Motor carrier

“ Fleming on and since June 1, 1935, was engaged in bona fide operation as a common carrier by motor vehicle 'in driveaway service of new automotive vehicles, finished and unfinished, and new automotive vehicle chassis.' This driveaway or caravaning method of transportation is performed by individual driving of the vehicle under its own power, by driving one vehicle under its own power and towing a second vehicle attached to the first, or by driving under its own power a vehicle upon which another vehicle is partially or wholly mounted. ”

“ There will first of all be the motor truck for heavy traffic. Already such trucks are in evidence distributing goods and parcels of various sorts. And sooner or later, no doubt, the numerous advantages of such an arrangement will lead to the organisation of large carrier companies, using such motor trucks to carry goods in bulk or parcels on the high roads. ”

“ Next to the engine itself the construction of the transmission gear is the most important thing about an autocar; for as this portion of the machine is the medium through which the power is conveyed from the engine to the wheels, it does not require an intimate knowledge of mechanics to perceive that bad design and undue friction here may make a very material difference in the running and speed of the car. ”

“ Sufficient evidence has been adduced to convince your Committee:—
That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an average rate of ten miles per hour. That at this rate they have conveyed upwards of fourteen passengers. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and attendants, may be under three tons. That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination with facility and safety. That they are perfectly safe for passengers. That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed) nuisances to the public. ”

“ The uses to which the motor vehicle has been put are legion. On railways the motor carriage is catering for local traffic. On the roads the motor omnibus is steadily increasing its numbers. Tradesmen of all sorts, and persons concerned with the distribution of commodities, find that the petrol- or steam-moved car or lorry has very decided advantages over horse traction. Our postal authorities have adopted the motor mail van. The War Office looks to the motor to solve some of its transportation difficulties. ”

“ Considerable space might be devoted to discussing the niceties of the art of driving a steam carriage, but they may be summarised as consisting in the maintenance of an even steam pressure and mean water level on all conditions of roads, with a minimum consumption of fuel and water. If the owner takes the trouble thoroughly to understand his car and its mechanism first, and then bears this rule in mind, he will soon acquire the art, and will learn to take advantage of every variation in the gradient and road surface. ”

“ Once elevated there were motors, working propeller blades, to send them along, a box-kite arrangement for slanting up higher or descending, and a rudder to steer to right or left. These attachments were contained in a light framework car, which was fastened to the gas bag by means of a network of cords. All the gas bags were cigar-shaped, none of the old-fashioned globular ones being used.
“This will be worth watching,” prophesied Jerry. “There will be no danger to us, and we can see several in the air at once. There’ll probably be a race. Let’s get a place where there isn’t such a crowd.” ”

“ Were I ordering a new omnibus, I should not do so without at least a twelve-horse engine and seating capacity for ten, with luggage; and for heavy work in hilly country an even higher horse-power would be very desirable. My carriage was converted by an ordinary firm of London carriage-builders, who made no pretence of building lightly, and who were not aware that long journeys at twelve miles an hour will in time cause the windows to shake. ”

“ Locomotive driving at a hundred miles an hour is but mild exhilaration as compared to the feelings of the motor-car driver who travels at fifty miles an hour on the public highway.
Gigantic motor trucks carrying tons of freight twist in and out through crowded streets, controlled by one man more easily than a driver guides a spirited horse on a country road.
Frail motor bicycles dash round the platter-like curves of cycle tracks at railroad speed, and climb hills while the riders sit at ease with feet on coasters. ”

“ The great compartment amidships given over to machinery is a place to test the nerves. The aisle down the centre is scarcely two feet wide and on each side are whirling wheels, engines, and electric motors. Only the photographs can give a clear idea of the crowded appearance of this compartment. It contains steering wheels, the gyroscopic compass, huge valves, dials showing depth of submergence, Kingston levers, motor controllers, all polished and shining, each doing its work and each easily thrown out of gear by an ignorant touch. ”

“ Assuming that the vehicle is in perfect condition for use and the engine has been set going, the first thing to do is to examine the ways and means of starting the carriage either forward or backward, to ascertain how to stop it when desired, and steer it from side to side or round a corner, or to avoid an obstacle. We will suppose that the vehicle is of the Panhard type, with wheel steering and single lever at the right-hand side, giving the speeds forward and reverse. ”

“ Have, say, a six or a twelve-horse-power car for the loaders, a good roomy wagonette with a low gear and plenty of floor space, let them start a quarter of an hour earlier than you, and follow them in your flyer, on a twelve- or twenty-horse-power machine with your guests. Many a last beat of a good shoot has been spoilt because one of the party was not called in time, or was eating his breakfast when the party ought to have been starting. ”

“ The gas used in the bag was manufactured on board, as needed, and there was a comfortable cabin, sleeping berths and an engine room, fairly filled with motors, dynamos, air pumps, a gas generator and many other mechanical contrivances. The motorship could be kept aloft a number of days, and plenty of food and supplies could be carried, in addition to several passengers. It was an ideal craft of the air.
[45]
In the days that followed the motor boys were kept busy. When they were not “boning” away over their lessons they were getting the Dartaway in readiness for the trip. ”

“ We must provide for going against as stiff a breeze as we’re likely to encounter, and that is no small item, for with the large area of the gas bag for the air currents to act upon, it will need all the power of our motor to send the ship ahead at times. There is no use disguising the fact that [115] a motor ship is at more of a disadvantage in a wind than is any other kind of a craft. However, with the planes, I hope to overcome many difficulties that now beset machines of this kind. ”

