Water Supplies for Steam Wagons.
Page 15
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The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :-Arising out of the articles on water supplies which have appeared In your paper, I enclose a copy of a letter which has been sent by the various supplying authorities and companies to all the owners of motor wagons and traction engines in this district.---Yours faithfully,
(For the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company), JAMES MAUCHAN, Assessor.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, September 28th, 1905.
[CoPv.*I "The question of supplying water to steam motor wagons and similar vehicles when away from home has been under consideration by the water companies in the North of England. It is thought that a system might be introduced which would involve the fixing of meters at various points where these vehicles frequently pass, from which a supply can be drawn through a hosepipe by the fixing or attaching of uniform fittings. This appears to necessitate combination on the part of the owners of motors whose association would be responsible to the water authority and who, at the end of each quarter, would apportion and collect from the different owners the amount due from them for the water taken.
"We shall be glad if you will give the matter full consideration and say whether you think the suggested plan will meet the requirements of both parties. The Motor Van and Wagon Users' Association in the South of England, which has its offices at 16, Down Street, London, W., has already had this subject under consideration, and the report in 'THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR' appears to show that they have approved of a similar system.
" We shall be glad to receive any suggestions from you, as the present unsatisfactory way of charging for water supply cannot be allowed to continue."
The Editor, "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir am pleased to see that this question is raising a
little interest, and it is to be hoped that others will come forward and give their views and support the movement, for it is only by showing the universal need for some steps to be taken that relief can be hoped. for. At the same time, I rather fail to see where the suggestions of "A Lorry Owner" in last week's " COMMERCIAL MOTOR " are much of an improvement over my water box. He has a water-port, which he afterwards calls a water-box, which is also fitted with a lid or door and the penny-in-the-slot arrangement, etc.. and, as far as I can see, it has one decided drawback, for he has no well or receptacle into which the driver can put the rose of his suction hose; therefore, the water-posts would be of no use to a man unless his tank was fitted with a special hose connection.
I intended the supply-pipe to the well of my water-box to be bored out to a standard size and made smooth, and to taper in the bore like the waste water pipe, so that any motor wagon owner could, if he wished, have his tank fitted with a special hose connection. The loose end of the hose would be fitted with a plain, brass taper spigot, which would fit in the supply pipe in the bottom of the well, and by pushing this in tight a driver could fill his tank without using his steam water-lifter. This arrangement would be much handier and not so liable to damage as a screwed union arrangement ; it would be much more easily and more readily interchangeable, and less liable to get out of order. Care should be taken not to have the supply pipes less than lin. in diameter, otherwise too much time would be lost in filling, especially in places where the pressure of water in the mains
is low.—Yours faithfully, J. SUMNER. Leyland, September 23rd, 1905.
The Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :—The correspondence which is being carried on in your pages with respect to " Water Supplies for Steam Wagons "is most interesting to everybody concerned. But why is it necessary to refil the water tanks of steam lorries so frequently? The average distance which can be run on one charge of water is, I believe, between 18 and zo
Surely it is possible to design a steam commercial vehicle which would condense the exhaust steam and thus gain a great advantage over the type at present seen on our roads. I am certain that, with a slightly increased water capacity, a vehicle made on the above lines would be capable of travelling from 30 to 40 miles without having to stop.
Yours faithfully, "INTERESTED."
Pigskin Tyres for Heavy Motors.
The Editor, "THE COMISRCIAL MOTOR."
Sir :--I observe, with much interest, comments on pigskin tyres in your issue of September 14th, and, reasonably enough, the suggestion is made therein that side plates on tyres for extra heavy loads would seriously interfere with silent running. On ordinary tyres they would unquestionably do so. A curious property of leather develops, however, when it is specially tanned for tyre purposes and is, thereafter, subjected to suitable compression. The leather then becomes capable of much more rebound on impact with the road surface than is usually understood. When confined within steel flanges, the leather and steel mutually support each other, and the wear is remarkably good under heavy loads. That is found so after many practical tests. Moreover, as the road is rarely quite level, the most of the impact necessarily comes on the leather, a fact which requires to be noted most carefully. Since the compressed leather cannot sink below the flange level, there is, in practice, comparatively little noise from the slight area of road impact on the edge of flanges; at least, the noise is not objectionable, I think, for many heavy vehicles. An important matter, too—such a tyre cannot injure the road.
I do not assert that a tyre so constructed is as noiseless as an upstanding tyre, nor do I suggest it for a speed motor, but I do assert that it is the most durable form of tyre construction, and that experience warrants serious attention to it for many vehicles. For example, on August 25th last year, my firm delivered a set of tyres constructed, on this principle, for a horse-drawn London railway omnibus with a very small upstanding section, to be tested against tyres which were then only giving four months' wear, and the report was that the wear on this small upstanding leather section did not much exceed that of the usual tyres. Those pigskin tyres were then supposed to be worn out simply because they had come down to the flanges and had consequently been actually taken off after five months' wear. But I induced the manager, on full consideration of the principles now mooted, to replace them on the vehicle, and, last week, the report was " they are still in use." Now I submit that means reasonably silent tyres, with twelve months' wear in them and good enough for commercial motors, at a very low comparative cost for maintenance. In case the tyres had run hard after being worn down to the flanges, we proposed to fit ball-bearing blocks under the springs to take off vibration, but were told "the vehicle runs easy enough for all practical purposes."—Yours truly,
Bei th, Scotland. JOBN MUIR.