The French A.C.' s Research Laboratory.
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The Automobile Club of France, in addition to its well-developed social organization, with headquarters in the handsome building on the Place de la Concorde, is also a Societe d'Encouragement. While the Club, or Cercle, provides a handsome club-house, library, banquets—in a word fulfils the well-defined functions of a social club—the Societe d'Encouragemeat has for its only object the progress of motoring in all its forms. It is thus the Societe, with funds provided by the Club, which has made possible the forination of such commissions as the sporting, touring, technical, competitive, agricultural, etc. Naturally the Club laboratory is under the control of the Technical Commission of about 30 members, comprising many of the leading motor experts of France, with M. Loreau at the head.
Started on a somewhat-small scale, the Club laboratory was intended to carry out research work in the interests of the motor industry, and to encourage efforts in new and interesting directions by means of competitions. With a view to convenient working. and also to reduce cost, the laboratory was installed at Levallois, in the suburbs of Paris, while its office and general headquarters are at the club-house in the Place de la Concorde. The arrangement has the advantage of reducing the permanent staff to a minimum, for M. Georges Lumet, the chief engineer, has only two assistants M. Ventou-Duclaux. assistant engineer and chemical expert, and a chief mechanic who also acts as guardian of the laboratory. Being established in the heart of a motor-manufacturing district, it becomes a very-easy matter to make arrangements with neighbouring firms for the loan of such mechanics and fitters as may be needed from time to time. The amount of work fluctuates so much that this is a most-economical arrangement, for even when lengthy tests have to be made it sometimes happens that little manual assistance is required, the firms interested preferring to send their own mechanics to assist the laboratory engineers.
The cost to the Club for salaries of the permanent staff is ,a00 per annum. The amount paid for casual labour varies according to the assistance required, but as it is always supported by the firm or persons for whom tests are being made it does not enter into the account of the laboratory. The total cost of the laboratory to the Club is from 21,000 to 21,200 per annum. There is a slight income resulting from tests made for motor manufacturers and inventors, but it. is hardly taken into account in establishing the budget. As a Societe d'Encouragement an allotment of £1,000 per annum is made for technical research work, and the whole of this amount is employed. Although practically the whole of the French motorcar industry is centred around Paris, tests for manufacturers are not very numerous. On an average they do not exceed 10 per month. Where application is made to the Club for an independent test, it is frequently because the firm is a small one, without the necessary apnaratus, or that its own testing nlant is temporarily disabled. As a general rule all the large manufacturers have their own laboratories, and thus find no special need for that belonging to the Club. Although the Club is prenared to make any kind of test in connection with internal-combustion motors for members of the industry, or for private-car owners, the calls in this connection are few. Private owners very rarely trouble the technical service of the Club, the French motorist evidently having sufficient confidence in the manufacturer of his car to consider it unnecessary to seek independent advice.
From a comparatively-small beginning, the Club laboratory has grown until the plant is now most complete, and is suitable for all kinds of physical, chemical, and engineering tests. The expenditure having extended over a number of years, it is somewhat difficult to obtain the exact amount invested in the laboratory. On a moderate estimate, however, it may be considered that the plant alone is worth not less than £2,000; probably £2,500 would be nearer the amount actually expended. This, of course, does not comprise the building, which in this case is rented. M. Georges Lumet, the chief of the laboratory, is an engineer who received his training at the Arts et Manufactures, Paris, and in addition to his purely-laboratory work is charged with the editing of the official monthly bulletin of the Technical Commission. M. Ventou-Duclaux, the assistant engineer, has specialized in chemistry, and holds the diploma of the Kcole de Physique et de Chimie de Paris. The laboratory comprises three main halls. In the first is the chemical laboratory, three petrol-electric groups for making tests of ignition appliances, carburetters, valves, cooling systems, mufflers, etc., and a recently-installed apparatus for measuring the coefficient of adherence of rubber tires. A considerable amount of work is done in the chemical section in the analysis of various combustibles, and the analysis of exhaust gases. The three petrolelectric groups comprise, respectively : a single-cylin der de Dion motor of 81 rim. bore and 90 mm. stroke ; a single-cylinder horizontal Gillet-Forest of 140 mm. bore and 160 mm. stroke ; and a modern type of four-cylinder monobloc motor supplied by the Renault Co. This section of the laboratory is particularly well fitted for the carrying out of carburetter tests, among the special instruments being a registering wattmeter designed by M. Forestier and constructed .by Chauvin and Arnoux. There are also a number of manographs and instruments for measuring and weighing fuel. In the second hall there are two Renard brake-sets for making motor tests, a special bench with Renard dynamometer for measuring the power transmitted to the road wheels of a motorcar, and an electric dynamometer built by the Panhard-Levassor and the Hillaret-Huguet companies. The latter dynamometer is designed to supply a current of 120 amperes at BOG revolutions, the voltage being MO. The third hall, which is at. present being fitted up, will have two instruments for making aerial propeller tests, one of these being supplied by the Farcot Co., and the other by the Clement Co. As a large amount of attention is now being paid to aviation motors, it is intended to install an additional testing bench capable of measuring up to 200 h.p. Last year, the Automobile Club conducted a laboratory competition of motors intended for aerial work, and similar tests will be held this year in connection with a competition organized by the National Aerial League. Two competitions are to be held by the Club this year, one of them for stationary motors intended for agricultural purposes, and the other for stationary motors using paraffin and alcohol as fuel.