HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1933.
SPARKS
FROM THE PLUGS
MAKING DRIVING FOOL PROOF
Self-Changing Gear"
Boxes?
In what does the joy of motor ing consist? Is it in the freedom or in the overcoming of technical difficulties?
The fluid fly-wheel is in no sense a gear-changing device.
For example, when one has had to slow down for a sharp corner on a light gradient, one can main in top gear.
re-
At the same time, however, it will not, furnish a rapid pick-up, singe, when the engine is turning The other evening I was discus-fast and the car is going slowly, sing with a friend some of the de- there is a fair amount of slip in velopments of design which are like the fluid fly-wheel. ly in the near future and mention- ed that engineers were at work on self-changing gear-boxes, that bei
BRITISH CAR'S Motor Notes From Great
RECORD CLIMB -
TOP GEAR ACHIEVEMENT OF NEW AUSTIN MODEL
A British car, one of the recently introduced Austin Light Twelve- Fours, has achieved a remarkable climb, in stop gear only, up Binck's Spur Hill on the wad over the Great Dividing Range in Victoria,
Australia,
Britain
'FROM A LONDON CORRESPONDENT
гвот з
A WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCTS
The latest Thornycroft pro- gramme is a fine example of stan dardisation in manufacture for, although there is a range of 50-
BRITAIN'S MOST POPULAR CAR
BABY MODEL STILL SUPREMETM
That the Austin Seven continues freight chassis, alone besides to be the most popular model in parate types of passenger chassis,
yet all the alternative types in the Great Britain irrespective of make, a apecial, various classes have most of their is revealed by car registration parts. in common, while many of figures now available for the past. one class and another. In this! way, supplice of spores or replace- For every ten cars sold, during these are interchangeable between winter quarter.
W19 An Austin ment parts are kept within reason- the quarter, one able limite, in spite of the wide Seven, and in its own clase it re- range of alternative chassis the presented one in less than three of
new baby cars registered. makers are able to offer.
The Road and Hall Struggle.. beds for attendants are also pro Motor users generally are serious.vided. At the 1s perturbed at the proposed legis compartment for the use of Ilis! lation affecting goods vehicles in Highness. This is a combined bed-
is most luxuriously fitted out. Britain, while the new basis of room, dressing and bathroom ana taxation appears likely to do al
In external appearance the vehi great deal of harm to an enterpris-ele is rather similar to the open Before the start of this climb toping industry. It certainly looks as topped double-decker type bus so gear was engaged, the gear lever though progress in road transport familiar in London a few years official observern.
measures and that the powerful go, sleeping accommodation for round in the bitter Road and Rail controversy,
fore long we might well have only remind the driver to change down, removed and the gearbox sealed ly will be definitely hampered by theso
twn pedals, one for the throttle and the other for the, brake
"It will take the für out of motoring," he said.
The same objection was raised when automatic clutches made their appearance. I have not the least doubt that when the electric starter
removed the handle from the crank tune cool box there were those who raid that some of the fun tad gone out of motoring.
Wheel Change Next?
* Some day, perhaps, a wheel will be automatically damaged. Surely
In similar circumstances the or dinary car's engine would jib and For best results the same procedure must be followed with the Daimler, which, however, makes it scarcely possible to make a mess of the change.
Stability and Domfort.
The outstanding points in this car, apart from the lustiness of its 1500 cc. six-cylinder overhead valve engine, are its stability, its com fort, and its braking.
. A novel springing system in which the rear of the frame is car! ried underneath the warm-driven axle provides an exceptionally low
In every class are offered alter- Thus, although it has been on the
The car with driver and observer railway interests have won the first servante being provided on the native types with normal or for-market "some eleven years, its su-
&
two-mile
Recomplished then ascent, rising, 1,118 feet, in the re- markable time of five minutes seven and two-fifths seconds, or an aver- age of 23.5 .p.h.
When it is known that the climb included nine hairpin bends and gradients in places of one in six and-a-half, the performance is re- cognised as all the more outstand
ing.
Ten years ago, in a special cou test on this hill, in which thirty- four of the fastest touring cars and
Although described by, the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer as a
"very modest proposal," the new tax of a penny a gallon on heavy oil is likely to prove an onerous burden which will have the unfortunate effect of hindering the development Further, of course, of the heavy oil motor industry.
roof,
The Horze Hechanized. Owing to its low first cost, low maintenance charges and superior manoeuvrability, the horse has un til recently been considered econo- mically indispensable for short die- tance collection, delivery and haul- age work gonerally, more especial- it directly tion of traffic has rendered the use ly in confined areas, where conges- penalises the users of oil burning of the ordinary motor vehicle im furnaces, which have been widely
i.practicable. installed in the quest for efficiency.
no one will say that is taking more build though without wells in the most, expert drivers in Australia pointed to find that the Budget carrying capacity and higher speed.
fun out of motoring."
hack compartment."
*
The car can be taken round bends at high speeds with security.
I recently tried the 15 h.p. Dai-! Ier, which can be described as the nearest approach to automaticity
The braking eystem consists of yet reached, since it ubodies both Lockheed hydraulics supported by the self-changing gear and the fluid a vacuum-serva mechanism. Hy wheel.
