1934-02-06 — Page 2

Page

DEVELOPMENTS IN 1933

Rear-Engined and "Beetle" Shaped Cars

Although not a sensational year In the development and exploita- tion of the automobile, writes a motoring correspondent in the Bulletin, 1933 has been one of steady progress

The next 12 months will. in all probability, see most of the exist ing motor cara' obsolele so far as coachwork is concerned, and ob- solescent respect of chassis de- sign. In other matters, such as the prices of pate a slight in- crease in costs, especially in pe- trol. But what have outstanding events in which is now passing?

been the the year

To my mind the most signifi- cant happening was the produc- tion of the rear-engined Crossley. Akhough the manufacturers of this car only laid down a pro- gramme of some

cars, its ap-

pearunce marked the beginning of a new era in automobilism. Built on lines which were, as far

as

•

was practicable, thoroughly sireamlined, it directed attention to the merits of the Burney de- sign and the fact that much of the power developed by the en- gine was used up in pushing the air aside 23 the car travelled along the highway.

Anything which will minimise the, resistance of the air must mean reduced running" costs in every direction. I have no in- formation as to how the public "is taking to the unorthodox de- sign of this car, but cars of this type are bound to come sooner or later.

સ

ago I hu-

Predicted any Fears Ago Some ten years strated the beetle-backed Chen- ard-Walcker car and pre- dicted that it was the car of the future. Right from the nose the coach work swept upwards in one line to the body he. and then tapered off downwards to the tall,

Al Olympia this year I said that the 'Tatra, Czechoslovakian production, was the most advanc ed design in the show. Its coach- work lines, in saloon form. were almost exactly like those of the Chenard-Walcker, but the chassis was more advanced In design than that car, for all wheels were independently sprung and the engine was of the four-cylinder horizontally opposed type driving to the front wheels.

We are now being presented with the new American models with "Air-Flow" coachwork, the latest (and best) production of the leading brains of the Ameri- can automobile industry. I think I have heard something of that sort before, but, even although Talra and Chenard-Walcker ori- ginated similar designs some years ago, I am glad to see that designers are now seriously tack- ling streamlining..

*

Clutches and Gearboxes Transmission developments

have been well advertised, but frankly there has been little that is new.. The public have just become conseious of the auid flywheel and the pre-selective gearbox, and are still a little bit doubtful of the freewheel, I don' know why, and probably they don't know why themselves.

The fluid flywheel is, as I have repeatedly noted, one of the best devices ever introduced into a motor car, and used in conjunc- tion with the pre-selective gear- box makes the art of driving a car at once simple and yet more skliful, for the driver who can time the changes can obtain a road performance from a car so fitted which will astonish the or- dinary unimaginative owner driv ing a similar car.

The old story about liking to change gears died hard, but it is. quite dead now. What is more, it will never be. resurrected.

The Hayes transmission, spon- sored by the Austin people, has distinct possibilities, providing as it does an infinitely variable gear, but not much has been heard of it since the show, and one must walt and see, as it were:

•

+

Exports and Racing. The British automobile indus try has made considérable head- way in the export market during the year, the shipments being larger than ever before, but I regret to note that in the racing world British cars and British drivers have not done too well... Seventeen international raging events have Been held during the past 12 months, and our drivers have won five of these. A Brilisa car won the T.T. at Belfast, but the driver was the Italian, Nuvo- lari, Another won the 500 mile race at Brooklands with a British driver, and that completes our International record.

Another happening that has not received the attention it merited has been the boldness of the city fathers of Oxford in se-

curing the reimposition of a speed limit in that town of learn- ing, groups, and movements... It is now illegal to pass through Oxford at a speed higher than 30 miles an hour.

I am not in favour of speed mis on, the open road, but I have before now indicated that I favour mils in villages, towns, and even large cities, and know- ing Oxford fairly well I am all on the side of the city fathers there. The manner in which motorists used to "blind" through. the congested streets was perfect- ly appalling. The main crossing on a Saturday afternoon and all' Sunday left Jamaica Street and Argyle Street Junction looking like the Desert.

middle of the Libyan

Road Accidents

I hate referring constantly to the awful problem of road accl- denis, but the past year has witnessed the birth of an agità- tion against the motorist which, unless directed by an informed oplalon, must result in the im- position of still more restrictions.

