SPECIAL BODIES • FOR COAL DELIVERY.
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Vehicles Used for Delivering Coal to Miners in Convenient Loads.
ri NE OF the facilities that mosi coal 'L/miners in various parts of the country enjoy is that of securing their supplies of coal direct from the pit head, and for this purpose many mine owners, coal merchants, and, in some cases, the employees themselves, have established a delivery service which is maintained by vehicles fitted with special bodies. The illustrations which we publish' on this page are representative of the types of vehicle used for this specific need, and they show a 2i-ton W. and G. chassis and a Leyland chassis fitted with different classes of body which have been designed and constructed by the Spec. borough Engineering Co., of Valley Works, Heekmondwike, for the Silverwood Home Coal Delivery Service. The chassis, it should be mentioned, were supplied by Mr. F. H Dutson, of Leeds. The W. and G. chassis is fitted with a tipping body, the operating gear for which represents a new departure itt mechanism of this description. The body is of the familiar run-back pattern,
but the act of tipping is carried out through a train of spur gears which are .keyed on to two shafts and actuated by a handle which fits on the squared end. At each end of these shafts a lever is keyed on, and, as the illustrations reproduced above clearly show, the body is run back on two channels Mounted on rollers into a position which allows the lead readily to be precipitated, the tailboard being hinged at the top for this purpose.
After its release from the normal the body assumes two distinct positions in the process of tipping, the first being teached upon giving two complete turns of the operating handle, a further turn taking the body beyond its pivoting point and tipping it to an angle the degree of which is governed by the long hinged arms on each side of the body. Sheet metal is, of course, used for lining the sides and base of the body.
The body on the Leyland chassis is of the hopper type, being composed of three separate compartments of like dimensions, each of which is arranged to hold , one ton of coal. Two of these compartments extend longitudinally from the driver's cab and the third runs across the full width of the body at the rear. Each section is provided with a hinged door about its centreand three sides of its interior are so shaped that so soon as the catches holding the door in position are released the contents are directed to the opening. The seetiott-s" are steellined in order to ensure -free discharge of the coal, and each can, of course, be dealt with independently,
Two Leyland vehicles of this type are in service and their use at the Silverwood Colleries, near Rotherham, is part of a scheme worked on .a co-operative basis which has been devised by the miners ttEemseives.