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The challenge of the 'bangers'

crap cars and press-baled scrap .ovide new opportunities for lad haulage enterprise

f JOHN DARKER, minim 'HE disposal of old cars and commercial vehicles has presented local authorities with a highly embarrassing problem in recent irs. The number of abandoned vehicles continues 40 increase; Tently, about half a million old "bangers" are abandoned -wally and vehicle registrations anticipated in the next six or ,en years suggest that a million scrapped vehicles a year may

to be disposed of in the early '70s.

Recent developments in the scrap processing industry combined :h new transport techniques have made the salvage of old cars a .ble proposition. Until quite recently, though it was generally reed that abandoned cars should be removed from streets and ancil dumps, the cost—to local ratepayers—discouraged largeIle action.

James Bond addicts, and others, who enjoyed the "Goldfinger" n will not readily forget the massive car crushing press, called the trade a Goldfinger! This, it will be recalled, absorbed a large nerican saloon complete with its "baddy" occupant and reduced whole package, including its engine and human occupant, to nat. 18 in. cube of metal.

It did not occur to me at the time that this type of car crushing ass was of great significance to transport operations but it should ye done. For everyone who has ever been involved in the lvement of scrap on lorries, or the quoting of a rate for such 3vements, knows that the 64 dollar question has been "what right per volume is the scrap in question"?

Light alloy scrap, particularly of fabricated construction, has seldom provided a capacity load, and this is true of many types of light steel scrap. Old prams, bicycle wheels, and domestic metal scrap under the broad heading of consumer durables, are frequently seen piled up precariously on vehicles bound for a local scrap yard. Here, depending on resources, some process of sorting would take place to separate out the more valuable metals, and in modern yards, some type of squeeze press would compact the residues to facilitate their movement by road or rail to the smelting plants.

I mention the domestic scrap in company with the old cars because the squeeze presses now available for car crushing are not exclusively used for cars. Their voraciously powerful jaws will deal with almost anything within their defined capacity, and the merchants operating them are mainly concerned to ensure that the processed scrap is saleable.

Successful pioneers

A prominent Edinburgh firm of scrap merchants, Bruce-Laird Ltd., has pioneered in the collection and processing of old cars. It has, in fact, been almost embarrassingly successful, and when I talked to executives there recently it was apparent that their revolutionary ideas have transformed the scrap collection and disposal business in the district.

Not everyone is aware that scrap vehicle disposal is not a single-stage process. The carcases of old "bangers" are in various states of readiness for scrap disposal. A fortunate minority of unwanted cars are driven to the car-breaker's yard. Others are towed in or collected by a car breaker. Countless thousands are abandoned and their last owners may or may not manage to dispose of the battery, tyres or other readily removable fittings. The abandoned wrecks, sooner or later, are likely to be conveyed by road to some site, preferably remote, yet not too far out of town, for burning. Although scrap metal balers or squeeze presses would digest o cars complete, it is clearly necessary for petrol to be drained fro tanks, and desirable for engines, or at least their oil, to removed. And upholstery and seats, having little scrap value, an undesirable admixture to baled scrap. Hence the two or thre stage process referred to above.

Because it is seldom practicable to set fire to old cars whe they finally give up the struggle, there are likely to be a numb of transport operations before the body carcases arrive at t baling plant.

The Bruce-Laird premises at West Fountain Place, Edinburg are limited in area and their location in a densely built-up are precludes the burning of cars on the premises. The site is r connected and for generations loads of scrap metal ha,ve gone b rail to smelting works in the Falkirk area. But rail tonnage rat which were once economic have ceased to be so. The rail chat* for a wagon load of light scrap weighing only 2 to 3 tons h been £8, and Bruce-Laird felt this was rather much for a 40-mil haul. So it decided to install a Lindemann baling press—a We German machine which makes the Goldfinger type press be modest indeed. For the Lindemann baling press, costing abo £70,000 to install, not only compresses whatever steel scrap fed into its capacious jaws, but neatly shears off the squeeze metal "parcel" to any desired length.

