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C-licensees to Be Hauliers?
WILL C-licensees buy transport units and engage " in road haulage for 'hire or reward? This question arose during the committee .stage of the Transport Bill in the House of Commons,
recently. Mr. James Callaghan said he had been approached by a large C-licence operator for his views on the prospect of purchasing vehicles as a transport unit and working them in conjunction with the company's other business. Such an arrangement, said Mr. Callaghan; would be. most profitable for the operator, who believed that empty running on one part of the journey would be avoided. • Mr. Callaghan made this observation after the Minister of Transport had explained that anyone . buying a transport unit would be obliged to continue to operate for hire or reward, and that C-licensees wishing to purchase from the British Transport Commission types of vehicle that were scarce would not be allowed to deprive traders generally of haulage services.
Nevertheless, Mr. Callaghan has opened up an interesting subject for speculation.
A Sitelcy Problem
NATURE employed adhesives long before the advent of man; flies use such material for walking on the ceiling, and in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms Sticky secretions are employed for trapping live food. Insects, such as the bee, use adhesives for sealing purposes. Man has employed glues for hundreds of years, but only comparatively recently have attempts been made to understand the principles of adhesion and use such knowledge in developing more efficient materials in this field. Even now, however, most problems of adhesion have to be solved by a process of trial and error, but considerable progress is being made.
The employment of suitable adhesive enters very largely into the construction and repair of motor vehicles, and particularly in coachbuilding. Synthetic resins of a large variety of types are displacing the natural products, but one of the most generally employed types at present is based on natural rubber. This material, with its unique elastic properties, forms the basis of a whole range of adhesives. These can be used cold, are easy to handle, and give the bend A26
permanent resistance to vibration, changes in temperature and variations of humidity. They are also economical.
In this connection, the Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., has issued a most informative booklet dealing partieulady with the use of rubber adhesives in our industry. It can be obtained from Dunlop Special Products, Ltd., Fort Dunlop, or from the parent company at St. James's House, St. James's Street, London, S.W.1.
No Medals—By Request
DID anybody notice how clean and bright the buses looked during the day following the great blackout? When the fog cleared, London's streets presented a sorry sight; vehicles were abandoned at queer angles all over the place. Some were parked earefull,y against islands in the centre of .the road, the drivers having clearly lost all idea of their location. Others were at right angles to the pavement. All looked as if they had been painted with lamp black. How 'smart, in contrast were the buses, which, in the main, shone in their usual manner, a real tribute to the organization behind them.
Another bouquet must go to the drivers of milk tankers, for example, Who persisted despite almost impossible conditions and, even when visibility was
quite literally nil, reached their destinations. Of course, without railways and especially underground railways, London would have been completely at a standstill. Nevertheless, milk, vegetables,, fish and meat, typical of the commodities reaching London in large quantities each day, are Useless if they are left at the main railway terminals. The paralyzing fog' once again proved how vital road transport is to the life of any community.
Anglo-Iranian on the Screen
FIVE excellent films about the activities of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., Ltd., were shown in London recently. One of them was a Technicolor record of life in the Persian oilfields and in Abadan, whilst another, largely composed of shots taken 40-50 years ago, traced the achievement of the early pioneers in that country.
The most striking film showed how an oil-well fire was extinguished. The spectacular shots included one of half-a-mile of steel pipe being blasted into the air when a load of gelignite was exploded to localize the flame. The world-wide operations of the company formed the subject of a further film: there was also an amusing, yet informative, cartoon describing the construction of ocean-going tankers.
Some Cab Improvements
nPERATORS abroad have experienced much trouble with some drivers' cabs; this is obviated in the Morris-Commercial design in which, although the two mounting points at the front are spaced wide apart, those at the rear are as near as practicably possible to the chassis centre. They are all of the rubber type, and although restricted in movement to prevent bounce, provide good insulation against road shocks and vibration, whilst allowing for chassis distortion. Incidentally, except in full-forward-control models, the company does not believe in housing any part of the engine within the cab, and the changespeed lever, although centrally positioned, does not restrict the driver from leaving on the opposite side. An enclosed step makes it safer to alight in wet or snowy weather.
Simplicity Mocks Complexity
SOME of the problems which occupy the attention of engineers these days are often capable of solution in quite simple ways. For example, the varying demands made by long-distance express coach passengers in respect of radio installations have been a real problem to many operators and certainly to the manufacturers of coach radio. Should there be individual loudspeakers or not? Who should decide when and what to hear?
An engineer operating a fleet of vehicles equipped with radio, which he said was rarely used because of the few occasions when unanimity of choice could be ensured among the passengers, feels that the answer is simply to provide ear-phones for those passengers who would like te listen to any particular programme.
This may seem an untidy solution to the problem, but it has much to commend it. Modern types of ear-phones are less cumbrous than the old-fashioned type; moreover, when wearing them, the passenger listening to a programme would 6e less likely to be disturbed by extraneous noises. It is an idea which would be worth trying out,