NOVEMBKR 9 1 H1 1907.

THE AUTOCAR B Journal publtsbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicalll? propelleb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALT ER: STANER.

No. 629. VoL. XIX. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 1907. LPRICE 3D.

THE AUTOCAR.

(Published Weekly. )

Registered as a nt:w.spaper for trans:nb:;ion in the United Kingdom.

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

EDITORIAL OFFICE :

COVENTRY.

PUBLISHIN~ OFFICES :

2J, TUDOR STREET, L'ONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

NOTES

USEFUL HINTS AND TIPS ( ILLUSTRATED)

• • 70I•7 0 2

703

THE NEW 35 H .P. TALBOT-A 48 HOURS LONDON TRAFFIC TRIAL.. 704 THE AUTOCARS OF 1908 • • . • 70j·720 TYPES OF DELAUNAY-BELLEVILLE CARS (ILLUSTRATED) , • 721 GEAR•DRIVEN DAtMLERS (ILLUSTRATED) , • 722-723 THE NEW 35 H.P. SUNBEAM CAR (ILLUSTRATED) 723 THE 22 H.P. S.C.A.T. CAR (ILLUSTRATED) 724 THE NEW THORNYCROFT CARS (ILLUSTRATED) THE 30 H.P. Tt RNER-MIESSE STEAM CAR (ILLUSTRATED} • . THE NEW LArlCHESTER ENGINE (ILLUSTRATED) • • A NEW CHANGE SPEED GEAR • • THE LODGE IGNITER (l LLUSTRATED)-NEW BELSIZE CARS A 3,000 MILES SI MCAR B ENZOL TRIAL • • THE ROLLASON S1X-STROKE PETROL ENGINE

725 . . 726-728

729 729 • • 730-732

73, , , 734-736

EXHIBITION OF MOTOR CLOTHING-A. WELL-EQUIPPED l\IOTOR

SCHOOL,.

THE N EW 40 H .P. ARGYLL (ILLUSTRATED) • • CORRESPONDENCE • . THE ·IMPROVED E ISEMANN MAGNETO ( h ,LUSTRATED) WHAT IT COSTS TO MAINTATN A CAR • • THE 25 H.P. SPEEDWELL CAR-RIGID CONTRACT TESTS FLASHES THE 24 H.P. FOUR·CYJ,JNDER BUICK (ILLUSTRATED} THE ROLLs-RovcE r 5,ooo MILES T RrAL THE SHEFFlELD-SIMPLEX CAR (I LLUSTRATED) Sor.m L EADING E XHIBITS AT OLYMPIA • • CoNTINENTAL NOTES AND NEWS • •

736

· , 737-740 , , 741-743 ·, 744-745

745 746 . . 747. 748 · · 749-750

• · 7 0-751

752 , · 753-755

756

"THE AUTOCAR " SUBSCRIPTION RATES:

"'/' ,~ • :~ : ;;:::o•I ~ " = • ooom

A Six-stroke Engine. On page 7 34 we deal with a six-stroke engine which has been tested by Professor Burstall, M.A., M.Inst. M.E., in the laboratories of the Birmingham University. It appears to have distinct possibilities for motor car propulsion, despite the objection that the torque is rendered less near to the ideal of a constant torque. So fa-r as weight is conr.erned, it seems likely that the power will be as great in spite of the fact that the explosion stroke occurs once every six strokes per cylinder instead of once every four strokes. This means that a six-cylinder six-str• .)ke engine would only give as many impulses per revolution as a four-cylinder does in the present four-stroke system. Perhaps the most significant and interesting result of Professor Burst,tll 's investigation is in the matter of combustion. The sixstroke engine gives almost perfect combustion, and shows incidentally that the carburetter has often been bl amed for what after all is an inherent defect of the four-stroke engine. The four-stroke engine never completely cleanses its cylinder on the exhaust stroke, and consequently the incoming mixture on the suction stroke is fouled by the products of combustion of the previous explosive stroke. There is nothing new in all this, but the truth is too often more or less lost sight of, and attention diverted to other than the real causes of incomplete combustion. Remarkable success has been achieved by the four-stroke engine, which so far has held its own as the best compromise for an internal combustion engine, and it remains to be seen whether the six-stroke, with its wider spaced explosions but_ perfect scavenging and consequently almost perfect combustion, can beat it for motor car propulsion. Too high a price may be paid for improved combustion, and the six-stroke must show very real advantages before it can be accepted as an all-round improvement. After all, it seems a step in the wrong direction. The ideal, as yet unattained, is an impulse every stroke with practically perfect combustion, and no undue mechanical comr,lication. In the six-stroke engine we have an engine -which takes five preliminary strokes to prepare for each power stroke. The four-stroke with its three idle strokes is bad enough, and therefore in this sense, -~~ rate, the engine in the Birmingham U niverpny seems a step backwards.

The A.A. and M. U. Reconciliation. The member for Automobilism and Newmarket, Mr. C. D. Rose, M.P., has successfully waved the proverbial olive branch over the bowed heads of the Automobile Association and the Motor Union, and strife between the two organisations is now, we are glad to say, at an end. The Motor Union is going to do, what it should never have had to do, and what, as things were, it .should have done quite a while since, and that is to modify the form of its entirely unnecessarv barlge in such wise that it cannot be confounded with tr~. long prior design of the interlaced A.A.'s. Moreover, the Motor Union is willing to abandon all matters appertaining to the patrolling of the roads, which it will recognise as the special sphere of the scouting body. and will withdraw its road schei:ne in toto. On the other hand. the A.A. is to recogm.se that in relation to sign and danger posting work, the dust question, and the general question of the improvement of the roads. the Motor Union is upper dog all the time. The A.A. desires to be left in possession of the useful duty of installing village signs, so that the road traveller may, equally with his compeer in France, know the name of a village as soon as he strikes the first house therein on any main entering road. We trust that it ma\' remain in charge of this admirable and valuable work. and we could hope that it might supplement it by the establishment of di rection plaques in and through towns. so that road travellers t raversing such human aggregations might be able to do so