Answers to Queries.
Page 19
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A 1O-cwt. Mail Service.
[2539] (Channel).—In the absence of severe competition, you should ask 8d. a mile for the work which you mention. If the competition is likely to be severe, you might have to go down so low as 61d.
A Steam Lorry Free in the West.
[2540] (Exeter).—The shortage of transport is now loss than it was. You might be able to make some hiring arrangements with Messrs. Wort and Way, Army Contractors, of Salisbury. Have you tried a small advertisement in our pages ?
Ruled Sheets for Books.
[2541] (Folkestone).—We have no knowledge of people who make a speciality of printing of the kind which you mention. It is really better for the owner to settle the columns, if he uses tabular book-keeping, or the impersonal accounts, if he uses double entry, for himself, according to the analytical form in which he desires to bring out his accounts. Some owners, who use double entry, open an impersonal account for each lorry ; analysis in tabular form is preferred by others.
Work by a Ford Van.
f25421 (Leeds).—A Ford van is working to its limit with an 8-owl, load of goods, so far as economy goes, and above its limit if the roacle3 •are bad. On the other hand, if you drive it carefully where the surface is bumpy, the load which you mention is safe as an average. Of course, if in addition to this load you carry one or two people, as well as the driver, and if the load of goods occasionally runs up to, say, 12 cwt., you will be exceeding the limit of safety, and also that of economical running. We doubt if you will have sufficient margin of strength in a van of that make, or of any similar light make, to offer the margin of safety which you ought to possess. The cost of petrol, oil, tires and repairs, given proper handling, and in the absence of excess loading, might quite well be kept down to the figure which you mention-3d, per mile. The whole question depends on the total load which you intend to impose on the chassis. You have, of course, to add the body to any other load, and to the weight of the passengers. We repeat our warning: everything depends on careful driving and the manner in which the average to which you refer is made up; if you fall one day to 4 cwt. and go up the next day to 12 cwt., you are asking too much of such a van. Consistent underloading is usually destructive.
'Paraffin Carburetters and Vaporizers.
[2543] (Aero).—Members of our staff have had much experience of paraffin carburetters, in the design, the construction, testing and the investigation of numberless new schemes. Our conclusion, so far, is that we cannot indicate without some reservation any single paraffin carburetter or vaporizer which will give consistently reliable and satisfactory results under all conditions all the time. There are several with which excellent results have been achieved over periods of more or less level working conditions, but, invariably, periods of disappointment have followed. The conditions under which these have all more or less failed are : (1) Irregularity of atmospheric conditions. (2) Irregularity of load conditions—that is, variation of load factor.
It seems impossible to secure, either by one or other of the heater methods, or by mechanical atomization, efficient service in circumstances in which the vaporizer has to operate satisfactorily When at.mospheric and load conditions are constantly varying over considerable ranges. In no instance do we know of a vaporizer that will always operate as it should under such conditions as these. It is possible to point to certain instances where paraffin carburetters have, •on certain batches of machines, given quite satisfactory results, and then, for some extraordinary reason, where the conditions are more or less similar, yielded equally unsatisfactory results. Certain vaporizers will work well on certain engines, while they are more or less failures on other types. The Southey gas producer, and one or two appliances of that kind, with which, no doubt, you are quite familiar, promised very well, and some remarkable results were achieved, but it was, on the whole, found impossible to maintain constant temperature conditions, whilst condensation thinned down the lubricating oil to a dangerous extent, so that the whole scheme, after great expenditure, was abandoned. Amongst the vaporizers which have, under certain circumstances, given good results are : The Winchester (Winchester Carburetter Co., Ltd. 11, Gresham Street E.C.). The G.C. Vaporizer (G.C. Vaporizer, Ltd., Magnolia Wharf, Strand-on-the-Green. This speciality, we understand., is being redesigned.) The Albion, the Wolseley and the Thornycroft (all of which devices yield very good results, but which, however, are only supplied for use with machines made by the respective makers of the vaporizers). The Stewart-Morris (Stewart-Precision Carburetter Co., 78, Marylebone Road, W.).
The Standard (Standard Petroleum Carburetter (Parent) Co., 171, Queen Victoria Street, E.G.).
We have also been rather impressed by the method adopted by C. Binks, Ltd., Eccles, Manchester. Realizing that the whole problem so far has been Mr. Finks has cut out the idea of using paraffin when the engine is running at slow speeds, either throttled off or under load. He has an automatic connection between the throttle and the fuel supply, by virtue of which petrol is automatically switched on at low speeds, and paraffin is exclusively relied upon only at high speeds.