SCOTT'S MOTOR CAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14216, 4 June 1910, Page 3

SCOTT'S MOTOR CAR.

THE CEXTJI'EBE. Tho first man wheui Captain Scott engaged for ins i<n"..•j-oiiiiiig Aniarptio expedition was young .Bernard D;iv, who : made hitnsolf so usenil—with aud" with- ■ ous tho Arrol-Joluiston motor car—in the Shackletisii expedition. Captain ■ ! ,0 P es t-o got very good results U'ltii li:3 motor vehicles which have been ; designed and ljuiit by tho Wolselev Company and have u~ .' -rgono sneeossj fullv some wry interest'- • tests in Nori ivaj . not alone 011 tho level, but oil conSide] able slopes and over fairiv soft Siiow. A hint h::s been taken" fror" uio contip«!o, _f«»r this new machine puts one 111 mind of nothing so much ■as that insect of tho niany iocs. Von see not wheels, but sets of giant sprockets that are turner! round by t'ic wuitor, andrtna"6 round tliomis an endless chain equipped with spikes and broad grips, so that the power given by the engine is not delivered 011 any small surface spaeo as in the case of a wheel-driven vehicle or of one sent forward bv paddles. The enero-v j a divided equally °vor tho whole "wheel base of tne Wolseley sledges. You have, as it were, a runner that is in gripping contact with tho ground throughout its length. IN'or is this all. These ino-eni-ous vehicles are of the same length "that the rum rod party found most suitable a length that enables tho sledge to rT?ft" av "" !, S0 Ci evass without "much difficulty. By having such a, km"-power-driven contact with the "round" of course, it is possible to go j„ circumstances and over country where a car or a paddle-driven machine would become bogged. If this AYolseley system of driving is not fruitful of good results, 011 c will almost have to give up the notion of motor-sleighs for the Antarctic. In tests, these machines have hauled amply sufficient loads. Of course, the experience gained in regard to carburation, and particularly in°the matter of lubricating oil, in the-Shack-leton expedition have been kent in nund 111 the design of the new machine, the fact of Bernard Day's ingenious and improvised methods of enabling the Arrol-J ohnston motor to be kept going, rendering it more likely that ohese difliculties ivill not be experienced to any great extent in these new W machines. A very ingenious system of allowing a certain amount of spring" to the machine has been devised. Like all A\ olsele v products,, these sledges are thorough engineering jobs. The petrol tank is on the top of a case that covers the motor, which ia wholly enclosed, only the startinghandle projecting in front. The clutch pedal and the hand lever are also carefully placed. "What happens to this machine iu use is that the driving wheels, wliicli are like giant never touch the ground, but the sledge itself actually moves liodily forward on its own track, which it lays by means of the endless chain fitted with spuds and pattens. Thus when seen in action the ajipearance is very curious, because where the chain touches tho ground it remains stationary, the sledge itself sliding along within tho chain. You are therefore not to pfieture this chain as scratching at the ground like a cat and slipping backwards.