OCTOBER 28TH, 1905.

THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propelleb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 523 . VoL. XV.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28TH, 1905. [P_RICE 3D.

THE AUTOCAR.

(Published Weekly.)

Registered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom.

Entered as second-class matter at the New York (N.Y.) Post Office.

EDI.TORIAL OFFICE :

.

COVENTRY.

PUBLISHING OFFICES :

20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

NOTES: AMATEUR INVENTORS- THE ABUSE OF THE

COMPETITIONS FOR AMATEURS ... .•. . .. THE MoToR CAR FOR THE CoLONIRS, By Alfred Foster THE MODEL K WINTON CAR (illustrated) S YNCHRONISED IGNITION EXPLAINED ... To CONSTANTINOPLE (i1lustra ted) GENERALITIES, By Rutulan ... .. .. . . ..

MOTOR HORN-

505-506

507 508 ... 509 ... SIO ... Sil

A NEW CHANGE SPEED AND REVERSE GEAR 1illustrated) THE C ARDIFF AIRSHIP ... ... ... ... . .. THE ALBION MECHANIC.\L L UBRICATOR (illustrated} .. . ROYAL COMMISSION ON LONDON TRAFFIC . ..

512-513 . .. 513 514-515

516 517 .. . 518

THE E THICS OF THK MOTOR. By Lady Grove OccA~IONAL Goss1P. By " T he Autocra t " ..• PROFE~SIONAL V. AMATEUR DRIVERS .. . So~U : EXCELLENT DRIVING ADVICE ... . .. CoNTINl'.:NTAL NOTES AND NEws (il:ustrated) APTER MANY MILES ... ... .. . . ..

... 519 ... 520 521-523

UsHUL HINTS AND TIPS. By Lirnt. Windham R.N. CORRESPONDENCE: FUEL CONSUMPTION TESTS-SHOW V ENTILATION

523 524

-THE HORN FOR MOTOR C AR~- AMATEUR l N\"ENTORS-LONOON T O EDINBURGH ON THE Top GEAR-DUST AND MOTOR CARSR ESULT OF UNJUST FINES- THE SWIFT CAR AND THE TOURIST TROPHY-PARAFFIN FuEL-SUGGE~TIONS FOR THE ROYAL CoM.MISSION-So LJDS i./, PNEU.MATICS-!NC-ONSIDERATI!: DRIVING I N SCOTLAND-USEFUL HINTS AND T1Ps-Ov1-.R-LUBRICATJON AND OJL G AUGE- SPEEDOMETERS, POLICE EVIOENCf', A~ D JUSTICE - USING ENGINE AS A BRAKF.-SUMMARY OF OTHER CORRE-

SPONnENCE .. . .. . ... ... .,,

.. . ... 525-529

A FIXED STARTING HANDLE FOR \VoLSELEY CARS ,illustrated) ... ... 530 N0N-'iKIOS FOR LIGHT AND HEAVY CARS ... 530 l'LASHas ... .. . ... .. . ... ... ... ... ... 531-534 C LUB D OINGS (illuslra ted): CLUB F JXTURES- W OLVERHAMPlON AND

DISTRICT A.C.-PROPOSED ESSEX COUNTY A.C.-KSNT A.C.] OHANNESBURG A.C, . .. .. .. . ... . .. THE HALLE SPRING VVHEEL-ANTI-FREEZJNG MIXTURES ... SOME QUERIES AND RtPLIES ... . .. A SAFETY CHANGE-SPEED LEVER (1llustrated) ...

535 536 537 538

" THE AUTOCAR " SUBSCRIPTION RATES : British Is les, 16s. Abroad (thin paper edition), 22s. 8d. per annum.

f I Notes. Amateur Inventors.

A letter appears in our correspondence column: to-day from a correspondent who makes no secret of belonging to the ranks of amateur i1wentors. Broadh speaking, he proposes that automobilists and others of a mechanical and ill\·enti,·e turn of mind should form some sort of society, and by its means provide a channel 1Yhich would enable any member who had previously protected a good idea to bring it before motor manufacturers or others to whom it might be of interest and possib ly of Ya lue . There is undoubtedly room fo r a society of im·entors conducted on ome11·hat simil ar lines to the Society of .Authors. Without offence to the literary society we may liken it to a sort of Trades' Union among a t:1thors. This society gives advice to the youn rr author as to the disposal of his manuscript, and should he be unfairly treated by a publisher 1\"e belieYe it assists him in more 1raYs than one to obtain his rights. Its mission, howe,·er; is rather to prevent t rouble than to rectify it, and 1\"e b lien\ it does exceedingly good work.

After al l. budding authors and amateur inventors are much alike. Some of them turn out good 11·ork, most of them do not and ,re are afraid it is the cranks and impracticable ill\·entors 1Yho 11·!1I make it :liflicul_t to found a rea llY sen·iceable society of the 111,·en tl\"ehminded. There is no doubt that many an amateu·r , trikes a good idea, often because he has a persr,ecti,·e. H e is further a,ra,· from the matter than the manufacturer or designe/ , and occasionall y his Yery ignorance under pressure from necessity, the mother of invention, will help him to jump traight m·er diflictilties 1rhich the practical man would not dare to treat o li ghtly. There are mam· difficulties in the 11·a,· of the fo rmation of a societ,· of amateur inventors. bLit there are su many keen amateurs in the 11·orld that the matter is at lea t ,rorth discussion. as there are possibil it ies in i t. The ri uestion i, . Can those possibil iti es be pr ctica lly realised ?

The Abuse of the Motor Horn. ·.\'e holJe the Royal Commission ,rill gil'e consideration tu the abuse of the motor horn. When horns ,rere first introdu ·ed into this country for motor cars. eYen une knew 11·hen he heard the ;1ote that it signified ·a motor car was upon the road in his vicini ty, but 11 011· in many districts people arc quite indifferent to the horn. simply because it is used on bicyc'.es. on horse carriages. and e ,·en on gm·erness rarts. The people who ha ,·e taken up the use of the motor horn ha ,·e not learned discretion ; the majorit,· of them. ,rhether the) be bi cyclists or clri ,·ers of pony carts. use the horn to a ridicu lous extent. and not infrequently in the hon:e l'thicles it afford~ a 1re!come playthi n~ to some child. ,rho indiscriminateh· bl01r it till a maddened parent or sorely-tried gul'erness takes it ::lll'ay.

This abuse of the motor horn appears to obtain onll" in certa in districts. In London. fo r instance, it is ma(nly affected l;y 1Yeedy boys on Ol'er-geared bicyc les, and t hi s appl ies more or less to a.II the larger centres r)f population. ln many smaller places there is no attempt to abuse the motor horn. but in others tne abuse of it has become really seriou . Perhap5 the ll"o rst imtance is Bath. Jn this place. ll"e are told that not on h· is the horn used upon bicycles a ncl po1w carriages. but one horse carriage is actually pm,·icled 11·ith two motor horns. The abuse has a tll"ofold a pect. The more serious aspect of it is the fact that the si lly people \Yho fit horns on pony carts and bicycles do not know ll"hen to use them, and, 01ring to their kePping up a more or less continuous fanfare. no one takes am· notice of the sound. We th ink it is a mistake that the' horn should be u ed bY a,w other carriages than those which are se lf-propel led. bL1t this does not matter half so much as thf' ri d iculous ,my in ll"hich the horn is used by non-motorists.

We haYe no doubt that the anti-motorist ll"ill urge that motorist should be careful, and that bic1·cl i. ts