MOTORDOM.

Southland Times, Issue 19479, 31 March 1922, Page 7

MOTORDOM.

NOTES AND NEWS

(By

“Headlight.”)

FORD BUYS LINCOLN MOTOR CO. Henry Ford in February completed the purchase of the Lincoln Motor Company for £1,600,000 at a receiver’s sale. Two other bidders refused to go higher and Ford’s bid was accepted by the court. George B. Judson, vice-president of the Bank of Detroit, and said to represent the Dupont interests, also bid £1,600,000, but refused to go over it, because, he said, he feared legal complications would result from his having filed a bond after the expiration of time. E. T. Berger, an attorney, said to represent Studebaker interests did not bid. Bedlam broke loose on the Detroit Stock Exchange when the announcement was made that Ford had bid in the Lincoln plant (says an exchange). Thousands or shares of that stock were offered at three, a drop of two points from the opening. Ford will start production of cars at the Lincoln plant on Monday, it was announced shortly after the sale. Debts of the Lincoln Motors Company were estimated at £2,250,000 including a contingent liability of £300,000. There are preferred claims against the company totalling approxi mately £500,000. The unsecured claims amount to £1,730,000. AN OLDEN DAY RACE. A few weeks ago some interesting particulars were given of a race in Ireland in which the pneumatic tyre was first used in 1889 when J. B.« Dunlop’s “rag and rubber” tyre (as it was then called) carried “Bill” Hume to victory in every race of the day. A year later it made its appearance at the League of American Wheelmen’s meeting at Niagra Falls, and to copy the heading in an American paper of the time, “it swept the boards, and made eyes bulge,” It was brought over by one Heroert Laurie, a well known, figure on English tracks, with whom was another, E. J. Willis. They had a cold reception, for some wonderful stories of the air-tyre in Great Britain had come across the water. When on the second day of the meet the open race was called, there was a craning of necks to see what was the queer looking safety (as the low bicycles were first called) that had been brought out by Willis—a dealer , by the way. It was fitted with the “Balloon tyres,” which presented a remarkable contrast to the 5-Sin. solid rubber racing tyres on the other machines. Laurie won the race, and several others beside, and people became interested, each man asking his neighbour what it meant; and some asserted that the victories were due to Laurie’s superiority as a rider than to the superiority of the tyre. The American riders were thoroughly aroused and it was evident that a revolution had been accomplished. Any doubt that remained was dispelled later by the appearance of an American racer, W. D. Banker, on the pneumatic-tyred wheel in a race for which Laurie could not enter. Banker won, but not with the same ease as did the visitor, being only a second rater. The transfer of the machine to one of their companions incensed the riders, and in the next race they refused to start with him, thinking it would shame Banker into reverting to his own mount. Banker did not see it in that •light, and rode the race alone! The racing so clearly demonstrated that the pneumatic tyre was yards ahead of the solid that it was not long before rules were framed enabling the handicapper to penalise users of the Dunlop tyre. The track surface was admittedly soft, and had been made worse by rain during the previous night, and therefore was somewhat in favour of the pneumatic. It is worthy of remark that in the last race of the day, the distance being a quarter-miie, the pneumatic tyred machine ridden by Laurie, succumbed to one Gassled, of Buffalo. The Englishman's discomfiture was naturally witnessed with intense satisfaction by the spectators, who thus were given thar only chance to applaud. The results of racing at this meeting created a great seasation throughout the States, in both racing and trade circles. GASOLINE PRODUCTION. A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE. According to the Export World, abundant supplies of gasoline were made available for the motor industry in 1921. The shortage of 1920 caused great activities in the development of refineries and the improvement of processes 'of making gasoline from crude oil. In 1921 there were 415 refineries in the United States, as compared with 373 in 1920 and 176 in 1914. The production of this fuel last year was 5,360,000,000 gallons, or an excess of 850,000,000 gallons over the year’s consumption. It is estimated that at the present rate of production and consumption there would be enough fuel to last the United States for at least 100 years. It is estimated that there are the following deposits in the world:— Barrels. U.S.A, and Alaska .. 7,000,000,000 Mexico .. 4,500,000,000 South America 9,250,000,000 Eastern Hemisphere .. 21,250,000,000 Probable undiscovered .. 20,000,000,000 In addition to these resources there are the possibilities of getting oil from shale rocis, of using substitute fuels, of more thorough refining of oil into gasoline, and also of more economically designed motor engines. As most motorists know, fuel for motor engines has been greatly reduced during the past twelve months, and the tendency is for prices to go lower. MOTOR-CYCLING. The Isle of Man T.T. races will be run on May 23 and 25 this year. Numerous amateur entries are expected. A streamline aluminium side-car body, with a large electric lamp in its nose, has made its appearance on the English market. Is it not time that motor-cyclists took some action to overcome the open cut-out nuisance which is bringing motor-cycling in general into disrepute? Although one often hears the complaints from riders that the main essentials of the modern motor-cycle are practically the same as in pre-war machines, there are many recent productions which show that frame design, at least, is changing. What is accepted as conventional in 1922 was regarded as heterodox as recently as two years ago.

