Neutral Notes.
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
News of the Industry in Neutral Countries, However Sparse, is of Peculiar Interest at the Moment. Particularly is this so of America, as so much that is American is Being Offered Here for Sale.
More War Trucks.
Another largo order for 108 trucks was placed recently by the U.S.A. War Department. Of these, 54 are to be White, 27 Jeffery, and the other 27 •Packard. When these have been delivered, the Quartermaster's Department at Columbus will control more than 270 trucks for moving supplies.
The Adaptable Touring Car.
A company is being formed in Illinois to manufacture new devices to be attached to touring cars, by the aid of which it is possible to utiliwa such a car for field work on the farm, such as ploughing, diming, harrowing, etc. Details are not yet to hand, but so far as can be ascertained, the outfit appears to consist of a pair of tractor wheels attached to a steel frame. Shafts are provided for • transmitting the power flan' the car wheels to the tractor wheels through the medium of a speed-reduction gear. Additional radiator surface is provided, so as toafford the additional cooling capacity necessary with the lower speed of the vehicle together with the high. engine speed and heavier average load.
The F.W.D. All-drive Chassis.
F.W.D. chassis, made by the Four-Wheel-Drive Auto Co., of America, besides doing service on European battle fronts from a, period commencing shortly after the outbreak of hostilities, are now, we gather, being used in a similar capacity by •the United States Army on the Mexican front. We publish on this page a group of illustrations showing one of these machines equipped with 600-gallon steel tank for carrying water for the horses and troops. There are approximately 50 of these machines, with a capacity of 3 tons, in use by the American Army. We may remind our readers that we described this chassis at sgme length in our issue of 19th August, 1975. As its name implies,. all the four wheels are mechanically driven, thus affording considerably more
than the usual tractive effort. To give some idea of the important place held by this company irk the world of commercial-vehicle production in the .States, it may be mentioned that deliveries during the month of May reached the total value of i'100,000 in round figures. This covers local sales for commercial purposes and actual shipments_to the belligerent countries in Europe, as well as to the United States War Office, A recent order from the United States Government is for 28 threeton chassis and five more 600-gallon tank machines in addition to those to which we refer above.
That three-ton machines were ordered is particularly interesting in view of the fact that the United States Government has heretofore been strongly of opinion that the largest suitable machine for war purposes would be a two-tonner. Actual experiences on the Mexican front, meagre as they must have been, are nevertheless evidently sufficient to cause the powers-that