46 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, 1907. 



COMMERCIAL VEHICLE TRIALS. 



THE commercial vcliicie trials in England, which came to an 

 end during the past month, under the auspices of the Royal 

 Automobile Club, have concentrated the attention of the public 

 and the trade alike to a very large degree upon this type of self- 

 propelling vehicles and the net result can hardly fail to be an 

 increased demand for motor cars for commercial purposes. Of 

 the judges, 8 represented the Automobile Club, 5 the Commercial 

 Motor Users' Association, and one the Society of Motor Manu- 

 facturers and Traders, so that the trials were a matter of con- 

 cern to many interests. As officially stated — 



"The object of the trials is to demonstrate in a convincing 

 manner the advantages of mechanical haulage over horse haulage 

 for the transport of freight, and to show the great progress 

 which has been made in the construction of commercial motor 

 vehicles, particularly in matters of efficiency, economy, and re- 

 liability." 



Twenty-nine competitors entered 60 cars, of various types and 

 capacity, of which 56 actually started. Forty of the cars were of 

 British manufacture, that countr\- having been always to the fore 



Every report that has come to hand relates in some way to the 

 tire feature, and fairly representative of the prevailing sentiment, 

 perhaps, is the following paragraph from The Commercial Motor, 

 a London journal which has given special interest to the late 

 trials : 



"The Triumph of Rubber. 



"We have already referred at some length to the revolution in 

 transport which the self-contained, rubber-tired, petrol vehicle 

 for S-ton loads may cause in existing conceptions of the possi- 

 bilities in long-distance haulage, and we would now direct the 

 special attention of all who are following our reports to the re- 

 markable advantages which are conferred by the use of solid- 

 rubber tires. We detect the fact that many tendencies and con- 

 siderations are in the direction of the rubber-tired, high-speed 

 lorry. Absence of noise, reduced general maintenance, lighter 

 vehicles, and greater performance are all coming within the scope 

 of practical politics by reason of recent improvements in the 

 manufacture of such tires, and as a sequel to reductions in their 

 cost. Right as both their first cost and their maintenance may 

 appear to the casual enquirer, he who enquires further will incline 

 to the view that, except in the case of the very heaviest axle- 

 loads, where speeds are restricted to five miles an hour, the extra 

 outlay upon rubber tires is more than recouped in the results 

 which they alone render possible." 



The tire equipment of the 60 cars entered is stated by one of 

 the motor car journals to have been as follows: 



Shrewsbury & Oialliner. .. . g Turner i 



Sirdar 6 Gaulois (French) 5 



De Nevers 6 Continental (.German) 3 



Dunlop 2 Polack (German) II 



Palmer Cord I Peters Union (German).... 3 



Besides, two cars were equipped with Dunlop tires on the front 

 and De Nevers on the rear wheels. 



.\t the Commekci.\l Vehicle ■rRi.\Ls. 



[The Thames van entered by The Palmer Tyre, Limited. The body rep- 

 resents a section of ;he well known Palmtr Cord 'ire, and the whole forms 

 a specially smart little van. The ch;ssis is a standard 15 cwt. to- 12 H. p. 

 Thames, with the back axle and springs specially strengthened to carry 

 20 cwt. The van was equipped with Palmer Cord tires — 35x5 inches front 

 and 32x5 inches rear.] 



in the construction of commercial vehicles. The touring began 

 from London on September 9 and ended there on October 12, 

 being divided into 22 road trips, touching at all the principal 

 towns in England, and covering 34 secular days. At eight of the 

 towns at which stops were made formal "exhibitions" of com- 

 mercial motor vehicles were held. The awards were to consist 

 of Royal .Automobile Club medals and special prizes, based upon 

 markings under 18 heads, all relating to practicability and 

 economy of operation. 



It would appear that the matter of tiros was not taken into 

 account in marking points for the awards, though tires have been 

 very much discussed in connection with the trials. Nearly all 

 the entries were equipped with rubber tires ; a few heavy steam 

 lorries had steel tires, and one or two had wooden block treads. 

 A few vans had pneumatic tires, front and rear, and some others 

 pneumatics in front and solids in the rear. For the most part, 

 however, solids were used, for the most part with "twin" tires 

 on the rear wheels. No less than 41 of the whole number entered 

 were thus equipped. The average sizes were 34 X 4 inch single 

 or twin tires for two ton vehicles ; for the three ton vans 34 X 

 4J^ inches on the front and 40 X 4 inches on the rear wheels. 



THE RETURN OF THE BICYCLE. 



I N an article on bicycle tires the well edited Sporting Goods 

 * Dealer (St. Louis) says: "With the discussion of tires our 

 attention is called to the bicycle as a side line for the dealer in 

 sporting goods. It is probable that there is not a line that the 

 dealer could handle on the side which is more easily sold or more 

 profitable to handle than an up-to-date and attractive stock of 

 such. The demand for good, easy running, responsive bicycles 

 has increased enormously within the past two years. There are 

 more bicycles being used, and every day is seeing more of them 

 purchased, so that the sporting goods dealer who fails to grasp 

 this opportunity of adding to his trade and profits is surely wil- 

 fully blind. Let him look around for himself; let him note the 

 number of bicycle clubs that are being forined ; let him note the 

 interest of the buying public — the real, live, human interest, and 

 he will agree that more bicycle enthusiasm is now being displayed 

 than for a term of years. And this condition does not exist only 

 in one locality', but the situation is the same the world over. No, 

 we do not see anything but good times ahead for the bicycle, and 

 the dealer who will take up the line in dead earnest. Cycling has 

 come into its own again, and is strongly and distinctively all 

 right." 



Collecting a Bill for Tires. — A citizen of Denver, though 

 reputed wealthy, allowed a bill for a set of automobile tires to 

 become so long overdue that the dealer became more than im- 

 patient, says Motor World. One morning this same citizen, leav- 

 ing his car at the curb while visiting a friend's office, was sur- 

 prised on coming out to find the tires missing from it. He called 

 the police, who traced the tires to the firm who had sold them, 

 and who told the police that they had simply taken back a set 

 of tires for which they had been unable to collect payment, 

 and cancelled the invoice. 



