HOW THE INDUSTRY GREW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 263, 7 November 1939, Page 12

HOW THE INDUSTRY GREW.

MOTORING NOTES

EARLY INVENTIONS AND SETBACKS. SURVEY OF BRITISH MOTOR BUILDING.

A mass of fascinating information about the British motor industry is contained in the 1939 edition of "The Motor Industrial of Great Britain," issued by the statistical department of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Ltd. Th« major inventions and developments which have effected the evolution of the British motor industry from the earliest period of motor vehicles history are reviewed and there is a striking number of statistical table.* and charts. Here are a few excerpts from this interesting book: I "In common witli most other great | engineering inventions, the claim for j the first mechanically - propelled ! vehicle is a problem not yeft satisI factorilv solved. [ | "The motor industry in this country i has been largely developed in the , ) Birmingham and Coventry areas, as ■ these industrial areas, already having i machinery for the manufacture of many objects of iron and steel, were ideal places for the production of this ' new invention. The progress of motor vehicle manufacture and use in Great Britain was definitely held up by a decision in 1895 that such vehicles were ■ locomotives and would have to be preceded by a red flag borne at walking pace. In 1896. however, light locomotives of under three tons and complying with certain conditions were exempted from this regulation. In ; lflOO, a speed of 10 m.p.h. was con- ; sidered excessive, but by the Motor Car ; Act of 1!>0.'5, a 20 m.p.h. limit was iirought into being. In this Act the ' term "motor car'' was first used in 1 legislation. "The first six-cylinder car was the ' Napier, produced in 1900, a model of which gained world supremacy for Great Britain in 1902 by winning the Gordon Bennett race, and in 1907 it established the 24-hour rccord, which remained unbeaten for 17 years. A notable achievement in speed, however, was that of the Stanley steam car, a model of which make in 1900 established a world record speed of 127 2-3 m.p.h. Most Perfect. "Of the early British cars there can be little doubt tlwit the most perfect was the Lanchester, the 1890 model having i shaft drive, wire wheels, pneumatic : tyres, balanced multi-cylinder engine, , live axle, automatic lubrication, epi- ? cyclic gear-Dox frictionlese bearing, | magneto-electric ignition and an : efficient system of suspension. Thus, . a vehicle of 43 years ago embodied ■ many items which are still in common use. j "The first goods-carrying vehicle, believed to be c three-ton Xapier, was • supplied about 1902 for the carriage of ; flour. "The growth of the motor industry ; in this country was seriously handiL capped by the Great War. By 1913, the industry » was producing over

34,000 vehicles a year, and when the time came for the industry to re-estab-I ish itself under peace-time conditions, it wa# found that the U.S.A. had gained almost complete control of the world's markets. "The United Kingdom motor industry in 1938 suffered a slight setback compared with the peak year of 1937. The recorded production showed a decrease of 12 per cent for private cars and II per cent for commercial vehicles. Of the total production of private cars and commercial vehicles, practically one-fifth was exported, the, British Empire taking o"er 81 per cent. Most Low-Powered. "The motor industry to-day gives in one form or another employment to over 1,385.000 people, of whom 560,000 are employed in goods vehicle transport and 270,000 in the operation of public service vehicles, including taxicabs and hire cars. "Of the total new private cans sold in the domestic market, (52.4 per cent were 10 liorse-power and under." Following are one or two interesting extracts from the statistical tables: Empire imports of motor vehicles and chassis: From per Total U.K. cent Australia 80,356 30,281 37.7 South Africa .. . 43,546 4795 1.1.0 New Zealand 33.472 10.149 57.2 British India .. . 19,923 SSIO 29.2 Ceylon 2030 1452 71.5 Total vehicles in use as at December, 1938: Panada 1,381,103 U.S.A 29,211,652 Total American (North and South) . . . 31,402,359 France 2,250,000 Germany 1,707.496 Iceland 1870 Italy 389,375 U.S.S.R 677,977 (Including 592.610 trucks and omnibuses) Great Britain 2,542.294 Australia 804,052 New Zealand 265.028 Fiji 1747 Samoa 328 World total 42,911,515