From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Page from 'The Motor' magazine with reader correspondence, a technical Q&A section, and a cartoon.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0281 | |
| Date | 24th December 1941 | |
| The Motor Correspondence A One-sided “Square Deal” IT is almost inconceivable to read, after the experience of last winter, that there is again talk of a coal short-age—and this at a time when the rigours of winter can hardly be said to have begun. Even more incredible is the fact that the same excuses are being put forward (in advance this time, to cover all eventualities) of shortage of wagons, interference with the working of the system by the rigours of war. Few of us, however, who have observed the recent performance of the railways could have foreseen anything else. They have called for a “square deal” for themselves, but have not given it to their shareholders, their passengers, their consignors, nor consignees. They have attempted to retain their stranglehold on the transport system of the country, and have, with muddle, red tape and inefficient management, reduced it to chaos. Once the canal system could have dealt with a large portion of the coal traffic; it was garrotted many years ago by the railways. The roads could take a large portion of the civilian passenger traffic; the long-distance motor coach has been frozen off the roads. Like many another, I look to the Government, and particularly to our new Minister of Transport, to ensure that this state of affairs is righted, although I have now little confidence that it can be dealt with in time to prevent some of us from enduring many a fireless evening before spring comes again. DAVID STEWART. Wootton Bassett. Root of Faulty Town Planning YOUR contributor Mr. Willoughby rightly concludes his clinical study of urban congestion (The Motor, November 27) by stating that “any attempt to prohibit the use of certain streets in an area is a confession that the place in question has been very badly planned.” But his panacea of “streets of reasonable width, clearly indicated traffic routes and a generous control of parking” does not really go to the root of this very serious disorder in the bodies of our great cities. Congested streets are merely a symptom of overgrown cities, the centres of which have been hopelessly swollen through uncontrolled influxes of factories and commercial houses, many of which need never have been in central areas at all. Let our planners bend their unsurpassed technical ingenuity with all urgency, stretching town development towards the smaller towns in the industrial regions, including some new satellite towns a little distance from each of the huge urban areas, and separated from them by strictly reserved agricultural zones. Such a policy will not only help at once to relieve the pressure on space for war industries but will prepare the way for the vast peace-time task of providing more efficient factories and for better social and housing conditions for workers from our over-burdened cities. Overgrown old cities can then be replanned and rebuilt on altogether more spacious lines, with an intelligent grouping of business and houses, so as to reduce daily travel to a minimum instead of always increasing it. There will be plenty of engineers to do in reshaping our road schemes to suit planning altogether new lines. They should forget their pre-war preoccupation with assisting the cities to grow in the disastrous pre-war fashion, and start afresh to plan in conjunction with technicians in all the other relevant subjects in a manner which really meets the needs of British industry, improves the surroundings of its workers and saves everybody time in travel. This will bring air and elbow room to hampered manufacturers and give new vigour and efficiency to thousands of British workpeople. F.{Mr Friese} J.{Mr Johnson W.M.} OSBORN, Hon. Secretary, The Garden Cities and Town Planning Association. Welwyn Garden City, Herts. Contd. INFORMATION BUREAU RULES.—Inquiries are answered by post; a stamped addressed envelope must be enclosed. Advice on car purchase can be given confidentially. Hydrogen as a Fuel Q.—Can hydrogen be used as a fuel? Has any experimental work been done with it?—R.K. A.{Mr Adams}—An engine can run quite satisfactorily on hydrogen in place of petrol-air gas. Considerable experimental work has been done as this idea actually originated about 1932, but it had to be dropped a short time before the outbreak of war. The difficulty lies in providing a hydrogen-generating plant which can be used conveniently; even with the stationary engine installation, the equipment demands a lot of space, and in most cases the cost of generating the hydrogen is not an economic proposition. In certain chemical works, however, it would be a practical idea. It has also been found that coal or sewage gas used in high-compression engines gives more promising results. The drawbacks to these, however, are that storage is difficult. For long-distance travel, high-pressure cylinders are necessary; at present these are unobtainable. Surging Q.—What would cause a sort of “surging” performance and a lumpy tick-over?—K.T. A.{Mr Adams}—A lumpy tick-over is generally caused by the fact that the mixture is on the rich side. This over-richness might be partly the cause of your surging and maybe a slight adjustment of the carburetter jet screw will help. It might follow incorrect level in the float chamber which can develop in the course of time, owing to slight wear in the carburetter parts. Maybe the plugs are at fault and not doing their work so well under heavy loads as they do under light loads. The fact that they have done only 700 miles, however, should indicate that they are in perfect condition; this mileage is, of course, negligible. So long as the oil level is up to the recommended settings on the dipstick, we do not think you need worry at all. Obviously there is plenty of lubricant there and doing its work in keeping the parts cool. [Cartoon] A GUID NEW YEAR TAE ANE AN' A' A50 | ||