Motor and Cycle

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 66

Motor and Cycle

B Z

DEMON.

A man who came before the court in New Plymouth the other morning on a charge under the Motor Regulations was asked how he pleaded (says the Taranaki Herald). “I hardly know,” was the reply, “ whether I am guilty or not. I came here to find out.”—(Laughter.) “ A matter we will have to watch next

year is the price of petrol,” said Mr T. Milliken at a recent meeting of the Can-

terbury Automobile Association (states " the Christchurch Times). “Petrol in California costs somewhere under threepence a gallon. Yet we are going to pay two shillings. It seems to be a great margin. The association has done much, but we will have to keep our eyes open.” A motor mechanic, a Scotsman, was giving evidence in a case respecting the sale of a motor car in the Hamilton Magistrate’s Court recently, when counsel asked him if it was not true that he had received his purchase money back. “Not the full amount,” said witness. “Are you sure?" asked counsel. “I did not receive the sixpence exchange,” was the witness’s reply.— (Laughter.) “You motor-cyclists must learn to restrain yourselves. The trouble with most . of you is that very often you do not know at what speed you are travelling.” These remarks were directed to a motorcyclist by Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court recently. The motor-cyclist’s excuse on a charge oi speeding was. that his speedometer was not working at the time the inspector had overtaken him. A statement that it would take a week to take down the engine of a motor car was made by a witness in the Hamilton Magistrate’s Court. The magistrate- (Mr Wyvern Wilson) expressed amazement at the time suggested. Witness amplified his statement by saying that the average time occupied in taking down, adjusting, and reassembling a motor car engine was’ a week. The magistrate: “That is the evil of putting a car into a garage. You cannot get it out under a week.” “ Every man should know his own capacity,” said Air F. W. Johnston at the. annual meeting of the Canterbury Automobile Association when speaking of drinking among motorists. Every man should know how liquor would affect him, he went on. In some cases, according to the opinion of a judge of the Supreme Court, liquor actually made a man drive better —it all depended on his temperament. At the same time Mr Johnston advised all motorists to be careful where liquor was concerned lest an attempt was made to enforce prohibition on them.

TITLE DEEDS FOR CARS.

The issue of a title deed with a motor ear when it is purchased was advocated at a convention of Victorian garage proprietors held in Melbourne recently. Mr W. R. Prayne said that if title deeds were issued with motor cars garage owners and dealers would be protected. Mr A. L. Hare said that every car and motor cycle should have a title deed No one could purchase or sell a motor car or motor cycle secondhand if the title were “tied up” in a hire-purchase agreement. The garage proprietor or dealer could hold the title' in his own name until the whole payment had been made by the purchaser. It was decided to recommend that a title deed be issued with each new car and motor cycle, and that the title remain in force until the machine was “scrapped,” when it would be returned to the Police Department.

A GREAT ORGANISATION.

Some indication of the magnitude of the work of the Automobile Association (Britain) is given by figures included in the annual report for the year. At the dose of the financial year the membership was 419,053, an increase for the year of 25,245, of which 8000 were ladies. Subscriptions and entrance fees totalled £785,508, and £620,294 was spent on patrols’ wages, salaries, uniforms, motor car and cycle expenses, road and village signs, sentry boxes, etc. Under the association’s free legal defence scheme for members £35,661 was spent, and the record of defended cases showed a big percentage of dismissals. The balance sheet showed that £49,447 Is 6d was banked or in hand, investments at cost totalled £428,280 3s 3d, and freehold and leasehold premises were valued at £331,536 16s sd. Reserve funds totalled £303,307 Us lOd.

•The association’s patrols covered over 26,000,000 miles, first aid was rendered to over 4000 injured people, and over 1000 events were attended, involving the parking of nearly 350.000 cars. Fifteen air meetings were attended by patrols specially trained in handling aeroplanes. A considerable number of articles lost or found on the roads were restored to their owners.

The special members’ insurance policy issued by the Motor Union Insurance Company, Ltd., has continued to be of signal value to members. Under this policy the association has the final decision in any disputes over claims, and the fewness of the cases referred to the association by members evidenced the reasonable spirit in which members’ claims are handled by the company. Apart from the investigation and settlement of these disputes, in many cases of hardship not actually covered by the policy the association has granted financial assistance to members from the special fund provided for that purpose.

LONDON’S NEW BUSES.

The cabled news that 106 compressionignitioned engined motor buses will he placed <n ee.rv.sce in London is highly

interesting, although it has been known for some time past that it was a development which could be expected in the near future. For some years past motor engineers in all parts of the world have investigated closely the possibilities of this type of engine, and some remarkable advances have been made. The primary difficulties of extreme weight, slow running, objectionable fumes, and noise, want of flexibility', difficult starting from cold, etc., have gradually been overcome, until engines of this type, made either on the Brayton or the Diesel principle, have been so far perfected that they have even been fitted to aeroplanes with success.

