Th3V. 'o, 1920]l THE MOTOR SHOW. r BmxTxus 7 T LEDICA L Jouuu&g. J

formerly- anaely, tle new scale of ta-ation. One nmay M1OTOR NOTES FOR M1EDICAL 31EN. take it, broadly, tllat a beyond 20-h.p. Treasury rating By H. MASSAC BUIST. is not needed by the average doctor. Thle new tax is £1 per lhorse-power, tlhereforo a 20-h.p. Treasury rating car involves ain expenditure of £20 a year for tax alone. THEI SHOWS AT OLYMPIA AND WHITE CITY. Undcler this head it is interesting to Qbserve that no THERE is sucll an unprecedented variety of mnotor carriages country is offerincg better value for money in the 20-h.p. at the M1Iotor Show organized at Olymipia and tIme White class than (loes the Austin Company, which lhas been in City by the Society of Mot6r MIanufacturers and Traders, fuller production, pelhaps, than aiiy other firm in this under thle patronage of the King, tllat the mnedical man is country dutring the last twvelve molnths, and whose produlct in sore need of some guide to those features likely to is now well proved. In the interval sundlry new moodels appeal to hiim. Tlho display is, internationially, tlhe most are being initroduced for this market, as instance the representative organized in any part of the world. It 19.6-l.p. four-cylinder Crossley. Both these vehicles may be replaces the yearly slhow in Paris, wljicll was not lheld last taken as about the lim-it of the possible requirements of montl. It precedes the great American slhows. Tlhere- the me(lical mian, each being suitable for a specialist whose fore, for tlle time being, London is the miotor mnart of the need miiay be for a relatively fast car carrying covered coaclhwork and required on make Late enemy countries excepted, occasions to fairly long world. the industry of journeys. every country taking a part of any imnportance in motor The average medical man, however, may flncl these, and building is adequately represented, the nuinber of American such vehicles as the 16-h.p. Sunbeam, too expensive to makes on the market being particularly noteworthy. Time miaintain. But there is ample choice in other directions. exlhibition is marked by tlle introduction of a large nunmber Among tested products there is the 15-h.p. four-cylinder of entirely new makes of , but a goodly proportion of Wolseley with overhead valve engine. It is now in full tllem have not adequate m-anufacturing facilities belind production, and will therefore well repay attention. Alike them to justify tlleir receiving tIme patronage of the medical remark applies to the improved post-war inodels of the profession, whose prime need is a tested design offered by nominal 12-h.p. car of the water-cooled type, with financially well-establislhed firms; reliability and economy detachable cylinder hca(l. This machiine is put on the of cost, together witlh absence of the speculative marlket in very comiiplete fashion, and has sLunldry improve- elemnelnt, ments in it that be are essential to doctoms' service. Last year 271 makes may noted later. Coming down the scale of power, and thlerefore of prices, one niotes in one of cars were on the Britislh marliet. According to the direction the 10-hi.p. three-speed NVolseley-Stellite (Stand 62, Autocar, that of and assenmblers has nLiruber builders Olympia), wlhich, as a two-seater with diclkey seat behind, now risen to 302, of 149, or are wlhiclh less than half, is of about the rihlt power and price for the average Britislh. Tlle varieties of types at tlle current exhibition medical man. This, like the Rover, is a lona proved nunuber 459, because many of thle makers mal-ket more design, despite its striking originality, the points of which than one model. have been well tested in service. There need be no hesi- tation about buying machines of this character: their Misleading Talk about Price Cuttinzg. economy of running is evident. At this season there is talk to the effect that the cut in Th.s year there is introdrc2d one notable recruiit to the valve car prices is the clhief feature of tlle slhow. If, however, ov2lrhead type of eng,ine-namely, the Standard of which long we take the prices asLed at tllis season last year, andi Companiy, , has specialized in a comupare tllem witlh those ruling to-day, it is scarcely true type of car of the size, price, and power, as well as mlaini- tenance costs, eminently suitable for medical menI. In to say there is nature of that alnytliing in tllh price cutting reviewing the exhibits one notes with reg,ret that suclh to be observed; far less thlat it is a general tendency. a striking design as the air-cooled Enfield-AlIdays, intro- The reason is plain. In tlle interval of twelve montlhs we duced last year, has failed to materialize in standard form lhave all lhad to revise our ideas of the value of money, because some £100,000 worth of special plant is nieeded to particularly as all classes of malinnal workers are receiving lay down the work for standard production on satisfactory higher aud yet higher wages, witlh the result that the lines. But the firmn is bringing forward a niewv style small costs alike of raw materials and of labotur for building a car car on what may be called conventional lines. are unprecedentedly higlh. In a few cases thjis lhas been offset by tlle coining into production of factories on large A Type as a Text. Any disappointment under this head is scales, in whieh tlhe'dead, or overhead, charges which have offset, too, by the bia advance made the to be divided over eaell velhee are naturally lower as tlle by Rover Company with the horizontal engine with two opposed cylinders of the air- output grows. Tllose dead clharges are miiore or less fixed cooled variety. This is styled the 8-h.p. miodel (Stand 57, in running a given establishment, aud cannot be fact-,rs Olympia). It has now come into full production at a speci- cuit very appreciably merely bcc-use output falls off. ally equipped works separate from the Coventry factory, The real note of tlle slhow is that