Many claims for favourable consideration from designers are evinced by the radial type of engine. Up to the present only one designer has tackled the problem of evolving a commercially possible radial for motorcycle work, and then only in the lightweight class. The same designer has now, however, evolved a much more ambitious engine (still adhering to the three cylinder lay-out), which is being manufactured in England. Briefly, to recapitulate the well-known points of the three cylinder radial engine; it is compacvt, fairly light for a given capacity, and may be rendered very simple in construction. In a motor-cycle frame it is easier to house than a flat twin; in a cycle-car it is no more cumbersome than a V-twin. In smoothness and continuity of torque it approaches the four-cylinder very closely, and, in consequence, enables a light transmission to be used with safety. The new engine has a total cylinder capacity of 063 c.c., and each cylinder is 63.5 by 101.6 m.m. It is conservatively rated at 7.5 h.p. A very well-known racing motor-cyclist in association w»#h the raster -■ '—’•jjus

proprietary engine is about to produce a machine which will certainly create a stir. Every machine turned out will De guaranteed capable of 100 m.h.p., a Brooklands certificate of performance accompanying each one! Naturally they do not anticipate selling such machines in large quantities, but they are convinced that there is a select coterie of sporting riders who would appreciate a mount on which a mile-a-min-ute gait would call for little more than half throttle. These 100 m.h.p. implements will be perfectly tractable, the engines exerting considerable power at quite low revolutions, while “all out” on the test bench 51 b.h.p. has been given off! Withal the volume of the engine is under 1000 c.c. THE PERFECT CAR. I ■ Its engine purrs like a rippling rill, ' It skims o’er ruts and it wades through mire; It’s baffled not by the highest hill; It’s seldom been known to blow a tire. Its carburretor is always there. Its brake and clutch never make me moan. What is this auto beyond compare? It’s the sort of a car I’d like to own. And I guess I’m fixed, for a visit to ! The exposition of motor craft i Proves each machine that is placed on. view j Is exactly the kind for which I'm daft, i Of this I’m sure, for the agents tell Me so, in words that- are rare and brave. ■ Yep. Every one of ‘em’s trying to sell The perfect automobile I. crave. By Guy Lee in Chicago Tribune. SELF HELP. In moving the adoption of the annual report of the Hawke’s Bay Automobile Association, the president Mr P. S. McLean, I stated: “The association has from time to I time erected danger signals and combined with the Hawke’s Bay County Council in 1 erecting direction posts, but it has been • hitherto limited in both directions through the insufficiency of funds. The increase in , motor traffic, however, has made it absoI lutely necessary that a considerable expenditure should be at once incurred in providing these necessities for road traffic. This increase has arisen not only in the case of automobiles, but in the case of motor lorries of considerable size and carrying very heavy loads. The association has therefore decided to expend the greater part of the funds in hand in providing these precautions for the use and protection of motorists not only within the Hawke’s Bay County but over a considerable portion of the roads in the provincial district.” Speaking of the deterioration of road surfaces, the president said:—“There is no doubt in my mind that it would be well worth the while of the motorists throughout Hawke’s Bay to do something considerable in the way of subsidising the efforts, not only of the Hawke’s Bay County Council, but of the other county councils through the provincial district. I understand that the Otago Motor Club has a membership of 650 more or less. There is no reason why we should not have as good a membership in Hawke’s Bay. The result in Otago is that their club has been in a position to do a great deal towards assisting the local bodies in the improvement of roads. While motorists may reasonably say that it is not their