MOTOR NOTES.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 6, 1 April 1907, Page 223

MOTOR NOTES.

By " Accumulator."

On two occasions lately the Ford 4-cyhnder runabout has gone over the Rimutaka on the high gear, and the representative claims the car will do this whenever asked. *** * * * The local agents for Dennis 'buses, whose worm drive has proved so successful, report receiving advice that Messrs. Dennis Brothers are now converting a number of Messrs. Tilhng's MilnesDaimler buses to worm gear back axles. * * *• '! * t An English motorist keeps in his motor house a pair of planks, 11x3 inches, planed smooth and varnished, on to which the wheels aie run. The advantages of these planks are that the tyres never stand in oil, and the floor of the motor house is easier to keep clean. ****** Attention has been pointedly directed to the fact that only 22 people were killed by motor vehicles, including motor omnibuses, during the last year in the Metropolis (London) compared with 110 who came by their death through accidents due to horsedrawn carts, vans, and buses. *****•). The Automobile Company of N.Z. Ltd. report that within the last few weeks they have delivered to various clients throughout the colony, sixteen of the Ford model " N " 4-cyhnder , 15-h.p. runabouts, and that they will be pleased to supply a list of the owners, for reference as to the merits of the car, to any prospective buyer. ****** Recently a canvass of motor car owners of New York city alone showed that out of some 10,000 addresses fully 1,000 were wrong, indicating that the owners were only temporary residents when they took out their licence. That mean 0 quite a loss in stamps and literature, as letters are of ttimes used by automobile concerns and others in trying to reach automobihsts direct by letter. ****** The farmers in some districts in England claim that owing to the fact that the dust raised by the motor cars settles upon the grass, it now takes a man two days to cut an acre with a scythe, whereas it only took one day before motor cars came into existence. The dust so dulls the edge of the scythe, it is claimed, that very frequent sharpening is necessary, and much time is wasted. *** * * * We are asked to notify motonsts that the Automobile Co. of NZ., Ltd are carrying stocks of " Neverout," gas headlights and searchlights, lamps and generators, Veher Courier, Tube Bis and Rival

Parade horns, Lowtons' foot-power horn bloweis, Barrett jacks, aluminium " Stitch-m-time " and " Pig " vulcanisers, pocket voltometers, gradometers, M& M acid cure repair outfits, Rubstitute motor soap, &c , &c. ****** The Circuit dcs Ardennes — the most sportingly conducted speed event on the Continent — was decided on August 13th, over the usual classic course in Belgium, and fell to Duray on a 120 h p De Dietrich at an a\ erage speed of sixty-six milesper hour, including all stops for replenishment and tyre changes-four and three-quarter miles faster than the Renault in the Sarthe event. Hannot's Darracq was second, and a De Dietrich finished third and fifth ***•).** At the end of last December it was announced that Mr Edge had taken the Brooklands motor track at Weybrulge, for the first day it may be available in May next, for the purpose of dining a Napier six cylinder 24 hours at the rate of si\ty miles an hour A iccord of 1440 miles per day will te an interesting novelty. Of couise Mr. Jarrott has challenged him to run a four cylinder (selecting a De Dietrich) but apparently avill have to be content with following on the next day, and has taken the track accordingly.

The New York Collectoi of Customs, Na\ada N. Stranahan, announces re repairs to automobiles taken abroad, that repairs having been made abioad, whether occasioned by accident or otherwise, if in excess of 10 per cent of the ordinary cost of the machine, will subject the automobile upon its reimportation to duty upon its full value. This ruling has been made to put a stop to the practice of certain automobile owners who have practically had their machines rebuilt while abroad. ****** The distinction of having the largest number of automobiles and motorcycles m proportion to population is now being claimed for Geneva, Switzerland In this city of hardly 100,000 inhabitants there were registered during the past year 415 automobiles and 694 motor bicycles, making one automobile to a little over 220 inhabitants, and one motorcycle to less than 150 The motor cycles are largely of light construction, of which there are several makes manufactured in Geneva. ****** A levolution is announced by Mr. Edison, who has discovered a substitute for lead in the storage batteiy. For three years 25,000 ba'ttenes provided with cobalt instead of lead have been submitted to tests i n the Edison workshops at Orange, New Jersey, and it has now been decided that with this metal in the cells a battery can be made that is light, cheap and practically indestiuctible According to the " New York Times," Mr Edison states that he is able to make, at a cost of 25., a storage battery that will travel 100,000 miles before it is worn out Twenty cells are all that will be needed for a brougham, and sixty cells will be enough for the largest