for the first time and situated at Birmingham. When these cars were flrst anybody going to an exhibition of this sort with a view to issued in standard form they were engaged in various placing an order for a post-war car slhall really secure competitions, in all of which they distinguished themselves. delivery witlhin a reasonably early period. Last year Since then large uumbers have appeared on the road in orders were given witlhout any guarantee of delivery. At private ownership. least half the last manufacturing season was productive of In face of the cost of proluction in the post-war period, no results wlhatever. Thlat was owing to successive labour there is here something particularly interesting to thle medical man on troubles. Tlle situation to-day, lhowever, is that, in the many grounds. As to price, tlhis is £300 ready fcr the road. As to the main,production is on a scale adequate to meet- demand. performance, car can be driven up to 40 miles an hour. Of course, the best is As for falling may be out whereas running got prices, it pointed that, between 20 and 30 miles an hour, which is fast enough for at this time last vear the cost of a Rolls-Royce chassis the average medical man. On long journeys the petrol was £1,750, to-day it is £2,100, wlhieh is also the cost of consumption has worled out in stand.-Jd examples as the 1921 six-cylinder Napier ehassis with overhead valve economically as 45 miles to the gallon of petrol; 40 miles engine, and the six-cylinder Lanchester chassis costs£2,200. to the gallon can be practically guaranteed. The horse- While there are not many cars that cost as much as power is generous in relation to weight, the engine giving these, the plain fact is that practically all the larger fully 14 h.p., and the total weight of the velhicle being cars are costing quite as muuch as, if not more than, was under the half-ton. The suspension is by quarter elliptic asked for them twelve months ago, tllouglh many are springs fore and aft; therefore, the worst one would get marketed at prices lower than those that had. to be asked on a pot-hole road would be great plangency. To receive a is with this last summer, when production was on relatively a small jar impossible system of springing. The scale, but dead clharges remained stationary. vehicle is well worth studying, too, as illustration of how Moreover, to avoid complication. Here the lines are sucll cars as the Willys-Overland are not cheaper than last extrenmely simple. There is strength witlhouit undue There year, the price of the types with covered coachwork weight. being is nothing about which the medical mian need be shy. It now dearer. is generally imagined that an air-cooled engine in a car is a difficulty. The fact, however, is not so. The difficult Coming Taxes a Prinme Consideration. is to devise an air-cooled In face of fact thing engine which can be made the that for the most part doctors placing to run quietly, like the water-cooled variety. The Rover orders for cars now will not seek delivery of them until Company has come nearer solving -this problem than any January lst it may be pointed out that a prime considera- firm I have observed so far. It has got on to production of tion for them in buying at this time did not obtain this class of vehicle on a scale not yet attempted by any 6, t Twi Bit Sh 7I6 NOV. 1.920J MOTOR NOTES FOR MEDICAL MEN. I MEDZCAL JOURNAl I other firm in this country, nor on the continent of Europe. because the smaller production the easier it was to get Thc Americali inidustry has never attempted anything in supplies of castings, springs, and other essentials between this line. Nor is it at present inclined to do so. tlle interruLptionis occasionied by labour disturbances. At that troubled period the essential tlling for medical men, T7he Air-cooled Car as a Standard P-odutet of as for otlher car users, was to discover, not the ideal IV Lo Pr-ice. velhicles for tlleir purposes, but wlhat types could be pro. In face of the approach of winter, one merit of the air- duceec that would suffice. Happily, in tile interval the biU cooled car from the medical miian's point of viewv miay be producers with amuple resources for the best methods of mentionled: it removes entirely the need for worry about production lhave been able to aclhieve,very large outputs. the engine when left in the cold. For examiiple, during a this year, for the fit-st timle since tlhe start of visit to a patient the cylinders canlnot crack in winter, Tlierefore tlhe campaign, is no call for doctors to buy because there is no water in them to freeze. As to reflne- there "anything can be supplied on Instead ient of operation, the plate clutch, the employment of a that wlheels." they miay worm drive just as on the large Rover car, and so on, are clhoose. A result is that the malers establislied on a notable features of refinement. This has not the coarse. big scale can give the best value for money and the best ness of cycle car practice, but all the refinements of car types of tested cars. Altogether better and more trust- practice. Yet the design especially aims at saving initial wortlly maclhines are available among the well established cost while ensuring long wearing life and economical con- makes, which, lhowever, are not numerous. sumniption, therefore the minimum maintenance and running costs. The design of the bodywork, the features of the An Overhead Valve Standard. Luicas lighting fitted as stanclard, the method of driving the Engined The 9.5-h.p. Stancdard car (Stand 59, Olympia) has dynamo for it, and so forth, have proved satisfactory in renderecl yeomiian service to the imedical profession since service. In short, this is one of the post-war types of the firm first marketed this chassis as one of the earliest ve'iicle for thedoctor of which more certainly will be heard. of the really creditable contributions towards the provision. The larger section of the medical profession now has of a small car of econoimiical running costs coml-bined with. to regard motor car buying from an entirely different durability such as is suitable for the doctor. As a conse- point of view. Young doctors have taken wholesale to quence a demnand has arisen for a somewhat more power- the use. of cycles this year, niot because. they motor ful car to talie a four-seater body. To meet this the prefer them, but because they were the only motor-driven company introduces a 11.6-h.p. enigine of 68 mm. bore by macllines they couild get at the price they could afford. 