Cycling and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 2955, 2 November 1910, Page 59

Cycling and Motor Notes

BY DEMON.

AJtfSWEK to correspondent. "Wager.—Judging- the question as you have submitted it, B counts 2 only.

Motorists will ho interested to learn that part of Captain Scott's equipment, packed away on the Terra Nova, consists of a unique motor sledge tractor, designed by an English engineer and constructed by the Wolseley Motor Company. The tractive power is very high, spiked chains being provided to grip either soft snow or hard surfaces. Two speeds only arc provided—viz., two and three and a-half miles per hour. From experiments conducted on the snowfields of Norway, most satisfactory results were obtained, a load of 30001 b being pulled up a snow bank with a gradient of 1 in 4i, and it is confidently anticipated that in Captain Scott's dash for the South Pole the -Hamilton motor sledge (named after the designer) will bo able to accomplish good work. Seventy petrol tanks (with ii totul of 2000 gallons of petrol) are being taken on board the Terra Nova, and on the long ice journey south the motor tractor will draw several sledges, with petrol tanks mounted aboard. Good work was done by a motor car during the travels of the Shaekleron expedition, but far better results are anticipated from the Hamilton tractor. Recent experiments in France have proved that the, motor .bicycle is by far the most suitable vehicle for tracking aeroplanes in flight. Experiments were conducted during some recent manoeuvres in which the motor cyclist was tot. to follow a flying machine across country, specially in country lanes and across hilly distances doe* the motor bicycle score over all other types of vehicles. Its great powers of speed and endurance., its handines.s, its acceleration and ability to force its way through other kinds of traffic have made it. pre-eminently suitable for the pursuit of aeroplanes. In actual warfare it would be of the utmost importance to discover the destination of the aeroplanist and, if possible, to bring him to earth before ho ?ot there. With this object in view the authorities in Franco are said to be training a special corps of expert riflemen, wlho will be mounted on .motor bicycles and attempt to bring down the acrcplanist in flight. Mr Inglis, of Wellington, New Zealand, leaves Sydney for the Dominion, after a five months' absence in England and on the Continent (says Sydney Telegraph). Mr Inglis states that the leading manufacturers of motor cars have had an exceptional demand in England this season, and, being taken by surprise, have been quite unable to keep pace with orders. The feature of the year has been the development of the moderate-powered and moderate-priced vehicles. Manufacturers assured him, however, that there is no prospect of any reduction in the present prices of cars until an all-round reduction takes place in the ocst of raw material. J. M'Sweeney. who entered a protest against Pianta, the W.A. rider, receiving the prize for the fastest time in the Dunlop Road Race, on the grounds that he was paced, was impelled to withdraw it. being unable to produce any evidence in support. Warrnambool Road Race, E. S. Perrett, a resident of Camperdown. was entertained bv the townspeople and made the recioient of several nrcsentfl in recognition of his fine ride. One of the gifts was a cycle, value £l6 IG=; another was a clock, while the third was a purser of sovereigns. His. traJnair. Oscar Andersen, also came .in

for recognition, and received a gold and silver medal. After a lapse of several' weeks, Francis Birtles has again, been spoken, and is reported from Oue, Wert Australia, having passed through early last week. A feature of this overland ride is the long intervals between tho places which he touches at, though in the present instance the delay was seemingly caused through his suffering from malaria for six weeks. Evidently ho has recovered, and is pushing on to Mount Magnet, en route for Perth, his objective, where, it is understood, the tour, per cycle, ends. Some interesting features of the automobile manufacturing business were recently made public. In one city there is on the average a car produced every three minutes. The evolution from steel billet to the finished machine takes less than one week. There is a capital of two hundred millions sterling invested in the industry, which gives employment, to 400,000 persons —equal to'tnot quite half of the population of New Zealand. It is estimated that in the United States there is one car for every 160 of the population; in one State—Nebraska—the average is stated to bo one car to every 100 .persons. the automobile has made in Europe and America, of its adoption by all sections of the community for pleasure, business, and defence purposes, as well as by the fire brigade associations throughout the world, and which are hacked up by tho experiences of frienda who have visited the Old World, that we can grasp the true position, of the motor car, and realise in it one of the greatest, developments of modern, times. A report published recently of the traffic to the Geodwocd Racecourse (England) stated that nine-tenths of the vehicles carrying people from the railways and elsewhere to tho course were motor-driven —a revolution in traffic in 10 short yeans. The number of cars in use in the United States is colossal. The production of automobiles in tho States to-day is at the rate of 200.000 per annum. And the value of that product is estimated at 45 millions sterling. True, the motor is enjoying a boom in that country; still, the cars will bo absorbed; although someone will sustain severe losses eventually. London Embankment, may be gathered from the police evidence in a city ca«e that 563 motors passed eastward retwoen 10 and 11 in the morning. has been written upci that deadly alloy of iron and silicon known a* ferro-silicon, it would seem that we are in for many unsuspected dangers. In the month of Mav, 1908, the ship Uleaborg sailed from Stockholm to St. Petersburg. The crew and passengers were all in good health when they went aboard, but almost the entire crew were in a dving condition when landing—several, in fact, succumbed. Tho secret of tho insidious visitation which afflicted the little community of the Uloaborg was long a mystery, but it attracted even more attention than it would otherwise have done from the fact that it was not by any means tin? first of tho b ; c steamships in different parts of the world which had arrived reporting deaths and illnesses of a mysterious character among the passengers and crew. In some instances, ptomaine poisoning was suspected, but the symptoms were unlike any other case of ptomaine poisoning that, before or since, occurred. The mysterious affliction baffled everyone, till one investigator pointed out that, ; n every case, the vessel in" question was carrying a cargo of a special alloy of iron and silicon known as "ferro-silicon," for use in tho manufacture of high-grade steels for motor-car construction. It anrvears that, with the progress of automobilism, a great demand has sprung up for high-grade nickel steels which possess that great tensile strength required for the light-weight construction necessary for motor cars, and still more so for aerial purposes. It seems that the nickel is most easily ab c orb3d into the steel by the addition of ferro-silicon to tho molten metal. The difficulty is that

