The R.A.C. Trials: A Fresh Lead Towards New Applications.
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The R.A.C. trials, to the progress of which we shall have occasion to devote an increasing amount of attention during the next five or six weeks, promise to be interesting and instructive for a number of reasons. The fact that steam is brought into direct contrast with the internal-combustion engine for the conveyance of five-ton loads, as is the case in class F, cannot fail to provide valuable lessons for the sup-. porters of both systems. There are' of course, some very cogent arguments in favour of each of these two types of prime mover as applied to the propulsion of such heavy road vehicles, but steam has practically held the field so far. The five-ton steam-wagon of to-day is a peculiarly English product, and it has been evolved, according to the dictates and severe lessons of experience on the road; during the comparatively short period of ten years. Its first cost is about two-thirds of the average price which is charged by makers of petrol-propelled vehicles for equal loads, and this capital saving has, in conjunction with an obvious economy in the fuel bill, sufficed to maintain the supremacy of steam for really heavy work. Is this pre-eminence, we ask, about to -be reduced, either directly or indirectly? . The advocate of the steam wagon cannot possibly, at one fell swoop, be deprived of his stock arguments, but several already carry a less degree of force than they did formerly. It is not that steam has lost any of its desirable attributes, or that there has been any lack of detail improvements in the construction of boilers, superheaters, engines and valve-gear, and in the efficiency of lubrication, for desirable changes in these matters have removed difficulties which, until only a few years ago, caused the performance of a steam wagon to be markedly uncertain. It is, rather, that there has been a greater rate of advance in the design and improved construc
tion of road-vehicles fitted with internal-combustion engines. We find, for example, that clutch troubles are eliminated, that ignition failures are of exceptional occurrence, that lubrication takes care of itself provided the supply-vessels are replenished, that transmission has been both standardised and strengthened, that noise in operation has been effectually reduced, and that driving control has been enormously simplified. Again, the unladen weight of the wagon which relies upon internal combustion for its propulsion threatens to have a material effect upon future choice, for there is every indication that the newer models can be loaded with five tons upon their platforms and yet see preserved an axle-weight in the neighbourhood of six tons, and, subject to the fitting of rubber or other " soft or elastic " tires, it is this factor that will often turn the scale with the buyer who wants vehicles for long journeys.
The absence of necessity for stoppages to take up water, coupled with the higher legal speed, has to be reviewed in relation to the extra running cost per mile in respect of fuel (say, o.5d. to o.75d.) and tires (say, 1.75d.). It is, ordinarily, -the experience of owners who use rubber-tired wheels, that maintenance of the engine, transmission, and the whole vehicle is much less than when iron-tired wheels are fitted. The ability of makers of petrol vehicles to keep downthe weight upon the back-axle has, therefore, this practical bearing : it gives their customers the advantage of a legal-8 or 12 miles an hour (according as the axle-weight exceeds or is less than six tons) for their loaded vehicles. These speeds compare with a legal speed of 5 m.p.h. for any iron-tired steam-wagon, the greater weight of which makes the cost of indiarubber tires prohibitive in such cases, and each prospective user must settle for himself whether he has a sufficient proportion of straightforward, long-distance trips to bring a return for the added 2.25d.-3.od. per mile run. He must also pay due regard to the fact that he can soon incur greater costs by continuously " pushing" an iron-tired steam-wagon beyond its normal working speed. If we place the extra for petrol and rubber at the maximum of 3d. per mile, and assume that a wagon so equipped travels as much as an average of 360 miles a week, we do not hesitate to say that, were any iron-tired steam-wagon forced along to that
extent, although an extra Jos. per week would more than cover the necessary, if deferred, outgoings in respect of the abnormal wear and tear involved by that over-driving, the greater earnings of the petrol lorry should very considerably exceed that sum, and therefore give a better net result.