110 mm. piston travel, giving a volumlne of 1,598 c.Clm. with Sucll a proposition as this small Rover has running and overhead valves, the cylinder heads being, detachable and naintenance costsumore on the motor-cycle scale, therefore the engine lubrication forced. An electrical mechanical enorm iously cheaper than anything provided by any engine starter and car lighting systeimi are standard, and American or foreign car on the market. As to a suitable the proved 9J-h.p. chassis features are incorporated i this motor vehicle in which the driver is adequately protected longer wheel base 11.6-h.p. type, wlhich is standardized fromn the weather, there is nothing to challenge this pro- with twoo- and with four-seater bodlies that reveal in their cluction in the current show. Years of manufacturing details practical knowledge as well as originality, Ready experience on a large scale have been needed, and the for the road, the four-seater weighs 17 cwt. as an open of scores of thousands of pounds in the laying expenditure car with a luggage grid. In this miiodel the squab of down of special plant to enable each part to be made to the rear seat can be lifted open and retained by the best advantage. So many hundreds of these vehicles toggle-arm-s, while access is lhad to a large and shallow are in the hands of the public that the manufacturershave compartment for storing the side curtain windows of the the reports of tlleir behaviour, and know precisely in wlhat special hood. Moreover, the front seats are arranged to details to effect modification here or there. In short, they fold ingeniously, are adjustable for reachi, thle cushions are assured that each example issued from. the factory being square, so that they can be reversed, and the back from now onwards will be more satisfactory than any squab is suspended from a metal frame with a broad band that has gone before. In motor building there is need that can be laced tightly or loosely accordinig to the wish not to get your design and your plant right; you merely of the user. The valve rockers are lubricated by pressure. besides, to get your works hands working in team has-e, There is provided at the front of the cylinder head a small faslhion. extra water-pipe running to the top of the tank of the I am inclined to take this car as a text not merely radiator to prevent steam locli occurring during extra hard because among last year's novelties designed with a view work. The power given by the engine is ample for the to solving the cost problem this is about the only notable coachwork and passengers accommodated on a wheelbase one in the low price classes that has materialized and which provides ample leg room for the occupants. enhanced the reputation of long established sponsors, but also because it gives one heart to continue one's isolated Improvements in t7ie Swift Models. campaign against a most regrettable ten(lency that is all There are sundry imnprovementsill the 1921 four-seater against the interests of the doctors, and for which the 12-h.p. Swift model (Stand 47, Olympia) wlhich emiploys a mlotor pressmzen in general may be said to be no less Zenith carburettor in conjunction with a C.A.V. electrical responsible than, perhaps, the American industry. I refer engine starter and car lighting system. The silent chain to the fact tllat the tendency to overload cars with super- drive for the distribution gear is adljustable for wear. fluotus accessories by process of stan(lardizing them as Thle general lay out of the engine, as of the chassis, is on tlhougl they were essential seems rather to have increased well-proved, orthodox lines. In regard to the coachwork than diiminished. Motor manufacturers in general are not there is this year amarke(d improvement. The slightly at all keen on piling one " gadget on another on a car. tumubled-in top to the sides of the four-seater standardbo.ly Btut theyliave to do so because a fashion is set on the is an attractive feature. The colour sche-me is grey with otlher sidle of the Atlantic and because writers on motor apple-green upholstery. The alterations in the 10-h.p. topics in the technical, no less than in the lay, press are Swift m-iodel include the provision of a hand-bralke inside (lisposed to im-lply that this, that, or the other device is a the body. There is also a better form of acceleraterledal. necessary of a complete vehicle. If the little Rover part The carburettor is equipped with ani air strangler. Au lc-e- car is loolkedl at it will be discovered that all that is trical engine starting and car lighting set is standardized. necessary to runa a car is there; but nothing that can be For the rest, save for veryminor refinements, the chassis with. Would that one could write the same dispensed remains as hitherto. It wvill be noticed, however, that the cars with water-cooled engines; about price of these cars is lower than that which ruledduring the past suinmer. This is on account-of theirnereaseo1 Doctors anid the Exhibition. output enabling the "Ion costs," as they are styled at the It will be observed that, wliereas last year a table of factory, to be distributed over a larger numuber of cars, features of cars likely to be of interest to medical men-was with the result that the price of eachl works out lower. publishled in these pages on the occasion of the first The new car introduced by Enfield-Alldays-which made a year to break exhlibitioiicfmotor