Delivering 30,000,000 Gallons of Asphalt Per Year
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AGOOD example of the way in which road transport is helping to, relieve the American railways and. incidentally, carrying out-the task more rapidly and efficiently, is shown by the experience of a maker of roofing, the Philip Carey Manufacturing Co., of Ohio; The material requires considerable quantities of liquid asphalt, over 100,000 gallons a day. This large quantity was previously moved by rail. when it required the employment of 80 tank trucks. However, war conditions made this service almost impossible. Then came the problem of how to get the material to the plant.
It was solved by using eight Fruehauf tractor-trailers, each hauling a tank trailer. They operate as " trains," each outfit having a capacity of 6,000'gallons ancLaveraging four to five trips a day, although we have no knowledge of the total mileage covered Delivery proved to be steady and certain, and the handling efficient and simple, only four drivers being required to move the uge volume of ove: 100,000 gallons a day.
The asphalt, when loaded at the Gulf Refining plant, is at a temperature of 290-260 degrees F. Rock wool is used to insulate the tanks, and this has proved so effective that the loads lose only 7-10 degrees F. during the run.
Despite the fact that each " train " has a total length of 60 ft., it can make a 360-degree turn within 65 ft.
The sp. gr. of heated asphalt is about 1.8, and if we take the liquid form as being, say, 1.6, the total useful load carried on each journey by tractortrailer and trailer is nearly '40 tons. This will give a strong indication of how road-transport problems are being tackled in the New World.
In Britain, however, a tractor-trailer is not permitted to haul a trailer, yet it seems that such an outfit .could have done an enormous amount of good work in tackling sOme of the huge loads which it has been necessary to carry' during this war, with .a conservation of man-power.