THE MOTOR

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 21, 25 January 1913, Page 3

THE MOTOR

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS (By "Autos.") The future development of the motor depends on two or three, things. One is cheap fuel; another is the extension of good roads, and a third is the ability of .the car to stand up" to the work. These are the main factors necessary for continued development of the use of the motor vehicle., To take the last -first as the factor nearest attainment, one could honestly say that the best motor vehicles of the present day leave but little to be desired in the way of ability to stand up to the work— that is reliability. The modern motor car,, whether it be a pleasure vehicle or a vehicle for commercial use, has so much excellent service to its credit that it is hyper-critical to t cavil much. As an engineering design the motor car with its, complicated gears and transmission of power to the' driving wheels is not perfection ; as a piece, of practical engineering through the gradual evolution- of special steels and the fine workmanship of modern machine tools it is a marvellous production indeed. The extraordinary feats of motor cars in crossing the American Continent, in running from Pekin to Paris, in traversing the Australian desert, and cutting a new track through the backblocks of New Zealand are but outstanding examples, of" arduous work done by tho motor 'daily all over the world in the service of man. the Commercial motor. ' There have been failures, of course. The commercial motor vehicle in New Zealand is still suffering in partially arrested development through the failures of premature experiments made with cars of unsuitable design. Mr. G. Hamilton Grapes, A.M.1.A1E., who is the chief authority in New Zealand on the commercial and public service motor vehicle, told the* writer yesterday that there was still a certain amount of pre-

judice against the motor-bus to overcome in- New Zealand in consequence of the unsatisfactory running of ill-advised early projects. This was. however, being rapidly overcome by the continued success of the properly-designed commercial motor, which in many branches of work had proved to the utmost its reliability. The motor-buses between Culverden and Hanmer had been running for several years without a hitch, and there was complete satisfaction with the large fleet of motor mail lorries used by the Post Office. Up at Taupo a motor charabanc had, stood up to the loose pumice roads for over two years most successfully. The Union Company were well pleased with the service of their motor-wagons, and the New Zealand Express Company found the work of their motor-lorries exceedingly useful. On a small scale large provision merchants were getting excellent' service out of the commercial motor, and its use was extending largely 'as, lime went on.. The secret of success was to employ only such makes of commercial mbtors "as had been specially designed for that work. , To apply the ordinary motor-car to commercial purposes was to court disaster. If the -^Vellington taxi-cabs were only specially-designed vehicles for that form of 1 service, the results would be far more satisfactory than they aro ■at present. ■Both ihe -motor-bus and the motor-cab had to do particularly arduous service of special nature, and the vehicles should be designed and built i for the' purpose. As regarded the • prospects of the motor'bus in the smaller towns of New Zealand, Sir. Grapes said that 'wherever there was a reasonably good road, of water-bound macadam construction or tar spread, the motor-bus would da the work splendidly. In Dunedin the Mornington Borough Council 'bus had in a, period of five weeks carried 21,353 passengers and covered, a distance, of 2408 miles. ' ' ! Mr. Grapes is a well-known adVoca^-e j of "larger wheels for . commercial . and public service motor vehicle^, and 'he gives very 'cogent reasons for hie 'attitude. The larg© wheel ie obviously subject ,to lees wear and tear than the standard small wheel. In a given distance at a 'given speed it must revolve much mdre slowly than a small wheel, and, moreover, it hae ' a greater area of tire in contact with the ground at the same time, and this distributee ■ the weight and; prevents the shearing of the rubber noticeable in the small wheel. Mr. Grapes firmly- believes in the 40in wheel as a standard for New Zealand commercial vehicles, and results already obtained certainly justify hi* attitude. There is not only 'lees wear in the tires, but less .vibration in the car, And this prolongs the • life of the vehicle. The New Albion 15 cwt, 16 h.p. twin-cylin-der delivery van supplied to Messrs. I Wardell Bros., merchants, is fitted with the big wheels (40iti), arid' is said to be giving every satisfaction. With its handsoaie body, constructed by the local coachbuilding firm of Meeera.