Motor Road Transport For Commercial Purposes
(Liquid Fuel, Steam, Electricity)

FUEL, SPARE PARTS, ETC. 149 to produce a reliable tyre, and one which could be fitted to a wheel rim without undue difficulty. It is only necessary to realize the faet that the earning power of a motor vehicle is represented by the product of the useful load and the number of miles it is carried, in order to see the enormous possibilities which lie in the air-filled tyre for commercial vehicle purposes. Advantages. Before studying the effeets which such a change-over is likely to have on road transport as a whole, it is advisable to consider the advantages and disadvan- tages of the system. That drawbacks do exist is not to be denied; moreover, they are far from being trivial. So mueh progress has already been made, however, in the matter that in the opinion of the writer the giant pneumatic, suitable to all forms of mechanical road traction except that of the heaviest kind, is more than likely to come into favour. The advantages may be summed up as follows— (1) The possibility of inereased vehicle speed. This immediately widens and extends the radius of the motor, and thereby improves its earning capacity. (2) An appreciable decrease in fuel and oil consump- tion over that obtained from a vehicle running on solid tyres can be effeeted, owing to higher gearing, greater tyre resilience, and reduced road resistance. (3) The cushioning action of an air-filled tyre is obviously very mueh greater than that of a solid, and for this reason vibration and road shock are minimized to a large extent. The direct outcome of such. an advantage is (a) lower rate of deprecia- tion; (b) a diminution of repair charges; (c) improved transportation of the goods or passengers ; and, most important of all in its far-reaching