cars in England afterthe interval of notable attempt last nae w ground with a remarkable air-cooled which war, nao such figures are given in thle present issue. The five-cylinder engine it sub- sequently proved impossible to put into production because reason is that it was necessary then to review every. over£100,000 worth of plant was necessary to equip a tliiilg in tle way of moderate cars introduced to public factory specially to build the car-is a 10-h.p. four-cylinder notice, including contributions often interesting for water-cooled machine constructed on orthodox lines to individual features embodied in them-by firms of limited achieve refinement in a small car. The engine has a bore manufacturing resouLres. The smaller thle output the of 63i mm. and a piston travel of 117k mm., giving a easier it was for such concerns to proceed with their volume of 1,488 c.cm. swept by the pistons. The lubrica- production programmes, despite the difficulties pre- tion is mechanical. The gearbox gives three speeds sented, successively by the moulders' and other strikes.Iforward and the final powver transmission is by spiral bevel Nov.NOV. 6, 1920]19201 THR MOTOR SHOW.' t YDIAL JOVNA 71r - L TE J & 7 gear in the hack axle. The rear springs are cantilever. line from tbe carburettor to the valve. The cantilever This is not a " mass-production " car; the coupe and otlher rear sWing are set inside the longitudinal members of the special bodies are made to order, only the two- and fouir- frmme. The gearbox is furnished with three speeds seater open types being standardized. (Stand 63, Olympia.) frward. (Stand 54, Olympia.) Alow-built new car with proportionately wide track and The 1921 10-h.p. Singer Light Car. long wheelbase in conjunction with cantilever rear An additional universal joint to the propeller shaft; the springs is the 19.6-h.p. Treasury rating four-cylinder furnishing of an Autovac feed in conjunction with the Blackburn car, introduced by a firm hitherto associated employment of a fuel tank in the rear to the achievement with the aviation industry. There is nothing experi- of a better balance; the simplification of the bonnet mental about the design, which rather follows generally scheme; and a wider dickey seat, are the chief changes in approved practice. But the appearance of the car is the 1921 model of the 10-h.p. Singer Light Car, a type so distinctive and pleasing. The cylinders are cast in pairE, popular that there is no need to depart from it beyond having a bore measurement of 89 mm. and a piston travel incorporating detail improvements in the scheme from of 127 mm., giving a volume of 3,160 c.cm. swept by the year to year. The engine is of the same size as formerly, pistons. The layshaft is placed at the side of the main 63 mm. bore by 88 mm. piston travel, giving a volume shaft in the gearbox, both shafts being short, rigid, and swept by the pistons of 1,096 c.cm. This engine is in a mounted on ball bearings. Four forward speeds are pro- sense uncommon nowadays in that the cylinders are cast vided. Helical bevel gear is furnished to the back axle, in pairs. Some of the alterations incidentally make for which is of the full floatingtype. The transverse members cheaper productiou. The new dickey seat unfolds up. that act as bearings for the gearbox are removable, this wards and outwards. The other half of the boot of part of the construction'being quite out of 'the ordinary and the car hinges upwards and can be locked by means of illustrating the' aircraft engineering experience of this firm. wing nuts in any position desired. The rear part of the The plans are to give first deliveries in the early part body is 6 in. wider than in this year's model. The removal of next year at 'a 'price provisionally stated as £800 for of the dickey seat reveals a hole in the floor board that gives the chassis. access to the filler cap for the petrol tank, which has a capacity of over six gallons. Therefore this car has a greater The French Mass-Production Car. range on a single charge of fuel than have theearlier models Despite a number of difficulties, the French manufacturer with the gravity tank on the dash. This transference of II has done notable things in the mass production of the the fuel tank enables the' dash to be made of neater Citroen car introduced at the show last year by the British appearance, and to accommodate full easily the instru- concessionaires, Messrs. Gaston, Ltd. (Stand 308, White ments disposed symmetrically on either side of the small City). The car is now made for this market with steering oblong cupboard wherein maps, glasses, books, and other and hand-brake control on' the right' side of the vehicle. small articles can be put. The bonnet is composed of The scheme of the chassis, 'well designed and soundly three separate members, the two side.ones being hinged at made, has not been departed from. The features embrace the bottom so as to open outwards. The third, the neatly the use'of an ingenious form of double quarter elliptic rounded top member, rests on the radiator and dash, and rear springing; the front suspension being by quarter is held by springs to the side by four. small clips. By re-, elliptic springs. The coachwork is on standardized lines moving the top piece and opening the sides outwards the thr,oughout. -It is claimed that this car does full thirty engine can be exposed in a few seconds. On the coupd miles to a gallon of fuel. The final drive is by herring- model the taper lines from the dash to the bonnet are bone gear in the back axle. The chassis is now built as straight in place of being curved. Tbe cooler is carried by a complete unit, the aluminium dash and electric lighting a cross tube lying between the fropt ends of the side equipment being quite separate from the coachwork. The members of the frame and braced at the top by an adjust- propeller shaft is now tubular throughout its length. The ing rod anchored to the water outlet pipe on the top of