TRANSPORTS SYSTEMS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 26 June 1926, Page 13

TRANSPORTS SYSTEMS.

THE GAS-ELECTRIC BUS. MR. HERBERT HALL’S VIEWS. In view of the interest taken by Mr Herbert Hall in public technical questions, and because of the opportunities of which ho availed himself when in America, at the invitation of the American Electrical 'J rust, to inspect at Schnectededey (the famous laboratory for machine testing) various modem mechanical inventions, inclucling the latest type of steam tnrbifio for American battleships, and the fcaselectric buses, then just emerging from the laboratories, a “Herald” representative waited upon him yesterday _ and somdit his opinion of the suitability, or otherwise, of gas-electric bus for Timani. Mr Hall said: • “The proposal of the Timaru corporation to spend a further L’IU,OUO upon additional buses for passenger transportation will have tho etlecb of fixing tho present system of petrol driven buses as a. local public utility, and will on tho other hand prevent the installation of either an electric trolley or trackless trolley, system, as it has been shown that to make even a mechanically efficient bus service a financial success it is essential that all the machines should bo of a uniform typo to arrivo at the most economical results. Arising out of this is the predetermination of the work to be performed and the typo of plant best suited! for the local conditions. The actual grades to be climbed and the percentage of hill-climbing, starting and stopping, to tho level running should be ascertained, and a bus designed, or its power plant adopted for that special work and those set conditions. A few days ago I wrote with the object of drawing attention to tho successful trials lately carried out under scientific conditions of the modern gas-electric bus. Recent technical journals of the

highest standing emphasise the importance of gas-electric equipment for rail or road transportation. On the problem of electric self-propulsion the storage battery suggests itself, but it is one of tho outstanding disappointments of modern invention that this device lias not been perfected to a part to justify its practical application to road vehicles. Eov smooth running the electric motor, for vehicle propulsion, is most desirable. An internal combustion engino of 72 cylinders won hi be required to give results, in regard to the smoothness of running, equivalent lo an electric motor. Tho petrol bus with tho electric drive instead of tho usual mechanical transmission, combines the advantages! of the electric car with tho flexibility and low capital cost of the ordinary' bus. It is a device that will give automatic engine speed regulation independent of tho skill or otherwise of the driver, and convert tho irregular explosions of the internal-combustion engine into a smooth continuous running effect. One of the most useful features of.,the equipment is that practically

under all conditions of work—starting, accelerating, hill-climbing and running on tho level—the engine runs at the same speed. The electrical characteris- . tics of the device convert the normal electrical output from tho generator into cither volts or amperes as required. This results in the maximum efficiency being obtained from the engine, as an engine is designed to produce its most economical results at a predeternjinc,4 n pr H §qi> l .ppeed; to either race or throttle down an internal-corn*-*' bastion prime-mover is to throw it across periods of lessened efficiency with the attendant results of increased fuel consumption and maintenance costs. Tho application of electric drive to street traction work reaches its most modern phase in the gas-electric bus. First camo tho utilisation of tho electric motor placed in the vehicle, but drawing its vitalising energy over aerial wires from a distant power station. On this principle was built the popularity and success of electric trams; they have passed through their period of rise and decline, tho decline being caused by financial, not mechanical objections, that is the high capital cost of transmission wires and vails. Tho second step is the one we have under review; the electric motor still placed iii and propelling the vehie’e, but obtaining its electricity, not from the distant power station,” ns in the proceeding period, but from its own petrol-driven engino placed in the same

[ vehicle and directly couploi together. There- exists then all die advantages of the electric car without the financial objection of high capital costs of overhead wires. It also marks an epoch in mechanical progression—the gradual passing from the distant power station idea to the mobile power unit for many ' classes of work. The general mechanical principle of the electric drive bv energy from a mobile petrol or fccavy-o'il engine is now well established for 'naval, and merchant marine ships as well as being widely used in all branches of indusU : nal activity and motor raihvavs. There is no apparent reason why it should not also be successfully applied for nassenger bus transportation by public'utility ' corporat ions: The difference . f 1-3 of a penny per bus-mile would make the : difference between tbe yearly loss on our bus service and a profit* of 5 per . cent, on the capital invested. This ,

should 1 and can bo obtained by increased mechanical efficiency of the vehicles J am of opinion that this would bo obtained from the type of machine described above for the fokowing reasons: (a) “Longer life and less maintenance for the engine, owing to consistent speed running. tb) “No gear or transmission ri-rnirs. (c) “Engines cannot lie raced or stalled by careless driving. (d; “Easier accclcraiiou aril coii-c----quent longer running rer hour. (e) “Less work for the driver owing to there being no clutches or gears to operate, and consequent use and speed ol working as a. ‘one-man bus.’ (1) “Greater comfort for the passengers resulting from iu jerks in changing gears and consequent larger number of passei igors ilk vo il i i ig. ’