etc., are gone into, the recommendations that .are made being-in no wise revolutionary, but following the lines of round practice already adopted by the best; equipping concerns in the industry, and dealt with from time to time in our columns.
, The report, for obvious reasons, mainly deals with the details and application of the flexible container, and we should wish to criticise nothing in that part of the report dealing with the flexible container if a recommendation were not made for the adoption of a 2,1i in. coupling as the standard connection between the source of supply and the vehicle. The adoption of what we may term an intermediate size of coupling involves the general use of adaptors, because the sizes of pipe that have been adopted almost throughout the country (the, Croydon district with its 1.1 in. connection is the only outstanding instance of divergence) are 3 ins, for vehicles having large containers (500 cubic ft. and upwards) and 2 ins, for vans and private cars where the container generally has a capacity of 250 cubic ft. , A single adaptor serves to adjust the 3 in. half of the coupling to the 2 iv. half, and the fact that, on the supply side of the coupling, the fetid pipe is of a larger bore than is necessary, does not affect the rate of charging. But, if the 2.i in. coupling is adopted as a standard, the net result must be greatet delay in filling the large containers, whilst the containers with 2 in. pipes can be filled no more quickly than is now the case.
We are glad to see that experiments with the semi rigid containers and metal cylinders are to be encouraged if at all possible. We are perfectly convinced that vessels of large capacity, but of small dimensions and low weight, are well in sight, that the ideas exist, and that solutions of the problem have been discovered, all that is awaited being the means of producing the containers on a commercial scale: Without question, we are doorned to suffer for some years to come (to a more or less degree) the difficulties in the matter of fuel supply that now beset us. In those circumstances, inventors may fake heart of grace, and push ahead with -production seeking the practical, assistance of the Gas_ Traction Committee in their work, for we feel sure that gas, as one of a group of home-produced _fuels, Will long be needed for traction purposes in this country.
Not the least important recommendation of the• Committee is that dealing with technical investigations in connection with portable gas generating plants, the commercial use of gas at high pressures, liquefaction, absorption and enrichment as well as improvements in means of carburation. If the appointment of an expert sub-committee for this purpose be sanctioned, the gas movement, as we all. know it, will be materially advanced.
, Endorsement of "C.M." Gas Polic9.
THE REPORT OF the Gas Traction Committee will give a strong lead to Government Departments, and we fully!. believe that the future will show that the proposal toeutilise gas for motor transport, and its adoption, have had a substantial bearing upon one of the problems of. the war, and have materially enabled transport to continue to play its important part in the conduct of the nation's business affairs.
The report is not; by any means, the full culmination of our efforts of the past two years, for the development of gas as a fuel for transport purposes is only in its midway stages, but it is highly satisfactory to us that a State Conimittee, composed of men whose names carry weight in the world of science and mechanics, should have so completely endorsed all that has been urged continually in THE COMDIERCIAL MOTOR since the memorable suggestion in its columns -of July, 1916. --Looking down that list of names, we observe, with intereSt, that more than one half of them are those of men who have figured in our columns aS valued 'contributors to the elucidation of the problem of economical and-efficient transport—which may rightly be described as the life-blood of a commercial community—whilst, as is well known, Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, a, member 'of the Committee and its honorarysecretary, for many years occupied the editorial chair of this journal.
The report will act strongly in encouragement of those who: may have been somewhat disheartened by the restriction which a certain circumstance (not possible' to be -referred to more particularly) has recently caused to be placed on domestic and commercial coal consumption. These restrictions are only temporary, and various causes may opiate for, perhaps, their early but, certainly, .their ultimate removal.
There is ample scope. for advancement of the use and application of gas for transport purposes, whilst the Committee's report shows that there is also considerable Scope for experimenting in both high and low pressure methods of storing, the fuel on motor vehicles. There shall not be wanting, we need hardly say, any effort on our part to assist and encourage the advancement of the gas movement.
Agrimotor Importation Conditions.
