The Motor Drivers News.
Page 38
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An Unlucky Run.
" G.G." (Se.otby) writes us tm the e8th instant :--" St eing the letters which have appeared from time to time in the Motor Drivers News, I herewith send you an experience of my own which, without a doubt, was the most unlucky journey I have ever made on a steam wagon. At the time of the occurrence I was driving a Mann's patent steam wagon, and I can say without the slightest hesitation that it was the finest all-round lorry that I have had charge of. My mate and myself had had a hard week's work, and when Saturday arrived we made the usual preparations for the washing out of the boiler and a general overhauling of the engine. We had just commenced to get our cleaning apparatus together when my master came up and told us to make ready for a run of 20 miles, and to put off the washing out of the boiler until the following Monday. Nly load was seven tons --five on the wagon and two on a trailer—and we started out of the yard with water tanks full and everything in order. My first trouble appeared at a distance of about io miles front home. The wagon was running well, when, without warning, the cover of the highpressure cylinder began to ' blow.' Luckily I had some asbestos string in my box, and I soon put the matter right after a short delay. Another mile or two was covered without incident, when, as I was replenishing the boiler, the injector refused to act, and began to ' blow back' badly. I shut off the water cock, and decided to use my pump for the remainder of the trip, and to examine the injector latir when I had more time at my disposal. Further on, a long hill was reached, and I managed to get half-way up it on the top speed, where the lorry ran upon a patch of loose stones, necessitating a change into the low gear. In my hurry to start out on the trip I had omitted to bring the locking strap with me, with the result that I could not fasten up the differential gear. I lost quite half an hour at this point, as my driving wheels commenced to skid and would not bite the ground. When at last I reached the top of the hill I found it occupied by a large drove of sheep, which resulted in a further delay of some minutes. T reached my destination exactly at one o'clock, having taken six hours to do the trip. The foreman of the works at which the load had to be discharged was rather disgusted at my turning up so late, so, while he was hunting up the necessary men to help in the off-loading, I looked around for some water, and eventually found a small hose pipe by which we replenished the tanks. We started for home at 2.30 p.m., and, after a run of a mile or so, ran into a dense fog, through which T had the greatest difficulty in steering the wagon. I finally arrived home at q p.m., and my master, who was amazed when he saw me, said that he thought
would have left the wagon behind and come home without it. I hope this experience will be of interest to your many readers. In conclusion, I should like to add how much I -enjoy reading the experiences of other drivers."
Wheels.
" J.N." (Birmingham) writes on the 'fah instant :-"I have recently taken over the job of driving a motor lorry which has wooden wheels. As it is a new machine, I take rather a pride in keeping it smart, and the paint clean and bright. I was wiping the wheels down the other evening, and proceeded to give the final polish by rubbing over them a rag moistened w'th some paraffin. A man who was standing by me sa'd : ' Your wheels will not last any time if you put p-raffin on them.' I was rather surprised when he told me th-t it would make all the spokes loose; anyhow, I decided to take his advice as he had been a driver longer than I have. Would some of your readers give their opinion as to the best way of keeping wooden wheels in Pood order, and tell me whether it does them any harm to turn the hose pipe on to wash off accumu!ations of mud ? I have to run my wele-on in all weathers, and I find that the mud which adheres to the felloes and spokes k very hard to get off, if it is al'owed to dry on. T have read your paper for some weeks, and find the Drivers News ' very interesting and useful as showing ways and means of petting out of difficulties when ' hung up ' by the roadside."
Hints on Boiler Use.
" W.C." (Putney) writes us as follows :—" I think the followinghints as to the care of steam wagon boilers will be acceptable to the readers of the' Drivers News' page in your journal. Just at this time of the year, when we have cold and frosty days alternating with comparatively warm ones, some boilers give a lot of trouble owing to leaky tubes, and in some cases from ignorance on the part of a driver as to the best method of keeping it constantly in use without doing it any harm. " A boiler should on no account be washed out until it is thoroughly cooled down, and this is easily managed if the wagon has a regular shed clay or is not used on Saturday mornings. In businesses where it is necessary to keep the wagon at work for six days in the week, the foregoing advice is, of course, not tenable. The best plan under such circumstances is to wash the boiler out in the evening after ene last trip for the day. First of all draw the fire and blow off the steam very slowly. After doing this run off all the water and let it stand for at least luilf an hour to cool down, first taking out all the wash-out plugs. When running the cold water in a boiler from a hose-pipe, it is better to run it in at the bottom and not through one of the Lop plug holes. Some drivers will always run the water in at the top plug holes, which is an extremely bad practice and one very liable to cause a leakage at the tube plate, unless the boiler is quite cold. They should be thoroughly cleaned out once a week at least, and any trouble which may be expended upon them will be amply repaid by their increased efficiency and steaming properties. Sheet lead will be found to be an excellent material for makingjoints round the mud-hole doors. This substance will last for a long time with reasonable care, and when the joint is broken for any I:Au-pose, it always Carnes away clean and does away with the necessity for using a scraper to clean the surfaces.
" When tiring a kwomotive type of boiler with fuel care should be taken to see that the lire is of equal thickness throughout and not more than lour to six inches in depth. By putting, the fuel in each corner of the fire-box a bright fire is obtained, and one which will generally consume its own smoke. In a vertical type of boiler with a central shoot all the fuel drops into the middle of the fire-box, and these will be found to require a rather deeper fire than is necessary with the former type. Smoke can be prevented from showing at the funnel-top by removing the cap which closes in the shoot, and if the admission of air is properly regulated hard steam coal can be used without any smoke making its appearance. Never run a wagon with both the damper shut down and the fire-box door open, as the inrush of cold air Nvill in all probability cause the tubes to leak badly. After running into the shod at the end of the day's work, drop the damper and let the fire die out gradually; the slower the better. An important point when running a steam vehicle is to see that the water in the gauge glass remains at a ',early constant level. If at any time the pump or injector should fail, it is safer to draw the fire at once than to risk the danger of dropping the fusible plug. I hope the above remarks will be of use to the many readers of the CoatmizaciAt, Mo.roR.'• There is no reason why a boiler should give trouble if it is cared for."