CYCLE AND MOTOR NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 41, 11 October 1912, Page 6

CYCLE AND MOTOR NOTES.

The Pekin-Paris aeroplane flight for which a prize lias been offered by the Paris Matin has inspired English aviators with the project of arranging a flight from London to India, and a committee has been organised in London to push the scheme. The proposed route is across Germany to Vienna, thence hy way of the Shipka Pass and Adrianoplo to Constantinople, then along the route of the Anatolia Kailway to Aleppo, thence to Bagdad, thence along the shores of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea to Karachi, a total distance of 4500 miles. For several years past engineers have spent considerable time and mon-

cy in an endeavour to discover a really practical, and at the same time, much cheaper substitute, for petrol as a fuel for cars and motor bicycles. Until quite recently their labours have not met with any real success, chiefly ow ing to the difficulty of thoroughly vaporising paraffin, and also in the eliminating of an excessive amount of carbon deposit. Another drawback to the devices experimented with in the past was their excessive size and general cumbersomeness. According to “Motor Cycling” (Eng.), an entirely new design of vaporiser has been patented and marketed in England, which is claimed to have entirely solved the problem of thoroughly vaporising paraffin oil, and of preventing the formation of an excessive amount of carbon deposit. Another advantage which is supposed to have been obtained by the use of this device is that, owing to the necessity of lowering the compression ratio of the engine, the machine is made considerably more flexible, whilst a striking proof that the efficiency of the engine is impaired little, if at all, is the fact that the single cylinder touring motor bicycle, on which it has been tried, has been found capable of a speed of 55 miles per hour, without any preliminary timing up. Add to these advantages the reduced price of the fuel and the prospects of using paraffin for the production of power on motor bicycles seem much more attractive than hitherto.