the tie rod under the front springs has been dispensed with cylinder block. This arrangement enables the radiator to owing to the adoption of slightly stronger springs. The be dismantled, or put on, much more easily. The valve forward end of the upper leaves'slides in the axle, but the covers are now fashioned of pressings. A clip has been front of the lower leaves is flxed to the axle. The pedal made to keep the ignition wires well away from the ex- for the mechanical engine starter is now placed close to haust piping. Instead of fitting the ignition wires direct the central gear change mechanism. The four-seater on to the sparking plugs they are provided with terminal is standardized at £495, and the coupe clips. (Stand 93, Olympia.) with extra folding seat at- £625, the bodies being on standardized lines throughout. The disc type of wheel Contrasted Type8 of Middle-size Cars. is also standardized. Perhaps the feature of the Humber exhibits that will The 15-h.p. four-cylinder Darracq, with 85 bore and attract most attention on the part of the medical man is 140 mm. stroke measurement, giving a volume of the 10-h.p., otherwise the smaller four-cylinder chassis, 3;178 c.cm., is introduced this year with a detachable equipped with conp6 body. (Stand 32, Olympia.) This little cylinder head and an external ribbed exhaust manifold. car, which is listed at £750 ready for the road, is neatly The aim is to reduce to the minimumn the likelihood of finished in dark blue with black leather collapsible hood. carbon deposit, as well as to increase the power by It accommodates two people comfortably, and is well approximately 10 per cent., a Smith multi-jet carburettor designed for doctors' work. The cooling is by the natural being adopted. It is bolted to the cylinder block on the circulation of the water, and the oiling is automatic by right side and warmed from a by-pass off the circulating pumps and troughs. A Smith carburettor is used. The water. The changes made,in the gearbox housing result gearbox gives three speeds forward and a reverse, the in its being stiffer. Relatively long cantilever rear springs flnal drive in the back axle being by bevel gear. are used. They are attached to the back axle by two The Morris-Oxford and the Miorris-Cowley four-cylinder shackles, both the main and the secondary leaves having cars are supplemented by a six-cylinder model, the engine an eye rolled on their extremities. The petrol fllter cap of which is alone shown. It hasa bore measurement of is big and equipped with an efficient filter. (Stand 85, 70 mm. and a piston travel of 102 mm., giving a volume of Olympia.) 2,355 c.cm. swept by the pistons. Therefore, this machine Delage introduces a 15-h.-p. four-cylinder model of will come under the 17.9 h.p. Treasury rating. The power 80 mm. bore by 150 mm. piston travel, giving a volume of plant, as well as the chassis, is to be made entirely at the 3,016 c.cm. swept by the pistons. Front-wheel brakes, Cowley works. For this model the Lucas electric equip- which are a distinctive feature of the six-cylinder type ment has been selected, including the gear for starting the introduced by this flrm last year, are not standard on this engine and a Zenith carburettor. The final power trans- 'four-cylinder model, but they can be supplied as an extra. mission is designed to be by spiral bevel gear in the back Ordinarily this would not be a satisfactory practice, axle. Fore and aft suspension are to be by half elliptic because the front axle has to be designed specially to take springs. (Stand 97, Olympia.) the extra weight and strain, and the steering should also The new Phcenix model is rated at 18.2 h.p., being fur- be schemed specially. The knowvledge of these facts nished by a four-cylinder engine having overhead valves possessed by the Delage firm has led it so to design these and overhead camshaft; the bore measurement is 85 mm. details of the four-cylinder model that there is nothing and the piston travel 135 mm., givingavolume of 3,064 c.cm. experimental about the application of four-wheel brakes swept by the pistons. This engine is built in a unit with to it. They are, however, rather unnecessary for the the clutch and gearbox, the flinal drive being by spiral average service of a doctor, particularly as very big back bevel in the back axle. Relatively quiet running is brakesarefurnished. (Stand 34, Olympia.) achieved by off-setting the camshaft in relation to the valves, seuring a lowcavolift which operates a high lifte MiscellaneousFeaturesof Small Cars. valve.s she valve ports are cored in the detachable Among the new small cars introduced is the 10.5-h.p. cylinder heads, the inlet ports being almost in a straight Treasury rating four-cylinder Galloway with detachable 2 t i -- MEN. TixAitnm I 8 t6JE- 6, I'9201 VOTOR NOTES FOR MEDICAL IMEDICAL JOUR-IAZ .r cylinder heads, forced lubrication, and features which The cleverly designed A;B.C. Light Car introduced last include the bolting together of the engine and gearbox, year makes its reappearance, there having been little unit fashion, to carry the pedal assembly, hand brake and occasion to alter the clever and original design of Mr. central gear change lever. The rear suspension is by Granville Bradshaw. The engine is an air-cooled two- quarter elliptic springs, and the forward springing semi-' cylinder horizontally opposed type. The conitrol gate is elliptic, detachable disc wheels being standardized. (Stand unusual in tliat it works vertically. The gearbox has four 21, Olympia.) The novelty of' the Willys-Overland pro- speeds forward. (Stand 414, White City.) A gear-driven gramme this year is the 21-h.p. four-cylinder, nmonobloc oil pump is furnished to the 1921 Deenster mnodel; the cast, Willys-Knight double sleeve valve engine, having a re-designed clutch of which incorporates spring-loaded bore measurement of 92.1 mm. and a piston travel of plungers that operate under the fabric to make the en- 114 mm., giving