From our Berlin Correspondent.
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Coal Checking in Berlin.
In the issue dated the 20th November there appeared a paragraph of mine concerning the utilization of a " Cyclonette " tri-car, equipped with a weighing machine, for the purpose of checking coal deliveries in Berlin and suburbs. 1 now send you a photograph of one of the firm's servants going through the fiery ordeal coram poputo. Messrs. Berger and Kulp's example !nay, perhaps, find imitation on your side, to the benefit, of the customer. It is probable that heavier types of vehicles will be used in any English service.
Taxicabs in Budapest at Last.
Notwithstanding vigorous and systematic opposition from the vested-interest classes, and mainly thanks to the ,powerful and persistent advocacy of the local Press, Budapesters have at length
reached that stage of civilization reflected by the self-propelled taxicab. Whether, however, they will take kindly to the fares, which contrast unfavourably with the Berlin charges, time will reveal. Yet one advantage the scale of fares certainly does possess: it enables a number of persons to secure a tolerably cheap ride, supposing they severally contribute, since charges are as the ancient laws of the Medes and Persians no matter how many passengers get into the cab. The ground-fares in respect of one kilom. or le's (,003.6 yards) are I crown 20 hollers (1s.) and I crown 33 hollers (Is. 4d.) for the petrol and electric categories respectively. At night-time, 759 metres (820 yards) constitute the nasial distance. For every additional 500 metres (375 at night) the passenger pays 20 hollers more should he board a petrol cab, and 30 if he hires an electric, i.e., in English money, 2d. or 3d. more for the given distances. Roughly speaking 500 metres equal 557 yards, and 375 metres 410 yards. Hence, a mile-ride in a Budapest petrol taxicab during the day would cost something like Is. 4d. I understand that the first cabs will not be worked before the commencement of next February. In spite of the excellence of horses in many Budapest hackney carriages, there can be no question that motorcabs are badly wanted there.
The Magdeburg electric tramcar system, which terminates at present in the suburb of Sudenburg, is to be extended to Gross-Ottersleben, about two miles distant, by means of cars worked by benzol motors.
Munich's Free Trade for All.
Munich now possesses 237 motorcabs, some 40 having been licensed during October and November. It is also in possession of 21 motorcab ranks, all of which have telephonic connections. From the beginning of January all the cabranks will be open to any class of cab.
Belgium's Army Transport.
The ,Belgian military budget for 1912 will contain estimates for the acquisition of automobiles of all kinds—motorcycles, touring cars, motorbuses, freight vehicles, motor road-trains and tractors. The Technical Committee of the Belgian Artillery Administration is dealing with a scheme of purchase for the various vehicular systems, prices being based on the nominal horse-power.
Dearer Petrol and Benzol in Ger.: many : the " Favorit " Carburetter.
The German " petrol ring" has clapped four marks per 100 kilo. (4s. per 220 lb.) on the prices of light fuels, and this rise took effect as from the beginning of the year. Berizol, too, is now fetching 29 marks per 100 kilo., compared with 23 marks but a few weeks back. It appears that the German makers of benzol have taken advantage of a strong demand from abroad to make bigger profits. The increased price of the lighter petrels brings the carburation question prominently to the front, and a writer of occasional papers on motor engineering, B. von Lengerke, takes the opportunity of directing attention to a carburetter marketed as the " Favorit," which seems to be giving excellent results with the heavier and cheaper
fuels. I cannot, say whether this carburetter is of German origin ; for aught I know to the contrary it ma-y be an import. The "Favorit" sprays its fuel out of the familiar jet against a cone in the first place, and then, through the openings of a liberally-drilled sleeve, into an air space which must be swept by the main air-current drawn up from below. This arrangement alone secures extremely fine vaporization and mixing, but it is supplemented by the action of a small propeller, which rotates at a great rate in the mixing-chamber. • A perfectly-dry mixture is said to reaoh the combustion chamber. Further, the special shapes of the channels mitigate against the deposit of particles of fuel under a change of revolutions, and a particular construction of the throttle-valve tends to minimize oil-smoke under varying loads and to prevent the collection of too rich a mixture behind the thottle-valve.
elevator Driven by Petrol Motor.
Messrs. Osterrieder, of Lautrach, have brought on the market an interesting type of agricultural eleva tor—the first of its kind, I believe, ever produced by a German firm. The point of interest for your agricultural readers is that a petrol motor of 4 h.p. serves to extend and fold up the elevator as well as to raise the hay (or whatever may be handled) by means of the inverted rakes attached to the travelling chains. Chains and sprockets are used for working the rakes, worm gear in addition being em ployed to extend and raise the elevator itself.
Berlin's President of Police Warns Speculative Mutorcab Owners.
In an official notice to all whom it may concern in the Metropolitan motorcab business, Berlin's President of Police, von Jagow, deprecates the extravagant prices now demanded for petrol-driven-cab licences. He hints that cab-owners who yield to such demands need expect no assistance from him should they eventually discover that they have paid too much to realize a working profit. On the other hand, von Jagow's numerical restrictions upon the petrol cab have mainly contributed to the forcing up of prices to their present giddy height.
Grman Duty on Petrol Tractors for . Trailing Ploughs and other Agricultural Apparatus.
In accordance with a decision of the Imperial Treasury Office,
petrol-driven tractors for use with ploughs and other agricultural apparatus, and which are likewise usable as locomobiles, faIl under Tariff 915, as follow :—
Fifty kilo. and under, 150 marks per 100 kilo.
Over 50 kilo. and up to 100, 120 marks per 100 kilo.
Over 100 kilo. and up to 250, 90 marks per 100 kilo.
Over 250 kilo. and up to 500, 60 marks per 100 kilo. (40 marks as conventional rate).
Over 500 kilo. and up to 1,000, 40 marks per 100 kilo. (25 marks as conventional rate).
Over 1,000 kilo., 20 marks per 100 kilo. (15 marks as conventional rate).
Should the vehicles enter, each with a mechanically-driven plough
and not be applicable to any other purpose than ploughing, they fall under Tariff 905, which provides for a duty of ,t marks per 100 kilo.