1932-08-23 — Page 2

Page

OUR MECHANISED ARMY.

TRIUMPHS OF THE WAR OFFICE EXPERIMENTAL

CONVOY, 1932.

Expert Testing,

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1932.

SPARKS

FROM THE PLUGS

At the Mechanical Wartare Ex. perimental Establishment, situated at Farnborough, Hants, experts are continuously testing under the most' arduous conditions pertaining to this contry many diverse types of vehicles, accessories and ponents.

com.

Exhaustive as tests may be at

As a result of the War there has! been a general mechanisation of

home, the War Office cannot always, transport, not only in regard to the

regard them as conclusive until military forces, but in almust every such time as experience has been branch of commercial and private looked upon as the agent through which the uations applies its normal activities to war purposes-have been compelled to keep in the line with this general advancement,

miles of desert followed to Abu Hamed, whero the Nile is

again reached and followed to KhartoumĮ. 240 miles south of Khartoum at Kosti the route bears westward-to El Obeid, and thence along the frontier line of the Belgian Canga to Juba-near the Uganda border. From this the convoy will mova northward,, following the White Nile to Sings, where the Blue Nile

is crassed.

The route then.

Koes north-east

FUEL ECONOMY,

THE PRIVATE OWNER'S

OPPORTUNITIES.

Last November the Morris people provoked a great many motorists into considering their petrol con Rumption.

Firms which "ülimit cars to the R.A.C.

tronomy tests

för

fuel

not too wide of the mark. There dashboard wixture controls permit a careful driver to adjust his gas supply more accurately; but stupid owners abuse them, and waste fuel.

friction Thirdly, any.

in the chassis wastes potrol. Such friction is usually created by casual brake adjustments. The owner notices that his brakes have weakened a trife, and he takes them up in such haphazard fashion that as indivi- dual drum or pair of drums are not

life, and the army-which may be gained of their behaviour under jalong the line of the Abyssinian specify their own conditions, and clear of their shoes with the con-1

and Britrean frontiers to Port normally select conditions which trols in the "off" position. The conditions of climate considerably Sudan. Thence a 650-mile stretch ensure favourable results. In an "proud" portion of shoe is there- up the Red Sea coast till, at aj extreme case the carburettors may upon rubbed down by the engine. warmer than in England, and of! terrain of more difficult natures}

point about 80 miles south of Suez, bo specially turned for, economy: which uses much petrol in the the route strikes west to the Nile the route may be chosen to furnish process. The car should move easi than those met with there.

The results of experimental worki

at Wasta, and thence follows the an equal distance of rising and ly in response to a gentle push Henrried out in the vicinity of Cairo main road to Cairo. A total dis falling ground; the slight descents when it is standing on

during the last year have been oftance of more than 3,000 miles. may be conated with the gear-lever smooth flooring with the brakes off extreme value, but it becaine ap-

in neutral, and even with the en-

and the gear, io neutral, parent that even more searching tests could be carried out if the range of these tests could be in-1 creased, and a convoy rún-as- a

It is essential that the army should, as far as possible, base its mechanisation, apart from purely figirting vehicles, on what is being produced for normal purposes by the motor manufacturers of the country, in order that the neces

i

Climatic Conditions,

a level

ions will be met with: from the employed at the end of such des

A wide range of climatic condi-gine stopped, the self-starter being

Economies by Coasting. Fourthly, freewheel devices nor- cold nights of a Cairene winter the conts; and the speed may be set convoy will move by stages to the, to ensure a very low consumptiormally bestow a fuel economy of eary vehicles may be available when southern area of the Sudan and

military unit--from Cairo to tintense heat of the Red Sea coast Naturally the Morris people did from 15 to 25 per cent. on a cross. required for mobilisation.

The army, with its commitments.

in all parts of the world, requires à vehicle that can operate in rough and undeveloped countries where practically no roads exist, and us. der varying and extreme conditions of climate and terrain. This is the same type of vehicle as is re. quired by those who live in the Co. Jonies, Indin, middle eastern coun- tries, etc.

It will be seen, therefore, that the vehicle required by the army, and the vehicle suitable for general use in England, are not identical, and the effect has been to try to evolve types of vehicles which shell he suitable for use both in England and in undeveloped countric".

back.. :

Personnel,

The

The personnel of the convoy con? sists entirely of serving British officers and other ranks, drawn from five different Corps, all of whom have been especially selected and trained; both techniën!ly audi physically for work in the desert.

