MOTORING WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 102, 30 March 1929, Page 14

MOTORING WORLD.

NOTES. A monument has beon unveiled in Vienna in memory of Siegfried Marcus, who in Australia is regarded as a pioneer, he having produced a horseless carriage' in 1864. At the beginning of the present year there were 865 motor vehicles fitted with gas producers registered in France. The largest number, 68, are in the Seine Department, followed by 56 in the Department of the Rhone.

A chauffeur in China who exceeded the speed limit was compelled to wear a neck-stock as punishment.

Italian pedestrians have to obey a new law compelling them to keep to the left. Offenders are fined 100 lire (about 225). There were 873,700 motor-coaches, cars, lorries, buses and cycles in Britain in 1921. In 1927 the figures had risen to 1,898,500, with an income of £23,000,000 from motor taxes and licensing fees. Britain now has ono motor-vehicle to every twenty-three 'of her population, and one driving license to every nineteen persons. Horse-drawn and other slow traffic are forbidden in congested parts of Paris between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

More traffic passes Hyde Park Corner, London, in twenty-four hours than any other place in the world.

In addition to the chariot racing with horses which will be seen in London next year, it is also proposed that there shall be chariot racing with motor-cycles as a rival attraction to dirt-track racing. This form of chariot racing is already familiar at gymkhana events. When the ex-Kaiser was fleeing into Holland in 1918 it was a motor-cyclist who met him at the frontier and ordered him to hand over his -weapons which consisted of a sword and a revolver. This historic motor-cyclist is now a student at the University of Alberta, Canada. A road with two footpaths, a cycle track, a tram track, and a motor track is to be built by the Manchester City Council. It is reported from Brussels that the Belgian Customs authorities have recently caught some people smuggling tobacco in their tyres. When crossing a badly-lit road at night carry a newspaper, unless dressed in light clothes, is the advice given by an English coroner.

With the increase in motor traffic, the problem of the city traffic department is becoming every year more difficult (says an Auckland paper). The other morning, at nine o’clock, 50 .vehicles were held, up in Customs Street waiting to enter or cross Queen Street. The railway bottle neck at Breakwater Road is another busy traffic point at rush hours, and when trains are arriving or departing at frequent .intervals a large number of cars and trucks is often held up awaiting a passage.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST NOISE. The Frenchman is by nature a noisy individual, who considers it necessary to make his presence known on streets and highways by an extravagant use of the horn (writes the Continental correspondent of The Autocar). 4- few montlis ago the chief of Paris police issued a decree forbidding the use of motor horns between midnight ana 5 a.m., with the object of eliminating a practice, common among both taximen and private car drivers, of frightening away other cars at cross-roads by means of loud blasts on the horn. This period of silence has now been extended to 5.30 a.m., and, further, it is. intimated that from April 1, only bulb horns will be permitted within the city limits. Tho campaign in favour of silence is not directed merely against motor drivers. The early ihorning milkman, who clatters down the street with some thiry or forty loose cans, will in future be liable to arrest.

TRAFFIC IN NEW YORK.

MOVES AT FA,ST PACE

The motor traffic on Chicago’s (U.S.A.) Lake Shore Drive—one of the city’s principal thoroughfares —..i the fastest of any large city in the world. On that street, either at the morning or evening rush hour, there are eight to twelve lines of traffic travelling qt not less than 45 m.p.li. This remarkable speed of Chicago traffic is due to several things —First, a very effective system of force of efficient and ultra-rapid motor traffic lights, coupled with ,a large force of efficient and ultra-rapid motor cycle police. The great north-to-south arteries of traffic are wide and in many cases are sub-divided into two or more ? -parate parallel streets with overhead intersections. Excellent driving is distinctly the rule. To, make a left or right turn, a driver must edge into the proper line, sometimes as many as ten blocks away, before reaching his proposed turning. On the other hand, the traffic in the city of New York is relatively slow.

PRESSED STEEL WORKS. DEVELOPMENTS ANTICIPATED It is quite possible that in the near ■future there will be seen a considerable development in pressed steel work for motor car construction, according to the Autocar (England). For many .years conventional frames have taken the form of deep-sided members with two flanges, one turning inwards at the top, and the other at the bottom. On this frame is mounted the body by means of nuts and bolts. Some manufacturers even further divorce tho body from the chassis and' mount a secondary frame on the main frame of tho chassis, and on to this frame bolt, the body, the idea being to permit considerable flexibility and to prevent body rattle. This necessarily implies that flexibility in the chassis is conceded. But opinion to-day is tending to the belief that extreme rigidity of the chassis is tho goal at which to aim, and flexibility of the body is relied upon to prevent doors dropping and general rattles being set up. This state of affairs was the reason for the development of the flexible fabric body, and the very success of this type is a tacit admission that flexion between the body and the chassis, as at present known, is inevitable. But need there necessarily be this flexion ? Suppose that a chassis is absolutely rigid, and an equally rigid body is mounted firmlv to it, there would thus be a construction which should result in perfect silence and non-distortion over immense distances.

