1[A', 29 rH, 1909,

THE AUTOCAR B :Journal 1,·iu bli£;beb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall~ propelleb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 7ro. VoL. XXII.] SATURDAY, MAY 29TH, 1909.

[PRICE 3D.

The Autocar.

(Published : Weekly. )

Registered as a Newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom. Ente red as second-class matter in the New York (N.Y. ) Post Office .

--------Three Editions every Friday,

The THREEPENNY ED!rION, printed on Art Paper. The PENNY EDITION, printed upon thinner paper. The FORE IGN EDITION, price 3d., printed on thin paper for transmission abroad.

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CONTENTS. NOTES USEFUL lJINTS AND TIPS (ILLUSTRATED) TH E 15 H.P . FouR-CYLtNDER TALBOT CAR ( ILL USTRATED) .. A TRIAL RUN 0~ A LITTLE BRITON CAR ROAD \VARNINGS (ILL USTRATED) PETROLEU:-,1 SPIRlT AND PUBLIC SAFETY THE ROYAL A.C. VISIT TO HA~IP SHIRE (lLLUSTRAl'ED) BROOKLA1'-D3 \VH ITSUNTI DC l\'IEETING. ON T II E ROAD: ABROAD. 1\lo·roR UNION BUSINESS l\IOTOR UNION NOTES ..

PA.Gll . , , 747-748

749 . . 750-753

753 754-756

756 757-760

76o 76,-762

762 763

THE SPANISH V O TTURETTE RACE (ILLUSTRATED)-R.A.C. T YRE

TR!ALS . . ON THE TRACK-SPEED TRIALS ON PENOINE SANOS THE IRISH R ELIABILITY TRIALS (ILLUSTRATED) THE LATEST 6 H.P. ROVER {lLLUSTRAT!!:D) . MOTOR CAR TAXATION PROPOSAL~ CORRESPONDENCE . . FLASHES .. CLUB DOINGS (ILLUSTRATED) . .

764 765 766-767

771 772 773-777 - , 778-779

780-7~1

A DUST PREVENTION TEST-IN THE H OUSE OF COMMONS-A

PETROL SPECIFICATION-THE SCOTTISH RELIABILITY TRIAL, 1909

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Abroad (thin paper edition ), 22s . Sd. per annum. lndax to A•11•rtisam•nts appear& on page 38.

/

Notes. I Dust Raising. Last ll'eek we published ::-.Ir . \\ '. R. ooper 's paper read before the Roy al Automobile Club on " The In ­ ve tigation of Dustless ne ss of Ca rs ll'ithout Using Dust." \\'e should like pecially to commend this paper to the most careful study of a ll who are intere,ted in this subject in any way. It shou ld appea l to the inventor of d ev ices for reducing dust raising, as it describes simple apparatus for enabling anyone to investigate th e ai r currents which pl ay about his car 11·hen it is in motion , and it i, rea ll y not much use cons ider ing inl'en tions to red uce dust raising till the inventor knows wh a t .he has to combat, and it is because of thi s extreme ignorance that practically all inventions 1rith this end in view have been failures. We were partic ularly struck with Mr. Cooper's simple apparatm, for investigating the currents at the back of the car, and those who do not want to go into the matter so deeply, or to take the trouble to make the very simple apparatus, can learn much by the ea y experiment of tying a piece of ribbon to a long tick and holding it over the back of the car. 1n fact, this is a very good pl an to adopt for th e im-estigation of draughts within the car, as well a those which may r a ise dust without. The grea t point in favour of Mr. Cooper's methods of investigation is that experiments can be carried out at a.ny time so long as it is daylight. In fact, as much or more may be lea rned on a muddy day as on a dusty one, and the ta k of th e investigator at the back of th e ear will be pi asanter, and he will be less inclined to c11t hi s investigations short if he can "angle " into th e Jtir behind the car without inhaling lungfuls of du~ .

Historic Cars. The collection of historica l motor cars at Shepherd 's Bush is th e fir t worthy the name which has ever been brought together in thi r.ountry. These old cars are full of interest to veteran motorists, and even more interest in g to those who have become automobilists comparatively recently , and who have found th e motor rar developed many stages nearer pe rfection than it - was in the ea rly days of the movement. It seems a 1·ery great pit)· that the more important cars in this rnll ection cannot be kept together after the White City is clo ed. This is no new idea, as th e Royal Automobile Club has suggested at lea t once to the South Kensington authorities that th ey should set aside a certain amount of space for a collection of histori c ca rs in th e mach inery or carriage sect ion in which a re to be found o many of th e ea rlier efforts of engineers in other branches of engineering. At that time the suggestion wa not apparently acceptable to th e South K ensington authorities, but possibly th ey would regard it differently now if it we re repeated, and not a littl e on account of th e fact that if something be not done ve ry soon there is no doubt that the majority of thes e old and interesting vehicles will disappear.

It is certainly not an unreasonable req uest to make, ll'hen 1Ye consider the large amount of space which is devoted in South Kensington to ol l horse-drawn f'arriages. We are not saying a word against these interesting relics of the past, but, after all , th ey only r.onsist of ca rriages. They are not carriages and horse5 combined, and th ey embody no ingenious mechanical devices. a nd th erefore it follows that the self-propelled carriage which i a so much more complete vehicle, as it combin ~s horses and carriage in one, should have even more space granted to it, though up to th e present it ha been denied any.

We hope that the coll ection of motor antiquities whi ch has been got togethe r with so much labour and diffi culty at the White City will provide th e necessary spur to th e South Kensington authorities, as it cannot be said that in this matter they have shown themselves po. essed of phenomenal foresight.