IT IS INTERESTING to note that the Agricultural Section Committee of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, at a recent • meeting, appointed a sub-committee to confer with agents generally who are affected by the oonditions under which permits to import agricultural tractors are granted.
The attitude of the Government towards the importer and the distributer-may be described as acting harshly and in restraint of business, because no account whatever has been taken Of the fact that in agent, in return for his profit, is compelled to give to ' the purchaser a considerable amount of service. The British method of conducting business is that the seller desires to keep the buyer satisfied from the start. Practically every old-established business in this country, in almost any line of trade, has been built up on this principle. If the article dealt in is of a mechanical nature, whether it be an agricultural implement, motor vehicle, bicycle, or what not, it pays the retailer to help the purchaser to keep that article in running order and capable of giving sound service. In this way goodwill is built up, and never in the course of our experience have we known of a large business which has been built up-and maintained on the basis of selling something to the customer and caring nothing whether he is satisfied or not.
• Agricultural tractors are in the early stages of de-velopment--they even have not definitely acquired a name, being indiscriminately known as agrimotors, agricultural tractors, and agricultural motors. There are Many things_ to be learned about them ; the labour. of assembling them and also of using them is inexperienced; and breakdowns and failures, more or less temporary, are inevitable. A good deal of instruction in the management and use of the machines. has to be given to purchasers. They are constantly in need of advice, the machines require adjusting to local con. ditions, and frequently alterations have to be made.
Much of this service is expected by the purchaser to be given free, and upon the agent is frequently unposed the need for a journty, often under awkward • conditions, in order to diagnose and rectify the most trivial fault.
• The only way in which an agent can recompensc himself for this work, or, rather; cover his cost, is by having, a sufficient first profit on his transaction;_ and as the user becomes more experienced and qualified and, therefore, becomes less dependent upon the agent, so that profit can be—and is—reduced by force of sheer competition.
We think that the importers have a clear case for in alteration in the conditions under which tractors are allowed-to be imported, otherwise, we can see that the importer will lose interest in the buSiness, which fact will act largely to the detriment of the growing tractor industry, resulting in an inevitable hindrance in food Production at a time when such hindrance cannot be afforded by the country.
Improvement in Detail but Not in Principle.
IT IS BECOMING 'increasingly interesting to remark the trend of ideas on the part of professional designers who are beginning actively to anticipate the changes which experience, begotten of wal, will inevitably bring about when the present production for the Government slackens off. A true designer is constantly alive to the desirability of change: As a rules of course, he desires change in. so far as it is productive of improvement, but has to admit that once the result becomes thoroughly well standardized, he is likely to lose interest in it. The criticism has been levelled at his head, and not without a. certain amount of justification, that he often initiates alteration for the sheer sake of change. Not every designer is blessed with the commercial mind. For him to realize when a product is "good enough" is a rare and valuable asset to his employers. The commercial engineer is in any case a rara avis and the commercial designer an even rarer.
We have published in recent issues articles from the pen of a designer of standing, which reveal as a summary the effects.which war-time experience and developments have had on his particular mind. The articles in question place in satisfactory perspective a number of the minor lessons he has learned from the school of military motor transport. It is, perhaps, a little surprising to find, from such a pen as this, that the suggested developments are not of an esien tially startling nature. • Of all modern mechanical developments few have received more detailed and searching consideration than has the internal-combustion engine. Alternatives, drastic and revolutionary, have been" proposed by the score. We have all been lured on to the contemplation of the probable arrival of designs which•may be less of a clumsy compromise than is the wesent four-cycle type that is now in such universal employment. We still anticipate the possibility of the internal-combustion turbine. We Continue to flirt with the idea that some cardinal development is certain to take place which will render the Beau de Rochas cycle a thing of the past.
