COMPONENTS •
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Accessories &Plant
With special consideration for the subjects of : Vehicle Lighting, Carburetters and Vaporisers and Garage Equipment.
Amongst the "Bits and Pieces."
1 T can be taken for granted that the commercial-vehicle owner is not, as a rule, a man who is desirous of purchasing every conceivable sort of accessory with which he can decorate his machines. That characteristic .is, fortunately or the trade, a very familiar one with touring-car proprietors. It would appear to many of us, from observa tion, that the smaller the car possessed by the private owner, the greater the number of accessories with which he desires to ornament n it. Indeed, the smallest of the type, be it motor-bicycle or cycleCar,
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often has the appearance of a well-stocked motor-accessory merchant's shop front. • The commercial-vehicle owner can only be tempte.d to agree that an accessory is a. suitable. purchase for him if and when he be persuaded 74 that this addition to his outfit will mean something actually in his pocket. He wants to know if the fitting of a mileometer Will help him to control his drivers, who may be out of sight and mind all day long and
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84 every day. He inquires if a special carburetter will actually result in the recording of an extra ton-mile or two in his log-book. It is sad to 7S write that., when asked to purchase some such fitment as, shall we say, a rear-view mirror, he may perhaps desire, to be informed as to how it will expedite his deliveries, or secure his machine from collision. He is not Iso much concerned that some scorching touring car should be afforded facility the more quickly to consign his vehicle's near-side wheels to the gutter. • The .range of accessories, therefore,in which the commeitcial-vehicle 78 owner is particularly interested is very different from that with which the private-ear owner is readily tempted. They have primarily to he useful, and it is of little assistance that they should he ornamental.
They must be of sturdier stuff and designed with a keen eye to &-i simplicity and ease of replacement. They must be weather-proof and immune from derangement in case of excessive vibration, and, above all. they must bear no fancy prices.
It might be, at. 'first thought., considered that such limitations would reduce the number of accessories with which we should be concerned to a very small figure, but that this is not so is due particularly to the number and the variety of the branches of the commercial-ve•hick industry itself..
T.n the pleasure-car branches of the whole trade, it has to be recorded that there is only, in the main, one use for a. machine, and that is to carry private passengers, whether for business or pleasure, from place to place as quickly, comfortably, and cheaply as possible, whereas we have to consider the uses and costs of such varied types as steam tractors, agrimotors, motor sweepers, fire-engines and parcelcars.