OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
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The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of contmercia/ motors. L tters should oe on OW side of the paper only and typewritten lo preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted.
Return Loads for Commercial Motors.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1586] Sir,—heading my COMMERCIAL MOTOR of the 10th January, I was surprised to find in the correspondence in the articles dealing with the need for a properly organized Transport Board a letter from Mr. Moth, of Commercial Car Hirers, stating that efforts had been made by " past " concerns as Freight Exchange, "Return Journey Co.," etc., to bring about a scheme for the loading both ways of motor vehicles. I beg to point out that The Return Journey CO,, Ltd., is by no means a " past" company, but is still very much alive and carrying out the object for which it was formed, and, furthermore, that 'it is the only company, I believe, of the kind which has turned out financally a successful enterprise.—Yours faithfully,
H. F. WERE,
Founder and Director of the Return Journey Co., Ltd. MT., A:S.C., Havre.
The Xhreat of Railway Control.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR. ,
[1587] Sir,—The writer of your article " The Threat of Railway Control" does not improve his case by ported in 1909 "It is not just to say, as some have few instances) acquired canals in order to strangle misrepresenting the position as between railway companies and canals. It is a, popular fallacy that "the canals have been killed mainly by the deliberate scheming of the railways."
which was none too favourable to the railways, redonet that railway companies (except, perhaps, in a them." The Commission also dealt with the accusation
The Royal Commission;em canals and. waterways, repeated by.the writer of your article, that the railway companies had not properly utilized their canals. They said. that railway-owned canals were maintained at least as well as privately-owned canals, and in some ca,sesecfar better. Theythen quoted instances of better maintenance of railway canals, and, referring to an important Lcana.l owned by a leading railway company stated, "a quite independent witness said , that the railway company work this canal splendidly."
I have not the slightest personal interest in the question except that as a taxpayer I do not want to see a vast amount of public money spent on canals in this country. Statements such as those made in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR encourage the agitation already on foot. to induce the State to carry out the recommendations of the Commission in question. I prefer, to see the money spent on our roads, and I should have thought that such would have been the desire of THE COMMERCIAL Atmore—Yours faithfully, Chester. H. P. Bnowee
Employment for Discharged M.T. Men.
The Editor, THE CoMMERcIAL MoToR.
[1588] Sir,—I was interested to read the letter in your issue of the 31st January on the subject of 'Employment for Discharged Service Men," and it provides much food for reflection.
Does the Comrnitteereferred to think that some of us older hands, who held positions of responsibility in pre-war days, are to take a, back seat, to make way for the young men who now hold commissions, and who have had little or no experience in heavy lorry work, either from a business or engineering ppint of view ?
. Well, if they do, the only thing I can say is the U.S.A. will give employment to brains applied to practice at a, remunerative figure provided the de
sired results are obtained. I i ight point out as well that the greater part of the er anization of the present army repair shops has fall n on the shoulders of the W.O.s and senior N.C.O. and sonic of these establishments would put a ci than repair shop in
the shade, in spite of the small owat and variety of tools allowed by the regulation I have been 16 years in the i otor trade, and previous to Joining up 2 years agO held the position of garage superintendent of a fleet of vehicles ranging from 3-ton vans to two-seater traveller's cars, and only held my job on results "highest efficiency at lowest cost." Does anyone in his right mind, for one moment think that business men will shelve us just because we were too old to obtain a commission? No ! when this war is over, if British trade is to regain its supremacy, the best possible use will have to be made of brains froni. all sources without regard to the " fortune of birth," and a higher price will have to be paid for such brain power according to results. Though unfit for service overseas, my experience and knowledge are now being made nse of, with a view to obtaining higher efficiency of the vehicles of our unit and reduced petrol consumption, and the hours that are worked at times in our workshops would cause the munition workers to go on strike seven days a week. I think that this subject would be helped along, and everyone concerned would have a clearer view, if a little solid argument were devoted to it, instead of one or two officials doing all the talking.—Yours
faithfully., F,G.W.
al
(Fitter Sergeant, Home Forces).
