News and Comment.
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This Journal has the largest and most valuable circulation ; it is the only journal that deals exclusively with mechanical road transport under the 1896 and 1905 Motorcar Acts.
Cordingley's Show will remain open until Saturday next Our illustrated report will be found On pages 147 to 158 of this issue.
Members of the Motor Union, and of the Commercial Motor Users' Association, will be admitted to the show today (Thursday), on production of theii cards of membership, without charge.
A 2i-ton Dennis motor lorry has been ordered by Messrs. Arnold Perrett and Company, of Wickwar Brewery, Gloucester, and we have no doubt that this machine will give a good account of itself in the particularly hilly district where it is to be employed.
" Another terrible jumble of the alphabet, M.V.W.O.U.A., also becomes unnecessary in the future, through the decision, on the 26th March, of the Motor Van, Wagon and Omnibus Users' Association to be known as the Commercial Motor Users' Association, which is a considerable improvement," --The Times.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders will probably put forward witnesses to give evidence beforc the International Exhibitions Committee with regard to the nature of the benefits accruing to British trade from participation in such displays. Members of the Society are invited to refrain from giving individual opinions for the present.
Those of our readers who are interested in delivery-van matters will do well to study the description of the new i8h.p. Siddeley chassis (pages 139 and 140). No van chassis has yet come under our notice which has left a more favourable impression, and the reputation of the Vickers-Maxim Company, at one of whose branches these machines are constructed, is fully maintained by this high-class production.
Mr, J. Clingoe has taken over the sole management of the Lindsay Motor Manufacturing Company, Limited, of Albemarle -Street, W., and Woodbridge, Suffolk.
Great interest promises to attach to the latest production of Krupp's Essen works. This world-renowned factory has turned out a new cast-steel wheel, the inner rim of which is turned for the reception of a flat ring of rubber, about 0.75 of an inch in thickness. An outer tire is then added in the usual manner, by hydraulic pressure, until the layer of rubber is reduced to o.6 of an inch in thickness. The behaviour of the complete wheel is little short of astonishing, from the point of view of its noisedeadening effect, and it is highly probable that, subject to the endurance of the rubber proving to be satisfactory under the conditions imposed by this method of construction, these latest Krupp wheels will contribute very largely to the diminution of complaints in districts where heavy Motor wagons have to run continuously on granite setts.
The conditions for the R.A.C. commercial motor trials should be out next week. There is a little anxiety as to the Club's legal position in respect of possible claims for Extraordinary Traffic damage.
Wide use has been made by the Italian War Office authorities of " Fiat " commercial • vehicles, on numerous recent occasions, and one of these lorries has proved to be capable of carrying so men without discomfort to them or diminution in the effective point-to-point speed.
The business of the Acetylene Illuminating Company, Limited, of 268, South Lambeth Road, S.W., has grown so rapidly that the factory buildings have now been considerably extended. This development is due to the increase of the company's business in motor-vehicle lighting by dissolved acetylene, and in the repair of broken parts, such as gear cases, by its welding process. The extensions will enable prompt attention to be paid to all instructions of clients.
Milnes-Daimler, Limited, is in a fortunate position in regard to its ability to furnish intending users of motorvans with references to satisfied customers of long standing, and its collection of testimonials from purchasers who have been operating Milnes-Daimler vehicles for many years is of a most convincing nature. The Managing Director of the Company, Mr. H. G. Burford, M.I.Mech.E., will be happy to send copies of suitable records to any intending purchasers, or other interested parties, who may care to apply to him at 221, Tottenham Court Road, London, W.
The drivers in the employ of the United Motorcab Company, Limited, have gone on strike, apparently at the dictation of the Cab Drivers' Union. We feel little doubt that Mr. W. M. Hodges, the general manager of the company, will know how to deal with the situation.
At the meeting of the Wimbledon Town Council an Wednesday it was decided to prepare a notice, and send copies to all dealers and users of petrol in the borough, cautioning them against throwing or allowing petrol to flow into the drains, having regard to the risk of accidents through the spirit finding its way into the sewers.
A member of our technical staff, in July last, visited Wolverhampton to put a Turner-Miesse steam chassis through its tests, prior to the shipment of the machine to Japan. We are interested, therefore, to be able to reproduce a photograph of this vehicle (page 15o) after its arrival in the Land of the Rising Sun, and we are glad to learn from Mr. J. Burns Dumbell, the managing director of Turner's Motor Manufacturing Company, Limited, that the purchasers are well pleased with their bargain.