forro-silicon of high grade can only bf produced at temperatures near 2000dei centigrade, and for this the eleotrical fur\ nace is necessary, the actual material bein/ manufactured by treatment under thJ electric arc of a mixture of gun-turning* silica, and anthracite. Owing to tho com of electrical power, it has not been poa( sihle to produce ferro-siLioon commercially in the United Kingdom; hence over 400* tons of it are imported annually.

MOTOR BOAT ON LAKE MANAPOURI. The first motor boat to make its aDpeai* ance on Lake Manapouri was launched oa October 27. The launch is fitted with an 8 h.p. Max motor, and makes a speed of nine miles per hour. The name of the launch is "Utu," which means " satisfac Irion." , NEW MOTOR TAXES. Tho British Postmaster-general announces that the new licences for motOH vehicles authorised by the Finance Act ar*. as follows :—■ Motor bicycle or tricycle of whatever horse-power £1 0 0 Motor car not exoeeding 6£ h.p. .. 22 0 Motci car exceeding 6J h.p. but rot exceeding 12 h.p 3 3 0 Motor car exceeding 12 h.p. but not exceeding 1G h.p 4 4 Of Motor car exceeding 16 h.p. but not exceeding 26 h.p 6 6 0 Motor oar exceeding 26 h.p. but not exceeding 33 h.p 8 8 0. Motor car exceeding 33 h.p. but not exceeding 40 h.p 10 10 0 Motor car exceeding 40 h.p. but not ' exceeding 60 h.p 21 0 d Motor cor exceeding 60 h.p 42 0 0 Medical practitioners who keep a mofor vehicle or vehicles for tho purpose of thei* profession are entitled to a reduction o( one half of the duty, provided that they have previously satisfied the licensing authority (i.e.. tho county or county borough council) that they aro entitled to the reduction. AGRICULTURAL MOTORS. An English journal gives an interesting account of a series of experiments carried out in Hertfordshire to determine the advantages of motor tractors for farm work. Tho first two days were devoted to ploughing in a competition for a gold medal offered by the Royal Agricultural Society. The prize was awarded to a tractor sent iir by Messrs M'Laren, of Leeds, which covered the ground at the rate of seven miles an hour, and both in sin and deeper tests turned over more than an aero in the hour. The following day the programme comprised harvesting work. Several tractors hauled each two Albion selfbinders, working in zig-zag fashion, and cutting in 12ft. A smaller tractor, work< ing first on petrol and then on paraffin ( was only able to draw one self-binder; consequently it onlv cut in 6ft; but, nevertheless, it performed good work, cutting cleanly and taking- tho corners exoeedinglj well. It happened that a pair-horse singl« binder was at work in another portion of the field, where the tests wore being carried out. and it was noticed that while it cut one length another machine cut three lengths, and as the latter cut in 12ft and tho former only 6ft, tho great advantage of the tractor was at once anparent. An experienced farmer watched the ploughing trials with great interest, and gave it as his opinion that the motor could be used with advantage in preparing tho ground where largo fields had to ho dealt with, thus lessening the necessity for turning, which is one" of tho drawbacks of motor ploughing. Although much time was lost in reversing both the plough and the motor, the experiments proved that it waa possible to turn over an acre an hour with a three-farrow plough at a cost of less than three shillings for fuel. An American farmer who was present expressed tho opinion that the olough must become part of the motor itself, instead of being dragged, before it can be of any general service, especially to the small holder. In

reaping and mowing, however, it had a muoh easier task, and it wo aid also be of great service in the farmyard. JACK JOHNSON BEATEN. VANCOUVER, October 27. Jack Johnson, pugilist, showed to poor advantage against Barney Oldfield in the five-mile auto championship. Oldfield led throughout, and beat his opponent by a quarter of a mile.