LIVERPOOL CORPORATION'S MIXED FLEET.
Page 20
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
History of Narrow Wheelbase Dust Wagon Specially Suited for Traversing Narrow Streets.
THE MOTOR vehicles in the service of the Liverpool Corporation enibrace many types and capacities, and constitute an steal example of a mixed fleet. In the category of petrol vehicles there are Halleys, Leylands, Austins, Dennis', Pagefields, and Tuleans, to say nothing of electric vehicles and Sentinel steam wagons.
To trace the real origin of the Corporation interest in mechanically propelled vehicles, one has to look backward for a quarter of a century—to 1896-when the Locomotives and Highways Acts became operative. Liverpool was probably the foremost town in the country fully to recognize the benefits these measures would confer, for, although for a time little progress was perceptible, there soon came into being an organization known as the Liverpool Self-Propelled Traffic Association (now merged in the Royal Automobile Club), which was, undoubtedly, one of the chief means of stimulating interest in the possibilities of mechanically-propelled
vehicles_ The trials which they conducted constituted some excellent pioneer work. As a matter. of fact, it is claimed that Liverpool was the birthplace of heavy road motor transportation, and it was the second of these trial fixtures, which so impressed the Liverpool city engineer (Mr. J. Brodie), that he induced the Health Committee to place an order for an oilfired wagon, which was used for, a long time and gave Very
satisfactory results. After the third set of trials, six more steam wagons were ordered by the Corporation from the Lancashire Steam Motor Co., which afterwards blossomed into the wells known firm of Leylands.
Such was the modest start of the Liverpool Corporation. They now control a• fleet of 80 motor vehicles, the majority of which are employed in connection with house-refuse removal. They include nine 4 ten Leyland's, four 4 ton Austins, five 4 ton Dennis', ten 4 ton Pagefields, five 5 ton Pagefields, ten 4 ton Pagefields, six 6 ton Halleys, and five 5 ton Sentinels.
The vehicles are also used for many purposes besides the collection of household refuse, but the type of vehicle employed for this class of work is rather uncommon in its line. They traverse 9 ft. wide back streets and negotiate
very awkward corners_ Several years agothe Health Committee issued a specification calling for a vehicle of the internal-combustion type, capable of carrying 3 ton loads and of a design suitable for being driven between 7 ft. high walls and 9 ft. wide streets, having
90 degrees tangents connected with 9 ft miser radius curves.
It is interesting to note that, although very extensive inquiries were made, at the end of 1911 only one offer wee received, and the contractor only succeeded at the second attempt in producing a vehicle fully complying with the conditions. The first wheelbase was 9 ft. 6 ins., and this was reduced to 9 ft. with steering luck of 37 degrees. At a later date specifications were issued for a 33 per cent, increase in the capacity of the bodies with no increase in height, and it was then necessary to employ a type in which the driver's seat was over the engine bonnet, thus affording more available body space. The overall length of the wheelbase of this vehicle was 8 ft. 4 ins. Many machines of this description are now doing useful work for the Health Department. (See illustrations.) Practically all the vehicles removing household refuse have power tipping bodies.
A representative of The Commercial Motor asked Mr. T. Molyneux, M.L.Mech.E., chief mechanical assistant of the city engineer, who superintends
the operations of the corporation's motor fleet, to explain why it was that more eleetrics were not employed by the municipal authorities, and particularly as certain of -the Midland corporations -mingbam, for instance—were employing them on such a large scale, preferring them to the petrol driven. In reply
to our query we were told that, while it was recognized that the electric, under certain conditions, probably did ' give good results, they had had remarkable success' with the petrol vehicles. The fact that Liverpool was a hilly town had to be borne in mind. Nevertheless, they viewed the 'electric" with a perfectly open mind, and were co-ndueting investigations and experiments with the sole object of ascertaining the types of vehicles—petrol, steam, and electric— best suited to their needs.
Just as the Liverpool Corporation anticipated the early developments of motor transportation, so they are now endeavouring to bring into focus the vehicle of to-morrow. The lines upon 'which improvements may'be made were not indicated, but we were assured., if the Law will allow them, they will be " sufficiently startling" to arouse con siderable interest. To use Mr. Molyneum'e own phrase : "If the law will permit, we shall develop on the lines of economy—and on many new lines—different from those which have hitherto obtained."
We speculate in the direction of vehicles of a much bigger load capacity. Seven years ago one of the city engineer's staff ventured the opinion in a paper read before the Liverpool Engineering Society, that the need of vehicles of a large, heavy capacity would most certainly arise, but whether in the form of a tractor and trailer unita, single selfcontained motor units, or possibly a combination of both systems, or whether steam, internal-combustion, or electrically driven, were problems requiring careful investigation. It would seem that any advantage which any, one of them might possess would have to be secondary, compared with the question of selection of the type or form of vehicle.
As advantages in manceuvring qualities, space occupied, and average speed would probably outweigh ether considerations, why should not much heavier loads be carried on vehicles? Ten, fifteen, and :twenty tans? What is the maximum axle weight which could regularly be safely and economically permitted in Liverpool is a matter for very careful investigation, but it is certainly ,very much in excess of the present legal maximum, it is contended by the departMent.
A problem of to-day is how to get more out of the motor vehicle, bearing in mind the time taken in waiting, loading and unloading, which forms a big percentage of the total daily time available, and, as the first cost of the. vehiclo is swamped by standing charges (in more senses than one). If bigger load capacity is a solution, to what extent is it a practicable one?
, The policy of the Liverpool Corporation. in regard to the employment of mechanically propelled vehicles is to keep abreast of developments in the sphere of petrol, steam, and electric vehicles and by the accumulation of data, based on careful observations of the service of each transport unit, to enable the selection of types which will not only permit of the greatest possible economy in operation, but. which will be peculiarly suited to the special services they are required to fulfil in the various branches of municipal service.