The Motor World

NZ Truth, Issue 749, 25 October 1919, Page 8

The Motor World

(By "Crank,") .

Considerable attention Is being given by motor journals the world over to . farm tractors. It is everywhere conceded., that the labor problem makes it absolutely necessary to utilise mechanical means m agriculture more ■ than ever before. A Swiss motor company bras announced a combined tractor and plough, both mounted on the same frame, which is carried on three wheels. .'. Owing to the scarcity of heavy oils m Europe, the ordinary two-cylinder heavy oil motor cannot be employed, and an internal combustion engine of 30 h.p. has been installed. This drives the two front wheels. : These two and the steering wheel at , the back all travel on unploughed land. l The plough is so arranged as to give ! a certain amount of free motion inde- • pendent of the movement of the car . Itself. Tho whole apparatus can be s easily managed by one man. The : plough is so fitted that it can be disconnected when the tractor is required : as a stationary engine. j» • * l In the passenger car the two-wheel , drive cojnpletely meets all the neces- ) sitles of the case, but for tractors a four-wheel drive is apparently going i to become common. In truck practice i tho 'four-wheel drive has conquered i quite a field m recent years, mainly • m connection with ordnance transport, and It would certainly seem that if ; this drive had any justification at all • it would have it m tractor work, because a tractor must develop driVing , effort sufficient not only to propel its i own weight over loose soil, but to haul a plough or other implement as welL The difficulty is, of course, m connection with the steering, af the front axle must be arranged for both driving and steering. Apparently the ■ difficulty has been entirely overcome by the Heinze tractor, m -which all the wheels remain at all times parallel to each other, but the two wheels on the near side, when turning, remain stationary, the driving power being applied to the other two only for the time being 1 . O • * Of the 80,000 trucks that were under the control of the War Office m England, no fewer than 35,000 were American. In 1914, there were 67,415 motor cars m Canada. At the end of last year there were 269,727. On January 1, 1919, there was a total of 6,225,192 motor cars and motor trucks registered m the United States. This is art increase,- of 73 per cent m two years. As the average cost to the purchaser of the cars and trucks was £200, that represents a total invest- ' ment of £1,245,038,400. • • • It is now stated that the British army m France made use of 46,700 motor vehicles, of which 30,000 were trucks. Despite this big mechanical fleet, though, the number of animals was constantly on the increase, and just before the Armistice was signed 400,000 horses and mules were m use. So heavy was the traffic on the roads, of which the British forces were responsible for the up-keep of 4500 miles, that.it required 100 tons of road metal every fortnight for maintaining a single mile. The total amount of stone used for this purpose from the beginning of 191S to the date of the Armistice was about 3,500,000 tons. Owing to the restrictions on Imports of motor cars and (parts Into Great Britain, there is a notable rise m the price of -'English cars. For instance, the new Austin 20, which was listed at £400, has now been increased m price to £500. The 12-h.p. Rover, which before the war was selling, for £350, is now listed at £700. It is exactly the same car/ without a single alteration. The 11-h^p.- Arrol Johnson, which used to sell at £375, is now listed at £700, and a similar rise is noticed m practically every car made m Great Britain. • ■ • * The export of American cars to Japan is steadily increasing. In March no fewer than 670 passenger vehicles, ! worth £167,000, and 137 commercial j» vehicles, worth £40,000, were sent I from the United States to Japan.