Tractors and Timber Hauling.
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Felled Trees up to Eight Tons in Weight Hauled Out of Fields by Steam Tractor. Horses Badly Beaten.
We have recently given space to descriptions of an unusual form of employment for motor-propelled machines in regard to what is known in timbergrowing countries as "logging." It may be recalled that, in our issue for the 6th November last, we instanced the performances in this direction respectively of a converted White lorry and of a special American-built, caterpillar type of tractor, known as the Phcenix. Now we are in the happy position of being able to place before our readers a performance of an even more interesting nature by a standard English superheated-steam tractor.
The Express Motor Transport Co.
We are indebted for the facilities to describe and to illustrate these recent tests to Mr. G. E. D. Rails, the manager of the Express Motor Transport Co., of Pershore, a rapidly-growing concern which has in hand contracts for haulage of all kinds in the Midlands. Mr. Rails tells us that they are exclusively employing, at the present time, Garrett steam wagons and tractors.
The timber-hauling demonstration in question took place at Paley, near Ledbury, about a fortnight ago, with a tractor owned by Messrs. Lancaster and Co., timber merchants, of Newent, near Gloucester. The immediate reason for the very exhaustive trials was a desire to ascertain the relative advantages of
Timber hauling with a tractor. Stage I.
steam-tractor and horse haulage for the difficult work of removing rough timber from frie fields or woods where it has been felled to the saw-mills, which, in this particular instance, were ten miles away.
A Comparison with Horse Haulage.
Messrs. Lancaster and Co. have for many years been carrying on their business by means of horsehaulage, and have had, therefore, special reason to ascertain what advantages might accrue to them, both from the points of view of financial saving and of general increased facilities, by tile judicious employment of steam haulage plant. For the purpose of the test, which it is our pleasurT. to report in this issue with a selection of informative photographs, taken, by the wav, under very dis agreeable atmospheric conditions, Messrs. Lancaster and Co. had arranged a week's hard work amongst the timber. It will suffice for our purpose to record the incidents of a" One Day's Work."
During the week, numbers of very big trees, which had been previously felled, and some of which weighed as much as eight tons, were hauled away from the place where they were lying to the saw. mills. It was often necessary to travel across very soft meadowland. It is obvious that, at the present time of the year, especially when so many of the districts have been flooded for a long while past, the travelling under such conditions was bound to be difficult in the extreme. Nevertheless, no special preparation was made to the tractor, other than the fitting of strong horizontal spuds to its hind wheels, and these may be seen in our various illustrations.
As we have said already, the tractor which so successfully accomplished this strenuous work is one of Garrett's superheated-steam, standard five-ton types, and not one of the company's bigger traction engines.
No rollers or any aids of that kind were employed under the tree, so that the pull was evidently a very severe strain on the tractor's winding gear. This afforded an excellent demonstration of the special facility with which the Garrett tractor holds down in the front while severe, winding operations like this are going on. It will be recalled that not infrequently, in tests of this character, there is a. distinct tendency for the tractor to rear up on its hind wheels, which behaviour is disconcerting.
Tt has the usual piston valves, feed-water heater, and other distinguishingGarrett characteristics.
Owing to the distance at which some of the winding had to be done away from the felled trees, an extra length of wire rope of 75 yds. was spliced to the ordinary length carried by the tractor. It may be recalled that in the Garrett construction, the haulage drum is on the near side of the hind axle, contiguous to the road wheel. There is the usual provision for disconnecting the road wheels when it is necessary to operate the winding gear. The substantial fairleads are, of course, built to the bunker framing.
A 175-yard Cable Paid Out.
On first arrival at the scene of operations, the tractor was maneeuvred into position within a couple of hundred yards of the first felled tree which it was desired to remove. Then it was backed until it was within a distance of 150 yds. of the timber. The full length of wire cable, altogether something like 175 yds., was then paid out. This whole tree weighed iipproximately 8 tons, and the free end of the hawser was slung round one end of it, the tractor in the meantime having been firmly scotched up, whilst even better anchorage was forthcoming rm., the fact, as will be seen. in some of our illustrations, that its hind wheels had by this time become firmly embedded in the soft ground. Without any hitch the timber was started away, and hauled right up to .its proper position. and in record time.
