During 1913.
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A Concise Review of the Industry' s Important Happenings During the Past Year.
As is our custom with each Overseas issue, we may usefully open our Editorial pages with something in the nature of a summary of the progress which has been made by the great industry in which we ourselves and our-readers all over the world are specifically interested. Considerations of space forbid anything like an analytical account of all the ramifications of the commercial motor and its hundred and one applications, but we can with care endeavour to reduce the lessons, of which 1913 hiss been so prolific, within the limits of perhaps a stage.
The past twelvemonth has been one in 'which the rate of progress, BO briskly set in 1912, has been more-than maintained. New spheres of application have been discovered and satisfactorily attempted. Of structural advance there is much to record, and in a " potted review." such as this it is in respect of the twin aspects of the construction and the employment of the machine that we are all of us primarily interested.
Three Events oil Outstanding Importance.
From a year of exceptional activity we can with confidence pick out three happenings which have been fraught with most important consequences to the future of the commercial motor. The first commercial-vehicle exhibition to be held in London since that in 1908, took place at Olympia, in July of the year that has passed, and it is almost impossible to speak too highly of the rate of all-round progress which this lastscollection of
eshibits typified. s
Perhaps second in importance to this mile-stone on the road of progress has been the great transport strike in Dublin, and the wonderful conversion it suddenly effected of the business men in Ireland's capital.. Striking as have been the effects of the innumerable labour disputes which the Press of the world has had to record. during the past yessai or two, and far-reaching as have been the results upon our own industry iii many of these cases, Dublin's sudden rush to acquire. the vehicle, which has been until now practically anathema to the horse-loving Irishman, stands out as a startling object-lesson. It has become even more than ever evident that where uninformed conservatism is a serious obstacle to the sufficient development of the commercialvehicle industry, circumstances are more than likely eventually to force a solution which in its ultimate result is never favourable to the horse.
The third and last of our choice of events' as symbolical of the progr iss made during 1913, is not difficult to find. We refer to the now-confirmed conviction of all military authorities in the leading countries of the world that army transport in future must depend more and more upon the sell-propelled unit. The lessons of the British manceuvres in the fall of 1913 were of so far-reaching a nature that we are confident in predicting that., inasmuch as an army must always "move on its belly, it will in future depend almost. entirely for its mobility upon the efficiency of its motor-transport trains. The trench, German, Austrian, American, Italian and other governments have, in the past., been even mom-active than .our own, hut there are. signs that Great Britain will not much longer depend on the hired transport horse for its food, stuffs, its ammunition, and its miscellaneous baggage transport. It is already rumoured that. the supply colunms attached to British cavalry divisions in future will consist of speedy motor lorries, which will keep in touch right up to the front.
Progress in Construction.
In respect of the progress which. has been made in construction, we cannot do better than briefly to recall the conclusions which we drew, after an exhaustive examination of the exhibits at the great Show at Olympia in July last. Perhaps the most notable feature of the collection was the large number of chars-a-bancs which were shown by the various makers. Great attention has been paid quite recently to the. evolution of the heaviest of the petrol-propelled types of
lorries. The -live-tonner, which directly challenges the heavier steam-driven machines, at anyrate for employment where fuel and water difficulties are of moment, is now a type accepted for the practical and ecomymical nature of its services. It was such large lorries, many of them imported hurriedly from England, winch enabled Dublin's merchants and traders to keep the wheels going round while the carmen and transport workers withheld their labour.
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As to the broad lines of chassis detail developments indicated so instructively at the last British Show, there are iney remaining few exponents of the practice of evolving suitable models from purely pleasure-car experience. Data wrung from hard practical work are now 'available in great quantity. Modern design reflects that this lesson has been well learned. The live axle, and especially the worm-driven variety, now has many adherents, although it cannot be said to have exclusively monopolized the attention of designers, especially for lorries destined to carry loads of above three tons.
The English W.O. subsidy requirements, which do not at the time of writing permit the employment of a worm reduction, have brought into being a fine range of double-reduction back axles in which spurs and bevels are cleverly grouped. The use of the chain-drive gearbox does not appear to have extended beyond its application to that class of motorbus which is intended for employment in favourable urban districts. Industrial-vehicle builders are much more inclined to concentrate upon the constant-mesh type of gearing, with engagement by means of dog clutches. The large-diameter, leather-lined cone clutch, which has so much to be said for it in regard to its simplicity and its ease of adjustment, is still certainly in the majority. Engines at Olympia were definitely of cleaner design, and distinctly devoid of unnecessary complication. The fotaocylinder example is almost universal. Few two-cylinder engines are employed, and -only in such isolated instances as their embodiment in powerful fire-brigade units is the six-cylinder seen at all. The cellular type of radiator is rapidly disappearing, a tendency which,we are glad to note. The use of a battery of plain or gilled vertical tubes with cast top and bottom headers promises to become universal. 'Of steel wheels and their employment we write in that part of this annual which is devoted to that branch of construction.
Steam, Electric, Petrol-Electric,
Of types other than the petrol-propelled machine we also have to record progress. The steam wagon, now so largely built on the approved loco-type lines, in these days of inflated liquid-fuel prices is able to make good in competition with other methods. We have to record the revival of interest in . electric-battery propositions.
The petrol-electric ma,ehine, especially for double-deck buses. has secured a prominent position in the range of accepted commercial models. The new Edison battery, with which so much is reported to be effected in America, is now to he exploited on a considerable scale in the Home Country. In the absence of definite results at such an early stage of this renewed activity, we are unable to indicate to our Overseas readers the ultimate possibilities of this alternative. A constructional development of which we think highly for certain Overseas uses is that of the four-wheel-drive tractorwagon. It is excellent testimony to the performances which such machines can put up that the French and American Governmente simultaneously, and yet independently, have definitely approved fine 'examples of this type of construction for much of their army-transport work. We shall .look for considerable further developments in this direction for Overseas employment, especially where the conditions are rough and ready. . The year 1913 has seen yet another nail put into the coffin of the horse. At the end of 1912 we_ had. almost 'reached the conclusion that there were few spheres in • which the horse remained to be successfully challenged. The past :12 months have, however, seen further contirmation of ours pinion that the horse-drawn agricultural instrument would:rapidly give way for much of its work to the motor-propelled. selfcontained plant, but of this tendency we have something to sav elsewhere in its proper place. The motor two-share plough mill appeal to thousands of small agriculturists. The most noticeable further displacement of horse haulage is in th-e undoubted tendency on the part of municipalities to employ motor sweepers and street-cleansing machines. That there will be huge developments in this direction, during the next 12 months, it is our confirmed opinion. That such advance is not. only practicable but possible is largely due to the fact that now there are both British and Continental models of approved types winch are already doing service in the ratio of practically one motor appliance to two of such machines drawn by horses