a volume of 3,031 c.cm. swept by the gagement easier. Stay rods have been fitted bet'ween the pistons. This type was introduced to the Amnerican back axle-and the front of the torquie tube. A tie rod market about half-way through the wae, so that it is well is placed un(lerneath the casinag. The gear and brake proved. The cylinder head of this monobloc casting has levers are in a more convenient position, being further a detachable aluminium cover. The clutch is of the single back. An extra air inlet, controllable from the driver's plate type. The gearbox gives three speeds forward and seat, is fitted. The dickey seat is now wide enough the flnal drive is by spiral bevel to a semi-floating live to acconmmodate two passengers; and the boot to the axle. The car is standardized either as a five-seater, or body is larger and longer. (Stand 315, White City.) as a Sedan. (Stand 83, Olympia.) The Calthorpe coupe The chief novelty of the G.W.K., which has been the is listed at 550 guineas; and a new model is introduced most successful of the friction-driven cars, is the placing with a saloon body at 600 guineas. The chassis displayed of the four-cylinder engine in the ordinary position in the this year represents a logical evolution of one of the front part of thechassis; the drive is taken direct to the disc vehicles that pioneered the small car movement, this placed slightly in front of the rear axle. (Stand 335, White -year's type having a single plate clutch, gate change City.) Among new cars introduced at this season is a gear control independent of the frame, and -a new hood twin-cylinder, horizontally opposed, air-cooled power plant laced to metal supports. A fan has been added to disposed immediately behind the driver's seat in the assist the cooling, and is equipped with an adjustable chassis of the " Unit No. 1." The power transmission is whittle belt, which is also employed to drive the by friction discs, the final drive from the driven disc dynamo. (Stand 92, Olympia.) The 1921 coupe shaft being by chain through a reduction gearbox. The mnodel is marketed at £495, with a larger engine and dummy radiator provides accommodation for a petrol can longer wheelbase. This car has overhead inlet valves and spares; the steering is on the combinied ratchet and and aluminium pistons. The folding top of the dickey bobbin type, ready means being provided for adjusting is made in two pieces hinged together, the forward the cables; and the suspension is by quarter elliptic section folding back on to the rear part, which is also springs fore and aft. The adjustable seats of hammock hinged. The under side of the folding top is uphol- type are unupholstered. (Stand 333, White City.) stered to form a support for the passenger's back and shoulders. A detachable seat cushion is mounted over The Accessor-y Section. the spare-wheel housing. (Stand 17, Olympia.) The wiring In the space at disposal it is impossible to deal ade. and instruments on the 10.5-h.p. Treasury rating four. quately with the accessory section. It is not even possible cylinder water-cooled Charron-Laycock car, built by the to deal fully with such a display as that of Brown Brothers Sheffield firm of W. S. Laycock, are carried on an aluminium (Stand 169, Olympia) who pioneered the Duco spring gaiters dash and instruLiment board, as on large cars. Side valves that are standardized on a large numnber of cars to be seen are used, and the detachable cylinder heads are machined in the buildings at the White City and Olymiipia. One of inside. The price of the two-seater, with double dickey this firm's interesting novelties is the Duplex mnechanical seat and full equiprmient, is £625. (Stand 84, Olympia.) tyre pump driven off some rotating part of the engine and Each of the 1921 A.C. modeis is equipped with an consisting of a double piston actuated by a crank which auxiliary spring that takes the form of an extra leaf engages with a brlass bush sliding between the two portions cambered the opposite way to those forming the spring of the piston. This bush, which has a square plug, acts as proper. The aim is to reduce rebound. (Stand 122, a slide valve. Another of this firin's novelties is the Apex Olympia.) plug cleaner, which is an aluminiiumn chamiber containing It will probably be agreed generally that the outstanding a multitude of steel needles. If this is half flled with petrol exhibit among the smaller cars is that of Bugatti, this and a plug is screwed into it, when shaken xiolentlv it is flrm having carried the victory in the international claimed that both the points and the inierior of the plug are Voiturette race in France. last August, when it made cleaned rapidly. Again, as to dashboard fitmnents, there is a notable showing as well in regard to holding the road as neat form of Dluco clock, which is very flat, the method of concerns speed and reliability. Suffice it to point out that attaching it to the dashboard being concealed. There are an examination of the design of the springs, which is a hundred and one ingenious little tools which will appeal unusual and simple, as is the fitting of four valves per particularly to medical men by reason of neatness. Several cylinder to the engine, will give a very good notion of the will save t,he owner-driver much labour when giving that trend which high-grade design may take. As to accom- little timely attention to his car that saves the -running up inodation, perhaps, this is rather smaller than the average of a repair bill. car required by a doctor. (Stand 50, Olympia.) A new type The exhibit of the Zenith Carburettor Company (Stand of radius rod is furnished to the Douglas light car, which 191, Olympia) embraces a full range of their carburettors is further distinctive in that it, is equipped with the A.F.S. for all types of cars; also vari us sectioned special car- patented helical suspension system. .