Among the most notable advances made in this respect appear to be those of the Mercedes Benz Company in Germany with their powerful, .speedy, and economical lorries; the Kerr Stuart organisation in England; also as applied to commercial vehicles, the Cummins cars, and the Pack, hard Company’ in America with aeroplane engines. With these producers the com-pression-ignition engine appears to have been brought to a commercially successful standard. There are, of course, innumerable instances of individual engines of the type made by inventors and applied to test chassis of cars and lorries in every part of the world. There are instances, such as the Grayson engine, to be found in Sydney of good engines of this type being constructed in Australia. _ One of the greatest difficulties which inventors have had to overcome, after solving the problem of reducing weight to a suitable minimum for use in connection with automobiles, was that of quick and certain starting. As the engine has been taken up in such a wholesale way for passenger transportation purposes in the world’s greatest city, it is safe to assume that this difficulty has been completely' overcome. For marine purposes the compression-ignition engine has for long been adopted with success and satisfaction. and many deep-sea vessels are propelled by it. Diesel engines are also frequently installed in river and harbour ferries. These engines are equipped witn a very rapid starting device, and appear to be thoroughly efficient. For marine purposes. of course, weight is not such a drawback.

A PIONEER HONOURED.

Recently the Automobile Club of France offered a banquet to Dr Guglielminetti in commemoration of the pioneer work he accomplished in favour of tarred toads. Nearly 30 years ago Dr Guglielminetti, a Swiss citizen living in Monte Carlo, suggested that roads should be treated with tar to render them dustless, and an experimental stretch of road was tarred at Monte Carlo in 1902; the following year the Anti-Dust League was formed. It is curious to recall that Dr Guglielminetti s early efforts met with opposition from motorists, who held the view that tarred roads were slippery, that they destroyed vegetation and killed the fish in rivers and lakes, and, further, that tar was the bete noire of bodywork. The late James Gordon Bennett, who was one of the founders of the Automobile Club of France, and who did much for the motor movement by reason of his Gordon Bennett Cup, was also a vigorous opponent ot tar.

SILENT GEARS.

Speaking broadly, it would be perfectly true to say that cars to-day have reached a point of development where further progress in design is difficult to foresee. The majority of cars nowadays—even the lower-priced ones —are fitted with silent, mooth-running engines, and also with quiet running back axles. On the other hand there are cars that do not possess gearboxes with a degree of silence. in conformity with the rest of the chass:s. There are a limited number of makes of cars now .equipped with two quiet gears—the top and its next ratio, whilst just recently a French car has been placed on the market with a box fitted with four silent gears. It may be-assumed that as soon as such a gear-box becomes more generally available the car-buying public will demand this refinement as an absolute essential to pleasurable motoring. When the silent gear-box is standard on all cars builders of heavy commercial and pas-senger-carrying vehicles will no doubt fall into line.

WHEEL WOBBLE.

Probably the most mystifying phenomenon of the modern motor car is “ wheel wobble.” Since the advent of balloon tyres and front wheel brakes, some six or seven years ago, the front wheel wobble epidemic has grown and become more troublesome, not only with well-worn cars and trucks, but, at certain critical speeds, on new automobiles, and not always low-priced ones at that. There are, it is stated, two kinds of wheel wobble—a low-speed wobble and a high-speed wobble. The former is usually set up when traversing a pot-holey road, and it is a matter that can usually be prevented or minimised by correct adjustment, or remedying excessive wear in the steering gear. The highspeed wobble is a problem of many facets, and has some of the world’s leading automobile experts troubled, and, like some human diseases, has the cleverest specialists searching.,for the why and the wherefore.

The Dunlop Rubber Co., England, has recent had installed at their Fort plant at Birmingham an ingenious testing apparatus to enable scientific tests to be carried out, with a view to endeavouring to eliminate the mystery of the disconcerting wobble, which is such an arch enemy of tyres on front wheels. Old and new cars have been tried out, and one in-

