MOTORS & MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2264, 25 September 1914, Page 3

MOTORS & MOTORING

[Bx CIiUTOH.] Cerman Cars. ■ In view of the suggestion of the "Wai rarapa Automohile Association thai motorists should hereafter boycott al Gorman'and Austrian cars,_ tires, anc accessories, a list of the princJDal can from those countries which have beet on the English market is of interest The cars are as follow:— German. • Adler Sperher Benz Hausa Benz-Sohne Horch Brcnnabor Mercedes Bugatti N.A.G. ' Safuir ' N.S.U. Opel Stoewer Phanomobile Windhoff Austria. Austro-Daimler. Laurin-Klemeni The list of accessories and tires manu facturod in Germany and Austria is nol so readily accessible, but among th( principal items are Continental tire; and the Bosch magneto. French and Belgian Cars. ; The list of French cars is a long one but the better-known French and Bet giau machines are as follow:— Belgian.—Excelsior, F.A.8., F.N. lmperia, Metallurgique, Miesse, Minerva, Pipe, Sava, Springael, Vininus. . French.—Aries, Bayard, Berliet, Brasier, Buchet, Charron, Chenard-Val-cher, Clement,' Cottiri-Desgouttes, Darracq, de Dion, Delage, Delahaye, De launey-Belleville, D.F.P., Gladiateur Gobron,- Gregoire, Hispano-Suiza Hotchkiss, Hurtu, Jackson, La Bouire Lb Gui, Leon Bollee, De Dietrich, Mors Panhard, Peugeot, Renault, Rochet «chneider, Sizaire-Naudin, Unic, and Vinot. ' In this list there are some yerj interesting firms. As a writer in •< contemporary points out, the Bayarc are the builders of the Bayard diri gible airship, and also of the fighfcinp mono and biplanes. They build largo ly for the French army. The Berlief people, build largely for the Germai army, pricipally motor lorries. During the Bulgarian war, the Bulgars gave .11 order to the Berliet firm for 300' lorries Of these they could'only supply sixtyfive. All their output had been pre viously booked up. Darracq and d< Dion are builders of aviation, engines whilst the Delauney-Belloville are sup plying boilers to the different navies o: the world. The Hotchkiss, we can leayi to the Germans. We know what tha' gun has done in the past. We finis! with the Renault. Fully 50 per cent of the French Fourth Arm, theaviatioi corps aeroplanes, are fitted with th< eight cylinder, air-oooled, Renault" en gine. They are now extensively use< in the Australian and British flyinj corps. ' Australia's Military Motors. As a complete divisional transpor 1 train, including 140 commercial inoto; lorries, is being taken with the Austra lian Expeditionary Force, a big gap i: being left in commercial motor -tractioi in the Eastern; States of Australia.. Ai Australian writer points out that a: only high-powered three to six-ton lor ries have been purchased by the Com monwealth military authorities, fron various trade and commercial; house (ranging in value from '£500 to near!; £1000),' this means that the pick of tin motor commercial vehicles in .this conn try will he leaving these shores. Tin total value, including spares, etc., wil bo little short of £100,000. As th< .European supplies of this type of ve hide are almost certain to be consider ably restricted, even if not all bough' up for military purposes on the Contin cut, it will sonif considerable tim< before the lorries bought for. the Ana trnlinn contingent, can ho replaced This will unfortunately mean a considerable set back to the motor tractioi movement in this country, for mani commercial houses, which had discard ed' horse-drawn vehicles for the mor< efficient and better service rendered bj up-to-date motor lorries, will .now hav< to fall hack on horses again. _ Ons thing is certain, there wil! be a spi'ritec' demand for any new. motor vehicles landed. ■'•,... Motors and Road Damage. Motorists will find much to interest them, in the first annual report of the Victorian Country Roads Board, which controls the highways in that State. Dealing-with the question of the damage to roads by motor traffic, the board is of the opinion that where it lias been established that substantial damage has been* occasioned' by these vehicles, the reasons'for the damage are well understood by road authorities, who are also generally agreed that, the effect of selfpropelled vohiclos is' only more damaging, than those drawn by horse when the road is unsuitable for the- use of such vehicles. ... "It iia6 been clearly established," states. the report, "that light motorcars do no damage to roads when the surface is smooth and sealed with some waterproof coating, such as tar. On wellmade water-bound macadam roads, with smooth and even surface, there is little or ho damage if cars are driven at. a moderate- speed. Damage takes place on the last-namod class of road when subjected to a considerable amount of motor traffic driven at high speed, the extent of damage being in proportionto the'square of the velocity of the vehicles. The damage is cau6ed i by the removal of the 6mall gritty particles of stone forming the binding which serves to keep the surface stone in place. This.damage takes place more particularly in summer when the road is dry. These small particles of stone are not removed by suction of the pneumatic tyres as haß been popularly supposed, but by the shearing action caused by the rear or driving wheels of the :ar. This shewing of tractive force is isxerted at'tbe point of contact of the rear or driving wheels with the road surface. It tends to tear the surface, Lhus loosening the gritty particles forming the bond between the stones. The damage will be greater if the road bo out of repair and the surface unjven, the force of the impact of the wheels in the hollows causing depressions to become deeper, especially durng wet weather, When those depressions Mntiiia water. ' Prevention Better Than Cure. "Heavy motor vehicles, especially those shod with metal tyres, are, howaver, a great source of damage to weak macadamised or gravelled roads, the damage being caused by shearing and impact. The effect of shearing is due to the tractivo force of the driving wheels. Damage from shearing is proportionate to the weight and speed of the vehiole. The force of impact (or the pounding force) increases with the squaro of the velocity. For example, if one vohicle carrying a load of nve tons travels at a speed of four mile 6 per hour, and another, similarly constructed and loaded, travels at the rate of. 12 miles per hour, the force of the wheel impact (and consequently the damaging effect upon the road) will be in the ratio of one to nine. Damage from impact does not occur to any appreciable extent with pneumatic tyres. The diameter of wheels is another factor which has an important influence on dainago to roads, the damage being muoh greater with small than with w'hcols of large diameter. The fact is now concedod that ordinary macadam roads are not suitable to withstand, the sontinuous traffic that may be expected in the vicinity of populous centros of either light high-speed traffic or heavy motor vnhiclos for commercial purposes. These opinions have received tlio endorsement of-ninny of fho foromost rond authorities of the world at various road

