The Motor Omnibus World.
Page 6
Page 9
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Proposed Additions to Metropolitan Police Conditions for Obtaining a Certificate of Fitness.
The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis will shortly issue an amended set of conditions for the obtaining of certilicates of fitness in respect •of motor omnibuses intended for service in London. These will replace others in a notice dated January 3 ist last, but, as it is proposed to vary none of the chassis measurements, there will be no hardship in that connection, although some of the detail alterations may cause some trouble. The notice, as is usual, contains no reference to the authorising Act under which it purports to be issued, but we take it that such notices are published by the Commissioner in order that both proprietors of stage carriages and his own inspectors may have an accepted etandard to enable Regulation 6 of the Home Secretary's Order of August 18th, i897, made in pursuance of Section 6 of the Metropolitan Police Carriage Act, 1869, to be carried out without friction. This regulation provides that the license plate shall be issued only if the inspector " shall find such carriage fit for public use." There appears to be no prescribed form according to .which such fitness is to be settled in ally particular case, and there is, in consequence; bound to be, especially in these early days, a large amount of mutual " give and take " between the Commissioner, on the one side, and the operating companies and the manufacturers on the other.
It will be apparent, from the appended abstracts, that the proposed new conditions affect owners principally. The numbers which precede the various paragraphs are those in the draft notice, and our object in publishing them is that all interested parries may see their terms in time to submit any suggestions to the Commissioner. It is, we are obliged to admit, a matter for the most sincere regret that there are parties who consider they are already seriously prejudiced in their business operations by inadequate notice, on the part of the Commissioner, in relation to constructional exemption that were agreed upon, in a semi-private fashion, some eight months ago. It is probable that more will be heard of the grievances in question, but our immediate concern is to let our readers know what is under consideration at the present time.
The changes are in the shape of completely new conditions, except in two instances. These minor variations, the added words being those in italics, are Old Regulation No. 3 (new No. 4—" The side guard rails must be 3 feet from top of roof battens, and i8 inches above the seats, measured from the highest part. The front mid back guard rails must be 3 feet 3 inches, measured from the top of roof battens. The width between seat backs (inside the vehicle) not to be less than 56 inches when the seats are placed lengthwise. The space from oil hind roof seat, or any projection thereon, to back rail must not be less than 26 inches."
Old Regulation No. 25 (new No. 26).—The following sentence is added : " No seat will be permitted in which, if a passenger is sitting, obstruction is caused to the landing board or gangwa vs."
Fresh Conditions.
3. When making application for the car to be inspected, the Proprietor must specify the routes upon which he intends to ply, and these may not be departed from except after due notice has been given to the Commissioner of Police.
7. The brake should, as far as possible, be so affixed as to he capable of easy adjustment, and at least one must be so inaiee as to lie applied by the feet of the driver. No two brakes which operate upon the same part will be considered as " independent," and at least one should act directly upon the road wheels without any connection with the propelling gears S. Stage carriages which are intended to ply upon routes which have long or steep hills, will be subject to a special test, and additional brakes may be required 9. All brake and steering connections to be secured with bolts arld nuts, which must be locked or pinned.
13. All parts subject to vibration must have lock nuts cr
spring washers, to prevent them working loose and causing a rattling noi;e, 17. Carburetters must not be placed in close proximity to magnetos, or to connections of wires carrying electric current.
18. When a guard or tray is fixed underneath, it must be so constructed that any overflow of petrol from the carburetter is carried directly away and not retained in the tray. 20. The machinery must be so constructed or placed that oil from the bearings is not allowed to drop on to the roadway. When trays are fixed to prevent this, they must have suitable webs for retaining the oil when ascending or descending hills, or be otherwise suitably constructed with that object, and oil must net be allowed to accumulate therein.
21. The lubrication of tha engine er the carburation of the working mixture, must be so controlled that smoke is not projected with the exhaust, or from any other part. This will be rigidly insisted upon at all times. 22. A bar, or more if requisite, having an eye or bridle to surround the propeller shaft, should be fixed under the gearbox, so that in the event of either breaking, other damage or danger therefrom is minimised. 32. No writing or lettering in the form of an advertisement will be allowed on the front or rear of the carriage, which must be reserved exclusively to clearly exhibit the destination and route on which the carriage is plying, 34. No person, except a learner or a fitter when specially authorised by the Proprietor, or a person authorised by the Commissioner shall be allowed to ride beside the driver at any time or under any condition.
There is only one further point to which we will now refer. This is the proposal set forth 'in condition No. 22, and it will be remembered that " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " has advocated this class of fitting on several occasions. In order to save weight, and also to secure the necessary stiffness, we think that any bar under the gear-box might well be separated from any bracket, containing the eye or bridle, which surrounds the propeller shaft. As the wording is now put down, the most simple method of introducing a safeguard of this character, which appears to us to be the attachment of a mild steel casting by bolts to the transverse member of the chassis immediatelv behind the gear box, would not be possible. No useful purpose will be served by the introduction of unnecessary weight. Although the Todinorden Town Council decided to spend, approximately, £4,000 on four motorbuses, some months ago, the order for the vehicles was placed only on Tuesday last. Two chassis each will be built by the Lancashire Steam Motor Company, Limited, and the Critchley-Norris Motor Company.
