Interesting Papers at Show Time
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Synopses of Communications to the Imperial Motor Transport Conference.
Some 15 papers were submitted to the meetings of the Conference during Olympia week. One object of the Conference was to draw Colonial buyers to the Show. We have heard views expressed that the Colonial business at the Show was extremely disappointing.. This coil-Tares most unfavourably with the records in regard to Home buyers. It became apparent, during the course of the Conference, that another principal object was to secure the appointment of a consultative committee to handle advisory business and other matters. The Earl of Crewe, who was received by Mr. Sidney Straker, at the meeting on the 21st inst.., concluded his remarks by stating that those concerned with the business of the country took a warm interest in the proceedings, and he hoped "the Conference would be one of many gatherings of the kind, gatherings which might, he thought, reasonably lead to the creation of some form of public body which should conduct, as it were, a permanent clearing house ' of ideas from the Imperial point of view." This suggestion was adopted, at the final meeting, at the B.A.C., on Friday last, when the Hon. Arthur Stanley, M.P., presided.
Exigencies of space, coupled with the fact that much. of the contents of the papers was in recapitulation of data of which readers of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR are already in possession, account for our dealing very briefly with the papers that were read. For the purposes of the Conference, of course, a large measure of recapitulation was necessary for educational purposes, but we must naturally refrain from making a repetition of old matter and points which have. appeared in our columns—in some cases more than once.
Petrol Substitutes.
Sir Boverton Redwood, Bt., and Professor Vivian B. Lewes summarized the situation in regard to supplies of liquid fuels. Their data made apparent that we are at the moment dependent upon the Dutch East Indies for nearly 60 per cent of our petrol supply. The possibilities of material additions of motor spirit from crude oil, by cracking, and from the destructive distillation of coal and shale, were next discussed, by way of leading up to likely yields of suitable fuel as the products of fermentation. The authors came to the conclusion that alcohol offers the most promise for the future, by reason of its sources being virtually unlimited. They are of opinion that it can be obtained and sold at something like is. a gallon, and they conelude their paper in the following terms: " The extended researches of the United States Government have shown that engines can be satisfactorily run on alcohol, whilst, in spite of the calorific inferiority of alcohol, practically the same power is generated as with petrol, owing to the cooler cycle, smaller quantity of air required, and greater compression that can be used without fear of Pre-ignition, Thousands of acres of land fitted for the growth of potatoes and beet are lying idle in Ireland and even in England. and when it is demonstrated to the .satisfaction of the Government that the motor is ready for the new fuel, the required facilities could no longer he withheld." We comment upon the case for alcohol on page 58S, and support the view that other fuels are of more immediate interest to the commercial and general user of motor vehicles.
Mr. W. J. A. Butterfield, F.I.C., dealt in detail with other aspects of the fuel question, and particularly with likely fresh results by adaptations of cracking proceeses. He considered that the yield of motor mina from crude shale oh i might become as high as 61) per cent. by volume of the crude oil treated, or even higher. Some shales yielded it considerable quantity of sulphate of ammonia, and they could be
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used, because of this yield, in spite of their comparatively low yield of petrol. He supported the stripping of benzole from town gas, although it reduced the calorific valuo of the gas by six or seven per cent. Low-temperature carbonization of coal should also be employed wherever possible. He considered that coal was only to be regarded as a raw material for the production of motor spirit to the extent to which local markets were to be found for gas and gas coke, for metallurgical coke, or for semi-coke or smokeless fuel. For the further quantities of motor spirit that were required, petroleum and oil shale must be utilized. We observe that Mr. Butterfield made no reference whatever to the cracking of creosote, which is one of the large by-products from coal-tar distillation. We have great hopes in this direction, and for a big yield— at low prices--of good spirit.
Military and Colonial Vehicles.
The vexed question of subsidy types was very much before the Congress, and it was evident that all possible efforts were being made to help along this 'lame dog." Colonel Holden, who is primarily responsible for the subsidy designs, led off with a paper on the opening day. This was largely a r6sume of the specification, and of the avowed reasons for its adoption ; practically the whole of it will be found in. our issue of the 9th May, 1912, The concluding paragraph of Colonel Holden's paper forms the subject of separate comment by us on page 58'7. The paper by Captain A. E. Davidson, R.E., Secretary of the Mechanical Transport Committee of the War Office, also put forward a reehauffe of the matter which has appeared in T:FIE COMMERCIAL MoToR during the past few years, so far as it concerned the subsidy terms of France, Germany and other European powers. The author explained why Great Britain need not pay liberally under its subsidy scheme, the explanation being the large number of commercial motors in. use. He also repeated that the petrol vehicle is more suited to military req,uiremeats than the steam tractor. As a historical record, the paper appears to us to be of some value, hut we observe that it does not mention, in connection with the British War Office terms, that the whole of the subsidy payments are made in arrear, even including the so-called purchase subsidy of £50 which is doled out in half-yearly instalments of £8 ns. 8d. each.
