• THE TRACTOR-TRAILER OF 25 YEARS AGO.
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Two Extraordinarily Interesting Vehicles Which Were Many Years Before Their Time.
SO FAR as we are aware, those who are responsible for the modern development of the tractorlorry, or other form of tractor-vehicle, have never claimed to be the actnal originators of this particular form of construction ; all that they have claimed has been the credit of having improved upon details and of having provided for modern requirements in the way of load capacity, taken in conjunction with economy in fuel consumption and wages of the personnel controlling the vehicles.
Some little while ago we showed a photograph of the six-wheeled tractor-lorry which competed in the Liverpool trials of 1898, and alongside that photograph we showed the modern development of the idea, viz., the Scammell tractor-lorry.
We again reproduce a photograph of this Thorny• croft pioneer of the tractor-trailer idea in more enlarged form, so that its details will be more readily observable, and we have also asked Messrs. J. I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., to be good enough to find for us a drawing of a six-wheeled tractor caravan Which we remembered thatthey had made in or about the year 1900, and illustrations of this we are, by the courtesy of that concern, able to reproduce.
It will be observed that in each case steam power has been employed to operate the tractor, and the lines of the early Thornycroft steamer of 1898 will be familiar to many who were closely watching the pro
gress of mechanical road transport in the latter days of the last century.
At the Basingstoke works Messrs. Thornycrofi have one of the steam vehicles of that period equipped with a van body, and the last time we were looking at it, in company with Mr. Tom Thornycroft, he remarked that they were often thinking of getting it going again.
As Will be seen from our photograph, the central wheels are chain-driven, and the platform trailer is bowed at the front so as to give the largest possible platform area over -the turntable. We believe that the origin of bowed fronts is a matter which is now in question,so that it is rather, interesting to see that it was not only employed in the platform trailer briefly described, but that it also appears in the caravan body of the other vehicle. This latter, it is quite evident, when one considers the date of 1900, was very much before. its tine, because the power-operated coffee-stall or refreshment bar is quite a development of the, post-war -period, but we should think that this was the only one that was ever built to be hauled by a steam tractor.
Some of the details of this caravan were extremely interesting. It will be noticed from our drawing that, in the bowed front, accommodation was found for a 95-gallon fresh-water tank, a large tool locker, a cold store compartment and a biscuit store. The body
had the floor dropped to within about 15 ins, of the ground, thus taking full advantage of the space between the rear end a the tractor and the rearmost axle, and providing a floor space 9 ft. long by 5 ft. 6 ins. wide. A side counter, nearly 13 ft. long, was provided on each side, but modern experience has shown that, in order to provide sufficient shelf accommodation and to facilitate service, it is better to keep the counter to one side only. Steam was brought from the boiler of the tractor and was used for heating the egg-boiler and the water for the tea and" coffee, and for keeping the hot-food compartments in a heated condition. Hot ,tea and coffee urns were fitted on the off side of the vehicle, whilst on the near side were the soda-water maehinel, with a carbonic acid gas bottle and fittings placed in one cOrner.
Ample lighting was provided by four large windows on each side of the vehicle and two at the rear, whilst in the lantern roof there were six side lights, which. are arranged to open for ventilation.
The sides of the vehicle were opened out and dropped down, and were fastened to stays by cotter pins. Bracketed at right angles to the inside of the shutters were auxiliary counters, 15 ins, wide, which, when the shutters were down, obtruded from the side of the vehicle. Roller blinds were fitted on each side and were arranged to open out as canopies oyer the counter and thus to act as a shelter for customers.
This travelling canteen was built for the Caravan Restaurant Co.', Ltd., of London, who used to run it to race meetings, but the difficulty turned out to be that of getting it on and off the ground. The wheels were shod with 5-in, steel tires, and they would sink into the ground, and, as it was absolutely necessary to go on to soft ground with the vehicle, the idea had to be abandoned, and the vehicle was thus rendered useless, because away from soft pitches the refreshment stall would have to compete with established catering establishments.
The .machine was bought by Messrs. Clernents, Knowling and Co., of Brentford, for £50. They scrapped, the caravan body, and actually got as much for the copper work as they paid for the whole vehicle. They built a tipping body
of steel plate (hence the weight must have been pretty enormous), and used the vehicle for some year as a tipper, its usual load being 8 tons of ballast. In order to overcome the tire difficulty, 10-in, tires were shrunk over , the 5-in, tires and studded. They were often coming off, but the purpose .of the purchasers was adequately fulfilled by the vehicle.
In the drawings of the travelling canteen, the details of the turntable are not, by any means, complete, and we have not been able to obtain full particulars. from the drawings, it will be seen that there is no king-pin, but that a "fifth wheel is employed rotating in guides, probably one forward, one at the rear and two at the sides, these guides being secured to the frame, which at its rear end, is amply stiffened by cross-members. Attached to the body are two segmental brackets which carry the cross-pin that takes the pull, this cross-pin, of course, passing through a lug of some kind on the "fifth wheel.' The segmental shape of the pin brackets rather suggests that the brackets roll on the lower flange of the "fifth wheel," so as to take the weight off the pin, but this is not very probable.