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The Motor Drivers News.

11th January 1906
Page 14
Page 14, 11th January 1906 — The Motor Drivers News.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Steam Wagon Driving.

" Nemo " (Keighley) writes us on the 6th instant as follows :—" I am a regular reader of the ' Drivers News,' and take a great interest in it, as I have been a wagon driver for the last seven years. My initial charge was a Mann's steam wagon—the first built by the company—and, as you are aware, the vehicles of those days were hardly as reliable as they are at the present date. My first experience was the separating of the differential gearing. This happened as I was going down a long decline of about a mile in length, with parts as steep as one in eight, at the bottom of which was the beginning of the main street of the town, My first idea was to run the wagon into the steep bank at the side of the road, but, happening to look some distance ahead, I saw a field gate open, and decided to run into the field. It was an anxious moment turning the wagon through the gateway, but I managed it, only knocking down one of the Tricycle carrier at work in Paris.

posts in passing through. When the vehicle had come to.a standstill, I drew the fire and had a look round to ascertatn the extent of the damage. 1 went to a local blacksmith and had a wrought-iron collar made, which I fitted on to one side of the differential gearing, and when this was accomplished everything was satisfactory. My second mishap was during the time that the Mann wagons were being fitted with castiron wheels, as an experiment These wheels would not stand up to the work required of them, owing to their brittleness. The wheels on may wagon stood the vibration for a time, when, one day, a spoke fractured. During. my next trip another one broke, and this went on until eventually I had only one sound spoke in the wheel. I reported these breakages, but my employer always had a most important trip for me to do, so the repairs were never effected. With the one sound spoke I undertook to do a trip, and had delivered my load, arriving within three hundred yards of my shed, when the last spoke smashed. This, of course, made the wagon tip right over on one of its sides, which happened just as a tram was passing by. My leg got between the tramcar and the wagon, and 1 had to have mv boot taken off before I could remove my foot.Fortunately, I was not hurt, and only received a shaking. I sent someone for a trolley wagon, and, when it arrived, raised the wagon and put this underneath the water tank, afterwards getting some horses to drag the lorry to the shed,

" My next mishap was about seven months ago, while driving a steam tipping lorry. I was carrying a toad et bricks, and had delivered them safely when, without any warning at all, the thread on one of the slide valves ' stripped.' This, of course, had the effect of bringing the wagon to a standstill so suddenly that I was thrown over the front of it. I gathered myself together, and found that the only thing that had happened was that 1 was covered with mud. This incident occurred on a main road, and, as is usually the case in these circumstances, the wagon was right in the middle of it. I had to consider the best thing to be done, as I was stopping the traffic, and there was an old disused lane where I might leave the wagon if I could only get it to move. At last an idea struck ate as to how I might get out of the difficulty. I opened the regulator a little, and when the low-pressure crank had made one revoluthm I moved the high-pressure slide valve with a pair of pipe grips. Of course, I did not travel very fast, but 1 accomplished my object. The reason the accident happened was because, for some reason or other, the previous driver had taken the lock nut off the end of the valve spindle. 1 may say in conclusion that I have driven many types of wagons, and none of them come up to a Mann lorry."

A Good Record.

" W.W." (London) writes on the 8th instant :—" I have been much interested in the drivers' column of your paper, and the accounts of the various difficulties drivers have encountered, and the way they have got over them. 1 am driving a five-ton Yorkshire wagon, and have to cover 220 miles per week, delivering in that time 460 barrels. I very much doubt if any other steam wagon is maintaining a better average. If so, I hope the driver will write to you, so that I can learn all about it in this page. The other day my low-pressure valve rod broke, and I had to bring the engine home with only the high-pressure cylinder working. I have heard of several ways of running under these circumstances, but the best I know is to take the valve out, take down the eccentric rod, and put the valve rod back again, so that the steam cannot blow out through the gland. By nipping up the gland pipe, the valve can be held so that the steam cannot blow it out. I was talking the other day to a driver, who told me that he thought the best thing was to take the rod out and drive a cork or spite in the gland. This sounds rather like the Irish Volunteer, who was travelling home in a railway carriage, when a nervous lady said to him : I hope, young man, your rifle is not loaded?' To which he replied : It is, marm, but I will stick a cork in the muzzle.' This quite satisfied the old lady, but I do not think the cork in the gland would satisfy me as a driver. I have also read in your Drivers News ' several suggestions as to cleaning paint work of a wagon. One driver prefers paraffin, and another water. I have found that if you use paraffin it always makes the ,paint-work look dirty, and if you put the hose on and wash the wagon down with water you fill the bearings with dirt and grit, and they plague you for ever afterwards. I have [Oland the best thing is firstly, to clean all the cold parts of the wagon with a piece of waste soaked in mixed water and paraffin, and, secondly, to wipe them over with a piece of cleaner waste with a little engine oil on it. This will put a polish on the paint-work and keep it so for a week, unless the weather is very wet and dirty. On the hot parts like the boiler cleading and cylinders, tallow is the best thing to preserve the paint. Paraffin will fetch the paint off anything in the course of time."

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Locations: Paris, London

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