and heaviest truck. For one will be able to obtain motive power that will not need renewal for fifteen years. The actual cost of recharging the battery will be not more than a few pence. ****** In addition to the Renault cabs, there are now in service in Pans some twenty Bayard-Clement cabs, and a lot of 200 of these is being built at the present time. There are also a small number of Tony Huber, Panhard, and Georges Richard cabs in the streets, and a large number of this type of vehicle are under course of construction at the Darracq factory. It is estimated that there will be 2,000 motor cabs in service m Pans by the end of 1907. There are some 13,000 horse drawn cabs plying for hire in the French capital. ****** What is the proportion of business to pleasure in the outputs of the establishments devoted to the making of the horseless vehicle ' There is no reason m these days of statistical exactitude and minuteness of detail why such a question should represent an uncertainty. Take the London figures for last October, for example • — During October, 57 heavy motor cars were registered in the Covinty of London, bringing the total up to 1,110 as against 12,456 pleasure motor cars, and 6,448 motorcycles. ****** Owing to the great pressure last Christmas, motor cars were used by the Liverpool Post Office to collect parcels and letters. A correspondent on Enquiring at the General Post Office, was informed by the Assistant Postmaster that Liverpool was the only place in England where advantage was taken of motor cars m this manner, and they were a great assistance. Chatting with one of the drivers later, he told our correspondent that they were out from 3to 11 pm each day. It was a sight, just after

dark, to see some of the larger cars coming into the town from the outlying districts, piled up with bags, etc., of letters seveial feet above the body, and sometimes a postman perched on top of the bags. ***** " The idea that the moment the speed limit is abolished we shall have people driving all over the country at 40 miles an hour is absurd. The enormous majority of motorists drive as fast as they find safe under the circumstances, "having regard to what is good manners to the occupants of their own and the drivers of other vehicles, and they always will." These sensible and vigorous words which occur in a letter on the speed limit appearing in the Morning Post seem to exhaust a difficult subject beyond the reach of the most contentious argument. * * * * *• * A substitute for celluloid claimed to be specially adapted for ignition accumulator cells has recently been patented m France Ten kg. of nitro-cellulose are dissolved m ethyl alcohol, wood alcohol or acetone, and .5-1.2 kg. of castor oil, glycerole or camphor, .3-1 kg. sulphuric acid of 66° 8., l-2.5kg. calcium chloride and .5-1.5 kg. magnesium chloride are added, and if a high polish is desired, also 10 to 500 g. carbon tetra chloride. After rolling, blocks are formed by hydraulic pressure. It is claimed that the action of the sulphuric acid on the calcium and magnesium chloride results in the nitro-cellulose losing its inflammable properties. The extreme inflammability of celluloid is one of the factors which have prevented its general use. ****** The motor bus is taking on in London more and more every day. The latest is that during heavy

snow when the ordinary tram car is blocked the motor bus runs along right merrily In consequence the General Motor Company has resolved to increase its capital to £500,000, m order to operate a still larger number of Renault and Charron vehicles It was reported at this company's recent meeting that the receipts of the City and Suburban Motorcab Company have exceeded the estimate of 355. gross takings per day per cab, and that without the use of the taximeter, which, according to experience m ßerlin and Paris, results in a larger revenue for the company as well as a steadier wage for the duver. The company has in hand a large new garage at Brixton, where accommodation is to be provided for the housing of over 700 vehicles. ****** The Government of Bombay last month published their new rules relating to motor traffic. According to these, all cars must be registered and carry large numbers. There is a general clause against reckless driving No general speed limit is fixed, but in the city of Bombay speed must not exceed fifteen miles an hour, and in roadside villages within such limits as may be indicated on a notice board erected by the District Magistrate shall not exceed six miles an hour, or such higher rate as may be shown on the board Heavy vehicles are not to be driven at greater speed than seven miles an hour There is a provision that acetylene lamps must not be used unless hooded or screened No competition m which more than five cars take part is peimitted without the previous sanction of Government Special regulations are made for heavy traffic No motor shall proceed at night where prohibited by the District Mcgistrate, except in the case of delay by accident, when a full explanation shall be made ct the next police station The question of the cylinders continues in full blast m all the publications devoted to the interest of the motor car. As most people who have followed the controversy are aware, the champion of the four cylinder system was Mr Jarrott, while S F. Edge fought for the six cylinder idea, chiefly, it may be added, m the interest of the Napier car. There was much of rare interest and still rarer ingenuity in the contention of the belligerents which the general public found it for obvious reasons difticult to understand This cause of mystery is about to disappear from the contioversy, as a matter of fact has disappeared from the convincing ground of the old country. A debate was announced for the 7th of February last under the auspices of the Automobile Club, on the much discussed question of six cylinders versus four An element of the interest in this debate was that it was to be opened by the celebrated and irrepressible Mr Edge The Motor World of these southern lands will await with great interest the reports which the expert lournals are to bring us by the ordinary course of mail. ****** Already the Motor World (G Britain) is prepamig for the next great automobile display, which will be held m the Agricultural Hall, London, in April, 1907, under the direction of Messrs Cordingley and Co This will be the twelfth of the series at the Agricultural Hall and will be remarkable in demonstrating British progress alongside of the bebt examples of the Continent, thus affording an excellent means of comparison. The exhibition has become associated in the motor industry with the opening of the selling season of the year, and makeis in all the leading centres are anxious to secure the presence of their latest models, in which several notable improvements will be seen The capacity of the great hall, with all its subsidiary gallenes, &c , will be taxed to the uttermost to accommodate the cars, while the aero section will be even more interesting than befoie — the many offers for prizes for working mcdels atti acting in\cn(ors from all paits of the countiy Perhaps one of the most interesting features of the forthcoming exhibition will he the presence of many new firms, who have been quietly experimenting with cars or airshipf, and will then introduce their productions to the public. ****** Here is a sensational accident to the famous 1,000 miles Australian, which has not been in -print in this country yet. It occurred on the fifth day to Mr. Lewis' De Dion car driven by De Fraga. The accident shows what freaks a powerful car can be put thiough when it gets out of control "Despite warning on the official map, De Fraga, when travelling down a fine stretch of road at a speed of forty miles an hour, endeavoured to take a right angle corner too fast, the result being that the car capsised, throwing both occupants to the ground, where they were picked up by spectators, who were assembled at the corner to watch the car fly past. The car, after somersaulting, landed on its wheels, described a complete circle thirty yards in diameter, then dashed into an iron telegraph post, glanced off through a thick hedge and six wire fence, eventually coming to a standstill about 150 yards from the point of accident. A telegraph message to

