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LIFEBOAT HAULAGE BY TRACTOR.
Page 96
Page 97
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Details of a Trial at Dungeness of the F.W.D. Launching and Landing Equipment.
ONE of the . most efficient public services is that Organized by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. It is one which, whilst being full of romance to the onlooker or to those who read of its exploits, often involves almost superhuman effort and almost incredible hardships to the men engaged in this noble work. Anything which can be done to facilitate the handling of the lifeboats, thus not only reducing the strain upon the human element concerned but, by expediting the process of launching, increase the chance of saving life, should therefore receive careful consideration.
The Institution cannot, however, be considered slow in this
respect. The authorities concerned are always on the look-out for new appliances which will promote efficiency and one of the most recently developed of these is the F.W.D.-Roadiess Traction tractor and trailer combination, in which the lifeboat is mounted upon a special trailer with Roadless-Traction tracks and the tractor has driving tracks of the same make at the rear and pneumatic-tyred wheels at the front, these also being
driven. The outfit is a product of the Four Wheel Drive Lorry Co., Ltd., 46, Charing Cross, " London, S.W.1.
It is unnecessary for us to refer more than briefly on this occasion to the tractor. As it was
D42 fully described in our issue for January 25th of last year, and we are, in this instance, mainly concerned with its progress; although we must refer to certain changes which have been made in the design.
The latest tractor has double-reduction gears in the driving sprockets and in the hubs of the front wheels, the ratio being 1 to 2.3. At the front is also fitted a bumper bar for pushing the boat into the water. The turntable at the rear has been removed and the forecarriage of the trailer is now supported on wheels, the carriage being pulled by an ordinary drawbar, so that the combination is now really a tractor and a separate trailer and the tracks are known as the Roadless girder type.
The tractor has an auxiliary gearbox giving two ratios in addition to the standard box providing three speeds forward and reverse, and the overall ratios are now as follow :—On the higher of the auxiliary ratios: 5.15;2.58 and 1.29 m.p.h.; on the lower of the ratios : 3.24, 1.62 and 031 m.p.h.
The drawbar pull on ldw gear is 15,300 lb.
Our illustrations show a very interesting and successful trial which was recently carried out at Dungeness, and we understand from Captain Rowley, the Chief Inspector of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. that this is the most difficult place on the English coast • with which the Institution has to deal, and the results of the trial were such that the Institution is exceedingly pleased with the perforniance of the tractor. It certainly seems to meet, its requirements.
After the tractor had brought • the boat down to the shore the actual launching was done in the following manner. First, the tractor pushed the boat and its carriage into the sea, the tractor was then backed, thus pulling on a cable • which travels around a pulley at the rear end of the boat carriage and is fastened to the boat at the front end, so that, in this manner, the boat was pulled off the carriage in a seaward direction. After launching the tractor pulled in the carriage. A boat such as this weighs nearly 7 tons, and it can easily be realized why such special equipment is necessary.