(Stand 23, Olympia.) burettors with complete inlet pipes and adaptors for fitting The Duplex light car makes its appearance this year in easily to well-known cars. A feature is the special model the guise of a machine equipped with a four-cylinder for Ford cars that can be fitted without any alterations engine having a bore measurement of 66 mm. and a and which, it is claimed, effects a great improvement in piston travel'of 109 mm., the Cox carburettor being used. the running. This will work quite well with benzol in the (Stand 124, Olympia.) One of the few small cars that case of those owners who are lucky enough to be able to comes within the 1,500 c.cm. class to be equipped with obtain supplies of that form of motor fuel. a gearbox giving four speeds forward and to be of sufficient power to carry a four-seater body is the Fiat, Novelties Antong the Tyre Exhibits. the design of which shows no notable changes, and If it may be written in general that there is a relative follows well approved practice throughout, being chiefly absence of novelties among the car exhibits, assuredly remarkable for clean lines. (Stand 114, Olympia.) The the same canniot be said in regard to the tyres and wheels engine of the 1921 standard model has been displayed. Take as an illustration of sheer variety of enlarged to give sufficient power for the demands made in enterprise under this heaad the display of the Dunlop regard to coachwork and hill clinmbing. In addition, there Rubber Company (Stand 221, Olympia), which embraces is introduced this year the Hillman "speed model." Magnum type tyres with beaded edges for all stanidard (Stand 65, Olympia.) The engine of the Mathis has each sizes, including the new series of British standard sizes valve cap so large as to cover both the inlet and the for light cars. Incidentally, it may be said that this exhaust valves of each cylinder. (Stand 179, Olympia.) wvork of the tyre organization in standardizing sizes also The McKenzie Light Car is now fitted with a Coventry- makes for better production and cheaper tyres. In the Sitmplex engine. (Stand 109, Olympia.) Instead of the Baby course of a few years the motor manufacturers of this , which is produced no longer, there is an 11-h.p. country will not be calling on the tyre industry to supply four-cylinder model shown as a two-seater for £490, the such an unnecessarily wide variety of types as they have 1bore measurement beong 65 mm. and the piston travel done in the past. As it is, our manufacturers are to be 105 mm. The gearbox gives mfour speeds forward. Other commended f,r making' tyres- of patterns suitable for features' embrace a worm drive and:the furnishing of Amierican cars as well as bor all the sizes requisite for cantilever springs. (Stand 94, OlymDia.) British vehicles. There is introduced the full moulded 'Nov. 6, 1920) TRa CORRESPONDENCE. 1 0- _M 7I9 Dunlop tyre with special rubber non-skid tread built on. multiple cord casings. These have rims suitable either for beaded edge or for straight-sided tyres, the latter having removable side flanges. Moreover, the Dunlop detachable wheels displayed embrace the wire, pressed steel, wood, corrugated disc, and combination disc and A SOLUTION OF THE HOSPITAL PROBLrEM1. wire varieties. Si.,-I have read Colonel Griffitbs's letter with interest, The ontstanding novelty on the Michelin stand (Stand 236, and am convinced that he hias got at the heart of the Olympia) is the new cable cover, prodtuced by this company question. Though voluntary hospitals have renderec. for the first time in December last, and since found so splendid service4to the nation in the past, circumstances satisfactory in service that the firm is making a leading are now against them-too strong for them. During the. feature of it. The points it possesses in niotable degree more active period of hospital development, from the embrace resilience, easy fitting owing to its suppleness, and relatively large air capacity. The initial cost is about middle to the end of the nineteenth century, the boards of 15 per cent. more than for tyres constructed on the ordi- management undertook and carried out duties that could. nary principle. But this is said to be more than offset by not have been so well performed by any other body; but the lonaer wea-ing life. The company's tests emlbraced under the new and profoundly changed conditions, and as the running under the same conditions of load, pressure, the result of the financial straits to which those who have and speed of an 880 by 120 mm. canvas tyre and a cable the management of the hospitals have been reduced, a cover of similar size over an obstacle 2 in. high and' new financial scheme with a different, and probably in the 2i in. wide. By means of the apparattus employed long run a sounder, basis must be devised. During the for observing this test it was fouLnd that the canvas past three or four years I have seen much of hospitals in cover absorbed nine-sixteenths of an inch of movement, every part of the kiingdom; coming into close contact with while the cable cover absorbed a- full inch, indicating management, staff-lay and professional-and patients greater capacity for shock absorption. Next came the at question from the point of view endeavour to discover what energy was needed to drive alike, and looking the these two types of tyres at a load of 1,320 lb. at 70 lb. of all three groups I am satisfied that the levy on employees pressure. The tyres were drawn along hy a fly-wheel and employers (see No. 4 of Colonel Griffiths's letter), pressr worked by an electric motor. The consumption of current ing lightly on individuals-even on employers of large. showed that the canvas cover absorbed 1.8 h.p. and the numbers of workers-but providing, in bulk, a sum. cable cover 1.4 lh.p., a difference of nearly i h.p., which adequate to meet the cost of great developments, presents would represent 2 h.p. on the four wheels of a car. To the most feasible scheme yet put forward. test this matter another way, an was equipped For some time past the working