At the Scottish Motor Exhibition.
Page 14
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Albion Motor Car Co., Ltd. Stand No. 14).
A mast-useful 25 cwt. van, with portable top, is shown on this stand. The engine is the usual two-cylinder Albion of 16 h.p., with governing on the throttle, air supply and ignition, and with mechanical lubrication. The wheel-base is 9 ft. 10 in. " Faransure " solid tiros with detachable flanges to all wheels are fitted, and also a new Albion mileage recorder, which should interest users very much. This will help purchasers to ascertain the actual running cost per mile, and it is operated from the noun shaft in the gearbox, through a worm wheel and flexible shaft to the recorder on dashboard. This should prove a very suitable van for laundry or drapery work, and for other trades.
Another smart vehicle on the stand is an estate car—a oombination shooting brake convertible to a luggage car. It will seat nine people, and it is fitted with Endswell solid tires on the rear wheels, and Dunlop pneumatic tires in front.
Belhaven Engineering and Motors, Ltd. (Stand No. 24).
This enterprising concern has been making great headway of late, and its association with F. B. Goodchild and Co., Ltd.; of London, has proved a most satisfactory one for all parties. This is the largest exhibit of commercial vehicles in the Show, and, as far as our representative could ascertain,
it drew " first blood." Messrs. W. and M. Duncan, chocolate manufacturers, of Edinburgh, bought one of the 20-26 h.p. two-cylinder vans on the opening day, the actual one on exhibit having been sold to the .North British Locomotive Co. A moat-accessible brake, to carry 32 persons, is also shown on the stand; this is fitted with a 30-35 h.p. four-cylinder engine, and Continental solid tires ; it has already been in public service. A twoton lorry, fitted with a 26 h.p. two cylinder engine and provided with a special winch, etc., to make the vehicle, we understand, suitable for carrying condemned carcases, also attracts notice. In addition, an " AutoCarrier " specially made for Maple and Co., Ltd., is shown. This is a handy three-wheeler, with a roomy box body, for carrying loads up to 6 cwt.
Lynton Wheel and Tyre Syndicate, Ltd. (Stand 41).
The " Lynton " resilient wheels disclose an ingenious method of construction; this must be familiar to many of our readers. So lung ago as the 12th September, 1907, we described and illustrated this interesting means of securing a high degree of resilience whilst actually employing a solid section of tire. To those to whom the type of construction which is adopted by the Lynton Wheel and Tyre Syndicate, Ltd., is unfamiliar, it may he useful briefly to describe the system. The body of a wheel built upon this principle tinsists essentially of two metal discs: one of these is stiffly braced to the hub, and the other is allowed to float freely on a special centre whose surface is spherieul. The outer circumferences of these two discs are cupshaped, in order to form a bed for a number of segmental rubber-tire blocks, which are of special cross-sec tion. Resilience is secured by the rocking action of the freely-mounted disc ; as each block comes under load, it is deformed laterally, and this motion is permitted by the distortion of the opposite rubber block, which is correspondingly compressed in a lateral direction, owing to the rocking action of the free disc about its spherical centre.
S. Stevenson and Co. (Stand 75).
Here, one may see " Reid-Riekie " spring wheels and " Faransure " tires If simplicity of design were the mostpotent augury of success in the matter of spring wheels, that pattern which is known as the " Reid-Riekie " would seem to be likely to have few dangerous competitors. Handled in Scotland by Messrs. S. Stevenson and Co., of 59, Logan Street, Glasgow, this patented device is meeting with considerable favour at the hands of commercial-vehicle users, across the Bor der. Mr. M'Kerrow, the proprietor of the Largs, Wemyss Bay and West .Coast Motor Service, has had sets of " Reid-Riekie " wheels in use, on motorbuses and chars-a-banes, for a. considerable time, and be thinks so well of their performance that he has recently placed orders with Messrs. Stevenson to fit further five vehicles with the same device. The manfifacturing concessionnaires " for these wheels are also doing great business with " Faransure " solid tires, and reports are to hand which show that these, too, are doing well on commer
cial vehicles in Scotland. Several Scotch makers of industrial motor vehicles are quite enthusiastic in their praise of the " Faransure " tire wheel and its detachable mounting.
Messrs. Thomson and Son (Stands 69 and 70).
Amongst numberless articles shown on this stand, there were three Drummond lathes, of the 5 in. size, this being a most-suitable one for repair shops.
D. Stewart and Co. (1902), Ltd. (Stand No 35).
The usual " Stewart-Thornycroft " steamer is shown on this stand—a standard five-ton end-tipping wagon. Like most of this maker's current models, this wagon has a locomotivetype of boiler with a modified form of Belpaire fire-box. The two flat surfaces—the fire-box crown and the outside shell immediately over it—are joined together by a solid-drawn steel tube, about 8 in. in diameter, and this tube serves the double purpose of roofstay and tiring hole. The engine and transmission gear, as well as the general construction of the wagon, are too well known to need repetition in these pages. Westfield Autocar Co., Ltd. (Stand No. 17).
On this stand there is shown an Albion 16 h.p. char-k-bancs, to seat 1.5 people and fitted with full-sized canopy. The sides are protected with roll-up curtains, in which are celluloid lights. It is a most-roomy and luxurious sight-seeing car. The en gine is covered with a new type of bonnet. A handsome Austin taxicab is also exhibited on this stand, with 15 h.p. four-cylinder engine ; combination paraffin and electric side and tail lamps are fitted, and electric light inside, whilst the wheels are shod with Dunlop tires. This is the third Austin taxicab supplied to Mr. Dan T. Munro, of Edinburgh.
Tires and Stores.
The tire manufacturers have good stands. In addition to the makes already mentioned on vehicles exhibited, the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co., Ltd. (Stand 74), the North British Rubber Co., Ltd_ (Stand 76), the Shrewsbury and Challiner Tyre Co., Ltd. (Stand 73), and the Sirdar Rubber Co., Ltd. (Stand 62) make representative displays.
The motor-spirit firms also have fine stands, including one of the Scottish firms which are bidding for Northof-England trade; this is Messrs. James Ross and Co., of Linlithgow, N.B. (Stand No. 45). " Shell " makes a good and attractive showing at Stand 59; " Pratt's" is to the fore on Stand 63; Carless, Capel and Leonard are represented at Stand 86; and the Gas Lighting Improvement Co., Ltd., exhibits " Glico " at Stand 60.
A. speedometer for commercial vehicles is exhibited by Elliott Bros., Ltd-, of London, which this company designates "type 11." The fitting will show speeds from 2 miles up to 20 per hour, and this type has done well, already, on rubber-tired steamers in London.