Passing Comments
Page 16
Page 17
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Feline Tale ConWE have often heard of cerning Awkward " something being described
Manceuvring . as "the cat's whiskers," but whether this can truly be applied to an amusing device which has been invented in America and given that title, is a little doubtful. The arrangement consists of slender rods, which, when the driver presses a button, shoot out at the corners of a vehicle, and if one or more of them touches anything, this fact is registered on the dash, so that a driver with an awkward load or particularly large vehicle can tell at once if it be likely to jam in, say, a narrow entrance.
U.S.A. Cirtails Battery I AST year the sale of replace Production to Save ment batteries in America
Materials was nearly 16,000,000, but recently an Order has been issued curtailing their production. This zeduces the number of models from some 75 to 15, requires the return of the old battery when a new one is purchased, and imposes stringent restrictions on stocks. It is estimated that this action will save in a year 46,000,000 lb. of lead, 1,600,000 lb. of antimony and a considerable quantity of rubber. It is interesting to learn that the battery industry normally uses about 27 per cent, of the U.S.A.'s output of lead.
WE referred recently to an article by Major E. G. R. Lloyd, D.S.O., M.P., regarding the use of town gas in lieu of producer gas. Mr. J. W. Noel Jordan, chairman of the Mobile Producer Gas Association, has written to the Daily Sketch" replying to the rather sweeping statements made in that article. He points out that Many are completely erroneous, and that, generally, in practice, 1.1 therms of gas are 'equivalent to one .gallon of petrol. Taking a vehicle With a 22 h.p. power unit and an average petrol return ,of. 10 m.p.g., loaded, the fuel costs work out at 2s. lid. for 10 miles on petrol, and is. 7.8d, for gas at Is. 6d. per therm. On the other hand, the gas producer on a similar machine has an average fuel' consumption of 1.1 lb. per mile, and this, at £5 10s. per ton (for small quantities) works out at 0.65d. per mile, or 10 miles for 6.50d. Again, the price quoted by one leading concern for a gas container of suitable size is 81 5s., and the average cost of a corresponding gas producer plani is only about double. One filling of a gas container will cover some 17 miles, whereas a filled gas producer can do well over. 100, and, with some, 200.
Major Lloyd's Claims for Town Gas Refuted
WE believe that we can claim to be the first journal to have ventilated the needs of road-transport men in respect of better food and accommodation along our highways and, often, byways, and, as mentioned in our issue for June 26, the Road Haulage Central Wages Board is taking definite action to solve the problem. The Standing. Committees to' be set up by the Employers and Workers Panels of each of the Area
• Boards is to be asked to report on any long stretches of road where provision for suitable accommodation is badly needed. The of W.T. is to' be requested to -circularize Transport Commissioners, pointing out the difficulties with regard to the staffing of transport cafés, and to ask for careful consideration to be given to all cases which come before them, particularly where such cafes provide lodging. The Ministry of Food will be approached to remind divisional food officers and café proprietors that, where manual workers amount to 60 per cent, or more of the total served, cafes may be registered as category " B" catering establishments in order that they may be qualified to obtain additional rations.
Steps Being Taken to Improve Drivers' Comfort