From Our Berlin Correspondent.
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I note that the parish of Aegidienberg, near Honnef on the Rhine, is opening a motorbus service next April between that town and Konigswinter. The Adler Company has secured this contract.
Three motorbus lines now work along the Friedrichstrasse, Berlin's main artery of traffic. One of them has just been extended to a point farther north, to meet the wishes of residents and others interested in the change. All lines are worked by the General Omnibus Company.
Bavarian Subventions.
I see that the Bavarian War Office has sanctioned the subsidising of eight motor freight-trains during the year 1908-9, the order having been placed with the Ansbach Company, the only home firm to build industrial vehicles. Further, the War Office is forming a reserve corps of motorists, officers and men. For instance, a soldier who, during his term of military service, had served in the automobile section, would be drafted to the corps in question.
Italy's Foreign Trade in Industrial Vehicles.1 Official comparative returns for Italy's foreign trade in industrial vehicles demonstrate that during the first seven months of the current year she imported industrial vehicles weighing 9,100 kilos. and worth 4:6,16o, against 12,600 kilos., worth i:,7,800,
during a like period in 1907. Her exports reached 17,9oo kilos. (16,000 in 1907), valued at .4.15,o45 (/,6,24o in I9o7). It will be seen that the Italian makers more than doubled the value of their sales abroad. France, Germany, Switzerland and the United States are Italy's chief customers.
Concerning Motorcabs.
Touching the correspondence relative to the comparative merits of twocylinder and four-cylinder engines for motorcabs, I approached the Adler Company on this question, as it has cabs working in most of the larger German cities. I find that nearly all the Adlers running in Berlin belong to the two-cylinder variety, and answer well. The engine develops 14h.p. It is stoutly built, and quite equal to rough every-day work in the Metropolis. However, there has been a tendency of late to prefer the four-cylinder type ; yet, it appears, jobmasters select this engine, not for the sake of the extra speed that can be generated, but because the four-cylinder works more quietly and evenly. Again, in cities like Munich, where hiring not infrequently involves journeys outside the boundaries, and, consequently, a deal of hill work, the four-cylinder predominates, often with an engine developing i8h.p. Hence the Frankfort Company's experience agrees with the views expressed by your correspondent Mr. R. J. Williams and others, in recentii.', issues of" THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Ambulance Automobile For the Munich Volunteer Life-saving Society.
The latest self-propelled ambulance carriage acquired by the Munich Volunteer Life-saving Society, which is nothing if not up-to-date in its methods, is equipped with a Horch chassis possessing an engine of 1822h.p. It has a limousine body, painted dark green, with yellow linings —quite a smart piece of carriage work. The inner panelling is lined with grey pegamoid, and three electric lamps, one in the roof and two of a revolving pattern attached to the back panels, supply plenty of light to the interior. Several emergency seats make it possible for six persons to travel with it.
Swiss International " Commercial " Trials : Further Particulars.
The Swiss commercial-vehicle trials, organised by the Motor Club of Switzerland at the instance of the Federal Military Department, will commence at the end of June.
For these interesting trials, which the War Office undertakes to superintend, a route of 625 miles is contemplated, divided off into as many as is daily stages of a maximum of 62.5 miles. Considering that most of the road is of a hilly character, the lorries that score in this contest will have richly deserved their success. Moreover, on three consecutive days, competing velticle must cover the abovementioned maximum distance. The following measurements are laid down : track, 4ft. 7111, (1.40 metres); wheelbase, itft. 6in. (3.5 metres); clearance 9.8in. (25 centimetres). The radius of action must be 125 miles (zoo kilometres), while the useful load, for which a trailer of the same weight may be substituted, stands at 2-1 tons (2,500 kilos). Special trials over very difficult roads, under full and half loads, form part of the programme. Under a full load, vehicles must climb a gradient of 15 per cent., also start half-way without outside help. Perhaps the severest test is the tackling of a mountain pass 6,54oft. high. Firms may fit their wheels with any kind of tire wooden wheels with iron rims, or steel wheels with rubber tires. In the former case, the loading surface must lie 9.8in. (25 centimetres) above the chassis. Petrol, benzol, alcohol and the heavier patrols are eligible. Average speed per hour, 6.25 miles (zokrns.), but not more than 3.75 miles (6kms.) will be expected over difficult ground. In making their awards, the judges will keep in view the undermentioned considerations : (a), cost per ton-kilometre, in relation to prime cost and expenses of upkeep; (b), cost per ton. kilometre, in regard to consumption of fuel and rubber ; (c), regularity of work. ing • (d), climbing powers; and (e), good appearance of mechanical parts. The War Office buys the best vehicle, the rest of the monetary grant going in prizes, of which the first is .15o. In conjunction with the military trials, the Swiss Motor Club will also hold trials over the same course for lorries, delivery vans and cabs, starting in classes according to their power.
Motor Trains and the Duchy of Brunswick.
Brunswick road surveyors have been conducting trials in the neighbourhood of Brunswick and the Spa of Harzburg, with the object of ascertaining the effect of motor trains on the surface of roads more or less softened by wet weather, A Buessing train carrying To tons of material was put over a certain section of the BrunswickIfildesheim highway, on three successive days, the driver having to steer in the same tracks. Only the rear wheels on the self-propelled vehicle were shod with rubber tires; the front pair and all four wheels of the trailer possessed the usual iron rims. Notwithstanding the yielding state of the roads, the surveyors could discover no special wear and tear—at any rate, not sufficient to justify them in pronouncing against the working of such trains over the public roads, the solution of this question, in fact, constituting the ultimate end of the trials. Prussian roads may, under given conditions, be used by automobile trains ; for the present, Brunswick roads are taboo.
In the trials in the vicinity of the Spa of Harzburg-, very heavy loads of stone were transported from the Ducal quarries to Harzburg railway station, by automobiles and trailers of the same make. It is not a very difficult task for horses to get a load down to the valley, but, owing to the bad roads and the steep incline, they have a stiff job to pull even empty wagons upwards, the nature of the loads requiring that the wagons themselves should be very stoutly built, and of the ponderous class. Here, the authorities had another object in sight, besides the one mentioned, namely, to compare mechanical and animal traction. Of the superiority of the former, they were soon convinced. Further trials are to be made. I have no need to dwell on the importance of such experiments to the German industrial industry.