MOTORING AFTER THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1917, Page 6

MOTORING AFTER THE WAR.

It may Tjo recalled that before the war nmmifactuvors were wont to empty special steels for making ears solely for competition : purposes. There nie, however, a hundred and one reasons why they could not standardise ongnes of high output l>.;n, among thein l.eing the fait that the very specia l guide steels of which they must be fashioned were not commercially available. Again, the rank and file of each factory stall' was not educated to such highly specialised work. But the demand.-: of war have compelled one motor maker after another to produce engines of more or less high output for aviation work. The original British designs that have proved practical are few in number, a remark which applies equally to the cas.'s, of France or of tiermany, for instance; but manufacturers are nevertheless gaining enormous exjercnce because many who are unable to make high-powered aircraft engine; (■{ their own t-esigning are reproducing tlicm from designs evolved elsewhere Tlie differences between war and peace work for engines of high output is this. I.lml in peace time the individual manufacturer reproduces a few examples for competition woik under what may be ■s'jied more or loss nursery conditions i« that the cream of his staff or meclia;ucs is in constant attendance on them, whereas ill war time engines fll high output have to be standardised precisely as do those of touring cais. and issued to the service, whereupon they are placed in charge of those who, for the most part, had never anything to do with this class of engineering construction before the war. Hence, experience is being gained on an immense scale. There remains the question of price. The war has put an amazing premium 011 increase of steel production The point that matters in this particular connection is that, alike in t'lis country and of any of the lig engineering nations, post-war steel production capacity will he enormously in excess' of normal requirements, as distinct from those of the brief reeonstmction rush period. Steel makers will find themselves in very keen competition one with another. Those who v 511 succeed in filling their order books will be the firms which will commercial isc. higher and yet higher glades 4>i siiel. Of course, the way to make a littler motor carriage is not merely to employ finer materials than hitherto --the possibilities of these materials must be realised to the full by utilising tl.eni with worthy designs. Probably by concentration 011 one model per factory, and so forth, as far as the lowcrpr'icil ears of ordinary design are concerned, 110 radical change will be witnessed for a time. They will be more completely equipped for less money. But as regards higher-grade production, ineliding the mat-er of power for weight, we shall see starting!)' fresh things in car design because the weight problem will be attacked to the saving of tvre< and petrol. You will be able to maintarn a motor or more cheaply, as well as find it more pleasurable to use, because it will he more flexible, and so forth. Certainly we shall see the more and more efficient overhead valve engir ? standardised for private car practice with four valves per cylinder, the whole properly silenced. The cylinder castings, as well as the axles and the longitudinal frame members of the car, for instance, will be made of the finest prude steels of the latest aluminium alloys to save weight. Lightness with commodiousnoss has not been attempted yet. Progress in this direction u ill lead us, unconsciously or otherwise,' to realise that quality which itoi:r childhood's days we associated with the Damascus blade. We must utilise the elasticity of modern metals more and more. The automobile industry in ]!i.:ropo must sull'er permanently lis cause the war iias enabled the American industry to develop to an unmatcholi'e magnitude. But America has n;t yet produced engines of really high oui put in the sense which obtains to-day. Moreover, any engineer who has studied aluminium alloy construction worktake the girder framework of a Zeppeliu —will be aware tljat, apart from n.'n als, there is the opportunity to cmp'.ov design and workmanship in making ears that will be feather-weight? compared with what we know now. Y/liv have springs weighting over a hundredweight apiece '• you can build a long, light frame to absorb the shocks Of course, the fear will be that, the price of such a vehicle must be beyond the purchasing power of the public. That is not so, for there remains always a sufficient proportion of the public which is ready to buy tlu new and the much more than ordinarily gi.od thing for whatever price it is necessary to charge for it. Hitherto, mi matter what class of car we ride in we have at least five hundredweight of machinery for each individual conveyed After the war we may expect the best examples to scale two and a-half hundredweight of machinery per person carried as 0. start towards seriously attacking the problem of motor\'tliicle weight. In less than five years fvcm the time peace is concluded ive shall regard the motor vehicle of to-day as a heavy-weight, even as twenty Mars ago the law regarded the slow. v<cr,k, little motor carriage that pion<Ted' l the world industry of to-day as 1 "locomotive."