The Dennis motor omnibuses which are at work in the neighbourhood of Grimsby have given excellent results to their owners, the Mail Motor Company, Limited, which recently held a meeting at the Ship Hotel, Grimsby: The company is being bombarded with demands from neighbouring villages, but it is, at present, only able to serve Laceby, Waltham, and Caistor.
The Edmonton District Council has been urged by a large number of its ratepayers to purchase a number of motor omnibuses, in order to afford improved travelling facilities between that district and the neighbouring areas of Waltham Cross, Chingford, and Wood Green. The proposal has been rejected, on the ground that the Council does not wish to introduce into the district vehicles which "create" smell and dust. We are glad to see that a further opening for the Great Eastern Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, exists.
We hope the new engineer to the Eastbourne Town Council's motorbus department will have less trouble in respect of variations of route than his predecessors. The committee in charge of these motorbuses is constantly being pressed by residents who desire to have the vehicles put on roads that happen to suit their own particular convenience, and we cannot congratulate this committee, so far, on adherence to a sufficiently firm line of policy to ensure the remunerative character of the undertaking. The essence of any omnibus service is frequency and regularity : to divide the few omnibuses which Eastbourne owns between too many routes is to destroy the value and attractiveness of the service. People prefer to walk comparatively short distances when omnibuses ply as much as 20 minutes or half an hour apart, and the greater of these intervals is exceeded in the case of Eastbourne.
The illustration shows a plan view of the gear-box which is used in the construction of the petrol-propelled vehicles manufactured by Messrs. The Hercules Motor Wagon Company, Levenshulme, Manchester. The gearbox is divided longitudinally into three portions. The top and bottom parts are merely covers, whilst the central section is the principal member, which has the bolting-down lugs cast upon it, and holds the bearing caps. This disposition of the parts allows of an uninterrupted inspection of the gears by simply removing the two covers. The shafts are machined from mild steel, whilst the gear wheels, which have faces ia inch wide, are made from chrome-nickel steel. Both shafts have bearings of the marine thrust type. The bevelled pinion on the lay shaft gives a reduc tion of 2 to x with the plate wheel on the differential gear ; these two wheels have faces 2L inches wide. The four speeds forward are, respectively, 3, 6, 9, and 12 miles per hour, whilst the reverse is 3 miles per hour.
Our advertisement pages contain an in announcement in relation to the sale or hire of a number of motor omnibuses. Vehicles of the make to which this announcement refers have, for some time past, been successfully employed on various London routes.
The nixton Parochial Committee has declined to grani a license to the Manchester and District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, unless that company undertakes to defray a portion of the alleged extra road wear and tear.
A second Imperial motorbus line has been opened in the Hersfeld district, South Germany. The vehicles are " Safes," turned out by the Gaggenau firm. Post-Director Fleischer has expressed his entire satisfaction with their running.
'The liability of motorbus proprietors for accidents due to side-slip will probably continue to exercise the minds of county court judges during the next few years. Each case will certainly have to be dealt with on its merits, because the substantiation of negligence must turn on questions of fact and not of law. We are unable, however, to agree with Judge Renioul, K.C., who, at the City of London Police Court last week, in giving judgment against the London and District Motor Bus Company, Limited, appears to have held that the mere fact that the omnibus side-slipped was, in itself, proof of the company's liability. We do not, for one moment, suggest that there will not be instances of neglect, but the large majority of these occurrences are purely accidental.
The Chief Constable of the City of London, Captain J. W. Nott-Bower, has, acting in unison with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir E. R. Henry, notified omnibus companies, whose vehicles pass through the City, that immediate steps must be taken to catch any droppings of oil or grease in a suitable tray or other contrivance.
There is one point that must not be overlooked, in connection with any proposed new conditions of service for London's motorbuses : nothing can become law which over-rides the provisions of the principal Act, and, on the subject of the emission of smoke or visible vapour, section I of the 1896 Act contains the words " except from any temporary or accidental cause."
A new type of Milnes-Daimler omnibus was delivered to the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, on Sunday last, and is now in service, but, as the clearances are insufficient, at several points, to comply with tile to-inch police regulation, the vehicle has only been granted a provisional license. The makers have alreadv completed the necessary alterations in the model, but no licenses have been refused them.
The campaign against excessive speed in London's thoroughfares is not limited to motorbuses, and we may instance the summoning of seveu drivers of L.C.C. electric tramcars before Mr. Rose, at the Tower Bridge Police Court, on Saturday last, in support of the impartial attitude of the police. Five of the defendants were fined each, and the other two Alseach, with 2s. costs on each sumtnons, Mr. Rose remarking that these were nominal penalties. He added that there seemed to be a general conspiracy to increase speed in London, and he
was determined to increase the penalties until both cars and motorbuses travelled at the regulation rates. Although the public appeared to approve of excessive speed, the law did not.