At this stage of the proceedings the heavy timber carriage was brought round into a position parallel with the tree, and then the .tractor was run away at right angles to its previous line of haulage. A couple of ropes were then attached to the baulk and joined to the one hauling rope. Timber " skids " were laid up against the sides of the wagon, and the tractor, again using the hauling gear, rolled the huge tree steadily up into position without a hitch or jerk of any kind. The actual placing of the load on the trolley is a matter which calls for much experience on the part of the hauliers, as, of course, the weight has to be distributed, so far as it conveniently can be, on the two axles. As a matter of fact, this is effected by skilful proportioning of the amount of pull which the two ropes that are attached to the timber have to take respectively, viz., by shortening or extending their effective lengths.
Through a Muddy Gateway.
Once the timber was in position on the wagon, it was hauled without further trouble across the soft surface of the field to the gate leading on to the highway. The entrance to this gate, however, proved to be in such a muddy and soft state that direct haulage could not be continued, and the tractor had to be run out on the road and the hauling gear brought into effect once again, in order to wind the trolley out of the field. This circumstance afforded as pretty a demonstration of the manner in
which these great trees can be handled by men skilled in such work as one could wish tie see. By the careful adjustment of the rope on the fore part of the timber wagon, in such a way as to allow a. certain amount of side skidding to take place, this huge load, as shown in our pictures, was then satisfactorily drawn through the gateway with only some 2 in, to spare on either side. In its way, this feat, was as picturesque as some of those which are witnessed in connection with artillery driving displays.
Once the timber was out on the road, the tractor was again backed up, the drawbar was hitched on from the wagon, and the whol outfit went away
merrily. Then followed a 10-mile haul over roads which were in none too good a condition, the route providing many tortuous bends and corners, as well as very steep gradients in many places. A certain amount of excitement was forthcoming during this part of the day's work, owing to the fact that the end of the huge tree, which, by the way, measured something like 2d0 ft. from end to end, had a way of fouling the hedgerows when there were sonic of the sharpest of corners to be negotiated.
Difficult Work on the Road.
The end of this particular 10-mile trip was in the saw mills at Newent, where the load was unshipped with, as may be imagined, a great deal more facility than had been experienced while getting it on board. At the end of the day's work, which even to the uninitiated was bound to prove the entire efficiency of small steam-haulage plant for work under the most difficult of circumstances, Mr. Lancaster, whose years of experience on the subject invests anything he may say with considerable4importance, expressed the opinion that it would have been quite impossible to effect a haul of this kind, at such a time
of the year, with horses, primarily owing to the impossibility of getting a sufficiently large team to work on the job. It would, as a matter of fact, have necessitated no fewer than 12 powerful horses to have effected what the little Garrett five-tonner encompassed without any trouble whatever.
Our Previous Garrett Tests.
Our own tests, which have been of a very exacting nature, and which we have from time to time carried out with Garrett steam wagons, both of the three-ton and five-ton varieties, have invariably revealed the fact that these superheated models are capable of yielding remarkably economical consumption results, both for coal and water. We naturally, therefore, are not surprised to obtain figures which are fairly comparable as the result °Odle special work which this tractor was called upon to undertake. It is only fair to say, however, that the average is obtained from more ordinary haulage work.. This particular machine frequently gets through a good day's work with a consumption at the daily rate of 2.1 cwt. of coal at 12s. 6d. a ton.
Steam Tractor, 2hd. Horses, Gd.
Mr. Lancaster says the tractor can do timber-hauling work of the kind which we have described for 2?;c1. per foot, as against 6d. per foot for horses. As we have said earlier in this article, we were only able to observe this timber-hauling performance on one particular day, but we have information that many further remarkable tests were undertaken in the same class of work later on in the week. In one instance a tree was suceessfully shifted from the place where it had been felled, although it weighed no less than 11 tons and was of proportionate length. It was handled with remarkable facility.