MOTORS AND MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2312, 20 November 1914, Page 9

MOTORS AND MOTORING

Lessons of the War,

Tie Bi4tish motor industry is likely to benefit immensely by the experience in motor traction gained during the war. Reviewing the position in the London "Morning Post/' Mr. H, Massac Buist writes:—"Thus early the war is producing lessons of the utmo3t value concerning the comparatively now arm of mechanical transport. We have sent to the front proportionately very large numbers of motor vehicles, each of which' left this country in. first-class condition. Nearly all of those employed for transport were of the character that comes under the Government subsidy scheme. Yet already tho manner m which _ motor vehicles of all sorts are breaking up at the front is appalling. It must be borne in mind that, so far as the British forces have' beenconcerned, the campaign has been praotically entirely over a country possessing good road systems, albeit the surfaces are not of what the foreigners call the billiard-table British type. They are surfaces, nevertheless, incomparably better than will be found either in Russia •or on our Dominions overseas. It, therefore, behoves us to investigate the cduses of this heavy war wastage of mechanical transport, with a view to the motor industry profiting by it, for with this problem is bound up incidentally that of our producing the necessary types of commercial' motor vehicles to enable the horee to he permanently, satisfactorily, and economically superseded for commercial and industrial haulage work.

Standardisation Essential. "It is satisfactory to be able,to record that to date a very high proportion of the vehicles that have fallen out of service with the British forces in Franco have done so for quite trifling reasons. Some_ little thing has gone wrong. The machine being but one type among a wide variety, employed, there bas been no opportunity to replace the Bmall part that lias failed, therefore the venicle has perforce had to be scrapped, though a part weighing only a pound or two, costing perhaps a few shillings or even a few pence, is the sole cause of the trouble. This means that from the point of view of the authorities the first and important lesson of mechanical transport in connection with tliis war ia the need of absolute standardisation of types, particularly as regards intcrchangeability of parts. The , great trouble of the user concerning the British motor industry, considered as a whole, is that its talent is essentiallyindividual. It is as well that wo should have an individual, or, as it were, a national genius .in automobile engineering, as in other matters; but from the strictly utilitarian point, of view wo are prone to carry the idea too far. Every, manufacturer exploits his individuality to the utmost, and seems to consider it a crime that be should produce a single part of any machine that could by chance bo used in common by a maker of any other vehicle. The result is that not only for every make, but actually for every model of motor vehicle produced in this country and employed in such operations as tnoso of active ser--vice conditions,' vou require to have an entirely independent set of spare, parts and equipment. From the campaigning point of view, of course, this is absolutely impracticable, so much so, indeed, that it is the occasion of our ■greatest loss of. motor vehicles in the expedition to date. There will be no repetition of this troublo in future campaigns. Tho motor manufacturer who. jvill not produce something more or loss in common with his fellows, will find little or 110 market for his wares. Tho ■value of mechanioal transport has been demonstrated to .such an extent'in -this- ■ campaign already 'that it must become, a branch of the Services of . vastly increased importance after this' war,, which has found it thoroughly practical in that its only points of failure revealed to date are, happily, such as! can be overcome quite well in the light of present knowledge." '

Hardier Maohines Neoded. • "Of course,' the manufacturer will say on all occasions that'llo machinewas ever designed to be abused in such fashion as obtains at the front. The answer is every; time that if he cannot design and build to .withstand such strains other folk can and do. In this war British-built cars have ifot been, put to any class of work that, does not constitute .the ordinary and everyday conditions of'service away from the big cities_ in the United States_ of America and in our overseas Dominions. The waf will, therefore, produce valuable results in-the matter o'f causing us to manufacture hardier machines. Our record to date is that through our comparatively good roads and our native engineering genius, we have produced the most'refined motor vehicles of all classes in the world. But we have not produced the hardiest. At present the hardiest are, as a rule, the most coarse. But when put to it the British motor engineer has proved lie' can overcome so many difficulties that there is no reason to doubt his attaining complete success .when he studies first-hand the actual causes of failure in the machines under active service'conditions through weakness, without, v on the other hand, sacrificing one whit of the refinement' in the vehicle. Indeed; that refinement, which he knows so well how to achieve, in itself saves a deal of wear and tear. It is merely that ■ the conditions of home work are so easy comparatively that they do not demonstrate at the manufacturer's own door the necessity 'for producing a hairdier type of vehicle for service elsewhere. Such of our motor engineers and manufacturers as may be experiencing rather slack times at the present juncture could not do better than take the opportunity to travel about tho world, particularly in countries where roads have scarcely been brought into being, and find out why it is that users of British chassis in Australia invariably carry spare springs with them, and so forth. There is no need why they should do so'if the British designer and manufacturer would but Remember that the conditions . of service that obtain at Home are not reproduced iu every quarter of the world where lie' desires to trade." .

