MOTORING & CYCLING

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1446, 3 January 1918, Page 26

MOTORING & CYCLING

Some of the leaders of that section of the French press devoted to trade matters in connection with the cycle and motor industries are raising a strong protest against the total abandonment or suppression of activity among cycle and motor manufacturers dur.ng the war. They raise the point that those firms who can do so should be allowed to keep up at least a sufficient production to keep some of their machines on the market, it only for the sake of retaining goodwill in their trade names.

A marked decline is taking place m the exports of motor tyres from the United States. Thus the shipments during th© seven months ending with July last only reached a total of £1,587,200, as compared with £2,169,590’ in the corresponding period of 1916.

The Administration des Domames, the Department which is entrusted with the sale of war-worn cars and motor vehicles discarded from the French Army, has lately submitted for consideration a new scheme for the disposal of such machines. It is proposed that the cars should be divided into three distinct categor es: (1) those which are in fairly good condition and the engines of which will run; (2) those wh’ch, while in fa’rly good condition, require some repairs to the engines before they will run, and (3) those which are badly worn. As far as possible cars of the same make and horse-power are to be grouped together, each vehicle being provided with a card showing the year of construction and the estimated value of the machine. The cars would be placed on view for a certain period to enable interested parties to inspect them and submit their offers in sealed envelopes. The cars would be sold to the highest bidders, singly in the case of those in good condition and those requ ring sfight repairs, and as regards those in poor condition, in lots. The plan is said not to have met with the full approval of French motor traders, with the result that the matter is still under the consideration of the authorities.

Both the country and the Government are waking up at last to some sense of what aircraft means in this war. But ne-lther the country nor the Government has yet translated its theoretical realisation into practice (remarks the London “Daily Mail.” The need for aeroplanes to blind the enemy’s eyes, to bomb his cit es, to harass his communications, to direct our art'llery, and to protect British towns is, like the need for high-ex-plosive shells eighteen months ago, unlimited. To make those shells and the guns to fire them Mr. Lloyd George turned the heavy steel and iron industries inside out. What is needed now is a similar upheaval in the lighter wood and metal trades and their dedication to the manufacture of aeroplanes. No furniture ought to be made in Great Britain while the Army and Navy are short of aeroplanes. No factory ought to be turning out pianos and cabinets and office fitt ngs, and such l : ke luxuries, while the nation lacks one of the most essential aids to victory. The Germans are working like beavers on their air service, hoping still to snatch from us our hard-won advantage. Everyone in these islands who gives a s'ngle unnecessary order for articles made out of wood and metal is helping them to realise that hope, and every day that the Government hesitates to come down heavily on the waste of industrial energy that is still go’ng on adds 24 hours not merely to the postponement of victory but to the chances of defeat.

The Nurse Cavell ambulance, a large motor, yellow-pa : nted with the Red Cross on its sides, is to make its appearance on the Dunedin streets shortly. Last week, in front of the Dunedin Hospital, it was named and dedicated by Lady Ward in the presence of members of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, of the honorary medical staff and of the St. John

Ambulance Associat on. Mr. W. E. S. Knight (chairman of the Board) welcomed Sir Joseph and Lady Ward, and gave a history of the movement leading up to the building of the ambulance. The sum of £470 was donated by public subscription, and, the Government subsidy being added, sufficient was in hand to provide an up-to-date ambulance. At the request of the chairman, Lady Ward named the car and dedicated it to the memory of Nurse Cavell. Lady Ward said it was with much pleasure that she accepted the invitation to dedicate the Nurse Cavell ambulance. The womanhood throughout the Br’tish Empire, and in all parts of the civilised world, would always have the most loving memories of the w’ork and the sacrifice of this noble woman, Nurse Cavell, in the cause of humanity. The Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward spoke of the manner in wh’ch the early settlers had put their stamp upon Duned’n as men of force and ability, and said that to-day there were men of the same calibre in the city, carrying out works that would have the> most beneficent effects on the town and the district surrounding it for many years to come. He alluded to the exceedingly good

work of the St. John Ambulance Association at Home, and said ; t was appropriate that this fine motor ambulance should be handed over to the local association for the worthy work in which it was engaged. Mr. M. Cohen congratulated the St. John Ambulance Association in becoming the owner of a useful adjunct to its act'vities. At the time the idea of an ambulance was mooted it was recognised as an urgent necessity, and the money for it was forthcoming in short time. He was pleased that local firms had succeeded in turning out the body of the car in a manner that could not be surpassed. As the ambulance • was a somewhat heavy machine to tun long distances, he suggested that a lighter car might be procured to bring in cases from the country districts. The Rev. V. G. Bryan King said he had great pleasure in accepting, on behalf of the St. John Ambulance Association, the custody, care and management of the beaut’ful motor ambulance wh’ch had been dedicated to the memory of Edith Cavell, the noble martyr nurse of the British race, whose memory would never die. As she spent her days and gave her life in ministering to the sick, suffering and dying, so this ambulance would ever be at the service

of suffer ng human ty. Might God bless it and speed it on its errands of mercy.

