Passing Comments T ONDON is not unduly —4 influenced by mere
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fashions in bus design. For a year or more London Transport has been trying out a double-decker with a full sweeping front, but has now decided that streamlining is ' unsuitable for buses for service in the Metropolis.
No More Streamlined Buses•for London Transport . . .
ONE of the most satisfactory indications of the improved feeling between employers and workpeople is the increased attention being given to the welfare side. Many of the more important companies have gone to considerable expense in providing recreation facilities, excellent canteens, and, in some cases, well-equipped club premises. A recent example is the club instituted by Blackstone and Co., Ltd., of Stamford. It has a hall seating 200 people (used normally as a messroom), a rifle range, billiard room, games room for boys, and others for reading and committee purposes, 61.6
More Social Facilities Being Provided for Workers
whilst a new club hall with a dance floor for 400 people is being added. Extensions are also planned to the sports ground, which already covers -12 acres and contains a bowling green, tennis courts, cricket pitch, etc. Such amenities are greatly appreciated and result in a better spirit of co-operation.
THE increasing power of engines, combined with low gear ratios, with the resulting enormous torque, are continually adding to the work imposed upon back-axle gearing. For technical reasons it is difficult to increase the size of the pinions or greatly to modify the teeth, but to overcome this trouble high-pressure
• lubricants have been developed, an example being the Mobiloil EP, which will withstand tooth pressures five to six times as great as can be successfully coped with by ordinary gear oils. Such an improved lubricant is particularly essential when the gearing is new and there may be microscopical roughnesses. Modern Back axle Gears Require Special Lubricants . •
THERE am rumours that attempts are being made to retain permanently the temporary 30-m.p.h. limit imposed on lengths of Westway, London. Such action would be a direct breach of a promise made by Mr. HoreBelisha, that any speed limit on an arterial road would be purely temporary, pending improvements in lighting and the provision of guard rails. The whole length has now been lighted by Osira discharge lamps in G.E.C. Di-fractor lanterns, and the risk of accidents at night has been materially reduced.
Arterial Road Speed Restrictions Should be Temporary . . . .
Is Smoking by Crew A POINT has arisen as to Legal at Bus Tel:1—k whether the driver and
minals? conductor are acting legally in smoking when a bus stops at its terminal points. Smoking is, of course, forbidden during a journey or at halts or picking-up points en route, and the regulations provide that this habit must not be indulged in while the vehicles are being used on public service. The query is whether, during terminal rests, the bus can be considered as being on such service. Personally, we consider that public operation commences only when the passengers are permitted to enter the vehicle.
Flame Trap for CarbIT is curious how the producItion of a particular article may lead to developments which were not hitherto considered. For example, the Amal concern, some time ago, produced a flame trap for carburetters. Owing to the success of this device, it has been adapted to road tankers carrying petrol. In the past, the Home Office insisted on a liquid seal, but has now given authority for the use of an adaptation of the original Amal trap. uretters Used On Tankers