Passing Comments
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Parking Brake Becomes A FEATURE of the new Foot-operated on New rm G.M.C. truck of America G.M.C. is a foot-operated parking brake, the hand release being mounted. under the steering wheel. As is now being done with so many other vehicles, the gear lever is carried by the steering column. The former arrangement is, however, unusual, and we shall be interested to note how successful it proves in practice.
Nationalization in India MATIONALIZAT1ON
Should Help British I seldom benefits private Makers enterprise, but British com
mercial vehicle manufacturers and bodybuilders are likely to gain advantage from the State control of bus services in India and Pakistan. As already reported in "The Commercial Motor," various provincial governments have plans for taking, over or placing a firm hand on road passenger transA24
port, which is at present supplied mainly by light American vehicles. With responsible executives in charge, the choice will probably fall on substantial British buses that will withstand rough usage and be a credit to their operators. Most of the buses at present in service in India and Pakistan are a credit only to the courage of their drivers and. passengers.
The Honourable Petrol WHILE motoring recently in Station : Would this " Holland we were sur Do Here / prised to learn that on the
road between Utrecht and The Hague there is a petrol station which is not manned at night. Instead, supplies of petrol and oil are left, and users of the road help themselves, leaving the appropriate payments. We are informed that this scheme is working well, and there have been no losses. It has been nicknamed "The Honourable Petrol Station."
An Electro-pneumatic THE Kromhout Company Servo Steering Gearof I is making a number of Simple Design . . , what it terms tram-buses, in which some of the passengers are accommodated in front of the front axle, whilst the driver collects the fares. The difficulty is that the loading is 50-50 on the axles, and this is inclined to make the steering somewhat hard. Therefore, such vehicles are being equipped with an electropneumatic steering servo. This is a Bosch-Dewandre product made in Belgium. On the steering column, immediately below the wheel, is a removable casing covering four bronze rings and suitable brushes, also what may be termed a "pendulum," at each side of which is an electrical contact. The pendulum is so adjusted that when the pull on the steering gear exceeds a few pounds it is moved to one side or the other according to the direction of the pressure on the
wheel. Current is then taken to a valve operated by an electro-magnet which controls the supply to an air cylinder, the piston of which is connected to the steering at one side, and the wheels are pulled or pushed in direct relationship to the movement of the steering wheel. We hope to publish more later about this interesting system, which this Dutch maker finds to be so satisfactory.
Dyed Petrol Analysis AN acquaintance of ours, Which Showed No who is a chemist, has Abnormal Reaction . recently taken the trouble to analyse a sample of the new coloured petrol. In it he found aniline dye but no traces of any other abnormal content. We are now wondering whether the trap" chemical was actvally absent or whether his finding was at fault,