OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.',
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The Editor Invitee correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one side of the Palm' only and, preferably, typewritten. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted.
The Unjustifiable Attack on Six-wheelers.
• The-Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2672] Sir,—Further to the writer's letter under the above heading of your previous issue, with regard to the persistent attacks made by the Leyland Co. on six-wheeled vehicles, the firm in question has recently sent out a letter which states :— " It may interest you to know that we have just received information that one of the corporations which pinned their faith in the three-axle machine has recently made a purchase of 24 new. buses, but six-wheelers have not been favoured—we refer to Salford Corporation.
"We have knowledge of the fact that the Morecambe Corporation has recently purchased additional vehicles, and again three-axle vehicles have not found favour."
Since that date the writer has written to the Tramways Departments of the Salford and Morecambe CurPorations asking the reasons why they recently purchased four-wheeled vehicles and whether, as the result of their experience on six-wheelers, they had experienced any trouble peculiar to six-wheeled vehicles, to which they replied :— " Salford City Tramways, 32, Blackfriars Street, Salford. March 23rd, 1928.
"I am in receipt of your letter of the 20th inst. with reference to the order we have just placed for 24 single-deck four-wheel buses, and have no objection to giving you the information asked for therein, which is as follows :— " (1) The reason •we have ordered two-axle vehicles is simply because we wanted immediate delivery of any type of omnibus to help us meet a very pressing demand for local services for which we were short of spare vehicles. The fact that we have ordered four different types is sufficient proof that we were urgently in need of additional vehicles, or otherwise the order would not have been split up amongst so many firms.
" (2) The total mileage of our six-wheelers is 297,800, and we have 17 of these vehicles in operation.
"(3) All the troubles we have experienced with six-wheelers are common to the majority of new model four-wheelers and, in fact, are no worse than the troubles we have had with some of the four-wheel vehicles in our service.
"The fact that T recently issued a specification for 24 six-wheelers tends to show that I did not consider the defects in design—common, of course, to the development of any new model four, six or eightwheeler--were of a vital nature. On the other hand, they were such as to satisfy me that once they were rectified, the six-wheeler three-axle machine would have no rivals amongst ally other type of passenger vehicle on the road to-day.
"In my humble opinion, any firm advocating the latter design for passenger transport to-day must glory in being 10 years at least behind the times. Some firms, in fact, almost convince one that there must be something in heredity after all, and if so, then 'The Ark' and 'The Jungle' evidently account for a lot which passes one's comprehension.
"(Signed) J. S. D. MOFEET, General Manager."
Note.—Guy Motors, Ltd., quoted 10 weeks for deliveries of six-wheelers. "Morecambe Corporation Tramways, Tranaay Offices, Morecambe. March 26th, 1928. "In reply to your letter of the 20th inst. the following are the answers to questions you asked :— " (1) Four-wheeled buses' were recently purchased to carry 32 passengers, as we have always used four-wheeled buses for this class of work in the past. All our six-wheeled vehicles are doubledeckers.
"(2) The aggregate mileage of all our sixwheelers up to date is 239,036 miles.
"(3) We have not experienced any troubles peculiar to six-wheelers.
"(Signed) H. C. LUDGATE, General Manager."
The interesting feature of the Leyland Co.'s reference to the recent purchase of the Morecambe Corporation is the fact that they were not Leyland vehicles that were purchased.
When your readers have had an opportunity of reading through all these matters they will form their own conclusions as to the reasons for the Leyland Co.'s persistent attacks on the six-wheeler type of vehicle, which the writer can only presume is due to the rapid headway which it is making and, so far as this company is concerned, we may say that at the present time, out of 400 to 500 vehicles on order, 158 are of the six-wheeled type—mostly repeat orders—and delivery at the moment cannot be given on six-wheeled vehicles for some 10 weeks, which explains why we are not always able to secure orders for six-wheeled vehicles when urgent delivery is required.