Titanga, two miles distant, soon brought the official car on the scene accompanied by a doctor. Both men, although seriously cut and knocked about, had miraculously escaped bioken limbs, and were out of danger at the time of writing " * # * * 1= * The motor car has, it is observable from the numerous writings to that effect, at last produced a 1 evolution in the sport of shooting Firstly it has very conbiderably enlarged the radius, so that men can accept invitations now which they could not have looked at with any chance of showing proper respect to their host in the pie-motor days. Secondly, the frequent passing along the country roads tends to check many forms of poaching — it is the statement made by a gamekeeper in one of the motor journals There is the obvious retort that the poacher may increase his gains largely by taking to motoring Thirdly, when any messages have to be sent on emergency service, the motor is as useful as reliable Fourthly, busy men with much correspondence or writing of various kinds can depend on their motors to take them comfortably to the starting place after a steady morning's work before breakfast Fifthly, the motor is ever so much better for carrying the game to railway stations or other places desired Sixthly, the motor dust acts as a useful manure for the fields on either side of the road Ihe latter is inserted here not because it is true, but to show the enthusiastic nature of the motorist who once sets to work to put his thoughts on paper.

\t the Olympid Show it is an open secret that the orders booked were a disappointment to the exhibitors, but that is only an echo of the statistical complaint that last year not less than one and a-half millions -worth of motors were imported fiom France Into this matter of the competition with Continental, and particularly French, makers, there is now the fullest enquiry of the chaiactenstic Bntish method of wilting to the new^papeis Out of a mass of correspondence, much of it of the heated order, two allegations appear to stand out \ividly prominent they are first that the foreigners advertise their cars better getting the mercantile pull over the really better cais of the Britishers, second that the Frenchmen use steel worth seventy shillings where the Britisher uses steel worth twenty The lever used to get at the seciets of manufacture is that people who are buying cars ought to be allowed to know what they are made of and how they are made But the manufacturers all declare that it is quite enough for a man to know that the make he has bought has lasted well, and the secrets of the manufacture are not to be divulged on any account to men who have no right to know things that have taken others a lifetime to think out at considerable loss of money and time ****** How easy do you pull up ' That seems to be the question with a great many owners and drivers. To this question the rnswer has been given with no uncertain sound by an experiment organised and carried out at Berlin towards the close of last year The expenment took the foim of a series of trials testing the distance in which motor cars could be