The annual balance-sheet of the Ford Motor Company has been issued, and shows some remarkable figures for the fiscal year ending July, 1917. The business transacted for the twelve months exceeded £70,000,000, and 785,432 cars were made and sold, show ng an increase of 251,511. The average daily output of Fords was 2618. Wth new plant going into operation in October, the daily output was anticipated to reach 3000 cars. Employees number 37,000. Cash on hand includes bank deposits amounts to over £9,000,000. The company anticipates a big increase .n business for 1917-1918, as in addifon to making “Fords” it is now manufacturing hundreds of thousands of aeroplane cylinders for the American Government, also 40,000 war trucks and thousands of ambulances. It is interest ng to note that in 1903-4 the output of the company for the year was only 1700 cars, just about half of the greatest daily output of this now gigant'c concern.

Before the war, if an aeroplane was provided with one horse-power for

about every twenty pounds weight it was considered capable enough for use over the battle lines. At the present time aeroplanes having this ratio of weight to horse-power are used only for instruction purposes at primary tra’ning flying fields, because they are much too slow and do not have the climbing ability that is required in modern warfare. The fast scouts may have one horse-power for every eight or ten pounds weight, and in some cases of recent development the proportion has been even lower than this. If we consider br'efly the requirements of the aviator, it will be evident that the most important is securing maximum power output with minimum mass, and at the same time it is desirable to conserve as many of the good qualities ex’sting in standard automobile motors as possible. The development of light motors has been carried on in all of the warring countries, though each group of belligerents has worked on somewhat different I'nes. The Germans have concentrated their efforts on vertical cylinder motors of the Benz and Mercedes types, and have seldom used eng’nes having more than six cylinders. The Allies, on the other hand, have experimented with numerous types of engines, and

aeroplanes are now in service which have power plants from two to as high as twenty-four cyfinders. The rotary form which has been developed in France is a popular type for certain work, but for the most part the engines contr'ved are of the eight or twelve-cylinder V-form. Some of the aerial motors have been really complicated tyres made light by the skilful proportioning of parts and the use ■of the best and most expensive mater'als of construction, such as chrome nickel and chrome vanadium steels; others are refined, simpler forms, modified from current automobile and rac'ng engine practice. Indeed, the most successful engines may be considered as following conventional engineering rather than “freak” design, the only noticeable departure from this rule being in the rotary cylinder forms.

It is recogn’sed by authorities the world over that taxi-cab work affords one of the severest tyre tests. When a make of tyre is used in hundreds on a fleet of taxi, and the average mileage results are high and the running cost per m’le low, then one can be certain that good all-round results can be anticipated by motorists in general. The cha’rman of directors

of one of the finest and largest taxi services in Australia has recently written the Dunlop Rubber Company congratulating them on the wonderful results obtained from the hundreds of Australian “Dunlops” in use on their fleet of cars. Many of the tyres have run over 10,000 miles —one did 13,441 miles —but the most important point of all —the average result —is the best the company, the City Motor Service Proprietary, Ltd., of Melbourne, has ever had. As this company has not restricted itself to one make of tyre only, but has tested out others with a view of keep'ng running costs at the minimum, the superiority of the Australian “Dunlop” affords further testimony to the fact that there is no need for Australian motorists to send their money out of the country for imported tyres.

A marked decline is taking place in the exports of motor tyres from the United States. Thus the shipments during the seven months ending w’th July last only reached a total of £1,587.200, as compared with £2,169,590 in the corresponding period, of 1916.

Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Allsopp have left Auckland on a motor trip to Taupo and other country districts.

When making motor adjustments it is usually necessary to exercise a little patience in order to get the best results; for instance, the motor must be given a little time to feel the

changes made, and the results obtained immed'ately following the turn of a needle valve or an air valve spring may be misleading.

Probably no agricultural machine developed s'nce the early days of the self-binder has been the subject of as much study and inquiry on the part of the farmer as the farm tractor, as now known. • From an annual sale in the United States of a little over 1000 'five years ago, the tractor trade has grown to a business of great proportions and possibilities, so that the sale in 1915 reached 22,500 machines, while during 1916 it went beyond the 70,000 mark.

American experts evidently anticipate that the U.S. automobile factories will find their operations disorganised to a large extent by the active participation of the country in the war. The Naval Consulting Board appointed by the United States Admiralty has expressed the opinion that not more than 15 per cent, of the American automobile factories will be able to keep on with their regular work. A very large proportion of them, no doubt, will be employed manufacturing aeroplane engines, and other will be converted into shell factories. Thus the automobile works will only be able to turn out as many cars as were needed for export purposes before the war, and we may look for a marked shortage in the supply of American automobiles.

