In the Service of Public Authorities.
Page 56
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The Motor Sweeper and Street Cleanliness. The Economy of a Steam Wagon.
It is true of the municipal employment, as of the more general private employment, of commercial motors, that the actual economy of operation in pounds, shillings and pence is not always the most important factor which has led to the change from horse-drawn vehicles. " General convenience" is a term which obviously has a very wide application, bit in this instance it has a special significance for our readers. In respect of the employment of municipal motor vehicles, this consideration s of primary importance. Exceptional readiness in case of emergency, occasional high speed in similar circumstances and ability to remain at work for numbers of hours far in excess of those of which horseflesh has ever been capable, these and other attributes of which our municipal friends are in particular aware, have, in nine cases out of ten, caused municipalities and similar authorities to supersede their old-time plant. On the following page we deal briefly with some of the special characteristics of the problem which now confronts the modern firemaster and his Watch Committee. It will be seen that economy of maintenance is in that case as dominant a factor as are the high speed and exceptional readiness of modern motor firebrigade apparatus. The horsed fire-engine is obsolete; new purchases, wherever funds are available, will all be of motor plant. Motor sanitary wagons are hemming employed to an increasing extent. The tower wagon, designed for the repair of that hideous disfigurement of fine streets—overhead tramway tackle—is invariably nowadays motor-propelled. The steam roller ia likely soon to be superseded in many cases by the heavy motor-propelled machine. Muni. cipal plant, on the whole, is thus rapidly tending to be of the homeless variety.
Our streets are becoming cleaner by reason of the gradual but definite disappearance of a very large volume of horsed traffic: Nevertheless, there is need for even greater cleanliness than has yet been achieved from the very fact that the roadways are more than ever used by self-propelled traffic.
There is no denying that motor vehicles, at any rate in their present form, are more inclined occasionally to depart from the true and straight path than were their horse-drawn predecessors. The possibility of checking this tendency to sideslip is a. difficult problem, and, in spite of the many attempts on the part of chronic inventors, and or more reasonable suggestions which have emanated from practical men, it has to be admitted that, at the present time, the only sure method of preventing sideslip as far as possible rests in the employment of a skilful and careful driver. Much. may be done, however, by the appropriate cleansing of street surfaces. The accumulation of grease and mud will have in future to be treated as is any other unwelcome deposit. on the part of the clerk of the weather. A heavy snowfall promptly . brings out emergency gangs and wagons, the snow is at once removed, and the roads are restored to a state of cleanliness. Similar prompt means will undoubtedly have to he taken when the weather conditions have caused mud and grease quickly to accumulate. Much is being done in this respect by the awakening of public authorities to the possibility of the employment. of motor watering and sweeping machines. In Paris, and to a small extent in London and other great cities, such machines are now to be found constantly patrolling the urban highways. •Their future employment on a much larger scale is insured. In conpinction with a liberal use of the hose, the motor sweeper is able to deal quickly with enormous areas of road surface.
The use of motor ambulances is a subject which, perhaps, should be properly treated in the section of n28 this issue which deals with passenger-transport vehicles. Nevertheless, it is fitting here to record the fact that asylum and hospital as well as police authorities are increasingly employing the motor vehicle. For instance, the Metropolitan Asylums Board, which has an exceptional problem to tackle in regard to the transport of patients between the many asylums which come under its control on the outskirts of London, owns a large fleet of single-deck motorbuses. Steam wagons are in many cases usefully employed by municipal and highway authorities, and in this connection we may record the figures which have recently been made public by the Engineer to the Esher and Ditton Urban District Council. These concern two years of service of a Mann steam wagon fitted with a 1000-gallon removable street-watering tank, as well as with a tipping body capable of carrying five yards of material ; an attached trailer accommodates three additional yards. The cost of working and the work carried out during the two years of service are as follows. The wagon, so says " The Surveyor,' saved the council at least £300 per annum.
From these amounts there were certain sums to be deducted for private haulage, undertaken at a profit, thus reducing the net cost to the council.
carried 16,175 19,300 Cost per ton-mile (net cost) 4.93d. 4.2d.
We may suitably conclude this present notice by recording the manner in which the General Post Office of Great Britain is favouring the employment of motor vehicles. In France, Germany, and other foreign countries, this tendency is perhaps more marked. In many out-of-the-way districts it has been found advisable to subsidize combined passenger and mail motorbuses, in order to insure regular and efficient service on behalf of the post office. The parcel post is being increasingly carried between British towns in place of the more expensive railway transit which has hitherto done service. London now has one fleet of 110 machines supplied by a well-known contractor, which maintain much of the P.O. distribution service.
We have pleasure in drawing attention to the fact that Mr. E. H. Lancaster, .6..M.I.Mech.E., consultine engineer, 4. Sackville Street, London, W., is at the disposal of our readers for consultation as to design, maintenance or purchase of all kinds of commercial motors.