TRADE AT HAMILTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19720, 20 August 1927, Page 10 (Supplement)

TRADE AT HAMILTON.

NEW CAR REGISTRATIONS.

The Waikato continues to offer a ready market for motor vehicles, although in common with other centres the monthly sales have not reached the record levels of 1926. During the first six months of 1927, 481 cars, commercial vehicles, and motor vehicles havo been added to the registration lists for the Hamilton postal district, excluding the borough, as compared with 650 in the first half-year of 1926. In the Hamilton borough alone the total for the two half-year periods was 307 and 347 respectively. Following are details of the registrations for the first six months of each year: Hamilton district (excluding borough)

During July an additional 57 cars, 26 commercial vehicles, and 22 motor-cycles were added to the total bringing the aggregate for the seven montns of 1927 for the entire Hamilton district up to 893 motor vehicles. AUTOMATIC PUMPS. A device for attachment to an ordinary petrol pump to permit the operation of a shilling in the slot after closing of the premises, is coming into favour in Great Britain. Garages which do not maintain an attendant in the evening are finding that many motorists who are late on the roads have recourse to the shilling in the slot pump. At the present price of petrol in England the shilling provides over twothirds of a gallon of fuel. Motor-cyclists, particularly, appreciate the automatic seller. The attachment for most standard pumps costs about £ls. It is affixed to the front of the pump, and in effect serves to limit !iJ e travel of the pump-operating spindle so that delivery of one shilling's worth of petrol per coin inserted is assured. Particular attention has been given to make it impossible to defraud the pump: the attachment incorporates a special selecting mechanism by which all coins inserted in the slot are automatically tested with precision, and if rejected by any of the nine tests which are applied, are returned immediately to the customer by means of the cup on the front of the pump cover. Accepted coins, however, form a distance piece within the mechanism, so that when the handle is turned a trip lever bearing on the top of a cam is moved clear of a stop which unlocks the control gearwheel and allows the user to rotate the operating handle to obtain the required petrol. A ratchet mechanism also ensures that the ease back the handle and so rob the pump in that way. The arrangement is also so designed that in the event of the handle not being in the correct position when the coin is inserted, the shilling is automatically returned to the customer. The amount of fuel delivered can readily be altered by the owner by means of an adjustment provided, so that one shilling's worth per coin inserted is obtained according to the price per gallon. SERVO STEERING. The latest invention designed to reduce the fatigue of long distance motoring is a device which practically takes the labour of steering out of the hands of the driver. The servo motor which has been applied so successfully to brakes has now been adapted in America to operate the steering gear. The invention is being tested by a well-known maker of eight cylinder cars, but as yet there is no assurance that it will become a standard fitting. The ordinary wheel is used for servo steering. The lightest touch on the wheel brings the servo motor into operation and the pull is provided. The feel of the steering soon becomes familiar and in general use the servo motor takes nine tenths of the labour of steeping the car. For some time past the question of reducing the labour of steering has occupied a great deal of attention, a considerable increase in the leverage with which the driver is provided being found absolutely essential to combat the drag produced by low-pressure tyres of large section.

Up to now the result has been fin all-round lowering of steering gear-box ratios, so that to execute a given manoeuvre the steering wheel of a modern car must be moved through a much bigger angle than was once necessary. The device under test is compactly arranged in a small cylindrical casing mounted on the steering column just below the footboards and consists essentially of two brake-drums which are slowly driven in opposite directions, by mean 3 of gearing and a universally jointed shaft, from some convenient rotating part of the engine. Each drum contains a springy brake-band, one end of each band being secured to a radial arm which is, in turn, keyed to the shaft carrying the worm of the usual- steering gear-box mechanism. It is stated that in the experimental device the mechanism is arranged to give a torquo amplification of 10 to 1, which means that without any alteration to the steering gearbox ratio the use of the servo device would reduce the steering effort to one-tenth of its normal value. The effect of so enormous a reduction in labour when parking a heavy car or manoeuvring in a confined space will at once be l'ealised, another point being that when the engine is ticking over and the car stationary, it is child's-play to movo the wheels through any desired angle by means of the steering wheel.

1927 1920 Cars , , . . i3G 411 Commercial .. 116 111 Motor-cycles . . 129 93 481 650 Hamilton: — Cars . 4 , , . » 204 227 Commercial ,. 51 58 Motor-cycles .. 52 62 307 347 Total for "district .. 788 997