considered that ordinary macadam will, for reasons of economy and forco or circumstances, bo tho material upon which relianco will havo to bo placed for the construction of • tho country roads, it would be desirable to regulate the traffic which will use these roads before they suffer serious damage rather than to legislate after the damage has taken place. Trafflo Regulation. ' "Regulations providing for increase of tyro widths in proportion to the total load are not alone sufficient. Motor vehicles carry the greater part of the lead en tho hind wheels, and as road surfaces require to be formed with a camber, and as tyres of wheels do not bear evenly on the surface, it would bo desirable to limit the axle load on motor vehicles. At the first International Roads Congress, 1908, it was agreed that the weights on heavy motorcars or traction engine wheels should not exceed 8251b. per inch of tyre, and that the total load per wheel should be limited. It was also resolved that the weight on tho heaviest axle should not exceed four tons when working. These comments are not made with a view to discouraging or, unduly restricting the use of motor vehicles which, in these modern days, have become a necessity for pleasure as well as for business purposes. Indeed, the use of motor-oars is having a powerful influence in making life more attractive to country people, a condition greatly to be desired, and a factor which will tend to counteract the modern tendency of. country people, and especially_ the young people, to gravitate to the cities. At the same time, all reasonable means should be employed which will havo the effect of reducing the damage to roads by excessive speed in the case of light motor-cars, or by excessive loading or defective design of heavy commercial vehicles. Any regulations adopted to control motor,'traffic should include provisions for—(1) Limit of speed of light motor-oars; (2) limit of weight and speed of heavy motor.vehicles ; and in connection with, this latter the following factors should be considered:—(a) Limit of speed, (b) limit of total weight, (c) limit of axle load, (d) minimum diamoter of wheels, (e) prohibition of solid metal tyres, (f) methods of springing."