We all know that at present the motorist is harried from pillar to posi. He is taxed, insured, re- gulated, and ordered as no other member of the community is. He cannot leave his car...anywhere. except in a garage without fear of the law, and during the sum- mer months he is the universal provider of sixpences for seaside

resorts.

The motorist's lot is not £ happy one. And it will be less happy if the dictum that he 1s responsible for all accidents is.. allowed to pass unchallenged.

I have before now said that the great organisations of motorists are far too respectable in the methods of agitation, and that view will be proved correct unless the powers that be set about shouting loudly and acting bold-.. ly within the next few months.

Campaigns are not won 10-day by saying "Please be good en-.. "ough" or "You might leave us

alone." They are won by making 1t known that we have had en- ough of this anti-motorist com- plex and that we will certainly not stand it any longer. But such action presupposes that our organisations will go the length of action, which, I fear is asking too much of them.

SEARCH FOR SILENCE

Carried Out At Coventry

War against noise.as carried on in the Dalinler works at Coventry has recently been develoved a stage further by the erection of two silence rooms. Thick, brick- bullt walls and massive sound- proof doors isolate these from the noise of the factory. In each one.. there is a car, complete except for engine and gear-box and with 1's rear wheels coupled to water- brakes. Every 10 h.p. and 15 h.p.. engine produced is fitted into one or other of these cars, and must pass its silence tests before being transferred to the assembly line for fitting into a chassis.

Loads

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1934.

MOTOR SUPPLEMENT

OVERSEAS SERVICE

HUMAN ELEMENT INCREASED R.A.F.

IN CARS

MILEAGE

Armstrong Siddeley Manufacturer's Effort Nine Times That Of

One of the first motor manu- facturing firms to realise the desirability of establishing their own service depots, with factory- trained stats, in various parts

of this country, was Armstrong Siddeley Motors, Ltd.. and the same company has been foremost in organising service facilities in overseas countries, after tours to study focal requirements have been made by directors and other representatives.

In South Africa service, and spares depots are found in DuT- bra and Johannesburg, and another is shortly to be opened In Cape Town. In Canada at Ottawa and in Australia at Sydney similar depots have been established for a number of years. Calcutta is to have one shortly. and Mr. H. P. Henry, a director of the company, has just left for India to make final arrangements: he will also visit Burma and Ceylon to open up new agencies for Armstrong Siddeley cars.

From the point of view of the British motorist. It may not be evident offhand how. these over- seas enterprises have effect upon" his interests. But there 18 Go doubt that when a factory is in direct touch with car owners through service depots spread over the world, the accumulated experience thus gained assists to- wards the development of cars

upon practical lines of appeal to British motorists,

A car that will stand up to use under such widely divergent con- ditions as those of motoring in Canada and India, for example, ean hardly fail to fulfil require- ments in this country where nor- mal running conditions are far less arduous, if only because of the relatively narrow.extremes of climatic conditions. The car suit- able for Canada in winter will obylously be able to start from cold in this country without much. if any delay, while if the same car serves in the semi-tropical parts of India it is hardly likely to suffer from overheating in Scotland.

Oversights are bound to happen in the testing of such an involved product as a modern car. Natur ally minor defects are moze prone to be overlooked

or to develop in the case of cars pro- duced in large quantities at a low and highly competitive price, but I have known some of even the most expensive makes fall short of the standard of excel- lence that is expected and is generally embodied; this, too, desplie lengthy and meticulous tests in the factory and on the road of body, chassis, and com- pleted car.

1921

In

Owing partly, to the increase in speed of seroplanes the Air Force in the present year has flown an "aggregate mileage nearly nine

times as much as that of 1991. 3,000,000 air 'miles, this year it is that year the aggregate was about

approximately 44,000,000 air miles. This great increase has, happily, not been accompanied by a propor, tional increase in the number of fatal accidente. There were twenty- two, in 1931, resulting in thirty geven deaths, and this year there have been thirty-nine, resulting in fifty-four deaths.