business to voluntarily subsidise the local bodies for this purpose, I would ask them to take the other view of it, namely, that it is for their comfort and their profit. Good roads are not only more comfortable to travel over, but are much less injurious than bad roads to the automobile itself.” VACUUM AIRSHIP. A remarkable experiment in airship construction is being carried out in Milan, Italy, by M. Vaugean. The chief objection to the ordinary airship is that the inflammable gas, hydrogen, must be used for inflating the gas bags. Helium would be a fairly good substitute for hydrogen, could it be obtained in sufficient quantities, but at present there is no prospect of this. In the circumstances M. Vaugean has decided to attain buoyancy by means of vacuum. The ship’s metal hull will consist of three concentric chambers. In the outer chamber the air will be exhausted down to 11b to the square inch. But this would be with cool air. By heating the air with the exhaust gases from the engine, he estimates that at 10,000 ft (where the air pressure would be about 101 b to the square inch) the effective atmospheric pressure would be not more than 2.11 b on the outer skin, 3.51 b on the intermediate skin, and 4.51 b on the inner skin. By the use of an alloy of aluminium, copper and manganese for the skin and framing he expresses confidence that he can build his hull of three concentric chambers sufficiently strong enough to withstand these pressures, and at the same time light and strong enough to give a fair margin of lifting power over and above the weight of the hull, machinery, fuel, and crew. The effective pressure in the internal skin would b greater at ground level than that given for 10,000 ft, unless the internal pressures were increased. This is what the designer proposes to do, so that at all levels the effective external pressure on the outer skin will not exceed 91b per square inch. The experiment is one of the greatest interest. At first glance it might be dismissed as impracticable, but it is not necessarily so, for highly rarefied air is sometimes used to-day for inflating small balloons, and that rather than “vacuum” is what M. Vaugean is going to experiment with in his airship. Mathematicians have proved to the designer that his airship must fail. To them M. Vaugean replies that their “calculations are premature.” JOTTINGS. About 55 danger signals and from 30 to 40 direction posts are now being prepared for the Hawke’s Bay Automobile Association and are to be erected by the county councils in various parts of the district. A very important step has been taken in Paris by the police authorities for the better control of traffic. Vehicles have officially been classified in accordance with weights and class of goods carried, and drastic limitations have been prescribed for the movement of some heavier types of traffic along certain main thoroughfares. Thus no heavy motor lorry, or any vehicle carrying building material, furniture, or any load exceeding 10,000 kilogs, may traverse any of the principal streets in the centre of the city between the hours of 2 and 7 p.m.

In an informative article in the Australian Motorist for March respecting the use of the motor-omnibus in Sydney, it is shown that within the metropolitan area there are 190 ’buses in operation, while there still are eight horse-drawn omnibuses. The motors have a seating capacity of 3463. There are 83 registered proprietors of motor’bus services operating on 98 lines, 29 of which are between the city and suburbs, while the remaining 69 lines are inter-eub-urban. The largest ’bus can carry 32 passengers. One of the largest motor-omnibus services operates from Chullora, a suburb nine miles from Sydney on the Liverpool road, which also is the longest line. The vehicles cover an aggregate distance of 300,000 miles annually, and carry more than 1,250,000 passengers. The wages bill amounts to more than £70,000 a year, and the petrol bill to £7OOO. The motor-’bus was first used in Sydney in 1910, the year closing with four vehicles in use, with an aggregate seating capacity of about 40 passengers. The smallest ’bus to-day can accommodate 10.