The Live Axle—Is It Dying ?
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1589] Sir,—We herewith enclose copy of letter we have received from The Timken-Detroit Axle Co. regarding an article which appeared in your journal, and which might be of interest to you and. your readers.—Yours faithfully, DAVID BROWN AND SONS (HUDD.), LTD.
We reproduce below the Communication referred to in the above letter : — • David. Brown and Sons, Huddersfield, England. Gentlemen,—In THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR of 27th December, 1917, page 398, appears another outbreak from a gentleman signed "The Inspector," in which he is still toying with the idea, that the live axle may be a thing of the past at some time.
We are not concerned with his idea any more than to correct .a mis-statement which appears therein, and which statement is on a line with some of his other information. Perhaps his other information is not very valuable. He states as follows:— "The writer of this letter is I fear, not sufficiently informed of the actual -U.S.A. dovernment purchases to be accurate. It is not correct to say that the United States Government 'is buying a few chain-drive trucks, and them in a very limited way.' I am informed. that the numbers are large enough to warrant the assumption that the State D'epartrnent concerned did net consider the risk of such a choice a dangerous one."
Now there was no question of there being any danger in the choice at all, and that had nothing to do with it, and perhaps according to the "Inspector's" ideas the quantity of trucks might have been a large one.
Aecordingsato the demands of the United States Government this statement is very correct, that the Government bought them in a limited way. There were not over a few hundred, and these, purchased
• from the International Motor Co., of New York, Mack Truck, and were bought by the Government to send to Pershing because they could be readily obtainable, practically from stock, and were sent over with the first Engineering Division, and this is all the chain drive trucks that have been bought. • Now, on the otheraliand, the Signal Corps will use exclusively worm drive axles made by the: TimkenDetroit Axle Co. and fitted with David Brown worms.
• There will be soneething like ten to. twenty thousand trucks of this type, for which. orders have already been placed. •
There will be in addition -to the .heavy type Army "B" trucks 10,000 on-worna-drive axles, of which onehalf of them will be made by the Timken-Detroit Axle Co. so far as axles, worms and gears are concerned, and we are informed that there will be further quantities of these ordered probably to a total of 40,000, and in addition to this the Quartermaster's Department have bought 10,000 or 15,000 as standard worm-drive trucks of various makes which they could get quick delivery on, and for which no special provisions had to be made. This covers a practical record of purchases by the United States Government, so when you say that chain drives had been purchased in a limited way, whoever makes this statement is absolutely correct, because, relatively speaking, it is in an extremely limited way, and they were only bought, as stated before, as an emergency proposition, and we know that the Government is not contemplating any large purchases of chainairive trucks.
The Inspector" ought to get this through his system and revise his ideas on the subject. —Yours faith fully, TEE TIMKEN-DETROIT AXLE CO.
Deep Tilling. Land and Road Work for Tractors.
The Editor,. THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1590] Sir,—I am much obliged to Mr. W. S. Bodman for his kindly criticisms of My occasional notes. Any comments from such a, source must necessarily carry exceptional;weight, and I feel that it behoves me to_go very wariliin making my rejoinder. Clearly, The advisability of deep tilling must depend to a great extent upon the nature of the subsoil. There I am entirely in agreement with Mr. Bodman. The statement that deep homogeneous soil, such as prevails in many parts of America, lends itself particularly to deep ploughing I also endorse, but, on the other hand, I do not think this little island of ours is so poverty stricken in its crust of good bearing soil as Mr. Bodman would appear to Suggest. Certainly, all the progressive farmers with whom I have come in contact in the course of my wanderings up and down the country have expressed the opinion that deeper _tilling would be advantageous. Most of them, however, are in doubt as to'the limit which should eventually be set to this deeper ploughing, and there are very few who would boldly double the depth in one operation. They maintain that it is a condition up to which we must work gradually over a number of years, cutting a little deeper each season. My contention is that if it besgranted that tilled soil of a depth of 12 ins, is in proportion better than soil only cultivated for half that depth, then no harm ca,n really be done if the, farmer will take the bull by the horns and proceed to deep tillage at once, providing that he takes care to cultivate thoroughly before putting in his seed. A year lying fallow after the operation would ensure complete aeration of the soil, but the same end can be attached hy thorough.cultivation and by the complete and intimate mixture of the old and new soils. Sub-soiling is undoubtedly a.step in the right direction, but in my opinion it is only a half measure. As regards the question of tractor design, as to whether the ideal machine would be suitable,for both land and field■work, or whether use as a field machine should be the sole object of the designer, I adhere to my former statement. To my minclethe requirements for tie two classes of work are so widely divergent tha,to iaompromise is not admissible. It is most esseatial that a tractor for field work should be as light as possible. It need not be speedy. On the road a certain amount of weight is necessary for adhesion if heavy loads are to be pulled-. A minimum speed of 12 mile an hour should be aimed at. . It is no use supplying the farmer with machinery to speed up .operationa in and around the farm, if we are going to waste a couple of hours going an eight or ten-mile journey to the station with 'produce. Furthermore, the field machine: should find some sort of work to. do in the field for nine or ten months of the year.
