Passing Comments
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Louis Coatalen 'New S.I.A. President
_MANY old friends of M. Louis Coatalen would like to have been present when M. Charles Faroux, honbrary president of the Societ6 des Ingenieurs de l'Automobile, nominated him in a brilliant speech, as president of that body.
Louis Coatalen was born in Concarneau in 1879. After finishing his studies at Cluny, he went to the Panhard concern and then to Bayard-Clement. Here he worked for the famous French engineer Barbarou and one of his companions was M. Henri Perrot, who became an expert on brakes. Feeling that he was worth more than he was being paid, Coatalen asked M. Clement for an increase, but was told that he could in future use the big staircase instead of the service one! It was this limitation on his finances, if not his prestige, that made him accept an invitation from the Humber concern to design vehicles in England for them. Even here, however, he showed his independence. Being told to design and produce a vehicle with an engine having two cylinders, he built one with a power unit having two blocks of two, which fortunately for him proved to be most successful.
Soon he joined the Sunbeam concern as chief engineer, again making a success. Then the 1914A28 1918 war saw him constructing engines up to 400 h.p. for aeroplanes. He was then in close contact with Lord Fisher and Sir Winston Churchill.
-Liming his attention now to oil engines, all the large Russian Tanks built before the last war, had power units of his design. Following this, he occupied himself with Lockheed equipment, used on nearly all French vehicles, and then K.L.G. sparking plugs.
M. Faroux added that when Coatalen visited a works he always saw what he should not, in other words, the faults of organization and production, and deficiencies in the provision of machine tools, but his criticisms, if ironic, were always helpful.
Coaches Change Character of Resorts
THE growth of an efficient network of coact facilities for holidaymakers has tended to change the character of the temporary population in man5 seaside towns this season. Taking for example, popular resort on the Kent coast, many people havt gone there from the Midlands by coach, the reason able fares charged for road travel making it possibli for them to journey so far. To an extent, they havi taken the place of many London visitors, who an not now as numerous as in former years. It is, however, a little difficult to account for this decline in the number of visitors from the capital to a resort so near to them. One reason advanced takes account of this very proximity as the main cause. Many London people can make a day trip to the town in question. They are composed of young folk "out for a good time," and mothers and fathers with their children. Observing the uninhibited behaviour of some of the revellers, the parents—even if forming an opinion at an unfortunate time—decide against the resort as the venue for their families' fortnight's holiday.
They therefore go elsewhere perhaps by coach, to the erstwhile resorts of the Midlanders.
Groove Inserts Save Pistons
AGOOD move in the direction of standardization has been instituted by Hepworth and Grandage, Ltd., of Bradford. It is a new Hepolite service to help in reducing the number of non-standard piston rings. To achieve this, the company supply steel inserts in the form of flat, split rings which are fitted above the top rings in the re-machined ring grooves.
It is pointed out that this groove in an aluminiumalloy piston is often the limiting factor in the piston's life. Hitherto it has been common practice to extend this by re-cutting the groove and• fitting a ring of over-size width. This, however, involves carrying duplicate stocks of rings, .whilst when the piston is returned to a worn bore, it is essential to remove the wear ridge at the top, or to employ a stepped ring, which means further lack of standardization.
Hepolite groove inserts are of hardened and tempered steel in a standard width of 1/32 in. They are made to contract inwardly so as to avoid contact with the bore. The standard inserts will cover pistons up to .02 in. oversize, but there are .03-in, oversize inserts for pistons up to .06 in. oversize. A list of the inserts available for various engines is issued. .
Envious Eyes
p ESISTANCE to the prices charged for the " " heavy " type of coach is increasing. Some operators who have always preferred this class of vehicle are now becoming interested in lower-priced models. If these coaches give good service, it is possible that sales of the more substantial models will be permanently decreased.
Many operators are eagerly awaiting the production of the Bedford with the Perkins R-type oil engine, which they believe may be the answer to the problem of providing comfortable transport at minimum cost. Some examples are already in use in London and elsewhere, and envious eyes are being cast on them.