A motorist who recently arrived in Gisborne informed the Poverty Bay Herald that of all the towns he has been in Gisborne is the worst to drive in, for the reason that people show an utter disregard of the rights of traffic. People stand in groups in the streets and block traffic, and it is not always easy to determine whether or which way they will move; bicyclists ride without lights, and frequently on the wrong side of the road. The informant stated that one evening he was coming in from the country and observed one gig with a solitary lamp (a stable lantern) hung on the wrong side of the vehicle, and three motor-cycles without lights. Under such circumstances it is unavoidable that accidents will happen, but the motorist will not always be to blame. MOTOR FUEL. POSSIBILITIES IN AUSTRALIA. Cheap fuel for light oil engines is not a selfish device on the part of a few motor-car owners (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph) ; it is a national necessity, perhaps more so for Australia than any other nation; yet the Commonwealth Government is so blind to the requirements of the country that it is proposed to make an alteration to the excise regulations as from the end of March, which will make the production of power alcohol impossible as a commercial proposition. That any attempt to hamper the production of fuel from vegetable matter affects every individual can easily be realised, if consideration is given, even ror a moment, to the extent pertol is employed in the production of power for the primary producer when steam could not possibly be utilised. Australia, by her geographical position, is dependent on sea transport. In the event of war, how would it be possible to maintain the enormous supplies of liquid fuel required to maintain the agricultural life of the country, together with the necessary fighting and. transport vehicles; everyone of which is dependent on petrol for motive power ?

That excellent fuel spirit can be produced from molasses is proved, since it is being utilised in Sydney in motor-cars, no alteration being required to carburreter or engine, at a cost of 2s 3d per gallon. The manufacture of power alcohol can be made a great Australian industry, sugarcane being well adapted for its production, while sweet potatoes, cassava, and other vegetables can be grown solely for its manufacture, at a good profit, while considerably reducing the price of the fuel to the consumer.

The Americans are assured of a definite end to the wells in their own country and in Mexico, possibly in some 30 years. They are making every effort to produce power alcohol, and to obtain liquid fuels other than natural oil. Once Australia can manufacture her own supplies she becomes selfsupporting. Great Britain is giving a bonus of 6d, per gallon for the production of power alcohol, yet the Commonwealth Government proposes to introduce regulations which will penalise the producer to the : extent of over 7d per gallon. (Great BritI ain and U.S.A, help the producer 6d per gallon; Australia penalises her producers 7d per gallon). It is the duty of every motorist and of every citizen who realises his country’s need, to support the resolution forwarded to the Government by the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, that “the Minister for Trade and Customs be requested to permit the de-naturing of alcohol for power purposes by the addition of not less than 10 per cent, of coal tar benzol as an effective de-naturant; that the Minister for Defence be requested to rc-start the whole-time running of the alcohol plant in the acetate of lime factory in Brisbane.” VEHICLES IN AMERICA. The extraordinary increase in the use of motor vehicles in America is disclosed in the following figures, bearing in mind that not much more than 20 years ago the automobile industry had its beginning. At the opening of last year nearly every third farm in the United States had at least one motor ! vehicle. Of the 6,448,336 farms in the United States, 1,979,564, or 30.7 per cent, reported having automobiles to the number of 2,146.512. Although the State of lowa led all other in the number of motors on farms, having 177,558, Nebraska, with 104,453, showed the highest percentage in relation to the number of farms, heading the list with 75.6 per cent. Motor waggons were on 131,551 farms in 1920, the vehicles numbered 139,169; the States leading in number of these waggons being:—Pennsylvania 9372, New York 9259, lowa 8190, Ohio 7319, Nebraska 6548, California 6416, and Illinois 6154. In addition, tnero wen--246,139 motor tractors, distributed over a total of 229,334 farms; and the whole of these figures were bettered in 1921. JOTTINGS. The following remarkable experience of a “G.N.” car is given by the Light Car and Cycle-car (Eng.) : —“Having allowed his engine to become so heavily carbonised that it would hardly run on the level, he was proceeding home one night when he was startled by ‘conking* and a shower of fireworks, which apparently emerged from the exhaust pipe. The effect of this manifestation was to render the running of the engine as smooth and devoid of knocking as when new, and he came to the conclusion that somehow or other the engine had decarbonised itself in some manner, possibly by detonation.” The journals comment is that it would be interesting to near if any other motorist had had a similar experience.

