NEWS AND NOTES

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 3079, 12 April 1927, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES

Officials in Washington are planning .

' a great highway, connecting all the American republics. It is planned to ; start at Detroit and run through Cen- [ tral and South America to Argentina and Chile. The, road, if constructed, will be named the Pan-American Peo- '< pie's Great Highway. Roads at present in existence form about one-tenth of the route, leaving nine-tenths in linking up roads to be constructed.

In view of the publicity now being given in one'of the enterprising daily papers on the subject of "invisible" light (states The Motor) it may be mentioned that photographs taken by this means were reproduced in The Motor and its associated journals six or seven years ago. A specially sensiI tive plate is required, prepared quite differently from the "ordinary photographic negative, and by means of this invisible ray the interior of an engine has been photographed.

Professor Leru, of the natural science division of the University of Michigan, has been commissioned by Mr Henry Ford to make a survey of the Amazon river region with a view of selecting the best sites for rubber plantations, which Mr Ford proposes to establish in Brazil.

When the four wheel brakes of a two-seater ear are applied, as much as 70 per cent, of the weight of the car may be thrown on the front axle. This explains why cars to which four wheel brakes arc attached without redesign of the front axle and springs arc liable to earn a bad reputation for frontwheel braking.

According to Motor Transport, the English Post Office authorities now own nearly 1000 light motor vans and about 200 side carriers. These vehicles supplement, and in certain cases replace, the work of pillar-box collection, parcel collection and delivery, and service between head and sub-offices carried out by haulage contractors. The G.P.O. motor fleet continues to expand, and by doing so, it is claimed, gives the taxpayer more economical service.

Further work has boen stopped on what is reputed to be the world's deepest well, drilled to a depth of 8046 ft., in search of petroleum in California, as insufficient quantities of oil were found at the lower depths to make further boring profitable.

Separate roads for freight and passenger service may be a development of the future, according to the engineering department of the United States National Automobile Club, which pictures a heavily constructed road of easy grades for slow moving freight traffic, with a lighter and less expensive type of road alongside over which passenger traffic may flow at higher speed. Between New York and Boston a road is under construction planned primarily for heavy truck traffic, while in Los Angeles the Harbour boulevard, built for heavy freighting between San Pedro and the business district, is fast becoming a freight burdened highway.