When I was told that it was a light scrap baling press I ask in my innocence, if it would handle in. thick steel plates. "Goo Lord", was the reply, "the baler will shear off four sections o railway line quite easily". So there is not much doubt as to it capacity in digesting scrap car carcases by the dozen. The rat capacity of the baler is 100 tons a day when operated continuousl with prepared scrap, and I should judge that it could well digest al the scrap cars in Scotland and the North of England if thei economic transport to the baler could be arranged.

That, unfortunately, is not yet possible but a sensible divisio labour by the primary agents in the chain is proving profitable all concerned. It is also keeping the Lindemann baling press sy.

Bruce-Laird has co-operated with local metal merchants and r breakers and when necessary their 5 /6-ton Bedford vehicles, uipped with HIAB Speed-Loader cranes, will collect loads of -ap or old cars. Alternatively, merchants are encouraged to rig in loads of suitably prepared scrap on their own vehicles. Many scrap merchants have realized that it is more profitable bring in several loads of scrap a day to the Bruce-Laird yard in to transport a light, bulky load to the smelting works 40 or )re miles away. And by the same token, scrap merchants tlize that specialist car breakers, many of them in a small way business, can strip a car more profitably than the average scrap rchant.

For this reason Bruce-Laird is not anxious to collect unprepared I bangers with their own vehicles. It is often asked to do so but quirers are referred to the •car breakers in the first instance. The scrap car collection technique developed by Bruce-Laird ies a great deal, I was told, to the ingenuity of the drivers. No ,o old bangers are alike and it says a lot for the skill of the men volved that the operations proceed smoothly and safely. eedless to say, the maximum possible utilization of the craneuipped vehicles is called for; also a knowledge of the district to ,oid unnecessary empty mileage.

The HIAB Speed-Loaders enable three average-sized cars to be ounted on the 5-ton Bedford trucks in less than 30 minutes. Often truck and trailer is used, when six cars can be loaded and roped about an hour. Quite obviously, such rapid loading times would

not normally be possible if the collections were on 'a random basis from widely separated streets. Ideally, the type of operation developed by Bruce-Laird requires a fairly substantial stockpile of processed carcases, and it is for this reason that the co-operation of the primary agents is so necessary.

The loading system developed by Bruce-Laird's men is simple and effective. The first car is lifted on to the lorry, "wheels" down, -and the HIAB is used as a ram to push it backwards so that it overhangs several feet. (This process demands delicate judgment and experience!) The second car is turned over and then lifted, wheels up, so that the bonnet rests upside down on the other car's bonnet, acting as a secure counterweight. Interlocked, the two cars form a platform upon which the third car can be placed.

Next, making use of a driver's brainwave, the HIAB jib is manoeuvred through the windscreen (previously smashed) of the top car and thence through its rear window, to prevent any sudden shift of balance. Finally, the load is securely roped down.

As a rule the lorry driver is able to get some help from an assistant at the merchant's site. If this were not possible, a mate would be carried.

On returning to Bruce-Laird's yard the cars are off-loaded by a mobile crane fitted with a cactus grab. With a minimum of delay they are fed into the Lindemann baling press, and if the transport operation has coincided with the voracious appetite of the baling press the bangers can be sheared scrap en route for the furnaces within a very few minutes. It is Worth mentioning that 2 ft by 1 ft baled steel bundles, which can be cut to any convenient length, are highly suitable for steelworks purposes in Scotland, and, I would guess, elsewhere.

Long or awkwardly shaped bundles of scrap can be a costly embarrassment during the smelting operation, and cases of arced eleotrodes are not unknown. Moreover, in tidy bundles, much less heat is used for smelting, so that a better price is paid for the scrap. These marginal factors may appear to be of little interest to the transport man,' but since the entire operation would not be possible if pennies were not consciously saved wherever possibl they are, in fact, quite crucial.

As stated earlier, the stiff rail freight rates which led to th original £70,000 investment for the Lindemann baling press wa calculated to pay off because it was known that one wagon full o compressed scrap would carry the tonnage previously occupyin five wagons. And much more effective use of rail siding space an loading time was another valuable by-product.

When British Railways told Bruce-Laird that the rail link fro its yard to the steelworks was to be axed at short notice, hoppe type containers of 12 tons capacity were purchased and the entir operation will now be done by road.

