MOTOR AND CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1922, Page 11

MOTOR AND CYCLE.

NEWS AND NOTES. CHEAP MOTOR FUEL. Writing in the Autocar (England) a contributor says we should place no obstacles in the way of a cheap motor fuel; its production should be encouraged in every way. How long, for instance, will it be before we are allowed to use power alcohol for our internal combustion engines? Commission after coinmission has sat on the question; ail reports have been satisfactory, while in other countries power alcohol as a motor fuel is an accomplished fact. Here only immortaj “Dilly and Dally” prevent us eyen from moving in the matter. Some of the Dominions are carrying on with it where petrol is unobtainable; Germany knows its value in the East Indies and in India its use is too common to excite comment, while the cultivation of crops necessary for its production and preparation would, as one of its effects, give new life to agriculture; and power alcohol can be made to do everything that at present we have to rely on expensive motor spirit controlled by monopolists to do for us. MARKETING MOTOR CYCLES. According to the following statement appearing in tjie Automotive Industries (U.S.A.), it would seem that the marketing of motor-cycles in that country is exercising the minds of sales managers and financial ex-perts. The statement read:—“We strive to reach a field of dignified clean-out riders. To do so we educate them in terms of exalted speed and dare-devil exploits of track burners. We bemoan the evidence of public disfavor, and to remove it we increase the burden by eternally shouting speed, speed and more speed!” In Great Britain and in this country the motor-cycle has taken its place in all spheres of utility, and speed is not the chief factor. SCREW THREAD STANDARDS.

As is well known, various standards for screw threads exist, and it seems to be a matter entirely for the preference of the manufacturer as to which standard shall/be adopted for his productions. The result is that garages and repair shops are forced to carry a large stock of nuts and bolts of various sizes and various threads; but even so it often happens that a motorist who has experienced trivial mechanical trouble on the road is unable readily to obtain the necessary replacement though it be such a simple affair as a mere bolt or nut. The matter goes a stage further on some cars for it is not unknown for screw threads of two different standards to be employed on the same car. Another point in the same connection which deserves mention is the large number of different-sized nuts and bolts that are used on the same chassis, when quite easily but two or three sizes would be sufficient. This of course, that the owner of such a car must carry with him a tool kit which is bulkier than it would need to be were but two or three sizes employed, for the number of spanners necessary will often depend upon the number of sizes of nuts and’bolts. Much has been heard of late of standardising various components of the car, but there is great need for it to be applied to screw heads in connection with automobile production, and, moreover, on an international basis, for care of almost all kinds are to be found in almost all countries.

THE FIRST PNEUMATIC TYRE. Mr. J. B. Dunlop, inventor of the pneumatic tyre, died, as may be remembered, in October last, but it is a long way back from that date to the day when the pneumatic tyre was first used in a cycle race. It was the Belfast (Ireland) college sports in May, 1888, and Mr. Dunlop had a certain “Bill” Hume, the best of the local riders, to use a machine shod with the new tyres. Among the contestants in that historic race were the Ducros brothers, all champion riders, and one of the spectators was Air. Harvey Ducros, their father, who became the first chairman of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. The chance of the local talent was laughed at among such competitors, and poor “Bill'’ Hume was greeted with shouts of good humored ridicule as he rode round the ground with his clumsy “rag and rubber'’ tyres. The race was of four laps, and for the first lap Hume kept modestly and discreetly in the rear. The laughter swelled into a storm. “Go it, old mud cart!” echoed and re-echoed from the crowded course as he went by.

“No wonder that his mare is in foal!” shouted a wag, and the joke was bandied about amid shouts of laughter. But at the second round Hume, who was still going well and strong, began to creep past the hindmost competitors, and the ridicule gave place to surprise. When the third round was over only the flyers were in front of him. The bell rang for the final lap, and slowly and surely he drew nearer to the leaders.’ Surprise in turn gave place to excitement and enthusiasm. Two hundred yards from home, with a sudden and powerful spurt, Hume reached and passed the front men almost as though they, were standing still, and won by a clear sixty yards, amid such thunders of applause as were never heard on the college grounds before or since. Presently a cry went up from all on the ground for the inventor of the wonderful tyre, and poor, shy Mr. Dunlop was sought and found in his retirement, and was brought forward, blushing, amid uproarious applause, to the centre of a select circle, to whom he was induced to explain the principle of his invention. There were four bicycle contests that day—three for racers and one for roatlsters—and “Bill” Hume on the “rag and rubber” tyre won them all! The triumph of the invention was complete.

It was the prelude to further triumphs in Ireland and subsequently in England.

The rapid expansion of life insurance iji New Zealand has continued during recent years, and, according to official statistics just published at the end of 1920 the policies in force, both ordinary and industrial, amountetj to £58,503,973. Compared with the returns for 1910. these figures show an increase in the sum assured of G 5 per cent., while the number of policies in force, 338,690, has increased by 08 per cent. In the same period the population has grown by about 20 per cent. The total sum for 1920 -was larger by than that assured at the end of 1919. this increase beiiig a record. Indeed, the life insurance un(lertaken by New Zealanders in the tjiree years 1918, 1919 and 1920, increased the total amount by £12,086,465, :i larger increase than that for the preceding seven years. Premiums paid in 1920 amounted to £2,013,804.