The petrol -motor, in fact, is now developed to the point at which its manufacturers believe they can successfully make a bid to equal, if not to excel, the steam motor in certain instances where five-ton loads are concerned, and they expect to secure a not inconsiderable share of orders for five-ton wagons when the forthcoming trials are over. Our advice to them is that they should nist be over greedy, and that they will do well to study the limitations of their favoured system. There is ample scope for both steam and internalcombustion to progress side by side, for the average men
chant or trader does not require to distribute more than 30 miles from his factory or his depots. We cannot but admit, however, now that structural improvements have become so
general in the petrol vehicle, that its independence and selfcontained requirements constitute a serious challenge to the steam vehicle for inter-urban and extra-urban service. When pending developments in the direction of combinations embodying two-ratio transmissions and flexible engines are brought to fruition, there will be extensions of motor transport in directions which have hitherto been esteemed impracticable, but, as the openings for them will be in nowise diminished, steam vehicles will not be prejudiced, and the five-ton petrol wagon will merely be serving areas over which the two-ton petrol van has regularly travelled for several years. We do not positively assert that steam may not follow petrol on its far-afield excursions, but it will do so, in more senses than one, at a respectful distance, and we look to the R.A.C. trials to provide the necessary objectlessons, and to give a fresh lead to the industry as regards the long-distance application of the five-ton wagon.
it must not be gathered, from the fact that we have limited our references to certain aspects which will present themselves from the parallel running of petrol and steam vehicles in one of the classes, that we have no hopes from the trials other than their demonstration of a new field for the five-ton wagon with an internal-combustion engine. A fresh lead will be given to the industry in many other directions, and we intend to dwell upon one or more in each of ow succeeding issues until the middle of October.
Motorbus Journeys Lengthening.
This journal first directed attention* to the fact that an extension of the standard length of journey would inevitably be an early outcome of motorbus developments in Greater London, and the first of the long-distance, through routes which resulted, that of the Road Car Company from Putney to Burdett Road, was described and illustrated in our issue of the si.th December, 1905. It is only a few weeks since we dealt with the latest of these big trips, and we are satisfied that Oxford Circus to Sidcup, a distance of 14t; miles, will not for many weeks remain as the most recent addition to the list. The tendency is to increase the mileage between the terminal points of such routes as are able to support the lengthened service, but there are some existing " roads " where a course of curtailment will be adopted in place of any lengthening. There are obvious limits in different parts of Greater London, some being due to insufficient der sity of population and others to excess of competition upon alternative lines of passenger transportation, but the outstanding success of certain fresh services which have been established within the past eighteen months furnishesproof that a careful study of trallic conditions will bring a due reward to those who can exercise a wise discrimination in these matters. The facilities thus provided are unattainable by any other means, and, once a correct selection is made, the patience of the proprietors is by no means sorely tried before the desired revenue is attracted. There is, as a substitute for excessive competition in " the centre " and along particular main routes, much to be said in favour of the immediate organisation of more long-distance journeys. The lengthened journey does not, of course, affect the case for the reasonable adjustment of the lengths of intermediate penny stages.
Deferred Shares a Bar to Successful Promotion.
A large proportion of investors who support industrial and other semi-speculative undertakings dislike the introduction of deferred shares. We have, on several occasions, animadverted upon the glaring example that was provided by the recent motorbus amalgamation, in which case
18,000 nominal of one shilling shares, in respect of which not one penny had been subscribed, were put" on the back of the new company, as an integral part of the scheme, in the shape of no less than 4";186,000 of ordinary shares, of LI each, to be issued as fully paid. It is true, in this instance, as we duly reported at the time, that untoward circumstances allowed the cancellation of some of the ordinary
shares concerned. The fact is patent still, that so many of the public as will touch motor promotions prefer to take the risk of no dividend, or the chance of a full share in whatever may result. They will have none of the deferred share, whether it gives all of the profit " after so per centdividend has been paid " to the promoters, or whether it offers the enticement of one-third of such possible surplus.
to those who " come in " later. In fact, the deferred share, which never had friends among those who appreciate its effect upon distributions where reserves should be preferred, has no friends left : the sober investor detests it; the speculator wants it or nothing; and to the underwriter it is now anathema. We only need to quote the wide-. spread belief of City men and brokers who were " left " with 82 per cent, of their underwriting in a recent motorcab issue, in order to prove how discredited this class of share has become, at least in motor prospectuses, for they unite in ascribing that very bad result almost entirely to the introduction of deferred shares. We hope the warning may .bear fruit in other pending motor flotations.