BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3139, 16 October 1922, Page 2

BRITISH FORWARD MOVEMENT.

The demand for motor transport wagons capable of carrying very heavy loads has led to the design of sixwheeled vehicles in which the load is better distributed than is possible on a, •four-wheeled vehicle. Several types 1 of six-wheeled vehicles have been developed in Great Britain, and one of the latest shows conspicuous improvements. It may be regarded as a fourwheeled vehicle with a two-wheeled tractor attached. The tractor moves on a turntable attached to the fore end of tin' wagon proper; and the (lec.nliarity of the new arrangement is that tinrear wheels- of the wagon are also on a turntable. The result is that when the vehicle goes round 1 the corner the wheels- follow the front wheels exactly, thus enabling the wagon to he manoeuvred with the greatest possible ease. Even when the vehicle is hacked 1 it can lie readily manoeuvred in awkward situations. Existing four-wheeled vehicles can he readily converted into the new type, so doubling their carrying capacity at ;i very moderate expense. The- first electric cooking and heating apparatus ever constructed was made in Groat Britain, and of late years several highly successful forms of electric cooking range have been put on the market by British firms. l?e----eently there was announced an improvement which constitutes, it is claimed, a revolution in electric cooking. The exact nature of the now invention has not yet been disclosed, hut it is understood to be a method erf using alternating current so as to concentrate an extremely high temperature on the work of boiling up liquids. The apparatus enables the user, by simply moving a handle, to get any degree of boat from a gentle simmer to a fierce beat which will boil up a pint of water in a minute. Further developments in this attractive innovation are being awaited with interest. .Many interests have been actively at work for some years in Great Britain on the attempt to discover fuel which, would be essentially cheaper than petrol. At least one of these efforts is likely to he crowned with success. A British distilling company recently announced that the experiments which the company had been carrying out for two years on the production of a motor fuel had yielded highly satisfactory results. This fuel is produced by mixing crude whisky with ait extract from a vegetable of Indian origin. The mixture can be sold profitably at about one half of the existing price of petrol. A mixing plant has already been set to work in London and is affording regular supplies of this new fuel to a limilod'number of customers. Further mixing plants are to be erected at Liverpool and Glasgow. , There was recently despatched to-the bar Last a, portable pumping set specially designed to work in very constricted spaces. This pump carries a seven horse power para fin engine; but it is so designed l and mounted that, it can be readily accommodated in a space fit (fin long and oft (fin high. I be pump is capable of delivering 2o() gallons per minute against a height of •ijlft. Water-cooling is provided, and in the event of the water available being dirty or otherwise unsuitable for cooling purposes, a radiator or fan can be brought into operation. With a view to easy transport the pump and engine are mounted on a frame with wheels, and the_ whole arrangement can be easily hoisted in a crane. for many centuries the processes of making and refining metals were eonnncted by rule of thumb, but nowadays liny are becoming more and more •strictly scientific. The manufacturer wants to know exactly what is going mi in Ins furnace; and lor this purpose be uses instruments which re, gists r tin 1 temperature ot the interior of the furnace. A companion instrument has now been brought out in Great Br.tain with the object of detecting the presence ol certain materials in the furnace _ol flames, thus indicating to ihe engineer how far the processes in the lurnaee have developed. The instrument is based on the familiar prillmple of spectrum analysis, and its main I nature is that although it is very g-ensi-t,v ’ 0 ' l H ;l robust and simple applianee which can be used very convenicntlv under working conditions. Tim instrument is almost as easy to use as microscope, and it fits into a wooden case Skill! x Sin x Kiliii. It is likelv to h j" "y’f* extensively not onlv in ' the uielal industries but by chemists in tnivr laboratories. A leading British steel-maker re-(,V"V-V estimated that nisi and other Minis ol corrosion cost rile world o(Hi million pounds every year. This figure may ae mi more limit a clever guess. in any ease Ihe ravages of eurm':".n i J ,v great thal we are noi surprised In learn dial in (deal Bn'ein proposal lias arisen 1,,,- the forma--111111 an association man nfaei nrers Ol products which are imn-eorrodihle ami _ anf i-eqrrosive. Support ha- lavu leeoived from British (inns making -stainless steel, anti-corrosive painls, and various preservative compounds. Ihe Ill's i step winch this Association of .Noil-corrodible and Anti-corrosive I’mwill lake is likely to he the organisation ol a puhlic exhibition m London ol non-eormdible and anticorrosive produets. A 1: 111 y ol (be early ways of making wood and other com bust i hie material prool a g:'! 11 s I lire were of lilt k- more loan theorel lea! value; and in eoime'lmine the whole idea of treating wood '' l I'esisf lire lias been ‘apt to fall into desrepute. .Metal has been very largely used m places where wood would he much more suitable, but where efficient lire-prooliiig was in demand. it is, however. claimed that wood can he really made proof against (ire without being altered in appearance. A pro-ve-s devised h\ a British (inn is applicable to most kinds of timber, and Has already been adopted lor warship super structure,-, motor boats, railway carriages, and woodwork over boilers, ils efficiency is demonst ra led by l fie laet that the process as applied (odours on voard slop has been approved by the British Board of Trade as meeting their ri-(111i remen I s. Extensive tests have been made lately mi British tramcars of an advertising device wbieli incidentally perform a very useful function for the passenger. Strangers to a route find great diliicully (especially after dark) in ascertaining when the ear lias reached the point at which They wish to alight. The device solves this problem in a very ingenious way. It consists of a plan of the route, on which compulsory stopping places are marked by a solid black circle and permissive stops by a black ring. Above Ibis plan are a number of advert isemenf s ; and as the ear moves along both tile plan and the advertisements travel so that a fixed arrow on the frame of the device points to the exact position of the ear on tile route at any moment. When the ear reaches the terminus the route plan slops, and when the ear reverses Hie plan also travels backwards. British ingenuity has therefore solved the strongly to the public by its eonsfanf problem of producing a novel advertising device which recommends itself usefulness.