The exact route of the convoy must, of course, he determined by prevailing local conditions, but the general line is as follows:-

in April.

sary.

Information has been received of.

the progress of the convoy as fol- lows:-

Start

Reached Luxor Reached Wadi Halfa

Renched Abu Hamed Renched Athara Reached Khartoum

January

18

30

February

3

5 28

Was

!

eccured by slipping the gear, into neutral; the fuel consumption with the engine idling is probably n high as when the engine is pulling at 20 m.p.h. But such falling grades would be taken under power not at 20 m.p.h, but at 40 m.p.h, i and the idling consumption is not so high as the 40 m.p.h. consump tion. Hence appreciable fuel ecora mies are achieved by coasting, all hills of a non-dangorous type. The change from neutral to top at high road speed is seldom taught by Continued on Page Three)

not avail themselves of all these country drive, simply because the car is allowed to coast down, all It was, therefore, decided to de groand to he traversed Roads, asly have been bombarded by angry No less varied are the types of precautions, or they would instant-

gentle declines of appreciable spatch such a convey, and it let known in England, will be almost letters from customers who could length. A similar ceonomy can be Cairo on January 18, 1932.

sofi, steny and boulder-strewn (not reproduce the test consump. convoy consisted of a Kiley Nine-existent. Sand, both hard and as adopted for army use, and three ground, black cotton soil, swamps,tions. The selected route heavy vehicles of commercial type,

grassland, will all be met with. In addition, much crossing of rivers, tolerably fat, and the cars did not and dry water courses will be neces. coast. It may be assumed that all the cars were in excellent tune, and the official report indicates that the speeds were lower than normal touring rates.

Allowing for the fact that most tourists average not Tess than 30 m.p.h. when their cars are in' motion, the test figures may thus be taken as representative. Owners of corresponding, cara, whether of Morris or rival manu- facture, should register similar economies. If they drive at 30 m.p.h, average their petrol can. |sumption should not he much more than 20 per cent. higher-e., 50 miles per gallon for an open two- senter "baby" and 90-23 m.p.g. for an 18h.p. six-cylinder saloon. Owners who fail to approach such figures over prolonged cross-country drives should seek the reason for their fuel wastages, remembering that in town work, with frequent restarts and much slow running, the figures will be about 10-15 per cent, worse.

From Caire the route follows the Nile to Ediu, where it crosses the desert on the west in 21 straight line to Wadi Halfa. From here the line of the railway across 230

UNDOUBTEDLY

THE

MOST

So far the vehicles have all run perfectly and the personnel are fit.

Riley Record.”

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MORRIS

'ISIS'

SIX

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Coached in two types-Sports coupé and Saloon, both with sliding head-the Morris Isis O. H. V. engine developing so B. H. P. is finished with aeroplane accuracy, perfectly balanced, and incor- porates every refinement of modern automobile science. Transmission, through silent third twin-top gears, is sweet and easily controlled. All fittings as well as the interior of the bodies are the embodiment of modern luxury the utmost achievement of 1932

་

Causes of Waste.

is

The first cause of wasto leakage. It is not so frequent as it used to be, since carburettors

flood" lesa frequently now that

|a good filter is mounted in almost every pipeline, and the font needle is seldom prevented by grit from closing properly, whilst corkseatest petrol taps seal the feed more rigidly. But a scrutiny for leaks Ehould be part of the weekly inspec- tion, siuco a leak of one drop per second actually wastes fuel at the rate of over 400 gallons per annum, The second cause is the use of the strangler. The very latest ear- burettor eliminates the use of the strangler for starting from cold, and invariably reduces the fuel consumption quite appreciably. Every start on a strangler induces

surge of web petrol, some of which drips from the carburettor;. and some cars make 100, strangles, starts per day. There are other. technical reneous against, strang- Hling-which-sluices-the-combustion.

chamber with unvaporized fuel. washes oil off the cylinder and pis ton, and so promotes rapid piston wear. Similar evils result from stupid-handling-of-the-mixture control" device on the dash, with which many moders ears are equip.1 ped. If the mixture is carelessly set at "rich" without justifie tion fuel is wasted at a high rate, A cynic once defined an automatie carburettor as an instrument which supplies an inaccurate mixture at all engine speeds, and his jeer was.

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