A correspondent writes protesting against the proposal of the London police to require front and back wheels of motorbuses to" track " with one another. He points out that, if rubbertired motorbuses cause any wear to the road surface, which is very much open to question, there will be more wear if the wheels " track " than there would be if there were slight differences in the front and back gauges.
The motoring contributor to " The Tribune " expresses the opinion that the existence of the British Empire Motor Trades Alliance as a distinct trade organisation is merely a standingmenace to the homogeneity of the trade as represented in all its branches by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and
Traders. A week earlier, this same writer mistook the Motor Van, Wagon, and Omnibus Users' Association for a traders organisation !
New motorbus schemes received a rather serious set-bark in July last, when the Handcross accident occurred just before the height of the tourist season. London companies suffered least of all from the public hesitancy, notwithstanding the long-drawn-out enquiry before the coroner's jury. Country services, however, were more seriously affected, and it is not going too far to say that some revenue accounts will, in consequence of the reduced support for the undertakings, show an adverse balance. There is, however, no slackening apparent in the number of fresh enterprises which are being shaped for execution next spring, and probably one of the most satisfactory features is the sustained intention of numerous local authorities to own their own motorbuses. The number of Bills that will be promoted next session by Municipal and Urban Councils will, in all likelihood, exceed a total of too.
One of the latest changes in London's motorbus routes is the alteration of the " Royal Blues." These now run from Finsbury Park to Victoria, via Camden Town, Shaftesbury Avenue, riccadilly, and Hyde Park Corner,
The Hyatt Roller Bearing Company, of 47, Victoria Street, London, S.W., is making a speciality of standard roller bearings for various purposes, including special applications to motor vehicles, and manufacturers who like this method of reducing friction in transmission should apply for a copy of the company's catalogue.
Although the working of the three Wolseley omnibuses (2oh.p. horizontalengine type) owned by the Wolverhampton Corporation involves a loss of
for the six months ending March 31st last, it must be admitted that the winter period cannot properly be taken as a guide to the future results of the running of these vehicles. The capital accouut has, however, been debited with depreciation at the rate of 20 per cent. per annum, and the operating costs, for the winter months under review, came out at 1o.5651. for a total mileage of 31,347. We shall look, with interest, for the publication of the next accounts, until which date any definite criticism of this service is reserved.
A large number of roadweys in London have recently been rc-paved, and others are now in process of renewal. It is satisfactory to note that better attention is being paid to the condition of the concrete foundation, for much of the unevenness of wood paving is due to the rush and hurry not unnaturally demanded in London. Yet, such haste often leads to more serious difficulties in the end. Concrete, whilst well able to withstand heavy compressive loads, has practically no resistance to a tensile strain, and, if any portion of the foundation below it happens to fall away, a saucer-like cavity in the road surface is unavoidable. At the same time, the expeditious re-paving of Holland Park, Avenue compares favourably with, for example, the delay over the re-laying of Whitehall during thelast four weeks. Internal Clearances of Gear-boxes.
The wide publicity given to reports of the failure of a gear-box on Handcross Hill, and to its sad consequences, resulting as it did in the loss of ten lives and the infliction of more or less serious physical injury upon another 25 persons, is at least serving a good purpose in causing manufacturers thoroughly to re-examine their designs, No temporary measure or safeguard—such as an eye and bracket round the propeller shaft—can justly be held to cover any ascertained faults or deficiencies in a motor omnibus chassis, and we urge upon all constructors to make their position in the industry more secure, in the event of their being satisfied that their OWT1 systems may suffer from any structural or detail weakness in the gear-box, to spare no expense in replacing parts by more suitable ones. .1ction Of this kind can only serve to consolidate their future position, for the maker who follows up his customers in the early days of his sales invariably finds an enormously increased return in later years. We do not wish to quote particulars of certain information which has recently been placed in our possession, and which has a very direct bearing upon the vexed question of gear-box fractures, neither can our criticisms on this matter be limited to any one or two makers, for it is by no means general to make provision for the contingency to which we have now immediately to allude. This is possible shearing of the bolts which secure a gear wheel to the flange on the shaft, or the coming adrift of any internal parts through the working back of a nut or nuts, inside a gear-box which is not large enough to provide the necessary clearances between the revolving gears and the casing. On several occasions, within our own experience, in the use of commercial motors in this country, gear cases have been broken asunder entirely because of the insufficient space provided, and, whilst makers may argue that they take precautions to minimise such risks as those we have named to disappearing'point, there is no denying the fact that such occurrences are more frequent than one could wish. We feel, therefore, that designers and manufacturers alike should give the necessary attention to this vital and important matter of an increase in the clearances of the casings and boxes which surround the different elements of their Transmission gears. The problem is less simple than it looks, because, for the Metropolis in any event, other considerations render it necessary to have an external clearance, between the bottom of the gear box and the road, of To inches. That factor, regarded in conjunction with the essential gear ratios, places the maker in an unenviable position, and one of great difficulty. it looks as though the only solution is to raise the gear box relatively to the frame, but that may introduce other disadvantages. In seeking to protect the public, the authorities may, unless the greatest perspicacity is exercised, merely substitute one risk for another, as has occurred through the reduction of internal clearances.