teresting thing disclosed is the fact that wheel wobble has always been with us, but that in days gone by cars generally did not travel fast enough to reach the critical speeds at which wobble would occur. Today that wobble is more apparent because of the extra weight of front-wheel brakes and low pressure balloon tyres now produce the wobble in an intensified form within speeds that are fairly common on the better roads of to-day. Of course, all cars are not addicted to wheel wobble under usual driving conditions, or they never reach the critical period when the trouble is apparent. There is little doubt that when the Dunlop testing plant has been longer in operation and more extensive research work has been carried out many valuable lessons will be learnt as to the why and the wherefore of wheel wobble. EVOLUTION OF THE MOTOR ENGINE. It is interesting and amusing, in view of the ultimate evolution of the internal combustion engined automobile, to read an account of one of the first automobile road races held in America. The event was decided in 1900 on an out-and-home level 50-miles course, and attracted great interest in the United States. The cars entered comprised one electric, nine petrol driven care, and four steam cars, but only nine contestants faced the starter. The cars started at 30sec intervals. The electric, driven by Mr A. L. Ricker, got away first, and was never headed, covering the 50 miles in 2hr 3min 30sec. S. T. Davis, on a Stanley steam car, made fastest time on the outward journey, but owing to a head wind on the run home had to stop to refill the water tank. Davis eventually finished second, 19m:n after the winner. The first petrol car to finish took 2hr 30min Isec to negotiate the course. The winning car, described as being long in the wheelbase, was specially built for speed, and weighed 25001 b. It is worthy of note that several cyclists have recently bettered the time for 50 miles recorded by Ricker’s electric car.

VALUABLE NEW ALLOY.

A statement was recently madp that a considerable saving could be effected in the weight of tramway cars in this country if an aluminium alloy could be evolved which would have about the same physical properties as mild structural steel. Maybe the new alloy known as hiduminium R.R 50, recently discovered by experts in the Rolls-Royce laboratories, and which has played a very important part in the wonderful achievements of the Rolls-Royce engines in winning the aeroplane speed blue riband—the Schneider Trophy— at 350 m.p.h., and also those of the ill-fated Miss England, which exceeded 100 m.p.h. will prove satisfactory for the purpose’ It is thio revolutionary metal that has enabled this British concern to construct internal combustion engines of 2000 b.h p with a power-weight ratio of 12oz per brake horse power—a remarkable figure for a water-cooled engine. This new alloy is stated to be not only lighter anil tougher than former aluminium alloys but it has many times the res : stance to fatigue under the stress of heat and prolonged vibration. A feature of R,R. 50 is that it is actually cheaper to produce

than former alloys, and as a commercial proposition it appears likely to play a very important part in the automobile and engineering world. Already licenses have been secured in Continental countries for manufacturing this new metal.

WORLD’S SPEED RECORD.

The New Zealand Government appreciates the value of the publicity that would accrue to the Dominion ‘if th-’ worlds speed record of 231 m.p.h. established by the late Sir Henry Segrave on his Dunlop-shod Golden Arrow at Daytona (U.S.A.) were bettered on th-» wonderful natural speedway available at the Ninety-mile Beach, situated at the north-west corner of the North Island. A film depicting the wide stretch of the hard flat beach was eent to England and recently exhibited at the British Racing Drivers’ Club dinner in London. Ihe evident intention was to influence loon h Ol1 ’ « y i ho e ?> rl n tllis year took his 40W) h.p. Silver Bullet to Daytona, but could never let the car out, owing to the lough nature of the surface of beach, and had to return to England, a v-rv a ; s. appointed man. No doubt the Dominion representatives in London w.ll use u endeavour to induce Don to make his next on the New 7 'i'° r L d ’> land speed record on the New Zealand beach instead of in ftoithThe 1111°“ thi \ bea <* that Norman bmith, the well-known Australian motorist, ear?y I n]?Yi- iIIS attempt on Segrave’s figures eha«i« » year on an Australian-built chassis, equipned with a Rolls-Rovce power unit, loaned by the British Govern"

The people of Dunedin are to have tlm Goldell 1 Arrow'. o’' 0 ’'’ 5 th »

SPEED SUPREMACY: eS/wS W ak^K in ion, P i " as attain a genuine sneed of 120 miles an hour, an ambition whPch was realised eventually, one of the earliest to do so being the irrpnt Fno-lick • rnest record-breaker, ] e v?’? eer efforts r»f C 1 I? r r'„ i i ■vV' ’ ack. The M Bddlin’ V J en ?P ,e ’ ! ? Vack himself, O. certain ° her ! fr A om England and Xhed the and 'American riders until D r? P d fißures steadily upwards, but Tin u apparent that not only 120 and feW ?? - hou . r was a Possibility, 129 mile« a nn ? ttained a speed of nearly Cologne last year. The secret of Henne’s success, on a machine of only 750 c c as compared with the 998 e.c. of the British exponents was the fact that a super bin • kad ® ucces sfully been to BritFI glne \ As is considered by the SnHM tha°t tO thA Cycle trade fc !? at H ‘ s es ' machine i supremacy of the British machine shall be maintained at all Drom l inent eV in ral n ? akers ? f machines most prominent in such speed tests set about elpeclallv ® uperch . ar ß« l or other models especially to regain the laurels. As w->s a n 998 U c C c d o a E f C V a C°’ T one of the “> a vjo c.c. 0.E.C., ridden bv J. S Writrht succeeded in doing so by averaging 135 85 r 3 h ?, Ur for a mile, and eve,? faster, HMd 37 “V 1 ? 3 au hour - for a kilometre (1094 yaids), a wonderful feat. llenne, however, according to a cable message received by C. C. Wakefield and WHo-hr?’’ Wa ! evid ently undaunted by hrni" ’li £ r ® a t speed, as he has again not 'bv w ? rld ’ a records, although Xlinn margins on this occasion. At Munich, on his B.M.W. he averaged 13/.6 miles an hour for a kilometre and 136.38 miles an hour for a mile doubt h in nS n tanCe^ Wlth starts ’ and - no of tho P accordance with the regulations Cvcie Clnh= ra H° n ° f Interna tional Motor the ! hese avera « es representing the mean of two runs m opposite directions on a straight piece of road