Notwithstanding the use of the most modern machinery and testing apparatus, the human element that still enters into the construction of a car can hardly" be expected not to fall now and again. Inspection and overlook- ing during and after every stage of manufacture may be as rigor- ous and careful as it is possible to concetve, but occasionally some detail is left sightly out of ad- justment, some little imperfec- tion of ating or assembling escapes the notice of everybody concerned, and the early or even "

teal result may be a noise of some sort, a stiff control, a lamp failure, a brake that is more effective than the others, or some such small defect which the buyers of the car may, not un- reasonably from his point of view, put down to carelessness or faulty organisation.

hold SI

no brief for motor manufacturers, individually от collectively, but write as above because my rather intimate know- ledge of what is implied in the production of the perfect car- perfect of its kind-makes me realise that it is humanly im- possible to guarantee that по new car from a given factory shall have a blemish of some SOTM Inherent faults are inex- cusable, but occasional" instances of the frailty of human nature are unavoidable. I would, there- fore, never condemn outright any make or model because an in- perfect example comes to my knowledge; the probability is that

except nal. – Sometimes a new car is de- livered to its purchaser will em- Gody two or three, or maybe several, imperfections that indi- cate, when the underlying cause is known, that some person in each of several departments has lapsed from virtue. As a case in point, another friend of mine re- cently took delivery of a new car of which one tyre leaked, one of the two instrument board. lamps Motoring had

had barely givers

been omitted, the brakes promise of becoming a practical

"pulled" a little 10 the offside method of transport before it' was

when applied heavily, the spare suggested that the two-stroke

ignition key was missing, and engine had possibilities of

one of the built-in direction in- dis- four-stroke placing the

dicators did not return to its type, owing to its relative simplicity normal position after a corner. and low cost of production. Since

Each of those short-comings was then, almost innumerable

the fault of a man in no way two- stroke designs have been produc-

responsible for the others. The ed, from the simple valveless

fact that they all occurred on " variety to relatively involved

the one car can be accounted an arrangements embodying a charg-

unfortunate and annoying coin- ing pump, inlet valves, ond other cidence, and bad luck for the alds towards increased efficiency. buyer. In my opinion, it does not condemn either the make or the model, and quite possibly the car will never cause my friend the slightest trouble or annoy ance again.

TWO-STROKE ENGINES

May Displace The Four-Stroke

a. car

But apart from the large num- bers of small two-stroke engines used for motor cycles during the post-war period, this type bas never made substantial headway. In cars, it is practically unknown. and yet there are people who belleve it has a promising future. These remarks are called forth by the announcement that a Whereas, on the road, a tester

London engineering Frm ha's can only report noise from some

evolved a two-stroke engine that indeterminate part of an engine,

is said to exhibit remarkably high in the silence room undue noise

efficiency in power development, is not only more pronounced, but

and that a four-cylinder version can be located quickly and pre-

has been installed in cisely,

The engine is run

designed at a

for racing purposes. speed equivalent to 80

The engine, it is stated, actually m.ph.. under load, and inspectors with

develops three times the power special stethoscopes assure them-

ordinarily obtained from a four- selves that each component is

stroke of the same cubic capa doing its work silently.

city, whereas the type In general can be imposed to represent hills,

has falled hitherto to develop and there are "no smoking" tests

even twice as much, despite the at the exhaust. outlet, after the

two-power inpulses per crank- shaft revolution as compared with engine has been idling, for five minutes. Gears are also tested

the one of a four-stroke. independently; even the spiral oll-pump gears are tested "for silence on a separate machine.

From a production point of view the silence rooms are said to have proved extremely em- clent, and an economy from the manufacturing viewpoint. Under the old system it was found that 10 per cent. of the parts capable of contributing to noise were re- jected on the initial road test; but under the new system only 0.5 per cent. are rejected when the cars are, tested on the road. This means that, when previously 20 complete cars might be held back for attention, there is now only one. The resulting, even flow of production is more econ- omical, and the cars themselves. attain nearer to a standard of uniform perfection,"

This high efficiency in the case of the new engine the Jameson á due largely to the use of a "blower," ie., a supercharging pump of the rotary type that de- livers explosive mixture to the cylinders at a pressure. of Bib. per square inch above atmospheric. The design of the cylinder head accountable, while the fact that and combustion chamber is also

piston type inlet valves are used must not be ignored.

Whether or not this new engine. will appeal to motor manufac- turers remains to be seen. "It is said that in manufacturing-costs it has a distinct advantage over the orthodox four-stroke, though examination of the drawings does not lead one off-hand to view, for the design in general. does not appear to be any less -involved than a four-stroke.

that

Motor Boats in France According ta recent Agures compiled in Paris the number of the past year amounted to 4,196 boats-licensed in France during

as compared with only 4,034 in 1931, giving an increase of ap- proximately 4 per cent. An Outboard Engine on Heavy Oil We understand from a recent issue of the Motor Boat that a De Giorgi, outboard engine. has been built in Italy designed to run on heavy oil, and that this was exhibited at the Milan Show. It is not a Diesel Engine, but is similar in external appearance to the usual standard petrol out- board engine: The motor is a 2-cylinder 4-stroke unit with a capacity of 496 "C. It has two fuel heaters. It is started up on petrol and is run for about 11 minutes after which heavy oil is turned on

The power at 2,800 r.p.m. is 12 Horse.