brought to a standstill as compared with horse vehicles. These were under the auspices ot the Automobile Technical Society, and they were destined to throw light on the course the German legislatuie was to be asked to follow in the matter of motor regulation The following are the distances travelled after the " stop " signal was given . — Motor cabs v Horsed cabs. 5 00 metres 28.00 metres. 4 50 „ *8.00 3 90 „ *8.28 G 50 „ 16.00 * These cabs were provided with footbrakes. Freight motor vehicles. Two horse freight vehicles. 400 metres 22 00 metres 180 „ 18 00 The motor vehicles were 16 hp. and 28h.p. Daimlers, respectively. The horse vehicles had handbrakes Self propelled first-aid fire engine v. One-horse lorry. 880 metres 16 00 metres The motor vehicle was a 32 h p. Gaggenau fitted with anti-skids. The horse vehicle had a handbrake. Cars v. Two-horse carnages. 0 67 metres 17 00 metres 8 65 „ 18.40 The first motor car was asoh p. Opel ; the carriages were provided with handbrakes. Electric cab v. Horse cab. 12 00 metres 24.00 metres 11 60 „ 18.00 „ First aid fire engine (travelling at 30 kilometres per hour) v motor bus (with full complement of passengers) 8.50 metres 5.00 metres. Motor bus v One-horse bus. 4 50 metres 12 30 metres 11.60 „ 18.00 A lOh p. Daimler brewer's dray, iron shod, and built in 1898, stopped in 3 40 metres. *Motor car at top speed v. Two-horse carnage. 26.00 metres 25 00 metres *This was the only contest in which the motor vehicle was beaten ****** Melbourne will soon have one of the largest types of fire fighting machines, as Messrs. Merryweather and Sons have just shipped to the Melbourne Fire Brigade a new petrol motor engine of improved design. The machine, which is driven by a fourcylmder motor of 40 to 50 h.p has treble-barrel Hatfield pumps, which are put in gear with the motor when the engine arrives at the fire, the road wheels being put out of gear while the pump is running. The speed of the machine on the road is up to forty miles per hour on the level, and at the works test a gradient of 1 in 6 was easily climbed with men and a full set of gear on board. The capacity of the pumps is 400 gallons per minute, and a jet can be thrown about 140 feet high. The frame is of steel, mounted on artillery wheels with solid rubber tyres. The ignition system for the motor is in duplicate, magneto, battery, and coil being fitted, and the water cooling is most efficient A rotary pump is provided, and also a connection to the mam pump for use while working at a fire There are three speeds forward and one reverse, the gear box and gears being of specially strong pattern, the whole apparatus being designed for hard wear and reliability. A large hose box is fitted, holding over 1,000 feet of hose, and two hand fire engines are ako carried. A smaller machine of the same type has now been in use in the Sydney Fire Brigade for some time with very satisfactory results, its advantages being that it can turn out instantly on an alarm, travel at a far greater speed than a horse machine, and commence work at full power immediately on its arrival at a fire. ****** The London form ol open air entertainment is the sideslip seance, which takes place nightly, weather permitting and is rapidly growing in popularity. The most favourite locality for ihe full enjoyment of the fun is that portion of the Strand between, Wellington street and Savoy street, and in the few' yards which divide these thoroughfares there as more excitement to the superficial foot than any other district in the Metropolis can furnish. Several hundreds of people lined the Strand recently at the point indicated where the greasy mud lay nearly a foot thick and waited for the motor omnibuses to supply the entertainment. Now and again a Vanguard, an Arrow, or one of the others, swerved with promising swiftness towards the kerb, but nothing really exhilarating happened, and whenever an omnibus arrived from somewhere without uprooting an electric light standard or scooping out a shop front or two the spectators yawned and looked discouraged. " I don't think I shall wait," said one front-row man to his neighbour " There doesn't seem to be anything doing ; besides they are getting

so careful, these drivers ; and then they are always trying new wheels that won't skid. I don't think there'll be anything to-night." There existed a general impression that one of these oozy evenings the local authority, m a fit of absent-mindedness, will have some sand thrown down, so as to deprive hundreds of peaceful citizens of excitement at the lowest rates. — Tribune. ****** Those who remember Mr. Cathcart Wason in the House of Representatives, are aware of the persistence he always put into his Parliamentary work They will not be surprised to learn that he was the first to attack the Home Secretary the other day about an accident in which a person lost his life on one of the English roads. Mr. Cathtart Wason asked the Home Secretary if his attention had been called to the case of Lieut. Paton, who was charged at Windsor on Saturday, December Ist, before the Berkshire magistrates, with the manslaughter of Mr. Hart, who died from injuries caused by a motor car driven by the defendant at Windlesham on October 23rd last, in which case several witnesses spoke to the car having been driven at a speed estimated at between forty and fifty miles an hour, and in which the magistrates, without calling on the defence, dismissed the charge ; and whether, in view of the evidence that the defendant was travelling beyond the statutory limit of twenty miles an hour, he proposed to take any further action to protect the lives of persons using the highway. To which Mr Glastone made reply as follows — Yes, sir ; I have now had the opportunity of making enquiries into this case, and as the result I am consulting with the Director of Public Prosecutions as to whether further proceedings against the defendant should not be taken.