REMARKABLE FIGURES. Already there are 120,000 motor trucks and lorries registered in Australia but nevertheless the necessity for more is apparent (says the Sydney Morning 3 000 onn tU,ent ha ?, an area of nearly 3,000,000 square miles, the total length of roads is only 280,000 miles, and of these 35 a onn 10a ? S on mi “mount to one-eighth, or 35,000 miles. The other 245,000 miles are generally classified as “other roads’’ and even in the most densely populated ’areas surface of sn lbs -° f I he greatest cities, the suitace of some is elementary. ff ls estimated, and the amount is by no means excessive, that the motor commercial vehicles of the Commonwealth represent an investment of about £30.000 000 by private enterprise. Their’ economic value, as a most important th e 650,000 automobiles using the loads of Australia leaches enormous A wb - ,ck ?t would be almost imposnnb, nil es f tl ?] at . e ’ but s , tin the comparative paucitj of their numbers leaves a great 'oltime of developmental work to be done, notwithstanding restrictive regulations and legislation. Despite their handicaps, howlfc - claimed that the motor trucks in this country employ as drivers alone more men than the whole of the railways in the Commonwealth, which rea capital investment of length of lines is only 25,803 miles, while the network of roads and bridges throughout the Commonwealth according to official statistics, lnvolv ed Australia in loans totalling _ £30,252,961, the interest and sinking fund of which is paid several times over by motorists. I urther, the great improvement effected in mam roads during the last few' years has been mainly the result of the man}' millions of pounds contributed to the State and Federal Governments especially for road development by motorists in petrol taxes, registration fees, etc. In 1929 more than 150,000 Australians were employed at 10,000 garages, bodyworks, tyre factories, battery works, and allied trades assisting to place on the road and keep in service the motor vehicles of the Commonwealth. At a conservative estimate of 6000 miles for each car a year, the 450,000 cars registered m Australia cover a total of 2,700,000,000 miles per annum, while the 120,000 trucks at 7500 miles a year cover 900,000,000 miles, and 84,000 motor cycles at 4000 miles a year, 336,000,000 miles, or an aggregate total of 3,936,000,000 miles a year covered by Australia’s motor transport system. Even if these figures proved excessive by 25 per cent., which is most unlikely, the total is still enormous, and indicate.? how indispensable the motor vehicle has already become to Australia.

INTOXICATED MOTORISTS. HAMILTON, October 8. An unusual case of two men being convicted conjointly of being in charge of a motor lorry whilst drunk was heard in the Magistrate’s Court to-day, when Alexander Adam Allan and Thomas Allan Pennell were each convicted and fined £lO. Allan had his license cancelled for three years and a-half, and Pennell had his cancelled until May 31 next. The case arose out of a collision, and it was shown that both men had driven the lorry.

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE. CHRISTCHURCH, October 9. The sequel to a recent crossing smash, when a lorry struck an express train and tore the side out of a carriage, was heard before Mr E. D. Mosley. S.M., this morning. Lester Norman Nanivell, the lorry driver, pleaded guilty to attempting to cross the line when it waa not clear. He was fined £3 and costs. To the magistrate he admitted that ha was lucky to be alive. He stated that he had received concussion and had injured one leg.

OTAGO MOTOR CLUB.

The eighteenth annual report of tho Otago Motor Club states, inter alia:— During the year 939 new members wer® placed on the roll, this being an increase on the total of last year. Motorists’ interests during the year have received the careful attention of the executive. Some very important matters have been

dealt with in connection 'with motor taxation and legislation. The various local bodies with whom the club has had dealings are now thanked for their help and courtesy. The erection of danger and direction signs has been carried out by the club to the advantage of the travelling motorist, also donations have been made to various local bodies for the improvement of roads and bridges. The club’s motor patrols were established on the roads in December last, and are fulfilling a part that is most valued by motorists who meet with trouble. They have enrolled 339 new members. >

The rooms where the club is now located were opened in March last, and the meetings of members held monthly have been well attended. We regret the resignation of the secretary, Mr P. H. Power, who has faithfully served the club for the past 14 years, and we wish him many years of continued good health in his retirement.