And yet, with all this expectancy, and after the last four years of the most intensive." trying out," we are still using multi-cylinder vertical internal-combustion engines, identical in principle with many of clumsier production which did pioneer service over twenty years ago. Both for chassis and .aircraft, and indeed, for many other purposes, we. still preserve the Otto cycle, the single-acting engine, the mushroom valve for inlet and exhaust, the camshaft drive, water-cooling, electric ignition, and other cardinal principles in design.
Progress of a very satisfactory nature can be recorded in respect of higher engine efficiencies, slightly improved consumption, better methods of lubrication, more certain ignition, much mare accurate workmanship with corresponding longer life,the use of alternative and better materials and particularly allbys, great reduction of unit weight, and particularly the development of higher piston speeds. It is true that a relatively limited use has been made of the sleeve valve, in itself a radical departure in practice, but the two-cycle and rotary types of engines have, on the whole, not come to stay.
The conclusion then to be drawn from this instance of engine development is that after all these years of intensive design and production, With the admitted exceptions of detailed improvements, we are to-day in principle much -where we were twenty years ago, which surely is a remarkable thought. What is trtte of the engine is in varying degree true of other units of chassis construction. We still have the rear drive, the cone clutch, the stepped gean: box. Does it not at least appear likely that, even with such extremely. fertile conditions for development as those existing during, the last four years, the ordinary motor vehicle, be it car or lorry chassis, will, in the case of after:the-war models, show n9 very startling basic alteration in design, the admittedly great-store of experience showing its results only in
detail directions? .
So much for what we will term the immediatelyafter-the-war vehicle. But, looking into• the future, we feel, as we always have felt, that we are 310 nearer finality of design than we were when war broke out. The present vehicle is regarded by the deep-thinking inventor.(visionary, if' you will) as a combination of compromises, and he would tell you thaftin a few years' time, the power, plant, the fuel, the. transmission, and the general arrangement of the commercial vehicle will all be vastly different from the present combination, making for a degree of efficiency, economy and reliability of which we scarcely dream at this stage.
Harrying the Steam Vehicle. .
THERE ARE COMPLAINTS of unreasonableness on the part of the police authonities, supported apparently by the Bench, at St. Helens, Lancashire, and we should say that those complaints are by no means unfounded.
Two summonses were taken. out recently against two of the drivers of steam wagons belonging to Mr. H. H. Timberlake, the well-km:nen automobile en gineer, of Wigan, for using ',a locomotive which was not constructed on the principle of consuming its own smoke. As both of the locomotives in question are Foolens which run to Liverpool practically daily, via St. Helens, and as these vehicles are, in normal circumstances, entirely satisfactory in the matter of smoke trouble, it is obvious that the' fact that these were emitting smoke at the time complained of shows that the cause could only haVe been the difficulty of secur
ing smokeless coal, and, in theSe circumstances, the smoking was due to a "temporary or accidental cause," which is allowed to be .accepted in explana tion of the default. .,
Sithilar cases have been heard recently, particularly in Manchester, and there a more'reasonable view has
been taken by the ,stipendiary, the .summonses being dismissed or withdrawn. Despite all the evidence placed before the magistrates at St. Helens, the driver of each vehicle was fined 40s. and costs, the case against the owner, of the vehicles being dismissed.
In' our opinion, the decision of the magistrates is entirely. unreasonable, and we urge the Manchester,
Liverpool and Counties 0.M.U.A. to take this matter up With a view to getting it reconsidered, There is no question about the facts. The drivers of the ve hicles know the conditions prevailing in St. Helens, and when they pass through the town they put no coal whatever on the fire, but go through on a very low fire ; in other words, extreme care has been taken, and, in these circumstances, the act of smoking on the part of the steamers is entirely due to war conditions which are not preventable by the owners or drivers.
It must not be overlooked that, in present circumstances,' smokeless coal, is unobtainable, and, more over, that it will not be again obtainable for a very long time. An adverse -decision based upon a refusal to accept this as a "temporary or accidental cause" must, therefore, not be allowed to stand, but must be contested to the end, otherwise steam wagon owners and drivers will wish to give a wide berth, to St. Helens and places which follow its bad example.