1 | America's Motor-cars, Among the interesting figures brought out at the annual meeting of the American Bankers' Association by Mr.'W. Livingstone, of Detroit, an ex-president of the association, was the fact that there are 1,400,000 cars in use in the United-States, with an approximate figure of 450,000 cars as a production for the next twelve months to bo sold by 15,500 automobile dealers. Mr. Livingstone, who delivered an address on the automobile industry, Baid there were 13,630 garages; 1280 repair shops, and 680 suppjy bouses. There ar0',450 listed manufacturers of motor vehicles, including 170. making gasolene pleasure cars, 245 garoleno commercail cars, 77 cycle cars, 2i motor firo apparatus, 18 electric pleasure ears, 24 electric commercial vehicles. The address sliowed that exports last year were 34,500,000 dol., li'hich, of course, is materially disturbed by tho foreign war; that 47 per cent, of tlie cost of an automobile is in the labour;'that future markets lie not alone in the farming districts and the middle classes, wlio can afford the low-maintenance post of the presentday models, but that tho foreign countries must buy. a large number of cars in tlio future. 250,000 Motocs in tlis War, It is estimated by the "Petroleum Review" that no fewer than a quarter of a million^motor vehicles are now in actual service iji tho theatre of tho Euro-

[Bi Clutch.]

pean war. The French army alone has no fewer riiaa 80,000 motor vehicles — passenger cars and heavy vehicles —on actual, service, and this great number is continuously being 'added , to. According Mr. E. Lascaris, of the De »ion Bouton Company,, the French army to-day only uses horses in. its cavalry, the army officers utilising highpowered touring cars, the supply trains carrying provisions and munitions of war to tlio front being made up entirely of automobile trucks. In fact, the French Government attaches such immense' importance to this 'aspect of transport that it has taken control of practically all the French automobile factories, which are now working day and night-. The British Army in the field is depending upon automobiles entirely for transport and dispatch-carrying services, and. though at the time of writEngland possesses nothing like the number of motor vehicles used by the French armies, it may bo taken for granted that it already has on the field over 15,000 such motor-driven vehicles. Russia :s somewhat behind England in the numbor of mechanically-propelled vehicles used in connection with its military service, but even here reliable reports estimate that Russia has now at' its command nearly 10,000 motor ve-' hides of various types. In the case of Germany, that country is particularly well equipped with mo tic vehicles, -and if the figures were placed at nearly 100,000, the actual facts would not be exaggerated. Meeting Dazzling Head Lights.

Irobably ono of'the greatest dangers of night-driving is caused by meeting the glare, produced by modern powerful head-lights. On some people (says the "Light . Car") it 'exercises a me3raeno attraction akin to that of the candle on the moth, or that of any road traffic upon the cycling novice. Every driver realises, the unpleasant possibilities of collision' 011 emerging suddenly from a brightly illuminated "field" into •xunparatively Stygian darkness once more, because the pupil of the eye, which bad contrarted during the period when it had been facing the bright light, can adapt itself by dilating, only slowly to the succeeding conditions. It should bo a regular plan wi'jn all who drive by night to scan the road ahead carefully during the period- when it is well illuminated, as thereby the risk of collision can be minimised. In addition, if a cap with a long peak be worn, it. is posible to save the eyes from the effects of the direct glare, which has such a paralysing effect. Sonin people find a distinct amelioration ill closing the right eye while the two cars are passing, under the impression, probably correctly, that on reopening it it lias already become dilated, and is therefore better able to adapt, itself to the darkness.

Here and There. ■ Legal lighting-up time for motor-cars and motor-cycles:—To-day, 7.7 p.m.; next Friday, 7.17 p.m. The petroleum export'trade of the United States reached a new record for July, when over 230,000,000 gallcins of various petroleum products, were shipped abroad, tho previous record attained last April being exceeded' by over 10,000,000 gallons. Taking the total export' movement for the seven months of the calendar year, the figures reach the unparalleled quantity of 1,348,000,000 i gallons, or ovor 215,000,000 gallons in excess of thoso shipped for the seven months of the preceding year. It would bo interesting to ; learn what quantity of tho extra exports found its way into Germany. • - It is reported that all the motor-car factories in Germany are now under the control of the' military authorities of that country. Over 3000 drivers and conductors employed by the London General Omnibus Co. are now engaged driving motor vehicles With the British Expeditionary Forces in France and Belgium, It appears that in the early stage of the war, during the retreat of the British and French forces from ,Moris down to Amiens, upwards of 100 English motor lorries and contents had to be destroyed to prevent their falling into the bands of the enemy. Drastic as such a course was, it was better than making the Germans a present of such a large number of valuable vehicles and munitions of war. Tho wastage has since been made good—in fact, many of the leading English motor manufacturers are now working' day and night making lorries for Russia and France. There are indications, 6ays the New York "Post," thai motor-cars of- high power and speed, which were once favourably regarded by American purchasers, are losing popularity in favour of light, easily handled, and economically operated cars of comparatively low power and moderate sped. This tendency also has been marked in Europe for several years, wliere the small light four-cylinder car ia now tho favourite typo.