After the car has been used for a considerable length of time, it is likely that the surfaces of the pedals will have become worn quite smooth. Their use may, under such condition, involve a certain amount of risk, in that, should sudden pressure be applied, the foot may slip off sideways. This condition can be easily remedied by removing the pedals from the car and roughing the surface by a series of punch-marks. The pedal is clamped in a vise, and aftei’ covering the surface with chalk, a number of diagonal lines are drawn, and at each intersection of the lines a punch-mark is made with a punch-nosed clrisel and hammer.

The opinion is expressed by many motor cycle experts in England that the belt as a power transmission medium will not very long survive when we once again settle down to “normal” conditions and designers are able to concentrate their efforts on the further improvement of the motor cycle. The belt may be expected to last a long time yet for lightweight machines and even those of medium power, but for the heavy 6 h.p. to 8 h.p. side-car combinations it is, in the opin'on of some, virtually doomed. It is also anticipated that the chain-cum-belt class of drive will be dropped for any machine above the 3V> h.p. rating. This opin'on is based, it appears, upon the experience gained under war conditions, and although the belt has done wonderfully well in circumstances of unusual stress, the opportunity has occurred for the chain to exhibit its superiority. The “Motor Cycle Trader” (Eng.), in commenting upon the above prediction, states that they 'find it difficult to sub-

scribe to this view. “Our own experiences and those of others with the most powerful engines made have shown us that, provided of course, the belt

is of suitable size and of first-class manufacture, the work it will do and the freedom from annoyance it enjoys are of a sufficiently high order to warrant its retention on the most expensive outfits, and in ordering such for our own use we should stipulate chain-cum-belt transmission. We like the flexibility of the belt and the ease with which it can be handled in the event of anything occurring to the drive, and when it is realised that from 9000 to 10,000 miles can be covered with a single belt-driving a very heavy 6 h.p. side-car machine, and the minimum of delay and annoyance caused by the same during the compilation of that total, we hold that the belt will survive for even the heaviest and most powerful mounts.” * « ❖ * An interesting tyre test was recently conducted by one of Australia’s leading taxi companies. The firm had been using Australian Dunlops

with very satisfactory results; in fact, the tyre upkeep per mile was far below any previous figures obtained by the taxi company. Some of the d'rectors thought that they might get better results from one of the leading imported brands, the result being that 12 taxis were fitted up with the oversea tyres and pitted against the mileage return of the Australian product. The result of the test was very conclusive —the mileage run on the imported covers (even leaving out those

that did not reach 3000 miles each) was fully 50 per cent, less than recorded on all the Dunlops fitted, which gave an all-round average of over 6000 m les per cover. Result: Another firm convinced that patriotism and profit go hand in. hand when Dunlops are used.

How many automobilists are there who ever remove their rims from the wheels until forced to do so by reason of tyre trouble? Very few, is the answer. If they did take the rims off after having run the car for a short time, and used a little graphite in between the wheel and the demountable rim. they’d find tyre changing easier later on. As it is, the rims are sometimes so rusted and plastered on that they take an unconscionable time to remove when the need finally does arrive.

Colonel Reynolds (staff officer of the A.I.F. Aviation Corps) says that it is doubtful if any unit was more greatly responsible for the successes n Palestine and the capture of Jerusalem than the Australian flyers. They were entrusted with the principal long reconnaissances and were frequently selected for the most dangerous tasks across unknown country, sometimes flying 250 miles a day. They unfailingly achieved theii* objectives. Colonel Reynolds has returned from Palestine delighted with the wonderful reputation which the Australians earned. “If I told you all that Allenby and Chauvel and other generals have said of the boys you would think I was exaggerating. It is impossible for words to convey the idea of the appreciation in which by common consent the Australians are held. They are the 'finest squadron in the campaign. Many have been there for eighteen months practically without a rest. They are sometimes aloft eight hours a day. It is a great mental and physical strain, yet they are never missing when a dangerous job is about. The men are drawn from the L’ght Horse, which supplied some of the finest material, the work requiring coolness and judgment. Long flights across the I'nes often involve facing superior forces and faster machines. The Australians’ higher skill enables them to evade the Germans, with the result that casualties are comparatively low. I have watched several machines return freely speckled with bullets, and the officers unwounded. The work of the present push is interesting, bombing aerodromes, ra’lway stations, and bridges, pursuing and relentlessly machinegunning Turks, and not allowing them a breathing space, thus contributing greatly to their defeat. The pilots are extraordinarily keen, carrying on day and night. The squadron commander is perhaps the keenest of all. I saw him fly out alone on two nights after a hard day’s work.”