Dual-purpose sludge carrier
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• A dual-purpose sludge tanker /cesspit emptier has been built by Fusion Ltd, Raven shaw Lane, Solihull, Warwickshire, for Wimborne and Cranborne rural district council. While the tanker will be mainly employed to spread digested sewage for manuring farm land, its availability for occasional use as a cesspit emptier will, it is said, dispense with the necessity to add an extra vehicle to the fleet.
Constructed of in. galvanized mild steel, the tank has a capacity of 1250gal and is mounted on a Bedford M-type SW6 4 x 4 chassis having a gvw rating of 11 tons and equipped with Goodyear big singles at the rear. The price of the tank and equipment is £2100 whereas a sludge tank costs £1200.
Because the dual-purpose vehicle is filled by vacuum and discharged by air pressure when operating as a cesspit emptier, it has been necessary to fit a tank of circular section in place of the elliptical type that is generally employed for sludge carrying.
The sludge is loaded by gravity through a funnel in the normal way, and is discharged by gravity on to spreader plates thrOugh two side-mounted valves of 4in. diameter that are operated by air cylinders controlled from the cab. The loading and discharge valves of the Wimborne and Cranborne vehicle are located centrally and the system incorporates a Hammon exhauster/compressor unit controlled by a five-way valve.
When the vehicle is employed for cesspit emptying, the funnel opening is closed with a quick-release manhole lid that is stowed in the cab if the vehicle is engaged on sludge-carrying work. The exhauster/compressor is of the air-cooled vane type, driven by the pto and capable of filling the tank in about 5min. Internal baffles prevent spillage of the sludge from an open funnel.