Colonel Crompton emphasized the 'claims of the subsidy vehicles upon Colonial buyers. We quote some of this leading expert's opinions :—" The ideal military wagon is equally the ideal wagon for the roadless country. In both cases the adhesion must be obtained by the use of wheels of large diameter, the weight must be out down, the working parts must be kept high, to enable the vehicles to traverse water two or three feet deep, and the winding gear must be centrally placed. . . It is hoped, now that it is pointed out how equally suitable the military type is for Colonial and new-country development, that manufacturers will turn their attention to the production of this type of vehicle, which is certainly an excellent one, even far countries provided with the best roads." We agree with Colonel Crompton in many respects. but it Is for the home purchaser to decide whether the military type of vehicle is worth the extra money which he is asked to pay for it, and worth the uncertainties which lurk behind the variety of obligations, in regard to inspection and other points, to which he is asked to submit. Captain R. K. Bag-nall-Wild (late RE.), contributed .a paper on Design.He considers that " Much can be said for and against the military types when considered from a. commercial standpoint. In the first place they are built for a special purpose, obviously not a commercial one, but many points embodied in the W.D. specification fit in with Colonial requirements : gearbox, large wheels and tires, large radiator, engine, and chassis generally are suitable for heavy work ; in fact, the three-ton W.D. type will carry four tuns under normal English conditions." We quote other views from Captain Bagnall-Wild's paper, and it must be remembered that he writes with considerable experience of both military and commercial needs, seeing that he was at one time secretary to the M.T.C., and that he was afterwards,
i for several years, engaged n commercial transport work. We extract : " From the military point of view, such (details given) interchangeability of parts is an essential, but the War Department have to deal with vehicles of varied manufacture, whereas the private owner can employ all of one type, and so
obtain the desired result at less cost. . . Accessibility from the commercial point of view is a necessity, and is considerably different from military requirements. In the one case the work can be carried out under aroof, and in the other as often as not it cannot."
Mr. Horace Wyatt read an allied paper on " The means of rendering adequate Motor Transport available for Military purposes throughout the Empire." He thought that ears of the subsidy types might with advantage be specified by Dominion and Colonial Governments and Municipalities, and concluded with two main propositions :—" (1) That the Mechanical Transport Committee should consult, whenever their programme touches on civilian requirements, with some body representative of users, manufacturers, and engineers throughout the Empire ; (2) That the Indian, Dominion and Colonial Governments and Municipalities should he encouraged to assist in the development of an adequate supply of vehicles of types generally approved both for military and for civilian uses."
Passenger Transport.
Mr. W. Worby Beaumont contributed tionle interesting notes on the superiority of motorbuses to tramcars for much public passenger transport in cities. He thought that no system should be adopted on its own merits if its adoption were so obstructive as to cause vast losses to the whole of the community, and he proceeded :—" A system which requires the heavy rails and the paraphernalia of a great railway installation in the streets, and is of no use except for the one particular kind of vehicle that is run upon it, has at the present day, with the recognition and the value of good roads required for the greater part of the whole of the commercial and other vehicles, lost all the original reason for its adoption." He was of opinion that it had now become obvious that there should be no extension of existing tramway lines in London. It had been said that the tramway system was a damllosa hereditas of a previous Hgime. Where the overhead wire installation was already in existence, there might be something to say for the trackless trolley, but that system had the disadvantage of great capital outlay, of dependence of all the vehicles on a single source of power, of a tendency to wear the roads unequally by closely following the track of the trolley wire, and of lack of independence of transfer from one road to another."
Mr. E. A. Greathed read a forceful paper on the difficulties of motoreab operation, and gave interesting details in regard to practical points to be met by the management of such an undertaking. We intend to print this paper fully in an early issue, and therefore refrain from making excerpts now.
Mr. P. Ellis-on, the General Manager of the Eastbourne Corporation Motorbus Department, reviewed the growth or the services in Eastbourne. Although the fleet is now costing 14.23d. per mile run, lard earning 15.10d. per mile run, in his -opinion lad, per mile run is a proper figure for sell ice of the kind, if installed with. modern vehicles and no handicaps. Mr. Ellis-on gave numerous examples of excessive working costs due to the inclusion in the fleet of various old-type machines.
British Post Office Services.
Mr. Walter Gates, assistant secretary to the Post Office, contributed some additional facts in regard to motor-mail services, it is a matter of some surprise to us to observe that, whilst he mentions the experimental use of light motorcars so far back as the year 1597, he makes no reference to the first genuine parcel-mail service. This was the Liverpool-Manchester service instituted in the year 1902, upon which the Milnes-Ditimler vehicles were successfully employed, and for the success of which Messrs. Burford, Critchley and Frost-Smith were mainly responsible. We are amused to read in Mr. Gates's paper the following ultra-official sentence: " It is difficult, perhaps impracticable, to ascertain whether the use of motor transport by the Post Office for the conveyance of mails has resulted in an increase or a decrease in expenditure." This " damning with faint praise " is a bit overdone, we venture to think, because the economies are known to be very considerable indeed, having regard to thefact that the G.P.O. has to pay the railway companies 55 per cent. of its parcel-post receipts, and that for station-to-station conveyance only, out of average rates from the public in excess of £10 per ton.
We reproduce the new statistical data from Mr. Gates's paper.
Goods Transport.
Mr, W. Tetley Stevenson, lecturer on railway transport of the London School of Economies, presented some interesting views on the theory of road-carrying, and emphasized certain points of advantage in respect of co-operative delivery by tradesmen. Mr. G. Hamilton Grapes submitted two papers, one on "Postal Motor Services," and the other on "The Relations between British Manufacturers and Overseas Buyers." He argued in favour of further expert advice. Mr. W. W. Hoy, General Manager of the South African Railways and Harbours, presented (by deputy) a paper with particular reference to Smith Africa, the contents of which are of interest to manufacturers who have no reliable agents in the Union area. This paper was read by a deputy.