Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
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Ten Shillings Weekly for the Best Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for anything else published.
Drivers of con mercia! motors, and mechanics and firemen of garages or shops, who are engaged in any branch ()I the industry, are invited to contribute short, personal experiences, opinions, or suggestions, on subjects which are likely to prove of merest to our readers. We shall be glad to hear of anything interesting that has come under any driver's or mechanic's tiotice, either an the shops or on the road. Long and successful runs ; services with no 'loss journeys" ; workshop tips and smart repairs : all are suitable subjects. Send us a postcard, or a letter, or a sketch—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. We will " knock it into shape" before publication. When writing, it is as well to mention your employer's name, as a guarantee of bona fides (not for tublication), and to state whether you wish your own name, or initials only, to be publishai. Mark your envelope "D. and M.," and address it to The Editor, ' THR COMMERCIAL MOTOR," 7-15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
Postal Communications.
We have replied in full to the -following correspondents by post, as their communications were not of sufficient general interest to warrant publication :— H. C. WELCH (Brixton); " J. R.K. " (West End Lane), R. RHAMAGAR (Balls Pond Road, N.E.); " PUTNEY HEATH " (Wimbledon); and C. R. SMITH (Chester).
We shall be glad to receive, as a guarantee of good faith, the name of the firm by whom C. G. ROWBOTHAM (Glasgow) is employed.
A UseIul Oil Filter.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 10s. prize this week.
[402] R. M. LESLIE (Aberdeen) writes as follows :—" I enclose you a sketch of a fitting which is likely to be found useful in most garages and repair shops. In a shop where numbers of gearbox and engine repairs have to be undertaken, a considerable amount of difficulty is often found in adopting a suitable means for disposing of the dirty oil and grease, which are usually left in the cases when they come in for repair. As a rule, odd buc!:ets are filled with it, and it is left to kick about the shop, in everyone's way, in the hope that it can be used for 'something or other, sooner or later.' Some foremen save such oil and put it back when the job is finished—dirt, grit, and all. "The sketch [reproduced on this page.—ED.] shows a simple oil filter and settling tank, which will form a handy receptacle for all the droppings and dirty oil of every kind, and of which so much is often allowed to run to waste down the drains in a garage or repair shop. The tank is made of sheet steel (about 18 or 20 s.w.g.), and may be of any convenient size, say, 18 inches long, is inches deep, and 12 inches wide. A light angle-flange should be riveted inside, about 4 inches from the top, and on this flange the filtering arrangement will rest. The filter is composed of two light plates, perforated with a number of a-inch holes, and having a couple of thicknesses of coarse, soft pack-sheet ' between them.
" A straight gas-tap with a bore of about an inch should be soldered into one side of the reservoir, about 11 inch from the bottom, and a t-inch gas-flange, taking a screwed plug, is to be riveted in the centre of the bottom plate. Any mud and dirt which come through the filter will settle below the tap, and they can thus periodically be cleaned out from the bottom plug. " The whole contrivance is mounted on a light iron stand; the legs should be sufficiently high, and also free from stays, so that a bucket may easily be pushed under the tank. A lid, in halves, hinged at the two ends, will be found to make the most convenient arrangement for covering up the tank. " The oil which can be recovered by means of this filter will not, of course, be of good quality, as it will be, very mixed, but if a fair proportion of good fresh oil be mixed with the recovered liquid, it is surprising to what a number of uses the mixture may be put, and what a saving will be effected in the course of a year,"
The Driver's Choice.—Still Another Prelerenee.
[400] " J.C." (Cardiff) regrets that no one of our contributors has yet sent in a letter in appreciation of the work of which the Dennis machines are capable, and writes to us, under date of June 30th :--" As a driver, and a regular reader of
THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR,' I have followed, with interest, the correspondence which has recently been published in your columns with regard to the driver's favourite type of machine. I should like to say afew words on behalf of the Dennis, as I have not yet noticed that anyone has taken up the cudgels on its behalf.
" I have had several years' experience as a driver on different kinds of motor vehicles, both in London and Provincial services. I have always tried to get the best out of the machines of which I have had charge, as much for my own sake as for that of my employers. Without prejudice in any way, I have arrived at the opinion that the Dennis wants a lot of beating from the driver's point of view. I am employed in a service which keeps six machines busy. I drive a different machine every day, so that I ought to know something about the matter.
" The journey system, which is in vogue with most of the London companies, is a poor method of earning one's living, but I should not even mind that system if I and a suitable mate had charge of one of the latest Dennis machines.
"We, in Cardiff, have, of course, had our troubles. We had many difficulties at the outset, but, by good manage merit, and by the hard work of all concerned in the running, we have got rid of most of our troubles.
" My reasons for picking out the Dennis for a word of praise from a driver's point of view ' are as follow :—(1) remarkable hill-climbing ability ; (2) absolute silence of the worm-drive ; (3) perfect system of lubrication, absence of smoke and reasonable cleanliness of driver's job; (4) rapid acceleration and ease of control; (5) ease of change-speed gear with three gears, and capability of running at between 5 and 16 m.p.h. on the top gear, which saves a lot of laborious changing; and (6) interchangeability of all the parts. " Should I have the choice of a machine, whether I were to be paid by the day or by the journey, I should not wish to go farther than a Dennis.''
"Keep Out of Trouble—Not Get Out of It."
[4031 "A DRIVER BUT NOT A MECHANIC" (LeylOHStOnel replies to a letter in our last week's issue which appeared under the above heading :—" The title which was used in your last week's issue over a letter from A mechanic hut not a driver ' seemed to me to form an excellent motto for all men who are engaged in looking after machinery and, indeed, in a broader sense, it would constitute a good catchphrase for everyone, man or woman, to remember, whether they be mechanics or millionaires, servant-girls or sovereigns. But the warning of your correspondent to would-be mechanics has been published none too soon. For many years, I was engaged in driving horse vehicles, and I have, at various times, driven almost everything on wheels, including a horse-artillery team, a pantechnicon, a steam
tramcar in Ireland, a hotel elevator in New York, and recently a steam roller in the North of England, and now a motorbus in London. I am, even now, contemplating changing over to a motorcab job, but I am doubtful whether that particular vocation will not very soon be overcrowded.
" My friends naturally look on me as a rolling stone, and that has been my chief trouble, but in all my varied jobs I have managed to pick up a lot of useful information, and possibly I might be fairly called' a handy man '; yet, I have never laid claim to be called a mechanic. What your correspondent, who is, evidently, a trained artificer, complains of, is the inflated idea possessed by some few motor-vehicle drivers, because they can steer a heavy vehicle in thick traffic with sorne amount of cleverness, and can—once, or now and again—find a loose wire, or notice that the magneto has dropped in the road, or that the burners have gone out, that they are quite clever fellows, and that the man who has been in all sorts of engine-shops, at the bench or on the lathe, is just about their equal.
"I have also come across mechanics,' to whom the motor industry has given birth, and who have made me shudder at their colossal ignorance. I was unfortunately the recipient of an expensive general education when a boy, which fitted me for nothing in particular, but my varied experience has taught me to detect ' bluff ' and ' side ' instantaneously. There are many excellent drivers, and many qualified mechanics, but, because a man is a driver, that does not necessarily give him the right to call himself a mechanic. If T had ever kept a horse, I should not have expected my coachman to treat him for staggers.' "