As regards the performances of the small tractor as mentioned in Mr. Bodman's letter, I think the circumstances on the recent occasion, when a 30-bsvt. machine succeeded in hauling a 44-ton thresher, muSthave been particularly favourable. The total weight moved is 5i tons. On. such roads a,s those named in the letter, 100 lb. per ton road resistance would be a minimum. In round figures, theeefore, we have 600 lb. tractive effort necessary. If we conclude that 18 cwt. of the 30 cwt. of the tractor were carried by the rear wheels, and assuming a, co-efficient of friction between tyres and ground of 0.35, we have 712 as being the total effort available.; that is to say, a surplus ea: 112 lb. or I. cwt. Clearly, therefore, if we came to an incline of so little as 1 in 115, the wheels of the tractor "would commence to slip.
I am very interested in Mr. Bodman.'s method of using rubber and steel as stra,kes for roadwork and field work respectively, and should appreciate ,aa early opportunity of examining the machine at work.
I see that another correapondent, Mr. Whitworth, criticises my spud-fixing device. I agree that the gliding ring would be equally liable to become mud encrusted, but it is only necessary to find one ofthe projections which I suggested should be provided for the use of a lever when the 'release of all the spuds would be effected at once. The difficulty at present is that a score of these points have to be found on each wheel. I do not think the ring would be more likely than nuts and bolts to become seized up as the result of rust. It would not be liable to be lost, nor are there any threads to become burred up.—Yours faithfully; " AGRIMOT.,.
"Limits."
The Editor, TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR. , [1591] Sir,—I think " The Inspector " in his article entitled "The Limit" in your issue for the 7th February is rather vague in his remarks on a subject which primarily demands definite applications. I fail to see where " kitchen stove method g of design could be applied to the modern vehicle outside of housings, guards and perhaps brakes. Accuracy in srunning fits is essential, and if it is sacrificed the efficiency of the machine is lowered. By accuracy I do not imply neat fits, but a fit which experience has taught the manufacturer gives efficient running. Taking the instance of driving chains. No matter how large a limit be allowed on those chains to the actual fitting. on the sprocket wheels, wear must take place, and it is really multiplying the evil as efficiency testa of various chains have shown.
I think perhaps what the average user of commercial trucks desires is more accessibility in his machine, and this is possible without sacrificing accuracy. In a word, simplicity. All running parts should be able to be got at easily, without pulling to pieces, half the components of the machine, and thus enabling the amateur to remedy minor ailments. He would be a foolish man, indeed, knowing nothing about me,chanics and fitting if he attempted to line up a crankshaft and pistoh rods. Would. The Inspector" have us design those vital parts so that the merest novice could tackle the job ? I am in entire sympathy with the user whose knowledge of engineering practice is limited, and as "The Inspector" says perhaps not mechanically inclined. I am afraid, however, that for the sake of the machine we will have to leave certain parts as the particular province of the engineer. A. MIGNRO WILLIAMSON.