From America comes the news that the law putting its foot down on the “one-arm” driver. This is the man who uses his other arm to caress a feminine companion. It has been found that many accidents have been traceable to this “love me and the motor’s yours” practice; that is to say, traffic accidents. The police say a man can’t attend to a girl's waist and to traffic emergencies at the same time. They suggest that he has hands full and had better get off the road. Then there is the “one-lap” driver. A young man was recently fined fifty dollars for driving with a lot of girls under the steering wheel. At the Fielding cycling races Coleman covered fifteen miles in 12min. 52 4-ssec., which is claimed to be a world's record for a grass track. His fastest mile took 50 2-ssec. The annual meeting of the South Island Motor Union will be held at the end of May. During last month, four motor cars, seven motor cycles and one motor lorry were registered in Hastings. In February, 1921, eleven cars, eight cycles and four lorries were registered. The Hon. W. H. Edgar, M.L.C., of Victoria, who is visiting New Zealand, takes a keen interest in the roads question. He expresses himself emphatically on one point thus: “I am an advocate for the nationalisation of main roads and also of railways. There should be careful co-ordination between the road and railway policy. I would not build a mile of railway unless mere were roads to feed it. From my observations traffic is being thrown on to the roads, and thus your railways are losing revenue and your roads are being made more costly to keep up.” At an auction sale at Waipukurau a motor car in excellent order and freshly painted, realised the sum of £95. Motor cycles of good standard patterns went begging at ridiculous prices. The question of taxing cars and lorries was brought up at the last meeting of the Hawke’s Bay County Council. The chairman said that there had been many complaints concerning the condition of the roads. He thought that the owners of cars and traps would not object to a vehicle tax on cars, provided the revenue was spent on the roads. He thought the motor traffic should be divided into trade motor lorries, private lorries, trade cars, private cars. By this means a better knowledge would be possible as to the number of cars in use. A pound a year for private care, £3 or £4 for trade cars, £6 or £7 for private lorries, and £lO for trade lorries. Under hi® beading private cars would

£lOOO a year. Cr. H. M. Campbell suggested that a comnjittee be set up to report on the matter. The average life of a storage battery is approximately two years. The material for the,motorists* road map of the Auckland province has been prepared by the Auckland Automobile Association, and the guide will be published when printing arrangements are made. Holland proposes to hold a reliability trial on a large scale from Berlin to Amsterdam this year, and is in communication with German motoring circles with a view to obtaining assistance from the various clubs in the districts traversed. The driver of a car recently officially observed by the R.A.C. in its Alpine trial was stopped for “speeding” by the shores of Lake Geneva. The gendarme on duty imposed a fine of 10 francs, collected it on the spot, and gave a receipt. This form of summary justice has much to recommend it so long as an equally low limit is put on the fine as on the speed, remarks the Autocar. A man who appeared in a Capetown Court and who was alleged to have been driving furiously in a drunken state, knocking down a cyclist, was stated to have driven a funeral hearse at a furious pace as far back as 1894. He denied the accident at first, but when reminded that it concerned a funeral he said to the magistrate: “I thought you were referring to something serious.” News has reached the London Air Station that Mr Alan J. Cobham, the European air-taxi pilot, has flown his aeroplane across the Atlas Mountains, in Morocco, which rise to a height of 15,000 ft. Mr Cobham carries as passenger Mr Julian Sharpe, an American business man with international interests, who has hired the air-taxi to make a 10,000 mile business tour in Northern Africa and Europe. This is the first time that a commercial aeroplane crossed this great range of mountains.