Answers to Queries.
Page 17
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Engines Wanted.
,869] " W.C." writes " I desire to obtain the addresses of leading commercial-car engine builders. I will appreciate any assistance you may give in the above direction."
A NSWEE. —The following is a list of manufacturers of well-known and proved types : Aster Engineering Co., Ltd., Wembley, Middlesex.
David Brown and Sons (Huddersfield), Ltd., Huddersfield.
The Forman Motor Co., Ltd., Coventry, John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., Caxton House, Westminster, S.W. J. Tylor and Sons, Ltd., Belle Isle, York Road, N.
White and Poppe, Ltd., Foleshill Road, oventry, For Roads in Assam.
[1,870] "AssAm " writes :—" I am taking advantage of the invitation in your Overseas Number to ask your advice in the selection of a commercial vehicle to carry from three to five tons on rough roads. Not to be covered in. I would ask you to be good enough to give me your advice as to the suitability of a. Thornycroft steam lorry for such a purpose, as against any petrol-driven machine of good make. I would be very much obliged if you would send out any catalogue of such machines that you think I might choose one from, and I ask this as it takes six weeks to get a reply."
ANSWER.—The Stewart-Thornyeroft steam lorry is a good machine, and it should do your work provided you have no difficulty in procuring water at, say, 20mile intervals. We are asking Messrs. D. Stewart and Co. (1904), Ltd., of London Road Ironworks, Glasgow, to forward full information. In -regard to your further query, petrol-driven vehicles should undoubtedly be considered if you are likely to have any watering difficulties, or if you want an average speed in excess of six miles an hour. It is not always wise to maintain even that low rate of speed, on rough roads, with steel tires, and you may have to be prepared to face the expense of large-section solid-rubber tires, which in India may vary between ad. and a mile. We are asking several makers of representative petrol vehicles, who to our knowledge can give reasonable delivery, to communicate with you.
Alcohol Carburetters.
[1,871] " ICEBERG" writes Could you oblige by informing us of the makers of any carburetter suitable for using alcohol in an engine of 110 mm. bore by 140 mm. stroke, in a tropical country We believe that you have had an article on alcohol carburetters in your paper, and if you would be good enough. to refer us to the issue, we should like to read it. Can you tell us also whether a compression suitable for petrol is also suitable for alcohol?"
ANSWER.—We have no record of the existence in this country of a modern carburetter that is especially adanted for use with alcohol, and this fuel is not used in this country for motor-vehicle purposes. Its ultimate cost has caused the neglect of experiment with it here. A compression pressure of about 25 per cent. in excess of that in use for ordinary petrol engines is necessary. A long piston stroke is also a sine qua non for economical running with this fuel, as it yields a slow-burning mixture. In practice it has been found that alcohol yields acetic acid in the combustion chamber, and this is. of course, a detriment. The calorific value of alcohol is rather more than half that of petrol, and, in the experiments which have been Tliacle in France, as a rule, mixtures of .820 alcohol and .881 benzole have been used. Practically the only data of real value that have been secured On this subject have been collated by French makers. In the 1910 French military trials, the following carburetters were successfully used, with different jets, for both petrol and alcohol with henzole :—Procisionfeed Claudel, Zenith, and Berliet ; Len guemare and Panhard ; and the two-jet 'Lap. You will probably do well to conduct your own experiments with a Car buretter of one of the above makes.
Local Parcel Delivery.
[1,872]' PAucELs " writes :—" I shall be very glad if you can give inc any information relating to the charges to be made for delivery of tradesmen's Parcels under these circumstances. I contemplate running in this district a motorvan to carry about 15 cwt. net load, and propose to run a. regular daily serVice for the express purpose of delivering tradesmen's parcels. On a mileage of 100 per week, I estimate my expenses would be about £2 10s. weekly. How should I arrive at the charges for delivery of parcels? If charged by weight., this necessitates weighing, and delay in getting from one establishment to another ; if by mileage, it is rather difficult to arrive at the distance sometimes.
"I have studied this matter out during the last two years, and feel satisfied that with definite charges to start with their is good prospect of success. The two local wine merchants here, neither of whom keeps a horse and van, hire a one-horse cart two or three times per week (to supplement the lads with trucks in a hilly district and not heavy enough for one horse). There seems an opening here, and after a start had once been made no doubt a contract could be fixed up in several cases. I have estimated my expanses from the tables in your issue of the 'CM.' of the nth January. So far as costs of running are concerned, I am in a favourable position,I buy all supplies at wholesale prices, have. a workshop of my own, am a trained mechanic (both fitter and turner), and for a time should drive the motor myself and not depend on it altogether for a living."
NSWER. —Your best plan is to get. hold of the parcel rates of the local railway companies, and to offer equal rates coupled with better facilities. You may possibly be able to make slight reductions in the charges. Of course, at. the outset, you must be prepared to work for some few months while the business is building up, and you can scarcely hope to pay from the start. Most parcel-delivery companies have fixed charges for parcels varying between certain weights, in order to avoid too much complication in their tables of charges, and you can obtain printed copies of the parcel charges from any booking-office of a. railway company. You will probably find it inexpedient to handle any parcel, however low in weight, for less than 3d. or 4d., but you must, of course, remember that you are working in competition with the parcel post. It is eminently desirable that you should fix certain receiving stations, with shopkeepers who do a fair trade, and arrange with them to put cards in their windows to notify your existence, so as to draw other orders. The fact that you can get definite loads froth local wine merchants is all helpful, but you must not let big lines of this kind interfere with the regularity of your delivery of odd parcels. Even with a small van of the kind .which you are inclined to run, and reckoning that you will be able usefully to travel as much as 50 miles a day, you should not be content until you have worked up gross earnings per day to a minimum of 27s. 6d. You will have to accent certain risks as a carrier, including possible losses for pilfering and dam age.