* Crawl&y and Ridley, ' it has certainly a' very 'attractive, speedy, look about it. It does, away with at leaet a pair of hor"ses, and gets' through the work 'in about a third of the time. , ' It ie lunderetood that similar cars afo under ortlev for nthar firmu in tho city, including' Mr. William Campbell, of . Manners-street. Mesfirs. Hill' and Barton, dairy merchants, are more than satisfied with the work done by their pioneer motor de livery van, the Daphne .Renault, which created euch a stir when it first, made its appearance in the streets of the city. . It has been made a corpus vije for numbers of different driver* to learn on, and yet it has 6tood to the work with complete euccees. ' The only change is, that solid tjjjes have been substituted for pneumatics 'on.' the driving wheels. The work was too much for pneumatics, thus confirmiaj£*the experience of other commercial van ~<; users. ' Messrs.- HiU and Barton are so Satisfied that 'they are going in for a neV Renault car, and a Convmer for cream collecting in the Blenheim and Upper Wairarapa • (Fortymile . Bufth^ districts, . supplied • through the Scott Motor Agency. With motor delivery, home separation— the bugbear of the Department of , Agriculture-— should, be altogether freed from its drawbacks. Before leaving , the question of the commercial motor, it may be added that Mr. Grapes is leaving • next Friday foi a prolonged visit to the 'home of the motor, in England and Europe, where, on behalf of the. New Zealand i Government, he will ' enquire into the working of the motor postal' delivery services, so prominent a feature ' at Home. .As an automobile engineer, Mr. Grapes will, no doubt, keep his*eyes well open to the latest, developments in motoring generally. He is keenly interested in the fuel problem, and- will look into the question of the latest methods of manufacturing benzol from cpal, as a possible source of motor fuel in New Zealand also. He will, while away,, attend the Industrial and Commercial Motor Show at OJympia, in July next. ' THE DIESEL ENGINE. The amazing development of the Diesel engine on the Continent of Europe, and particularly in Germany — its home^ — is leaving the Old Country very much behind m this important branch of engineering. England and the Englishspeaking world is still essentially devoted to the steam-engine. In the domain of' internal combustion engineering, Germany is untouched by any other land. . It is not ( generally realised that the construction ' of reciprocating steam engities has been almost arrested on the Continent. " Engine shops," says that excellent v paper, Internal Combustion Engineering, " that formerly thrived on steam orders, are to-day almost wholly occupied in the production of Diesel engines. ... In Germany the firms which build Diesel engines aro nearly thirty in number. . . . The industry exhibits a vitality, which can be basrd only upon the ' absolute confidence of power useis. The robustness of the industry is indeed the hall-mark of the Diesel engine. . .. . Meanwhile, in England, we are waiting — and many are not watching. Not very long ago, one of the most respected millfurnishing firms in Lancashire closed its doors because the business had gone. Another, however, perceived that new mill construction was falling off in that country, because of the tendency for mills to be erected nearer the cotton fields, and with Diesel power plants. This firm has gone whole-heartedly into the Diesel business, recognising that the oversea demand was no longer for steam. . . . Neither for British power users nor for British engineers is it good that there should be so little Diesel building in this country. . . . For innumerable power purposes the Diesel engine is the commercially ideal plant, even in- this land of coal. • /, ■ Germany also produces large quantities of coal, but that has not Btayed the advance of the Diesel engine. Indeed, from her coal she is now deriving a quantity of the fuel required by ncr Diesel engines,' and merit alone has counted in this progress." * THE FUEL PROBLEM. This brings in the question of fuel— a vital question- when it is considered that a rise in the price of residual oil fuels for Diesel engines similar to the rise in the price of petrol would put the Diesel qngine out of court in ' its severe competition with rival power*generators. Dependence on petroleum products would be fatal to the Diesel engine just as it is a serious thing for the petrol motor. It is to the better utilisation of coal that the world must now look for anything like permanent supplies of fuel oils and fuel generally for internal combustion engines. This is how the generation of power .by steam from the coal-fired steam boiler compares with jthe power obtain-

