The Tanker Argument Continues
Page 57
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I SHOULD like to answer the statement by Mr. Alec
Mosley, of the Mobil Oil Co., Ltd. (The Commercial Motor, January 22), that National Benzole were not the first company to use 2,000-gal. four-compartment allproduct tankers based on the B.M.0 7-ton chassis. As early as February, 1958, we started discussions with the Austin Motor Co., Ltd., on fitting a 2,000-gal. all-products tank on the B.M.C. 7-ton chassis.
Our prototype was displayed at B.M.C.'s commercialvehicle shows in May and June last year. The first vehicle was licensed and in use at the beginning of last July. Ten Cattle into operation that month. The picture accompanying this letter was taken last June.
London, S.W.7. A. MoRR1s, Manager. Motor Transport Department, National Benzole Co., Ltd.
Work Study May Reduce Turd-round Time
IN a recently published pamphlet of the British Productivity Council, examples of work study are given and it is interesting to find that in one the discharge of vehicles is linked to the studies. A new method of laying pre-cast concrete slabs was adopted to overcome the lack of synchronization of unloading and laying gangs.
"Every lorry load of slabs was examined quickly to determine the best order of laying to suit the disposition of the load," says the report. • By stacking the first few blocks off the lorry in order near the laying gang, and then taking the blocks either from the lorry or the stacks as required, the gang could lay long runs of different types of blocks instead of continually shifting the scene of operation to suit the convenience of the loading gang.
Primarily, the savings were concerned with the speed of slab-laying, but the proper evaluation of results and the further investigation of ideas might well lead to increased efficiency in particular aspects of the combined operation. Although the object of the exercise was not to provide data for the transport side, there is an indirect lesson to be learned for all students of quicker and more efficient handling of loads.
Increased efficiency in this particular operation could result in further savings inunloading labour and thus automatically reflect favourably in reduced standing time for the vehicles involved. It is unfortunate that few people have seen fit to link their efforts to transport, and that transport operators have failed to 'explore time and motion studies in conjunction with • their larger and regular customers.
Southend-on-Sea. TRUNKIE.
Differences in Front-entrance Bus Bodies
A CCORDING to the description of some front-entrance 1-3. bus bodies being built by Massey Bros. (Pemberton), Ltd., Wigan (The Commercial Motor, February 12), the -three being constructed for my undertaking are similar to one Which is being built for Baxter's Bus Services, Ltd., Airdrie. In fact, the bodies Which I have ordered are quite different in the following respects:
(1) The staircase of the Morecambe bodies is not of Y formation, but is what we have come to regard as an orthodox front-entrance stairway. (2) Baxter's vehicle is a low-bridge type with a side upper-deck gangway. Mine are Hybridge models with a central upper-deck gangway. (3) On the Morecambe vehicles there is no space behind the driver's compartment for the conductor to stand. Space for him has been provided by using only a single seat on • the near side to the rear of the entrance.
Morecambe. A. V. RIGBY,
General Manager, Morecambe and Heysham Transport Department.
[The description published was based on information supplied by Leyland Motors, Ltd., whose chassis are being used,--Enj