man has come slowly with 895 mm. by 135 mm. covers, first of the canvas, then but surely to appreciate the value of hospitals to him and of the cable varieties. Under similar conditions it was his family, and lhas helped willingly to finance them, found that the canvas cover absorbed 15.6 h.p. and the especially through organized collections in the workshops cable cover 12.8 h.p., a difference of nearly 3 h.p. in favour throughout the country-more so in the provinces than. of the cable tyre. Another test consisted in letting a car roll as has been given is down a gradient on to a level smooth-surfaced road until it in London. But such support came to rest. With canvas covers the car ran 318 yards, insignificant in comparison with the amount needed achieving a maximum speed of 18.64 miles per hour. With adequately to maintain and extend these institutions. L the new cable type of cover the car ran 440 yards along the am convinced that the time is ripe for the matter to be level and attainied a maximulm speed of 20.50 miles per hour. again brought before them witlh the object of gaining the Many other tests conducted might be cited, but sufficient means to place hospitals on a permanent footing. This have been mentioned to indicate that here is a very inter- the scheme now suggested appears to do. The working- esting innovation in pneumatic tyre construction. The man, with his present income, is undoubtedly able other Michelin exhibits embrace the solid steel disc wheel to make the small weekly contribution suggested as- introduced last year, after it had been used extensively in being necessary for the upkeep. of an institution in which. France before the war. The adoption of similar hubs for his interests are so deeply concerned. Moreover, if I. the whole series of these wheels of various sizes secures know anything of him, lris spirit of independence only interchangeability. The nuts securing the wheel to the it. In hubs are so formed that the rotation of the wheel tends to awaits instruction as to the best method of malking tighten the bolts, so that they cannot work loose. It is this way the few Poor Law infirmaries which now serve comparatively a simple matter to adapt a car to take a as general hospitals in large cities might have their status Michelin wlheel. The company is stocking hubs for all the raised, and come to play a greater part than they do at most popular makes of cars. present (the King's College Hospital authorities appreciata The main feature both of the all-rubber and of the this), and the voluntary hospital expanded to meet needs, steel-studded Beldam tyres (Stand 276, White City) con- some of them very acute, recognized by all. sists of a long narrow strip of rubber standing up from the The hospital question (pace the Titmes medical corre- rest of the tyre, and supported on either side by protruded spondent) is more closely bound up with the housing Vees. This design provides for the natural displacement question than is generally realized. Provide ample of the rubber, and minimizes the "Iheaping up" which hospital accommodation, not only for fever and infectious occurs in some makes of tyres. The projecting Vees also cases but for "lving-in" and special cases, and, in addi- provide an anchorage and greatly reduce the possibilities even for minor affec- of side-slip, or lack of grip, at starting a car, which is tion to serious accidents or disease, often a cause of wear. The Beldam steel-studded tyre tions, and the gravity of the housing question will be has a diamnond-slhaped rubber non-sliid pattern tread with greatly diminished, and the gain to the health of the oval pockets, in which are insertedl steel studs whose community far more than proportionately great. surface is on the level of the surface of the rubber tread. Not the least of the advantages accruing under Colonel What is called the Rapson unpuncturable pneumatic Griffiths's scheme would be the closer co-operation ensured tyre is displayed by Oylers Limited (Stand 226, Olympia). between the general practitioner and the specialist-greatly These pneumatic tyres are made in two types, the Rich- to the advantage of tlle patient. We hwve arrived at a mond with heavy, square, non-skid tread specially con- point at which the money subscribed voluntarily for the structed to withstand the strain and stress on the driving improvement of thle conditions of hospital life is utterly wheels of heavy and powerful cars; and the Richmond inadequate, b-ut with the resources that could be placed heavy round non-skid tyre designed for the front wheels of at the disposal of the lhospital authorities as the result heavy cars to ensure easy steering, and recommended, be- of a hospital levy the status of the Poor Law hospitals sides, as an all-round tyre for light cars. These pneumatic and tyres are made at the new and elaborately equipped could be raised, the work of the general special factory at Richmond. hospitals greatly extended and improved, and furtlher provision made for othei s who at present are in sore need of it. Surely it is time to extend to the middle classes THE first -meeting of the German Dermatological Society some of the splendid facilities provided for the wolkinig since the war will be held at Hamburg at Whitsuntide, classes in the voluntary hospitals. Heavily taxed and 1921. The office of the society is at Breslau. rated, some consideration is due to them. Cannot they be A GRANT of £5,000 from the British Red Cross Society allowed to shar-e thlese hospital advantages shlould thley has enabuledl the board of the Royal Infirmary, Sheffield, to claim thle privilege? add another story containing twenty-one bedrooms and Under thle volunltary system it hlas been almo0st essential saitary blockes to the existing nurses' house. The nursing to thle collection of subscriptions thlat elaborate buildings, staff is being increased and their hours of duty reduced. sometimes not well adau)ted to thle purpose they hlave to