able by the best use of coal in the internal combustion motor : One ton of coal used for steam raising , could, if the whole of the steam were employed in a steam turbine of the best construction, generate 1428 horse ptfwer. Taking the same weight of coal, it is estimated that it would yield' in the retort by low temperature distillation 14,000 rtibic feet of gas and 24.72 cubic feet of coke. This latter would in the gas-producer generate 23,000 cubic feet of air gas, together with the various lesidual products, including 1211b of tar and benzol and 1001b of sulphate of ammonia. From the 14,000 cubic feet of gas from the vetovt it would be possible by means of the gas engine to obtain 800 h.p., the tar and heavy oil would yield 85 h.p., and the air gas from the producer would furnish 1166 h.p. _ The total horse power obtainable by this treatment from a ton of coal, therefore, would be' 2051 h.p., together with light oils for motor work ' and ammonia. In Germany there is a very marked movement on the part of colliery proprietors to erect plant for the distillation of coal, and so extract gas and by-pro-ducts in the shape of benzol, creosote, and ammonia. ,lt is estimated that the output of creosote for Diesel engines in Germany will in 1915 be nearly 1,000,000 tons. Thus ih respect of supply the German power users have nothing to fear. In England they are just waking up to the possibilities of getting Very much more out of coal than it is giving now. • A writer in The Motor signing himself "Anti-Monopolist" goes very thoroughly into the problem from a commercial point of, .view*, and estimates that 60^000,000 tons of coal would have to be distilled a year to supply the benzol required to supplant petrol. On the other hand the Del Monte process of distillation at a temperature not exceed* ing 800 degrees Fahrenheit, is said to produce as much as five gallons of benzol per ton, which is a long way in ad* vance of the ordinary methods mentioned. It is added that one colliery in England is already erecting a plaht capable of turning out over 7,000,000 gallons of benzol per annum, which, it is claimed, can be retailed at lOd per gal' lon. If this can be done then 20,000,000 tons of coal will supply Britain's re« quirements of motor fuel, and this is not a very large item in the present British output of coal of 265,000,000 tons per annum. • Whatever may be the immediate future it is certain that something will be done to supplement to \a large degree the supplies of motor fuel from the oil fields by motor fuel from coal. Clever brains "are at work on the problem all over the world,. and there will surely be some result. It is all part and parcel of the new process of economy which is affecting every department of life. Man, knowing his earthly capital is limited, is husbanding the resources which formerly he squandered with prodigal recklessness: In New Zealand there are already several Diesel engines in use, one at Gisborne, one at Stratford, one at Hawera, and a large plant at 'Dunedin. The Stratford plant uses Taranaki crude oil at 4d a gallon with complete success. It has been running for several months now' without a hitch. Both Stratford, Hawera, and Dunedin are peak-loud and standby plants to water-power, schemes. Miratnar ia also going in for ihe Diesel engine. ' "MOTOR-CARS AND THEIR ST.ORY." - r ; #ft A valuable' addition, io* the; excellent' collection of books oh motors and motoring/ which' the Municipal Library is ac* cuniula^ing. •is a big volume, " Motor* cars 1 and Their Story," by F. A. Tal* bot, the weljUknow.n journalist and author); who specialises on subjects coh* nected with engineering, particularly railway building,' and the development of new countries. He has written much in The World's. Work about the Newer Canada, and the construction of tho Transcontinental Grand Trunk Pacific line. He has incorporated these interesting articles < in thre^ or four books, ■which give as good a popular idea of the topics which he treats as could be desired! "Motor-cars ■ and Their Story" is frankly a book not for the specialist or the "expert, but for the ordinary reader, whether he be motorist or not. It is probably the first time the story of the automobile has been told with any pretence to completeness, and a most fascinating story it is. Who invented the petrol-motor-driven vehicle— the motor-car, properly speaking— the true automobile? One could eafely wager that not one motorist in a hundred could give the right answer. Some would probably say Daimler, De Dion, or ' Panhard, going back to the last twenty years ,of • the last century. Americans' Might talk of Selden. Henry Ford, or Haynes. But there was one far before all these— ra man whose actually con-