Reports from different parts of the country continue to indicate the fatuity of any study of the dustless road problem which ignores the existence of heavy motor traffic, Representatives of the Commercial Motor Users' Association, in the course of their evidence before the Royal Commission on the Motorcar Acts, in November, 1905, were careful to point out this serious flaw in the general appreciation by local authoritiesof the fac.tors in the problem. The great waste of money on dust-laying materials is being gradually sent home, and it is becoming very generally recognised that changed methods of construction and maintenance are the only means of securing a. permanent solution of the difficulties engendered by the enormous vogue of the motor vehicle. The Midland Rubber Company, Limited, of Ryland Street, ,Birmingham, has issued an interesting new catalogue which includes particulars of neat waterproof covers, rubber matting, and other sundries, as well as various sizes of pneumatic tires.
The Car and General Insurance Corporation, Limited, has appointed Mr. R. T. Thomson, who for 20 years was London manager of the Scottish Employers Accident Office, as Secretary, in' order to relieve Mr. Frederick There shy, the General Manager, of a large portion of his formal dutieS, and to free him for closer and exclusive attention to the company's policy and general administration.
We have received from Tangyes, Limited, of Cornwall Works, Birmingham, a new pamphlet describing the Tangye patent motor jack which is designed for vehicles Weighingup to 35c:wt. The chief point about it is the ease with wl-fth it can be adjusted by hand, to suit varying heights, without the necessity of turning a screw or using a tommy-bar. The jack is operated by a drivingworm, meshing with a wheel on a horizontal spindle, to which is also secured a pinion meshing with rack-teeth on the ram of the jack. The driving worm slides on its spindle, and may easily be thrown out of mesh with its worm-wheel when it is desiredquickly to raise or to lower the ram. We understand that, in consequence of the success which has attended the introduction of this useful article, a larger size, for omnibus and lorry work, will shortly be placed upon the market.
Mr. Ernest Latham, of 3, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., who has been appointed secretary of the Standardisation Committee recently formed by the Institution of Automobile Engineers, appears to be shaping his programme with commendable promptitude, His committee is at present engaged in drawing up a series of leading questions bearing on the standardisation of component parts and accessories used in car and engine construction,
and these will shortly be circulatea amongst the trade. It is felt that the committee will do well to turn its attendon to the standardisation of spanners, spanner jaws, nuts, bolt heads,. D-headed bolts, diameters of screws, form of thread, standard pitches, castle and two-tier nuts, as well as fluster, button, cheese and counter-sunk heads. for small screws. Mr. Latham will be pleased to receive communications from any of our readers who are interested in the important question entrusted to his charge.
Further huge workshops are building at Argenteuil, near Paris, for the. Lorraine-Dietrich Company, whose immense premises at L-uneville extend • over 200,000 square metres. With this increased accommodation of plant at its disposal, the company will seriously turn its attention to the construction of motorbuses and all kinds of commercial vehicles, for the exploitation and sale of which the concession has been granted to the Societe Generale des Autemobiles. Industriels. This society has recently been formed " for the study and development of transport by automobile " and possesses a capital of 1,5oo,coo francs. In the absence of an adequate supply of vehicles, its operations have hitherto of necessity been restricted, but, in the course of a month or so, on the completion of the Lorraine-Dietrich Company's new works, it hopes to work up a steady and increasing demand for the industrial car.
An Argyll Record.
Some interesting figure.s have been furnished to us by Argylls, London, Limited, with reference to the cost of running one of their motorvans. This firm has been enterprising enough to encourage careful driving and. attention on the part of drivers of their vehicles, offering prizes of Ls, together with certificates of merit, to those who succeed in showing really economical records for runs of over 5,000 miles. A number of these rewards have already been given to drivers, and a marked success in this direction was attained recently by Mr. A. J. Hatrick, who, after spending five weeks as a pupil in the Argyll school, was put in charge of a commercial traveller's sample van in the service of Messrs. Ba.stin, Merryfield and Cracknell, the well-known, wholesale linen drapers. He has lust been awarded one of the prizes for a running bill, the total of which, for s,o54. miles (including all cost in connection with petrol, oils, repairs, and renewals), reached only .4;37 4s. 8d. This works out at 1.7d. per mile, a figure which is remarkably low when one considers the youth and inexperience of this driver. The figures obtained in connection with the prize scheme naturally form valuable testimony as to the qualities of the company's cars, and a good point about it is that it discourages the commission system, and works in the interest of employers and drivers alike. It must not, of course, be concluded that the above instance is . an uncommon one : we quote it as typical of the good results from this Argyll system in London.