AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

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It is admitted by all those who know anything of

10th October 1912
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Page 3, 10th October 1912 — It is admitted by all those who know anything of
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the industry with which this journal is so intimately associated that, whilst the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., owes much to the industry, the industry owes much to the company. The marvellous rejuvenescence of the premier omnibus company of the world, and its present predominating position in the Metropolis, lend to any description of its methods and organization an especial importance. Its evolved chassis type is finding many imitators. People have naturally wondered as to the means which have been taken to bring the erstwhile noisy, heavy and generally-cumbersome London motorbus of a few years ago to the perfection of the latest B-type, as the machines of the company's own manufacture are called. Questions of polity have, up to the present time, rendered it necessary for the company not to yield to public inquisitiveness as to the processes which it was adopting to bring about the present desirable improvement. We are now, however, by the courteous permission of the board of directors, and with the assistance of the general manager, Captain Wilfrid Durable, and of the chief engineer, Mr. Walter J. Iden, in a position to present to our readers the first fully-illustrated description of the principal parts of the company's well-organized system of modern passenger transport.

The company makes its own machines, and has done so, of course, ever since it decided to endeavour to embody the almost-countless lessons which it found available as the result of the operation of a large number of the well-known manufacturers' early types. We shall, therefore, in an endeavour completely to survey the company's organization, roughly divide our subject into two parts. We shall deal in the present instance with the factory organization of the works, at Walthamstow, and in our next. issue we principally shall treat, in similar manner, the wellequipped coachworks at North Road, liolloway, and several of the latest running depots and garages.

This method, perhaps, will appeal to our readers from the point 0 f view that we can describe pictorially and by letterpress the construction of the mechanical portion of the complete bus in the first place, and then can follow it with a similar treatment of the coachwork.

The present extensive engineering factory, employing nearly 1700 hands, at Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, which is now the property of the Associated Equipments Co., Ltd., which is an offshoot of the controlling body, covers nearly 10 acres. It is interesting to recall that a portion of the present machine shop was the original small factory which was put down by the Motor Omnibus Construction Co.—an undertaking which was subordinate to the Vanguard

Motor Bus Co.. which itself has long been merged in the present L.G.O.C. Little trace, now, other than a certain amount of bricks and mortar, remains of that first enterprise at Walthamstow. The whole of the shops are of modern, north-light type, and are ventilated by a plenum overhead system, and, of course, the artificial lighting is in every way adequate. Electric power is purchased from the Walthamstow local authorities, and so great has that demand become, that a sub-station is being erected in close proximity to the works to facilitate the supply.

It will perhaps simplify our survey if we do not attempt to mention the various departments in their proper factory order, but rather to deal with them as we should were we walking casually round the works. The administrative offices. which also house the commercial staff and the drawing office, are situated at the entrance to the works. In close proximity, the first department to be reached is the stores, the rough and finished branches of which are next to each other.

It should be remembered that the company's factory is turning out a number well in excess of 30 complete chassis a week—all of the familiar B-type, and this reminder will serve to convey to our readers the enormous stock of raw material which has to be kept on the move through the stores. Processes have altered to such an extent during the past few years, that the nature of the supplies has also undergone considerable change. Nowadays it is a question of specially-stamped castings of remarkable uniformity and of light section, of extruded bar, of drop forgings in remarkable variety, and, in short, of alkclasses of raw material upon which the modern high-speed, semi-automatic and automatic machine tool can be employed.

Everything has been or is being simplified to the lowest possible stage in connection with the production of the B-type chassis. At the present time, there are 1937 parts all told in one chassis, and of these 694 are dissimilar. To contrast this with over 1000 dissimilar parts of one superseded type, which has done good service for the company-, is itself a remarkable objectlesson, and is the keynote to the manufacturing progress of which this company is so noteworthy an exponent.

It is hopeless to attempt to give any adequate idea of the amount of raw and finished material stored at Walthainstow, and perhaps no good purpose would be served thereby were we able to do so.

The stores at Walthainstow have 10 of their own motorvans attached to them, and these are constantly occupied in fetching and carrying between the company's stores and garages_ The function of a finished stores, of course, is well known to our readers : there the assembled parts are held preparatory to their requirement by the erecting gangs, and a further object-lesson of considerable magnitude was afforded to us on the occasion of a recent visit by the sight of the systematic accumulation of 44 complete sets of components for the ensuing week's shop order.

Preparatory to the delivery from the machine shops into the finished stores, of course, there is the cus tomary view room, and this department is like all the others at Walthamstow — thoroughly well equipped. Next to it at present is the foundry, where aluminium and gun-metal castings are handled. Castings in other metals are at present purchased elsewhere. A new foundry building has just been completed, and this will afford welcome relief to the existing shop.