There are, of course, other approaches to this scrap car problem It is such a headache to all amenity-conscious councils and rate payers that it would be odd if there were not. Some merchants fin it worthwhile to partly flatten the car carcases when they hay been stripped of saleable salvage, and this, as our picture illustrates makes the haulage operation much more viable.

Bird's Commercial Motors Ltd., Stratford-upon-Avon, introduc a mobile Goldfinger type press in August 1965. This is 40 ft long and weighs 40 tons and it is hauled on a multi-wheel, semiarticulated trailer chassis by a 200 h.p. AEC Mammoth Major tractor. This monster, claimed to be the largest mobile plant of its kind in the world, can handle 18 cars an hour, reducing each to a bale 24 in x 12 in x 22 in. Bird's offer a service to local authorities and will travel to any site where the number of cars to be processed makes this worthwhile.

Fletcher and Stewart Ltd., of Derby, offer a 100-ton baling press to local authorities and others which is said to produce from an average car body eight bales of uncontaminated steel each 1 cubic ft in size and having a total weight of 12 cwt. Including salvaged mechanical items it is claimed that the machine can produce a return of from £8 to £10 a car to offset equipment capital costs and working expenses. Though it involves the prior burning of non-metallic components and the cutting up of the carcase by oxyacetylene torches, there may be sufficient margin with this, equipment to justify the contract collection of bangers by hauliers in any locality using it.

The most spectacular Most spectacular of all, and likely to provide many road haulage opportunities for the road conveyance of car and other scrap to the site, is the recently announced Proler-Cohen enterprise which should be fully operational in 1967.

Developed by the Proler Steel Corporation, of Houston, Texas, the scrap produced by the remarkable Proler plant is known in the trade as Proler scrap. It is of fist—size--ideal for haulage in sided vehicles or containers, and likely to be popular with furnaces.

The Proler process is being introduced into this country by the George Cohen 600 Group; a subsidiary company, Proler-Cohen Ltd., will erect and manage the new factory on a 15-20 acre site north of London.

This revolutionary plant will convert up to 400,000 discarded cars a year into high grade scrap metal and it is expected that similar installations will service the rest of the country.

The plant will cope with all kinds of consumer durables including. enamelled washing machines, refrigerators, cooking stoves, water heaters and baths. The Proler process separates all impurities including non-ferrous metals, paint, enamel, wood, glass and plastics from the steel. What emerges are clean, small, neatly minced fragments of metal weighing about 651b. per cubic ft. The Proler scrap can be moved by magnets, grabs or conveyors. Introducing the Proler-Cohen project to the Press, recently Mr. Jack Wellings, managing director of the George Cohen 601 Group Ltd., said that scrap merchants in the United States found i economic to transport "pancaked" 'cars to the Proler plants fron distances as much as 400 miles. He did not think road hauls o scrap would be practicable over such distances in this country though the Proler plant near London would be able to cope witIA almost all the country's scrap cars at the present time. ProlerCohen was after the 175,000 cars expected to be scrapped in the south-east next year.

As regards its buying area, it was "confident that the economies of operation will attract cars and light scrap from areas well outside the Home Counties".

Mr. Wellings said he expected the trade "would invest in simple flattening devices to concertina the cars to enable close packing on the delivery vehicles". He also expected merchants to send their light scrap to the Proler plant for processing. "Furthermore . . there will be no need for merchants to invest large sums in capital processing plant, such as baling presses, which can cost up to £100,000 for a complete installation". The cost of lorries, even special purpose vehicles with trailers, would be small, said Mr. Wellings, compared with the cost of conventional baling plant.

It would appear that Proler-Cohen intends to use rail for the delivery of the scrap direct to steel works but even if this proves to be a correct forecast—current financial stringency may dictate otherwise—there is no doubt that the inwards scrap will be delivered in the main by road. Clearly, the existing and future opportunities for scrap haulage should be recognized by road hauliers. There is room here for all the ingenuity of which the industry is capable, and mechanical handling apparatus, such as lorry-mounted cranes, will play an increasing part.

Perhaps most important of all from the widest standpoint, the image of road hauliers will be enhanced by any contribution they can make to national amenity. Cost-conscious operations will be imperative, but profits should accrue to road transport operators willing to back these new technical developments with their own special expertize.