THE NIMROD.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12971, 26 November 1907, Page 9

THE NIMROD.

ANTARCTIC MOTORING. ' LIEUTENANT MIAOKLETON'S OAR. /pbom orn own coßnEsro>'DE?jT.) LONDON, October 18. ~gp,__l" (..South Pole l>, as Lieutenant Shackleton styles the A o h.p. wrticnl, four-cylinder, air-cooled ArrolJohoston motor-car that bus been built jpeoioUy for service in bis intended Antarctic Exped ition » hlia arrived at ■ 24 Princes .Street, Hanover .Square, vhfire it on exhibition at tho ArrolJoh'nston Company's show-rooms till tomorrow, after which it- will be shipped fl> Jfew Zealand. In appearance the car is astonishingly likely ordinary vehicles. Tho four cinders are set vertically beneath the . ial bonnet, but have gills or flanges cast round them, because they are air instead of water-cooled. The chassis is exceptionally strong, tho steel used RiroUßhout having been mado specially by Messrs Beardmore, tho fainoue Scottish engineering firm. Magnetic ignition ami high-tension coil and battery aro fitted, and tho expedition will bo 9 blo to icchargo its accumulators from ,te base at tho winter quarters. A long, largo pip© carries the hot exhaust - gases from tho engine round to tho carburettor, nor is their use then, ended, for they pass next to a foot-warmer, which forms tho ordinary footboard ot tlje car, and, yet again, through a wotal trough placed at the side of the chassis and fod with snow, which is thus melted, co that the expedition should never bo without water, whicii was ono of the sources of difficulty on tfie last occasion. Tho wheels aro somewhat like those of tho ordinary motorbus in design, and a complete set of rims, fitted with I>unlop tyres, aro being sent out, for Lieutenant Shackleton expects to do a good deal of tho running on pneumatics. When he cannot however, tho wheels will b© wood»'iio<l (a« they novr are), and tho front tinea will rest on a pair of slides, having ft 6 inch tread, exactly as havo tho wheels themselves. These wooden runiWs aro not likojy to -wear, since it ' ha been found that thotnuoh narrower ones used by tho men., who aro heavy on them because they had to pull laden sledges behind them, ebotfed no appreciable wear after 700 miles of journoynig. Tbeeo sliclos, too, will only be tisod when soft enow has to be encountered; their means of attachment is perfectly simple—by a couple of screw bolts to near the centres of the wheels. < They wilt serve the purpose of making a track for the rear wheels to "bite" on. ' These driving wheels aro equipped with - diagonally-set iron ribs having two Jiolcs apioce. into which four-inch i spikes will be fixed when what afo i • etJlod the "blown, spaces" of smooth ice '" hare to be traversed. Narrow eledges ', can, and will, be drawn in the tracks 1 ! 4f the car. the arrangement ' eeriee and in pairs, so that each eledge only slidse over tho surfnoo smoothed ' out by the passage of the car, and will not upset when slight inequalities are '. encountered, because each will bo balanced or kept stable by its companion. ■ The back of the car can carry a jJpad of 16owt ill addition to what may bo dragged by the draw bar to which the eledgea will bo attacih<«d when hauled, i Tlids, at three men only eat a total of 42 pounds of food a week, it is caleu- |" -latert that tlie car can be run independently of the paraphernalia, of the rest ofi w> Expedition for a period of forty days together. Aβ, under favottr- ' • ablo-conditions and without dragging ' .any itedges,. it is estimated that the ■ '*■■ rosttine oan traverse 150 miles every 24 hour*, and the Expedition's winter " «tt*rtenj will bo only 750 miles from the. ,'" South Pole, there Bcems to bo a cbanco '. ,'fl» tho way of "sprints" ; should they ■'.'■■ jjrove. desirable. Hut this will not bo S. %tie policy, for, if the car can co well, J/• tjwro are tour million square miles of at :<X ijreeant unknown expanse that remain "linked up" and it may bo that 'fettle motor may prove the nfeana of doing 'i-f jw by journeying east and west from ??:-' the Pole. >•' * *AU levera or other motel handles will •'V'be covered in chamois leather to pre;H* 'tonfc those who have to use them get.<ti i ting their hands "bunrt." Whenever y camping, the entire ear, from the run- *',,' Bet* on tho front wheels to tho hindi,f. Jnort,part, will bo careredina sort ot ''i\ giant sheet .nuido of gabardine and t;- wighing only four, pounds altogether. ■J , -The bhjaards that may come on at any ' t xuoment are the cause of this necessity, ir" for'the mow'would got into the ma- , chinery like sand in the desert. The '. tar, which is fitted with <v celluloid jrind screen ne a glass one might prove " brittle in the cold, is an "Alfrßntish" .„ machine, and the more interesting from ,■ ■ *a flMrinoerine point of view in that it : embodies no "freak" features.