The Motor Omnibus World.
Page 9
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Mr. Worby Beaurriont's paper will be read on the 18th instant.
The continuation of the discussion on the paper by Messrs. Hart and Dartnail, before the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers, is reported on the two following pages.
Mr. George Pollard, deputy chief engineer to the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, has been appointed chief engineer to the London Road Car Company, Limited, in succession to Mr. Georges de PreIle de la Nieppe, who resigned his position in December.
The Dunlop Rubber Company, Limited, of Manor Mills, Aston, Birmingham, desires it to be known that it is in a position to quote for spec:a types of waterproof motor clothing, kneecloths, overalls, driving aprons, and other articles which are likely to contribute to the better protection of drivers.
A "Type C," double-deck, Brush motorbus will commence running about the middle of next week, between Oxford Circus and Peckham, via Regent Street, Westminster Bridge and the Elephant and Castle. This is the first vehicle to be owned by the Amalgamated Motorbus Company, • Limited, of King Edward's Mansions, • Shaftesbury Avenue, W.C.
The latest report upon the service of De Dion omnibuses, which was established, in the year 1903, between Le Havre and Etretat, a distance of some 18 miles, indicates the following remarkable advances in the revenue of this successful undertaking : Six months ending December 31st, 1903, £1,465; year reozi, £3,526; year 1905, /64,53e; and, year 1906, ‘5,75o. This is valuable testimony, as much for the prospects of a country service, as to the excellence of De Dion-Bouton vehicles.
The Beckenham Urban District Council has, again, called upon the British Electric Company, Limited, to carry out a scheme for the establishing of a service of motor omnibuses from its Penge tramway terminus to Beckenham. One reason why the project appears to be in abeyance is that a certain low bridge crossing the roadway prevents the use of double-deck buses, whilst the company believes that single-deck buses will not pay. A possible solution of the difficulty will be a sharing of the expense of sinking of the roadway.
The Waterloo and City Railway Company no longer finds a place in our weekly list of London's passenger transport undertakings. As from the 1st ultimo, this railway undertaking was transferred to the London and South-Western Railway Company, in accordance with the terms approved at a meeting held on 5th April, 1906. The alternative exchanges for every Zroo of Waterloo and City ordinary stock were : (a) of L. and S.W. ordinary stock; (b) ,4'ro5 of L. and S.W. 31 per cent.
preference stock; or (c) ro of L. and S.W. 3 per cent. debenture stock. The second part of the A.C.G.B.I. side-slip and skid prevention trials is reported on pages 5o6 and 507.
The Upper District Committee of the Wigtownshire County Council has decided to spend £170 tcewiden certain roads upon which motorbus traffic is expected.
The opposition to the settlements proposed by the liquidator of the Manchester District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, has proved ineffectual. A special meeting of the contributories was held, at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, on Friday last, when the proposed terms of settlement with Mr. Daniel Boyle, the managing director of the company, the Wolseley Tool and Motorcar Company, Limited, and other creditors, were approved by large majorities.
The two Leyland motorbuses, which are about to be operated by the Todmorden Corporation, are both fitted with the Lancashire Steam Motor Company's new 5oh.p. engine. The general design is identical with that of the Leyland 35h.p. engine, but the following improvements may be noted : a larger water pump; provision for hightension magneto ; and forced lubrication, by means of a gear-driven oil pump, located on the exhaust side of the engine, and operated by worm gearing from the adjoining camshaft. The Leyland chassis will, in future, be built with pressed, nickel-steel frames.
Our Berlin correspondent's photographs of the recent snow scenes in the German capital have, unfortunately, miscarried in the post. His textual references to the episodes are, therefore, held over.
The Cardiganshire (South) Main Roads Committee has decided, at the request of the Great Western Railway Company, to improve the condition of the roads between Lampeter and Aberavon, as well as the main road between Llandyssil and New Quay. "The Cambrian News," in commenting on the decision, makes these unusual references : " It is significant that the public are so impressed by the extra facilities for quick and comfortable transit, which the motor services have established, that they do not talk of how to disband the service, but how the roads are to be made strong enough to bear the traffic." The next meeting of the Institution of Automobile Engineers will be held on Wednesday, the 13th instant, at o'clock p.m., at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey's Gate. S.W., when Mr. Walter Rosenheim, of the National Physical Laboratory, will read a paper on "The Strength and Structure of Alloys."
Mr. F. J. Crinage, the works manager of the Isle of Wight Motor Express Syndicate, Limited, has introduced an inFenious method of preventing any thickening of the lubricating oil during cold weather. We illustrate the fitting, by which the exhaust outlet warms the syphon box of the oil tank, and we, also, reproduce a photograph of Mr. Crinage's fitting of the Willcox patent self-filling lubricator bottles, for feeding the crank case and bearings of his Milnes-Daimler omnibuses.
The Works Committee of Westminster Borough Council has considered the matter of damage to public lamps caused by motor omnibuses. The Town Clerk, in a written statement, set forth that, under the Metropolis Management Act, damages could be recovered from the owners, provided the Council could prove negligence; compensation could be obtained from the drivers of the vehicles without the necessity of proving negligence. The latest High Court case dealing with the question of skidding, whereby many of the breakages were caused, was the King v. the London Motor Omnibus Company, in which Mr. Justice Bighorn held that, if the omnibus had all the usual normal improvements, the company could do no more and were only liable, when they, or their servants, were guilty of negligence. The omnibus companies offered to pay half the cost of the damage done, and the Town Clerk, after consultation with the solicitors, and in view of the considerable expense and trouble which would be entailed in collecting the necessary evidence of negligence, had accepted the offers. This practice will be followed in the future. There are more motorbuses plying within the City of Westminster than in any other division of the Metropolitan area.