It is also interesting to note that the four important capitals of the world operate six-wheeled buses : London.—The London Public Omnibus Co. operates Guy six-wheelers and a third repeat order has recently been placed.
New York.—The Third Avenue Railway has recently purchased an additional 62 six-wheeled buses.
Paris.—The Societe des Transports en -Commun de la Region Parisienne has a large fleet of six-wheeled buses
and after six years' experience is buying more. .
Berlin.—The Berlin General Omnibus Co. has recently purchased an additional 100 six-wheeled buses. We leave you to judge whether the Leyland Co.'s attack is justified.—Yours faithfully,
SYDNEY S. GUY, Managing Director,
Wolverhampton.7 Guy Motors, Ltd.
Expired Motor Licences.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2673] Sir,—I should like to call the attention of readers to a matter• which can hardly fail to be of general interest to them and of distinct importance to all users of motor vehicles in respect of the generally accepted concession of 14 days' grace for the renewal of a motor licence conditionally on the renewal of the licence being effected within 14 days.
Despite an explanation of the circumstances, first to the prosecuting police and subsequently to the Bench, the justices at Canterbury have supported a police case by the imposition of a film of 10s. in respect of one of our lorries not bearing a renewed licence on January 5th last, i.e., five days after expiration of licence. It has been our practice (and, I think, of thousands of motor users) to renew licences on or before the 14th day after the date of expiration. The practice is, at least, recognized by the London County Council and by the police, who have made a practice of marking with a tab any vehicle apprehended by them under these circumstances, of course to avoid possjble abuse of the 14 days' grace by non-renewal of the licence subsequently within the 14 days. Surely this is ample recognition of the practice, even if there be no absolute legal ruling to govern it.
Reported in the Kentish Mercury is a parallel case recently heard at Greenwich Police Court, when the presiding magistrate (Mr. OuRon) said:—
" I do not know why the police take proceedings in a case of a licence being ten days out of date. I never fine under 14 days. This case will be dismissed."
One is used to vagaries in the decisions of country benches. In the case which is the subject of this letter, the finding of the Canterbury justices is at direct variance with the ruling of a well-known London stipendiary magistrate. It seems -unaccountable. Possibly the clerk to the court (often the judicial guiding-star in such connections) was absent. Anyway, the issue at stake is a serious one tq all motor users. Incidentally, if hundreds of thousands of motorists or motor users or owners simultaneously insisted on licence renewal absolutely on an expiration date,, the ever-courteous staff of the London County Council (Room 191, etc.) would, for a change, have a more than all-night job!
Anyway, the divergence of opinion between the Canterbury Bench and a London stipendiary magistrate involves an issue of vital seriousness to all motor users, and expression of the circumstances of the matter in your columns (invaluable to the commercial motor community) will probably be of general interest.
—Yours faithfully, C. A. WHITE. Managing Director of C. A. White, Ltd., Road Transport Contractors and Engineers.
Straightsmouth, Greenwich,
The Petrol Tax.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2674] Sir,—With the editorial permission I will give my opinion about the petrol tax. I am the ownerdriver of a 30-cwt. lorry, which under the present system is taxed at £40 per annum [obviously weighing over 2 tons unladen.—En. C.M.]. Perhaps Mr. H. C. France (whose letter appeared in The Commercial Motor for April 10th, 1928) can satisfy me as to the justice or fairness of taxing my 30-cwt. vehicle at the same rate as hundreds of 3-ton machines and, I believe, in some cases 4-ton machines. Then, again, there is a certain make of 1-ton lorry which is taxed at £16. I can carry half as much again, but must pay 21times his tax. In my opinion the petrol tax is the only fair way ; then the man who is doing the work and using the roads is paying his fair share. As regards a petrol tax being a handicap to the trade I believe it would be an asset to it. I think Mr. France's remarks about poor week-enders are rather selfish.—Yours faithfully,
Chesterfield. ARTHUR GREAVES.