structed motor vehicle dates back to. the very early years of the internal combus' tion engine itself. This man was Siegfried Markus, one of the citizens of Mal« chin, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, who died in July, 1899. No doubt can be maintained concerning Markus's claim to the honour. A benzine-driven vehicle, designed and built by this pioneer, was shown at tho Vienna Exhibition of 1873, and is now in the possession of the Austrian Automobile Club. This, apparently, was the second car built by Markus, who appears by 1864 to have completed his designs after wearisome experiments extending over five years. The car was finished in 1868, and by 1875 transformed into quite a serviceable veliicle. "Curiously enough," says Mr. Talbot, "Markus does ntit appeal* to have realiW the possibilities tof his invention in connection with road vehicles, but was contemplating its installation in an airship, when the idea of the automobile occurred to him. Mr. Talbot gives an actual photograph of the- Markus motorcar, and a quaint object it is with its ordinary iron-shod carriage wheels, wooden frame, and sort of chair for the driver, with the benzine tank in the seat. The engine is horizontal and drives a fly-wheel underneath by a sort of lever, like the old-fashioned beam engine. The drive to the back axles was by belt. The steering is by a small horizontal handwheel operating a worm on the top of a vertical column. In spite of its primi* tive crudity, the Markus motor shows many points of superiority over the vehicles of- twenty or thirty years later, for Markus had made his first engine by 1860. To perpetuate the invention by .Markus of , the automobile a. tablet has been attached to the house in which he was born by order of the Mecklenburg Government. Full justice is done by Mr. Talbot in the story of the early career of the automobile to the work of Edward Butler right through the 'eighties. Butler undoubtedly deserves to be placed among the first three or four inventors, to whom the modern motor-car is due. He evolved the first practical spray-jet carburettor, which has made the motorcar feasible. ( He invented the system of electric ignition by magneto, but was unable to perfect it owing to lack of means, but he mode a success with a rotary distributor with accumulator and coil. He was also the originator of the present system of steering the motor-car by separately pivoted wheels. "There is no doubt," comments Mr. Talbot, "that but for the iniquitous Highways Act, the whole automobile industry would have sprung directly from Butler's efforts, and Britain, instead of borrowing from, would have been leadihg those who afterwards became our greatest rivals." The rest of Mr. Talbot's story 5s exti'emely interesting and well told, but space prevents further reference just now. It is certainly an acquisition to the Central Library and the librarian is to be congratulated on his selection. MOTOR CYCLING. , The coming events in the Wellington Motor Cycling Club's seasonal pro- ( gramme are -. Saturday, Ist February, side-car trial to Levin and back, 1 Saturday, Bth February, petrol teete, ILv rori, Makara, Ohariu, Johneonville, a continuation of tho competition, for the Sutherland and Rankine Cup; 9th February, club run to Waikanae to meet Manawatu Club. Mr. C. Daro Bridge, lion, secretary of the Wellington Cycling Motor Club, has just returned from a holiday run W his 3i 'THtinipli "(N'.S.U. gear), to Auckland, via Napier, Taupo, and Rotorua. He was accompanied as far as Hbtorua by Mr. A. Smith, who rode a 6 h.p. twin Zenith. They mad« Na; pier the' first night, and Taupo the next! They spent -a- day at Taupo, and ,then pushed on to Rotorua, where they parted company. Mr. Bridge came' oh to Tirau, and next day rode on to Auckland. He had no trouble that caused any delay oh the road. He epeake very cheerfully of the Titiokura and eifiter hills, taken from the Napier side— in fact, if he had not mado enquiries as to where they were, he would not have known that he was actually on Titiokura,. The hills taken from the other side ho admits would bo harder The worst roadrf he struck were in the last thirty miles into Auckland. The continuous dry ( weather had loceened the surface, which was now covered with pebbles, big and little, which made riding very disagreeable. He returned after a vieit to th« North of Auckland by train. It is understood that the next motor cycle reliability trial— 24-hour— will be from Wellington tv Taihape, via Foxton, and back by Feilding, Palmereton, aid the Wairarapa. Such & route should b» a splendid test of a rider's endurance and a machine's quality. The ' surface is very fair throughout, but there are enough hills and to spare.