A Promise of a Diesel Commercial Vehicle Engine. . .
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oN WHAT appears to us to be reliable authority, we gather that success has been achieved in the production of a four-cylinder 20 h.p. engine working on the Diesel principle, and of sufficiently, light weight to render it suitable for, ute as the power unit of a commercial motor vehicle. Steel, instead of cast-iron, is largely employed in the construction of the engine, the cylinder dimensions of which, we assume, will be proportionately larger than those of an engine employing petrol as fuel, because of the lower speed of the crankshaft. Experimental engines have been built to the inventor's designs, and have proved themselves'capable of running (as it was expressed to us) on " treacle."
The economy that is attainable by means of the Diesel principle of fuel ignition at high-compression pressures with self-ignition of the charge has long made it desirable that every effort should be put forward to render its employment possible for heavy road vehicles. We are closely investigating the designs, claims and data of the inventor of the engine to which we have referred, and if we find that they justify reference in our columns we will give, at an early date, a full description of the engine and details of the tests to which it has been subjected.
The Technical and Business Success of the Show.
SO FAR as one was able to judge, the Commercial Motor Show at Olympia gave a distinct fillip to business. We are strong believers in the ability of a show so to do. The best incentive to buying is to place in the shop window that which is new, or better, or different. The show brings to the potential buyer certain home truths : it causes him to realize that his plant is becoming antiquated—even out or date ; he sees the latest productions, and the idea enters his mind that the modernizing of his plant in certain directions must obviously make for greater efficiency. He sees that he has been setting too high a value upon vehicles that have seen their best days. He experiences the sudden fear that his competitors will leap a stage ahead of him by the adoption of a fleet much more modern than his own. There is a great shaking up of ideas at a show, and, as sales managers generally find, there is more money in the pockets of the apparently unlikely buyer than appearances would lead one to expect. Throughout the Show we were pleased to find salesmen really busy attending to earnest inquiries, and that was one of the features of the Commercial Motor Show, as it has always been—the absence of the mere gazer, out for an hour's amusement, Without a doubt the commercial motor industry made a really wonderful show of fine engineering, based on careful design and great experience, and there was every evidence of readiness to respond to the demand. We were more than pleased to see so much attention being paid to the light-load vehicle. The craze for initial low cost is being slowly tempered by the appreciation of the fact that it is not always aocompamed by cheapness of running cost or of maintenance charges. We hope that the industry will push the light vehicle and will receive all the help possible so to do, because large outputs are necessary
if the price is to be kept low. .
We sincerely congratulate the commercial motor industry upon a display which was a credit to British engineering skill, and we trust that the state of the order books fully .justified the effort which was put forth in its organization and the expense which was
incurred. _
Making the Most of the Prime Movers.
WITH the continual demand for decreases in transport rates, and the competition which is now prevalent, it is most important that every effort should be made to utilize the prime movers to the fullest possible extent. It has long been realized that an idle vehicle represents so much waste capital, and that the most economical method of utilizing a means of transport is to keep it on the move for the maximum possible time, always provided that it is not piling up waste mileage. With the ordinary slipshod methods adopted in many quarters, it is not surprising that the transport charges on some articles are often out of proportion to their value, and, in such cases, it is much better to search for . the root of the trouble than merely to grumble at the cost. No one system of operation for road transport will meet all needs. It is necessary that each case should be studied individually on its merits and demerits, and it is here that the efficient transport manager is able to score, for he can search out those vital points where time kisses occur, where overmuch dead mileage is run, or where the facilities for loading and unloading a.re inadequate. .
The development of the Pagefield system of refuse collection and the Eagle method of trailer haulage are particular instances where full advantage is taken of the speed and mobility of the motor vehicle, combined with the comparatively low overhead -charges of the horsed vehicle when this is employed in house-to-house collection. These and similar methods might well be adopted in other instances where many halts have to be made.
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Take, for example,the retail distribution of milk. With the small purveyor, who most probably delivers within a very limited distance from his dairy, the problem is at first easily solved by the use of the man-propelled barrow of the type generally in use, but, as the number of customers increases and recommendations bring demands from areas not already covered arid, possibly, at some little distance from the base, the problem of covering the extra mileage becomes acute. Here is where the harassed trader malook to the light, fast lorry as 'a means of overcoming the difficulty, for there is no reason why both men and barrows should not be transported to their respective spheres of activity and picked up after they have completed their delivery rounds, The vehicle, while not employed in this duty, could be kept on other work, or might assist in the actual retailing, particularly if a few scattered customers have to be dealt with apart from the main nuclei.
PoliceRepression of Trailer Speed.
THE example of the police of Bedfordshire in enforcing the observance of the law in relation to the speed of heavy vehicles seems to have set a new fashion, because in many parts of the country one hears of lorry drivers being prosecuted for exceeding the five-mile-per-hour speed limit which applies to vehicles drawing trailers. This action on-the part of the police seems rather unnecessary. It is, of course perfectly in order, but, with police recognition of the fact that the motorcar law is obsolete and does not accord with present-day conditions and requirements, it seems inconsistent to allow motorcars to exceed 20 miles an hour, motor coaches and buses to exceed 12 miles per hour, and yet to try to enforce the five-mile-an-hour limit when a trailer is attached to a goods vehicle. A speed limit of this character is just about suitable, in these days of improved roads and road surfaces, for trains of vehicles drawn by steam tractors. The point of the matter is that, at five miles per hour, the motor vehicle and trailer is not quite an economical proposition, whereas at eight miles per hour it is. If the maximum speed of the bus ar coach were kept at 12 miles per hour a goodly proportion ofliassenger transport enterprise would be crushed out of existence. The argument is being advanced on all hands that police control of traffic tends to slaw traffic down to impracticable limits. Police authorities should look very closely into this complaint and its causes, and should endeavour to see what modifications in control can be introduced that will accelerate traffic and facilitate its passage, because only in that way will efficiency . in transport be attained.