SATURDAV1 NOVEMBER 2 0 TH, 1909.
THE AUTOCAR a Journal publtsbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbantcnll\? propelleb roab carriage
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANE"l.
No. 735. VoL. XXIII.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 0TH, 1909.
[PRICE 3D .
'The Autocar.
(Published Weekly.)
Registered as a Newspaper fo r transmission in the United Kingdom,
Entered as second-class matter in the New York. (N.Y. ) Post 0 .1D.ce.
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CONTENTS.
NoTESUsEFUL HINTS AND TIPS (ILLUSTRATED) A NEW SILENT VALVE ENGINE (ILLUST RATED) IN THE EARLY DAYS-A CONTRAST . . THE BRENNAN' M ONO RAILWAY ([LLUSTRATED) .. SHOW STATISTICS ON THE ROAD MOTOR UNION NOTES . .
CORRESPO,,DE >ICE (ILL USTRATED) .. THE R IVl!RA (ILLUSORATED) . The Full Show Report (Illustrated) . SMALL CAR TALK THE DEMAND FOR MOTOR (ARS I N l NDI.\ THE H OPKIN~ DUPLEX ENGINE (ILLUSTRATED).
79 1-792
793 794-794A 7948, C, & D
795-79,,
796 797-799
Boo 801-804 805-807 8o8-868A
8688 868c 868 D
THE A~IANS PNEUMATIC SU5PENSION--HE~IERY1 S \VORLD's
RECORD
869
R OYA L AUTOMOBILE CLUB MONTHLY TRIJ,LS
BURBERRY MOTOR GARMENT5 {ILLUSTRATED)
870
871
FLASHES
672
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British Is les-Home Edition, I6s. ; pt:nny (thin paper edi tion), 6s, 6d.
Abroad (thi n paper edition), 22s. 6d . r.er a nnum.
Index to Advertisements appears on page 5 4.
Notes. The Show at Olympia. We deal so full y with the magnificent exhibition of motor car and their appurtenances e lsewhere in this issue that 11·e ne<~d say 1·ery littl e here. At the same time we shou ld like to emphasise the rea l progress and development 11·hich has been made during the year. The 1910 car is unquesticnably an advance on its predecessor. E1·en with the very best cars the advance is apparent. It is mor<" difficul t to improve a ve ry good thing than an articl e which is only up to the average, and yet. if we look at the show as a whole, we are struck with the fac t that the very best people have advanced as well as those who had, and still have, a lot of leeway to mrtke up before they can be placed in the van. The show, as it should . represents what is practica lly equiva len t to a genera l fonrnrd mO\·ement. Th aclrnnce has not been absolutely uniform. but , speaking general!,·. it has been very rea l. Whil this stea dy aclrnnce is continued ll'e shall haYe no fea rs for the fL;ture of automobilism. It is only \\·hen t he makers and users a like fold their bands and say that the motor car is "perfect" that we shal I feel it necessa ry to utter words of 1rnrning. We a re absoluteh· opposed t o a lteration masquerading as improvement. but we shou ld prefer even this to an attitude of complacence. The autocar of to-cl ay is a wonderful combination of lightness, st rength, and reliability, and every year should mark, as this year has done, an all-round imprm·ement in the e and other 1·ita l qualities. \\ "hen the old motorist looks backward only three or four years he rea lises the immense advance which has been made. How many old troubles ha1·e been entireh· cured and others reduced to almost nothing? To take onl y two in tances, how often does a decent ca r suffer from any serious ignition stop nowadays? Then again, to turn to the tyres. these are not yet unpuncturable, but they a re far less rnlnerable than th ey were. and if one should go wrong during a drive it is no longer a matter of half an hour to three hours' struggle and delay- it is. simply a question of two or three minutes' stop while the spare wheel is put into position.
The Highways Protection League Again. Judging from a letter appearing in The T i!r:es over the signatures of Lords Willoughby de Broke and T ennyson and Mr. A. R. Butterworth (chairman of the council) , the Highways Protection League appear to be yery much concerned respecting the versonnel and the 11·ork of the new Road Board to be appointed under the Development Bill. Impartiality is the quality upon 1rhich th ey lay most stress, and in this no one wil I quarrel with them, but when they su i:rgest th at because a man is a motorist he is necessarily lack ing in this quality we must protest. Apparently their object i. not to protect the public on the highll'ays, but to encl anger and destroy the lives of motori ts and. incidentally, of other peopl e. This has been suggested OYer and over again by their actions, but it is made clearer than ever b\· the letter in question . in 11·hi ch the\' say :
A~ a~ i11 11 stration of the importa nca of having a'.1 impartial ,,u.hority, we may point out that one_ of the imp1:ovements most strongly advocated by motorists 1s the round11:g off of comers and "the straightening of curves in road . Hei;orts r eceived bv the Highways Protection League from p1a!!es i i, t he < :ounti·y where such altera t ions have been made shoY: that the result has been to make such places far more dangerous for the non-motoring public, as by the remoYal of these automatic restriction on speed motorists have been enabl ec~ to drive round or past such corners at excessive speed . It much public money is to be expended_ on so-called "improvements " of this c]a$S under th e auspices of a board of automobile enthusiasts. it can onlv lead to the danger of the pubic becoming stili greater than it is at prese:it. and to a n in crease in the a lready a larming number of deaths and injuries caused by motors on our road s.
This is about the most amazing piece of specious argument we have eYer read . It logical outcome would be to make all roitcls narrow ancl tortuous. so that 119