“ Jerrold went on, "is of the very best. The motor is the lightest, strongest and most powerful ever constructed. The car will carry half a dozen, easily. Sand-bags are suspended from each end of the gas-bag. When I pull in the sand-bag at the front end, the equilibrium is displaced, the bag points upward, and the propeller forces the air-ship to rise. So, when I wish to descend, I pull in the sand-bag at the rear point of the bag. When both bags are hanging loose, the Eagle swims in the air on an even keel. ”

“ I should recommend for estate work a good rough wagonette which can take materials as well as persons, with plenty of engine power, say, not less than twelve-horse, and a low gear which will make a load of bricks or half a dozen bags of cement a possible freight. And, above all, have electric ignition, and only use tube ignition, if you have it, in cases of emergency or breakdown in your electrical arrangements. Otherwise a flare-up and a charred car is a daily possibility. ”

“ Automotive transportation may be considered to include all conveyance from one place to another by means of motor vehicles. A motor vehicle is one which carries within itself the source of mechanical power which propels it providing that source be not muscular. This definition would include the tractor, the road roller, the torpedo, and the locomotive, which are ordinarily excluded. For the purposes of this discussion an automobile or motor car may be considered as a self-propelled vehicle which transports a burden other than itself as a weight upon its own wheels. ”

“ Steering Gear.—The loss of a ship's rudder is a small loss comparatively with that of the breakage or carrying away of an essential part of the steering gear of a motor carriage, especially of a high-speed car. The ship will continue to float and in most cases the stopping of the engines removes immediate danger from collision. With a broken steering arm or connecting-rod a car with its occupants may be hurled into a ditch, or ravine, or river before the driver has realised what has happened, and long before the brakes could do any good. ”

“ The power which has been transferred to the driving shaft from the motor is in turn transferred to the two rear wheels of the carriage by a combination gear and sprockets. An endless chain connects the sprockets on the carriage wheels to the sprocket wheels on the driving shaft. All of the motive power is located under the body of an ordinary phaeton, the hight of which is not increased by the machinery. The motor is started by a crank which is easily applied to a shaft in the rear of the carriage and the gasoline is ignited in the cylinder by electricity. ”

“ Road motors can assist materially in massing men rapidly at any desired point, and mechanical power is absolutely essential for the transport of guns of enormous calibre, the employment of which in the field is only in this way rendered possible. ”

“ The back and front are fixed vertically upright, the latter immediately behind the driver's seat. Inside the body on the wooden platform are mounted a lathe, drilling machine, tool-grinding machine, also fitter's bench and vices, together with the accompanying small hand tools. A petrol engine direct coupled to a dynamo drives the lathe, drilling machine, etc. Such, briefly, is the arrangement of the standard mechanical transport mobile workshops. Our Workshops Officer, however, was not satisfied and sought to improve upon it. ”

“ A person driving an automobile is not only in command of the steering of the machine, but is also in direct charge of the engine, the gears, and the brakes. Not so the captain of a ship. Neither he, nor any of the men with him on the bridge, has any means of starting or stopping the engines. There is a man at the steering wheel, of course, but the men who start and stop and reverse the engines are far below the bridge and far aft, hidden away beyond where any shouted orders could possibly reach them. ”

“ But we clip the wings of the possibilities of motors if we limit them to travels of which a home is the immediate centre. The trials organised by the Automobile Club point to the practicability of journeys for which our country is so admirably adapted. The motor-car may become a land yacht with more variety of scenery than its marine prototype, and an absence of the frequent disconcerting motion peculiar to the sea. I do not at all depreciate the pleasure of travelling over a beautiful country in a railway. ”

“ If we were to examine the fleet of any large motor omnibus, motor cab, or motor haulage concern, we should almost inevitably find that the vehicles employed were almost all of one make and commonly of one type. ”

“ Below the bag, with the framework supporting the planes, was the body of the ship—the car—containing the motor and the devices for operating it, as well as the rudders, propellers and planes, which could be shifted.
The car was large, or, rather, the plans called for a good-sized one. There would be a comfortable [91] cabin, in which the travelers would live during the day, doing their cooking on a stove which utilized the exhaust gas from the motor. ”

“ Assuming a vehicle with running gear complete and motors mounted and geared to the driving-wheels, the motors have to be fed with energy in order that the car may be propelled— that is to say, we must in addition to the motors have a source of electric current present. A car with body, running gear, and motors geared in position, is a potentiality only. ”

“ The driver is not compelled to keep his eye on a water-gauge or the contents of a fuel tank, or to manipulate change-speed gears, sparking levers or the like. All he need trouble about is his steering gear and the position of his controller, with a very occasional glance at his voltmeter and ammeter. Above all the electromobile has no odour of its own, nor does it incur any danger of being run in by intelligent police constables for showing vapour and at the same time travelling above four miles an hour. ”

“ But within the limits of such radius the substitution of commercial motors for horse-drawn vehicles is undergoing an expansion which seems to be restricted only by the extent of the motor-car manufacturers' powers of production, while already the use of so many commercial motors is accentuating certain changes in commercial conditions which—as it is one of the objects of the present work to show—have ever been powerfully influenced by the transport facilities of the day. ”

“ As regards the gearing breaking or stripping, that is comparatively inexcusable in an electromobile, as the kind of effort which an electric motor exercises is a steady and continuous one, and the gearing is subjected to none of the jerks and jars which occur when an explosion engine is the motive power, and when change-speed gear is varied by an inexperienced hand. ”