Running on Snow.
Page 8
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One difficulty which has troubled users of heavy motors is the tendency to skid on the part of the wheds. In snowy weather or when the roads are covered with ice, iron or steel tyres nearly always revolve without " biting," causing the vehicle to become, for the time being, unmanageable. At this time of the year bad weather may be expected, so we think it not out of place to give a further description of the Goodwin snow shoes to that which appeared in our issue of June 22nd, 1905. The manufacturers are T. C. Aveling and Company, Limited, of Central House, New Street, Birmingham.
As may be seen from the drawings, the shoe consists of four steel segments, which are hydraulically pressed and bedded to the wheel upon which they are to be employed. The drawings are both to the scale of 3 inches to the toot, or one-quarter full size, and the wheel shown is 3 feet i inch in diameter. Each of the four segments is provided with six
oblique slots, 4:1, inches long by af inches wide, through which the faces of rubber pads project. The pads are approximately i inch thick, and are provided with an extension all round, forming a base, to prevent their being forced through the slots too far when the segments are bolted round the wheel. At the extreme right of Fig. 2 is seen a section of the shoe, with one of the rubber pads in position. Lugs are formed at the end of each portion of the shoe, and these are provided with holes bored to be a loose fit round clamping bolts ft inch in diameter.
One great advantage of this non-skid device is that it can he adapted to any wheel, owing to the fact that each wheel forms its own pattern, the shoe or segment being, as stated previously, pressed on to the particular tyre upon which it. is intended to work. In this way, old wheels that have been laid on one side owing to the tyre widths being too narrow to conform with the Heavy Motor Car Order, can be turned down on the felloes, new tyres put on, and fitted with these shoes, to be used as a stand-by when the roads are covered with snow. An important point not to be forgotten is that wheels fitted with this device are shod with resilient tyres, which do away with road hammer and vibration to a large extent, resulting in increased life to the engine and framework, at the same time keeping the repair bill low. Messrs. A. and W. Evans, of Boar Lane, Leeds, and Messrs. D. W. Goodwin and Company, of Tower Mills, Kidderminster, have been supplied with sets of these nonskidding shoes for their wagons. The results have been satisfactory, and the vehicles have been enabled to do their work in all weathers without any trouble.