[We doubt whether Mr. Greaves will be so enthusiastic now that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has imposed the petrol tax in addition to the licence duties, which in themselves already constitute a sufficient tax upon industry.—En. CM.]
Comfort and the Air Cushion.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2675] Sir.—We have read with interest your article on "Comfort in Modern Passenger Vehicles" in a recent special number of The Commercial Motor, but we miss any reference to the latest and, we venture to think, a most important improvement in the direction of comfort. We refer to pneumatic cushions.
You refer to the importance of pneumatic tyres for passenger vehicles, and your writer is no doubt aware of the difficulties in connection with pneumatic tyres for this purpose. He may perhaps have heard drivers of long-distance vehicles sighing for a job on a solidtyredbus. They must sigh in vain, for there is no doubt that the public demands and will have pneumatic c44
tyres. In a very short time they will demand, in just the same way, pneumatic cushions.
No form of metal-sprung upholstery can give the comfort of an air cushion. With a metal-cushion spring there is always a rebound which is just as distressing as the original jolt, whereas with a well-designed pneumatic cushion there is no rebound whatever. Such a cushion fitted to a char-k-bancs or long-distance coach entirely prevents the headache and fatigue which are all too frequent with passengers on these vehicles.
You speak of the "suspension millennium" and we have not the slightest doubt that progress towards this will be on pneumatic lines.
We refer above to a "well-designed pneumatic cushion," which is, of courSe, of supreme importance. Our Moseley Float-on-Air patent construction has been proved to lie far more efficient than any other type of air cushion andwe have ample proof that it will carry out all that we have claimed above for superiority of air cushions over springs.—Yours faithfully, Manchester. DAVID MOSELEY AND SONS, LTD.
Replacing Metal on Worn Parts.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2676] Sir,—In a recent issue of The Commercial Motor there was published a contribution from " J.W.T.," of Runcorn, re "Recovering Lost Power in an Old Engine," in which he stated, "To have had the cams built up by welding might only have meant that the trouble would soon occur again, as the metal built up would probably have been soft, and he would have had trouble in straightening the shaft after welding."
I might say that I have for some time been building up worn cams with dead hard steel and grinding to original contour for the leading bus companies of London and have had no complaints. With my method there is no distortion of the shaft whatever.
I should also like to draw attention to my process for the building up of worn parts to their original dimensions, which I am sure will be of interest to some of your readers. When a brake camshaft is worn it is generally thrown on the scrap-heap, whereas it is possible and thoroughly practical to have it rebuilt to its original dimensions by my process for a comparatively small sum.
In the case of a concern using a large number of vehicles, it is obvious that a vast saving would be effected in the course of 12 months if rebuilding of parts were adopted.—Yours faithfully, C. L. JONES.
Islington, London, N.
The Importance of Filtering the Air.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2677] Sir,—Whilst we are generally in agreement with the views expressed by Messrs. C. J. Vokes and Co. in the issue of The Commercial Motor for April 10th on the subject of filtering and cleaning air, we believe that the vital purpose of any air-cleaner is the removal of mineral matter from the air inspired by the engine.
That there is vegetable—and animal—matter present in the air is certain, but none of this is abrasive, and, moreover, it is readily consumed by the burning gases in the cylinders.
Indeed, one is tempted to say that light vegetable and animal matter is better drawn into the cylinders and consumed than deposited upon filtering surfaces— which are only too readily choked.
Our opinion is that cleaners of the centrifugal type, and more particularly the mechanical-centrifugal type, effectively discharge all material of appreciably greater specific gravity than air, and all abrasive material certainly comes under this category. We think it will not be long ere all commercial-vehicle users come to realize that cleanliness of petrol, oil and air are all desirable, and of air, not the least because it is used in such considerable volume.—YoUrs faithfully, BERTRAM C. JOY, M.I.A.E., A.M.LMech.E. Simms Motor Units, Ltd.