The performancs is,admirable; Its control is thus simplicity it-10 to 30 m.p.h. can be attained in self. There are three pedals, but 12 seconds, well over 60 miles an that on the left has merely to be hour can be done on the level, and kicked," that in the middle applies from a standing start just under the brakes, and the accelerator on 20 m.p.h. can be attained on the the right controls the engine simul- Brooklands test hili. taneously with the fluid fly-wheel clutch.
Except when the brakes are want ed, the control is reduced to that of a single pedal.
MORRI
ERVICE
· DODWELL &CIL? HONGKONG
DISTRIBUTORS
#
I am indebted for a run on this model to Stratstone, Ltd., who, with Car Mart. Ltd., are joint dis tributors for Daimler cars in the Landon pren.-W. Gordon Astor.
took part, using all gears, the fastest time recorded 38 four minutes thirty-one and one-fifth seoands, achieved by a thirty horse power car.
.
Busy Car Factories, The private motorist was disap- proposals with their heavy impost on goods vehicles did not offer some relief in the form of the lightening of the burdens of taxation which he has carried for so long. How- ever, it is satisfactory to find that The second fastest twenty-seven seconds outside the this has had no effect on the de time achieved by the Austin Twelve-mand for private cars, and many
factories are working overtime. Four, a fact which strikingly in-. dicates the advances made in motor car design during recent years.
time
was
That tie present climb will have
enhanced considerably the prestige of British motor products in Aus- tralia is evidenced by the reports in the Australian Press which term the feat "a remarkable perfor manre for a car with an R.A.C. rating of only 11.0-H.P."
This neat little silver-
enamelled badge displayed on the dash board means much to
local
MORRIS
CAR
IT
MEANS:
OWNERS
To you: A constant reminder of the availability of the efficient Dodwell Service after Sale
To us: A constant guarantee to perform that service.
You want a car with a low initial cost, with low running expenses, with low gears for hill climbing
so you will choose a MORRIS. And when you have bought it you want expert service and sound mechanical advice - so you will consult us
Dodwell & Co., Ltd.
Hong Kond
Kowloon
Canton
·A.P.
In the Scammell "mechanical horsa," all the merits of the horse are combined with the advantages of the motor vehicle in increased Compared with the ordinary motor lorry, its low first cost, great economy in operation and pheno menal powers of manoeuvre also enable it to work more efficiently.
The Watford firm has received an important order from the Lon- don and North Eastern Railway for the supply of 80 mutive units The export markets continue to and 113 carrier units. These Seam- be developed and, at the present mell "horses" will entirely me time British cars are on view at the chanise one of the most important Barcelona motor show. Sporta L.N.E.R. goods depots, and it is very popular in Spain anticipated that this new form of nowadays and among the British transport will be extensively adopt exhibits are a 40/50 h.p. Hellsed by railway companies and dock Royce with a sports saloon, body by and harbour authorities whose Fiol, the Spanish coachbuilders, transportation has to be conducted and examples of the Singer Nine in very congested areas. sports models, of which it is stated 200 have been sold in Spain during the last two months alone.
are
By the way, a Competitions de- partiment has been opened by Singers with the object of assisting owners who participate in trials or races. It is in charge of Mr. F. S. Barnes, who has been a consistently successful performer himself and has held premier awards and trophies during the past 7 years in mary important events.
What Organisation Can Do. The huge inerente in output of Standard cars amounting to 600 per cent over the past 5 years has been achieved entirely by organisation and flow production, without the necessity for any ex- tensions to the works.
re-
When Captain John P. Black joined the company in 1929, the weekly output was approximately 80 cars; today it is over 500 from the same floor space, nud, plans have been made for an increase to 1.000. The usual method of indivi dual piece-work is replaced, by team-work, and in this way 'n lazy or cureless worker is found out by his mates, for he is liable to hold up production and to reduce the wages which each member of the. group receives. Thus, efficiency throughout the factory is assured.
How Faith Was Vindicated. The man who, nearly 30 years ago, saved the British motor cycle industry from extinction, recently celebrated his 70th birthday. Mr. 6. Bettmann founded the Triumph concern in 1989 as a cycle manufac turing business, and at a time when all the other manufacturers after unsuccessful experiments had abandoned motor cycle production as a bad job. Triumphs persisted in faith in its future and ultima tely produced a thoroughly suc cessful machine and established markete for it at home and Over- stas. To-day, cycle, motor cycle and ear manufacture proceeds briskly and abreast at the various factories of the concern.
..
The Caravan Craze,
The first RA.C. Caravan Rally at Cheltenham has attracted near ly 70 entries and when it is added that two of them have been enter ed from John o'Groats, it is pos aible to get some idea of the in- terest which has been aroused in this branch of motoring in the last few years.
It is not everyone, of course, who can go in for luxurious vehicle like the 100 h.p. Leyland 6-wheeler touring saloon recently purchased by HH. Abbas Hilmi 11 for travel in Palestine. This cross- country machine has the main Baloon immediately behind the cab, with a folding dining table; set tees that can be transformed into
ward control, standard or long.
де the most popular wheelbase or cylinder en premacy gines and, on the heaviest freight British car remains unchallenged, chassis, the further option of pet-and over 200,000 have now been pro-
duced. rol or oil fuel power units.
INSIST
Agents:
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RIV
Bearings
For Automobiles
and Industrial Mechanism
Dodwell & Co., Ltd.
A.P.B. 1,
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80 Cwt. to 10 Ton Loads
20 to 70 Passengers
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TEL. 66759.
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