FACILITATING LOADING AND TIPPING.
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A New Jib Crane, Hand or Power-operated, which Fulfils the Two Functions of Loading and Tipping.
ALL THOSE concerned in the organizing of road transport systems realize that efficiency in the employment of the motor vehicle can only be attained by reducing the terminal delays to the minimum. Many of the larger users employ special means by which this desideratum can be achieved, and as a recent example we may mention the A.E.C. vehicles run by the London and North Eastern Railway Co., and which are equipped with demountable platforms carried on small wheels. This system was described in our issue for last week.
To those owners of a comparatively small number of vehicles, however, such means can hardly be employed, as they require special facilities at the terminal points, and these, particularly in the case of a haulier who may have to deal with different classes of goods and be employed by different persons every day, cannot well be made available. It is. therefore, essential that any device for expediting loading and unloading shall be part and parcel of the vehicle,
On looking around amongst the various devices of this type, employed to any considerable extent, we find that there are tipping gears and lifting tackle of various designs, but it is difficult to embody these two adjuncts to efficiency in the one vehicle, and it is to overcome this difficulty that A. Hunt, 66, Mason Street, Horwich, has designed a special dual-purpose jib crane, for which preliminary protection has been obtained.
This device combines the functions of a jib crane, by which the loading and unloading of heavy articles can be greatly facilitated, and the end-tipping gear, although, as a matter of fact, it would not he difficult to arrange it to meet also the needs of the three-way tipping body. It can be used -with a hand or power-operated cable winch or, in the case of light vehicles, blocks and tackle secured to the end of the crane arm would probably be quite satisfactory.
The device consists of a strong bracket attached to the upper part of the eel) at the rear and suitably stayed to the frame. Through this bracket can slide a stout tubular pillar, at the lower end of which is a gunmetal nut threaded to suit a vertical square-threaded screw operated from the side of the chassis through a crossbar and bevel gearing. Just above the nut an the pillar is pivoted a jib firm held in position by two cables passing over pulleys at the top of the tubular pillar and under further pulleys at the bottom of the pillar, being finally secured to the bracket at the top Of the cab.
To take the pull Which occurs when a load is carried by the jib, two stays reach from the front corners of the cab to the pillar, these stays being made telescopic, so that they shorten automatically as the pillar descends. Additional stays from the front Of the chassis prevent the pull being taken by the cab itself, and, if necessary, strengthening members may also be secured between the bracket at the back of the cab and the front of the cab.
When in use as a jib crane, the vertical screw is rotated In such Jit, direction as to lift the fibular pillar to its highest point, any lifting to be done by the crane being effected through a separate hook and wire rape controlled by the winch, to which we have already referred, unless blocks and tackle be used in place of the winch.
The travelling position of the device is when the pillar is at its lower point, and it will be noted, by referring to the illustrations, that as the pillar lowers, so the jib arm is automatically drawn back against it. When in this position the device forms an effective tipping gear, The apparatus would appear to be eminently suitable for employment in the collection of refuse. It is suggested that small trollies or containers, of which, say, four, could be carried on a 20-30-cwt. lorry, should be left at convenient points by the motor and could then be loaded from the bins. On its return journey the vehicle could, by means of its jib crane, hoist the containers into such a position that they could easily be emptied into the body, and while the vehicle is going to the tip the containers could. again be loaded.
Such a system presents undoubted benefits. The loading height for the bins would be merely that of the side of the container, and if the jib crane were arranged for power operation the tipping of the bins into the containers would be the only manual effort required. At the dump the crane, which would by that time have been dropped. would be in position to raise the tipping body. There is no doubt that this dual-crane device could easily be fitted to many existing vehicles.
The inventor desires to get into touch with makers who would care to take up the manufacture of the device.