The machine shop, as is usual in connection with factory plants, affords piincipal interest to those who are mechanically minded, and at Walthamstow the big shop devoted to the machine-tool plant is no exception to the rule. At present., this shop, which is arranged with one large centre gangway of ample width, and with machine tools grouped in a big bay on either side of it, contains about 500 machine tools, and practically the whole of these are of quite recent types, many of them, of course, having been delivered during the past few months. We cannot hope, of course, to give anything like an adequate catalolfue of the machinery housed in this shop, but we must content ourselves with recording the installation of some of the more interesting units. Of course, much in these days of modern production is done with the grinder, and there is a big batch of machines of this class installed in the Walthainstow machine shop. Many of them are Heald's, but Norton, Reinecker and other makers are also represented. We were particularly interested in a newly-installed machine which has been specially constructed by J. Holroyd and Co., of Milnrow. It has been designed for the grinding of the steel worms which are used exclusively on the B-type back axles. A special feature is the cleverlydisposed, belt-driven head with universal adjustment to accommodate any thread conditions. Next we come to a battery of millers, many of them by Archdale and Co., Ltd., and we also noticed a couple of very fine No. 5 Herbert vertical millers, which were en-gaged on the facing of aluminium gearbox and engine-case castings. Other well-known makers have representative milling machines in this shop, and we noticed. amongst other names, H. W. Ward and Co., Darling and Sellers, Tangyes,

Smith and Coventry, etc., etc. One of the special machines which this company has had built for it is a four-spindle boring machine, which has been specially designed by Tangyes for boring four backaxle cases at the same time. This machine is 20 ft. long, and enables one man to machine four cases accurately. A smaller machine of the same type, but with only two spindles, bore the name of C. Wilkinson and Sons, Keighley. As might be expected, there is a large installation of radial drills, and these call for no special comment, but we may perhaps notice that a considerable proportion of them are of the Archdale type. A further number were Herbert's American models.

The next machine to catch our notice was the Lo-Swing lathe, manufactured by the Fitchburg Works, U.S.A., and marketed in this country by Buck and Hickman, Ltd. This machine enables four or more tool holders, having previously been set, to operate on one bar, and so to cut various diameters of four or more lengths at the same time. Exceptional time saving has been achieved in connection with much work on these useful machines.

The screw-operated broaching machine is now becoming increasingly used in modern factories, although one of the first which we ourselves had seen installed was at the L.G.O.C. works on a previous visit. Two of these interesting machines are used ; it will be remembered that long tapered broaches are pulled through the bore of the part in which it is wished to form keyways, or which it is necessary to make into a square hole, by the drawing of a powerful screw through a corresponding nut.

Next there is a bewildering array of lathes of every size and kind. We particularly noticed a large number of Herbert's turrets, whilst machines by Archdale, Charles Neat. Drummond Bros., Darling and Sellers, Pfeil and Co., Burton Griffiths. and John Lang were noticeable.

In the gear-cutting department, two of the well-known Fellows shapers were installed close to a number of Flather's and Herbert's gear millers. In this particular shop. also, is one of H. Wallwork and Co.'s latest worm-hobbing machines, of which an example is being shown at the Engineering Exhibition at Olympia. The Reinecker bevel-gear planer is used exclusively at Waltham stow, and it will be remembered that this is the machine with a queer combined radial movement of the head, which insures accurate profiling of bevel teeth from end to end.

A fine display is made by six No. 6 semi-automatic Herberts, whose output, of course, is enormous. Close to them are two full automatics, by Craven Bros., Ltd., en

gaged on bar work. A further large batch of Herbert turrets of various sizes, and then there is a special

two-spindle boring machine, which has a .table upon which four pairs of cylinders are mounted at once.

We have already mentioned the machine-shop extension, which is in process of erection, and we learnt from Mr. J. O'Neill, the assistant works manager, that the new shop will have a certain amount of the old plant transferred to it, but that it will also house, in all.probability, Pratt and Witney multiple drills, and a number of other modern tools for the production of smaller parts, in addition to a large experimental shop in which efficiency tests of components as well as complete transmission systems can be conducted.

In this connection we may here mention the admirable provision which has been made by the owners of this up-to-date factory for the conduct of material tests and trials of all kinds. Under the direction of Mr. Edgar M. Boote, a Sheffield University man, the laboratory at Walthamstow consists of both a mechanical and a chemical department. The former is equipped with a 30-ton Buckton tester fitted with the latest form of autographic recorder, a Fremont multiplying press, by which the customary hardness and shearing tests may be performed, a Stanton reversed-stress machine, made by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Co., Ltd., a Fremont impact tester, and a special piece of apparatus which has been rigged up for ascertaining the resilience of rubber-tire specimens.

We were privileged to inspect a large number of the records which have already been amassed in this useful branch of the company's activities, and the data which are being collected there will undoubtedly form a remarkable record of the supplies and raw material which this company uses in such great quantity. Amongst the newer shops, the chassis-erecting and the gearbox, engine and axle-assembling departments are the most noteworthy. Our illustrations, perhaps, will convey as good an idea of the capacity of these bays as would any written description. In point of view of Procedure, of course, that followed in most modern factories is adopted, but the company has a great pull in respect of the design of the single type of standard machine which it is producing in such quantities. Fewness of dissimilar parts, and strict interchangeability achieved by accurate machining and viewing, render the task of the assembler a comparatively-easy one. We have contrived an illustration which gives some idea of the rapidity with which complete chassis are put together. Roughly, it takes six days to prepare a B-type machine for the road test after the frame has been delivered into the chassis shop.


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