Further, if this goal can be reached, there is little doubt that much lighter motor cars would be possible, thus saving tyre, fuel, engine and transmission wear, and at the same time greatly improving road performance. Suppose a simple analogy of a metal box such as normally contains a hundred cigarettes be taken. If the box has the lid open and the two ends are grasped quite lightly and a twisting

motion be imparted to the ends of the box in opposite directions, the box will whip to a great extent. When, however, the lid is closed, even with a very thin metal box, extreme rigidity when it is twisted is immediately apparent. Consider the open box as the car’s frame, the lid as the body side; if conventional frame design is abandoned and the open section of the flanged frame is upwards, as in tlio box, and the body be placed on top of this section, and, therefore, take the place of the lid, even with a very light gauge steel extreme rigidity of tho whole structure would ensue. When this is done on each side member and the steel floor of the body is employed as a continuous cross member, great strength with light weight is assured. Then, again, is it really necessary to use bolts to secure one to tho other r Every bolt implies drilling a hole and every hole weakens the structure. Would it not be equally strong, much lighter, and far quicker to manufacture if the body lid were spot welded to the chassis at suitable intervals along the joint? We should then have a perfectly homogeneous car. At would not be possiole to remove the body from the chassis, but this should not be necessary except for a complete crash, which, nfter all, is comparatively rare in the life of the majority of cars. Something in the nature ot the development outlined above is inevitable, and may not be long delayed.

PETROL SUPER TAX. Despite the protests of motoring organisations, the French Chamber of De. puties lias voted an additional petrol tax of 10 centimes per litre. It is generally imagined that the French motorist is treated in somewhat the same manner as his English neighbour, or perhaps a little more favourably, for the French horse-power tax is rather lower than the one in force in England, and the French method ot determining horse-power is more lavpur able to the motorist »than the iiiiiglish formula. In addition to the horse-power tax, there is, however, a petrol tax ot roughly 29 ner cent, which, with the recent increase, will bring it up to about 30 per cent.

WARNING DEVICES. Although every new car is provided with some form of audible warning device, the fitting supplied sometimes leaves much to be desired, while with quite a number of cars the horn, although quite a good instrument in itself is not suitable for every purpose. It may be either too loud for certain conditions, or, on the other hand, much too soft to be heard plainly m the roar of traffic or at distant crossroads. For this reason many owners will find the addition of a second horn well worth while. It is not always appreciated that too loud a warning note can sometimes he more dangerous than one which is too soft. More than ono accident has been caused by a driver suddenly sounding a stiong electric hooter when just abqut .to overtake a cyclist, the sudden piercing note startling the rider and causing him to swerve, - Probably - nothing would have happened in such a case hail the warning note been - soft ana tire rider; would likely have proceeded normally on his way as ithe car overtook him. On the other Aland, a soft or low-toned horn may be completely inaudible to the driver of a decrepit lorry, who believing that nothing is about to overtake him, may pull out across the road in the path of the overtaking vehicle. Few horns are ideal in theso two extremes, and there is every case, therefore, for the fitting or two horns having widely different characteristics. An excellent combination is a medium-powered bulb horn and a very loud electric warning device. The latter can be reserved for occasions when a compelling signal is needed.

MID-ROAD DRIVERS.

FEAR OF EDGE INSTINCTIVE,

TRAFFIC’S LITTLE VAGARIES

Safety instincts make drivers keep away from the sides of made roads and edge in towards the centre, according to the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, which has just concluded a check on the driving habits of motorists. . . . One result‘is the decision that roadpaving needs to be at least 20 feet wide for safety, as anything less does not provide sufficient clearance between vehicles. KEEP FROM EDGE.

Having marked off pavements into one-foot sections, the engineers, by watching the right rear wheels of passing vehicles, found that on straight and level roads of various width, from 14 to 24 feet, with shoulders in fair condition, passenger car drivers habitually maintain a distance of from li to 4 feet between the outer wheel and the edge of the pavement. Truck drivers operate somewhat nearer the edge, but prefer not to approach closer than II feet. Drivers will sacrifice clearance between their own and passing vehicles rather than drive closer to the edge than they instinctivly feel is safe. The bureau’s observations indicate that pavements less than 18 feet wide are decidedly too narrow, since they provide no clearance for passenger cars or trucks operating in the usual paths. While the 18-foot width is apparently great enough for passenger cars in two-lane traffic, it is not quite wide enough for trucks. The 20-foot width gives ample clearance for trucks and is not excessive for automobiles. In moving down hill on light grades, traffic moves slightly toward the centre of the road. Light down .grades no not suggest reduction of speed, hence traffic takes the precaution of moving slightly away from the edge of the pavement. No such tendency was observed on • heavy grades where the speed is reduced, and the instinctive fear of the pavement’s edge is lessened. In rounding horizontal curves, traffic, in general, shifts toward the inside edge, but the trucks shift their courses toward the inside of the curve less than passenger vehicles. Under all circumstances, truck drivers are found to adhere more closely to the edges of the pavement than operators of passenger vehicles.