Answers to Queries.
Page 20
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Yet Another Lock-nut.
[4077] (Patentee).—We regret we cannot add our testimony to that of our contemporaries as concerning your patent lock-nut. It does not appear to us to be so good as one or two others which are already on the market. We should say that for accurate workmanship it would be anything but a cheap article to make, and the pins as drawn by you are too small to be of any real and consistent service. The design would not appear. to be applicable for nuts or bolts of less than one-inch diameter; otherwise the parts would be altogether too small.
Keen On Agrimotors.
[4078] (Sussex).—The Ford tractor is not yet sold in this country, and it is not likely that it will be for some time. Information about agricultural, tractors in a general way appears in this journal from time to time, whenever anything likely to be of interest is available. We are always pleased to answer specific questions concerning their use. We have mailed direct a reprint of the agricultural portion of our Show issue of 29th June of this year, which may be useful to you, whilst it will at the same time give the names andaddresses of makers of such machines, for which information you ask.
Another User Who Has Never Drawn the 3d. a Gallon Petrol Rebate.
f4079] (Oxon).—In order to get a rebate on any petrol which is used for a commercial vehicle you must at the time of making the purchase obtltin a certificate from the people who sell to you that it has paid the full duty of 6d. per gallon. If you buy it from one of the $ petrol-importing companies, the certificate is at the foot of the invoice-: if it is bought at a garage, you had better have a supply of our petrol-rebate forms, costing is. per 100 forms, and let your men make use of them. You have then periodically, say every three months, to apply to the local Officer, of Excise for a form of return to which form of return you must attach vouchers showing that full duty was paid. This form of return is in fact the one on which you claim back the 3d. per gallon, and over which there is usually no difficulty whatever as regards payment. Claims cannot go back for more than six months.
Using a Hupmobile Van to Deliver Bread, Groceries, Etc., to Private Housgs.
[4080] (Petrol Shortage).—We note that you have been allotted 26 gallons a month, and that you wanted 85', a month. Your case is only one of hundreds. which have keen "turned down. " by the Petol Control Committee. We recommend you to run on some kind of petrol substitute, as an auxiliary, whieh you are,now free to do, without int6rruption by the police or anybody else. Other users have succeeded in working with ' P9trofine," but there are, of course, many substitutes. On what grounds can you apply toTthe Petrol Control Committee for special treatment? Are you doing any Army or military work ? If you are merely delivering to private houses, you will not get'inuch sympathy, as at a time of war like the present the majority of individual consumers are supposed to collect their own parcels. The Petrol Control Committee did intimate that it hoped to give 85' Der cent, of the declared requirements of June lasti but it was subsequently found, as. has been fully treated in our pages, that it was impossible to do so. We cannot give you any assistance without proof that your case is one of hardship in relation to national service. While sympathizing with you, we can only repeat that there are thousands of-instances like it,"and that everybody is finding that they must increasingly put up with inconveniences.
R58 Two Tons on a Pneumatic-tired Trailer.
[4081] (N.W.).—It is usually impossible to carry two tons on pneumatic tires commercially. Of course, such trailers may be used for military purposes, apart from ordinary commercial considerations. The law in respect of any trailer which weighs more than 2 cwt. unladen is (a) that it must be fitted with brakes (h) that it must not be used to carry passengers, if drawn behind a heavy motorcar, and (c) that the speed Must Lot exceed 5 m.p.h. Most of these regulations are, we find, in practice, not observed.
Char.-w-bancs Costs.
[4082] (Surrey).—We have mailed a sheet of working costs which should be of help to you, and you had better, under existing conditions, take the cost for a five-ton 'vehicle as applicable to a char-a-bancs, except that the tires should not be more than 2d. per mile. , You may, however, have to add id. per mile on to the cost of the petrol. You apply to the clerk of the Town Council for a hackney-carriage licence, costing 15s. per annum, and you additionally have to pay £3 3s. per annum tax under the Motor Car Act of 1896. The issues of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR which specially dealt with chars-aabancs all appeared before the outbreak of war, and they are out of print. If your tires are of sufficient dimensions, you should certainly get anything between 7000 and 10,000 miles out of them. Each driver must hold a driver's licence, costing 5s. per annum.
Driving a Pump for Fire-Brigade Service from the Back Axle of a Motor Lorry.
[4083] (Local).—It is possible to purchase a suitable pump to act temporarily in. place of a fire-engine, and to "carry on" until such time as the main'engine arrives. The rear axle is not a convenient place from which to take off a drive for a pump which would act temporarily in place of a fire-engine. You would be
better able to arrangeto have one driven from the front end of the gearbox, the pump itself being situated at the near side of the chassis on a level with the driver's seat. This is the position taken by the pump on the Straker-Squire street-cleaning machine which we, described in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR of the .24th August. With the pump in that position, you could run up to the scene of the fire and throw the pumpdrive mechanism into gear, while the main gears in the box were in neutral position. We see no reason why a satisfactory jobcould not be made of an arrangement on these lines. Objections to driving from the rear axle are: (1) that you would not be able to find a convenient position which the pump could occupy ; (2) it would be necessary first Qf all to run to the scene of the fire, then to jack up the back axle, and finally to couple, by rope or belt, between the tires, the road wheel to the pump ; (3) it might be difficult to arrange without excessive overhang. If you consider on the one hand the time takIrn to perform the various operations which we have outlined, jacking up rear axle, putting on rope, and getting the pump running, and, on the other hand, the time taken for a modern high-power fire-engine to run a comparatively short distance of six miles, you will see the force of our argument. Any local but reliable engineering firm could no doubt execute the work of adding a pump tea strong commercial-vehicle chassis. The owner of the chassis would have to reconcile himself to carrying the additional weight of the pump permanently on his vehicle ; that, of course, you must realize. There is no doubt that if the proposed arrangement is to serve any useful purpose the pump must be permanently attached to the chassis ; otherwise, the work necessary in such a ease, will consume as much time as would be taken up by the large engine six miles away to traverse that distance.