From Our U.S.A. Correspondent.
Page 19
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In my very-early days, I was the worst—very much the worst— writer in the school ; the unnecessary pain, which this circumstance gave me, caused me to remedy matters, until with maturer years I became not-a-little proud of my caligraphy. My many friends, who are troubled by my correspondence, will smile at this statement, but, like themselves, I am entitled to my own opinion, which in this matter is one of the indulgencies I permit myself, like the use of tobacco. All of these personal details, readers will say, are only of doubtful interest, and have no bearing on the commercial-motor industry.
But, inasmuch as I am generally able to convey to the printer some idea of what I wish to state, I must find some excuse for the foolish things I appear to have written in my report of the commercialvehicle show at New York, printed on page 472 et sequenter of the issue of the 9th February. Being much pressed for time, I wrote my notes during a. day journey from New York to Buffalo, and, as the Empire State Express covers the distance of 500 odd miles at an average speed of well over 50 miles an hour, and the permanent way is not quite up to the standard of the London and North Western Railway, the poor passenger learns to sympathize with a pepper-box, whose only useful moments are passed in being shaken. The result of this time-saving arrangement was that my notes were not distinguished by their usual legibility, and some errors crept in which I must
correct.
Under the heading "Frames," I state that they are built of " strueturous " steel sections : this odd
looking word should of course be " structural." Again, the " Cera
bowski " should be the "Grabowski." Under " Front Axles,' the " Mogull " is mentioned. The name of this truck should be —, but no, on second thoughts, what I said about it was more true than kind, and I will not now give its proper name, Any way, it was not Alogull. These are small matters, and I would pass them over, but for the fact that, under " Steering Gears," the compositor—I hope to Heaven it was not the Editor [We did our best with an obviouslyinvolved sentence in the copy, and we regret the trouble.to which Mr. Kerr-Thomas has been put. —En.]— imputes to my fountain pen words which all the railroads in America would not have shaken out of it. Having no copy, I cannot now give the exact wording of the original, but it was to the following effect :— " All models are now far stiffer than at that time (a year ago), are generally satisfactory, and, if one excepts the case of u 10-ton truck, 'which is fitted with a perfectly-reversible steering gear of the rack-and-pinion type," etc., etc. If any reader will refer to the published text, he will see the difference ; this correction is rather important, as I would not so far malign the American designers (myself included) as to lead the English public to suppose that reversible rack and pinion type steering gears were even common
out here.
It was quite a relief to return to one's normal work this week, after the strenuous performance one had had to go through for the previous ten days at Chicago ; I always take an unholy delight in seeing how rapidly I can reduce the pile of arrears with which my thoughtful typist seeks to conceal my desk
against my return. Of automobile shows, at this season of the year, there is no end, and to attend even three becomes a weariness of the flesh ; but, owing to the scattered district over which the market ranges, it is necessary to have an agent or dealer in every town of importance, and it seems that the friendly rivalry between these dealers induces them to start small local shows, until every little city has, in fact, "a movement of its own," and to read all the reports in the trade papers becomes all utter nuisance, from the necessary similarity of them all. By going to Chicago, I escaped the one at Buffalo which was held the same week. I noticed at Chicago, by the way, what struck me as an exceedingly-good recording speedometer —The Stewart. This concern has just brought out one specially designed for use on commercial vehicles. A rotating cylinder shows the speed at which one is travelling, while at the side is a 3i-in. dial, on which are shown, as usual, the season's mileage and the daily mileage, the latter having a trip mechanism for setting it to zero each day by pressing a button ; at another opening, a red disc appears, as soon as the maximum speed (say 12 m.p.h.) is reached, and remains visible until the speed falls. On a fourth index, a row of figures show how many miles have been run duriny the season with the red disc visible; that is to say, when the driver sees the red signal, he knows that the miles he is running at excess speed are being recorded against him, and this knowledge has an incalculable moral effect. I have ordered one for trial purposes; it appears to me to be exactly what is needed by every concern operating commercial vehicles.
H. K. T.