The British International Trophy.

Once again, after one of the closest races for many years; Mr. Gar Wood holds the BL Trophy In spite of Mr. Scott Paine's val-" lant efforts to bring the honours to England However, the true Brilish spirit still prevails and there are more opportunities in the future when it is hoped Bri- tain will meet with better luck and will see this much-coveted. prize brought home to England.

The Air Ministry has not, since 1921, divulged the actual amount of flying by the I.A.. but in February, 1931, Lord Trenchard stated that the amount of flying per fatal accident had increased more than fourfold Subsequent official statements enable à close estimate to be made...

In 1981, the average speed, in- cluding all classes of aircraft, did" not exceed 100 m.p.h., it is now at. least 180 m.p.h., for the speed of all types has increased, and many squadrons are equipped with ma- chines of a speed exceeding 200 mp.h., normally flying at more than 170 m.ph."

For each accident of a fatal. character there are now more than 10,000 hours flying. In the present year. seven lives have been saved by parachute. Since 1996, when pa- rachutes became standard equip- "ment, 109 lives have been saved by

them,

CAR PRODUCTION IN U.S.A.

Advices received from America state that there has been the usual falling

of in the retail

sales of motor-cars preceding the bringing out of new models, and, while motor-car production has Increased, its expansion has been restrained somewhat by revision of designs and by delays in de- livery of materials.

PSYCHOLOGY OF MILLION

Holborn Underground Pupils Test

Passengers come under the At first a huge list of stations microscope of London Transport which included many available by when they use the now Holborn making a further Station connecting the Piccadilly tried out, a complicated index of change, was and Central London lines, for it friangles and aquares being pro- is being used by the Board as the vided. Judging by the knots of Taboratory where new ideas may bewildered travellers which be "tried on the dog."

col- lected in

front, this proved, too complex, and most of the names were blocked out. At the momen some of the lists are left in full and some in the abbreviated con-

trians, and figureless clocks are Signposts, white lines for pedes, under investigation at present, but pride of place is taken by the dition. elaborate scheme of coloured signs.

Since the new station was open- ed, the number of passengers mak- ing the interchange has multiplied more than five times and will give an annual total of 5,500,000. Lon- don Transport is trying psycholo-" gical methods to teach these new- comers their way about the station. Large numbers of new signs have been printed on paper and hung or pasted up at Various points. Alterations are always being made, and the results care- at present is that all notices for fully watched. The main scheme

one direction are blue, those in passengers making the change in the other, yellow, but the" public has not yet quite grasped the idea,

A remarkable point is that among this mass of signs the only clues to the existence of the Aldwych une are a few of the original signs, which escape notice by contrast with their blue and yellow brethren,

ሳ.

posts have been provided and ex- At the interchange" lever finger- periments are being made white lines. It is found that white

With

nes tend to avert collisions on the corners, due to passengers an the outside bend. taking the corner too fine.

The first gureless clock to be seen on the Underground has been Introduced experimentally, to see if the public really kind.

HEAVIER TRAFFIC

LARGER

prefer thi

THIRD PARTY CLAIMS!

WILL YOUR POCKET SUFFER ?

A.A.U

THE

AA

ASIA LIFE BLDG.

14, QUEEN'S RD. C.

MOTOR CAR INSURANCE

TRUST A THORNYCROFT WITH YOUR TRANSPORT

DEAL DIRECT

THORNYCROFT

SIX-CYLINDERED

COACHES & OMNIBUSES

MOTOR VEHICLES

DIESEL OR PETROL

Pioneer Manufacturers of Commercial

Lotor Vehicles

Full Range of Spares carried in Hong Kong and Shanghal

4 or 6 Wheels

4 or 6 Cylinders

30 Cwl. to 10 Ton Loads

20 to 70 Passengers

JOHN L. THORNYCROFT & CO., LIMITED,

Pioneer Building, Nathan Road Kowloon,

TEL. 56752.

TRUST A THORNYCROFT WITH YOUR TRANSPORT