IN YOUR OPINION
Page 66
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Those Smoking Diesels! CONCERNING the I.R.T.E. Smoke Report (The Commercial Motor, March 22), these gentlemen attack the small operator because they (the I.R.T.E. members) are mainly employed by large concerns. In effect they are saying: "Who me? Never!"
The main cause of smoke is that some manufacturers have uprated engines to the maximum in respect of output and speed—consequently there is no reserve left. Certain makes of engine tend to smoke when new, so what chance has the engine when it has done a few thousand miles? I say that in the main the fault lies with the manufacturer.
When Mr. Marples gets his smoke-meters I hope that Lu will pay some attention to the following diesels: shipping, rail cars rail locos, stationary plant and muMcipal buses. ' Many of these are a far greater nuisance than lorries!
Neston, Cheshire. S. MUSTILL.
Electric Pump Discharge I1•1 your issue dated March 1 on page 48 there was a most interesting description of a new electric pump discharge installation for road tankers. • I recall that attempts to do this successfully have been "going on for many years, and in fact-I believe that Mr. Dugdale, now transport manager of Regent Oil Company, was the originator of the idea way back in 1956 and tried very hard to get it accepted. It now appears that his pioneering has paid off and someone has come up with a pump which enables the advantages of electric discharge to be employed without too great a drain on the accumulators.
One can envisage an installation of this type on lighter delivery vehicles and without the necessity for a big battery, if and when the vehicle manufacturers start using alternators as standard. Since the car manufacturers are now actively engaged in considering this big jump forward in electrical supply on their vehicles, it seems very likely that the acceptance by the commercial side will be quicker and the problem of the battery will therefore be further reduced.
Large Saving
Another point which was well brought out in your article was the fact that Regent Oil considers it will have annual savings of at least £100 per vehicle on such an installation. I have never seen this expressed before in terms of actual money saving and it is an indication of the efficiency of the installation that this is so. if the total cost is in the
B44 region of £250 for an installation, then it is clear that within three years this has been saved and a further rebate will accrue during the life of the vehicle. On inquiry at Godfrey's technical department elicited the interesting fact that the Godfrey Waterous RI series pump is " rated " at 40,000 hours running, which seems to be about the normal life of the vehicle.
Thus, quite apart from the essential nature of quiet night delivery, this system. which at first• appeared to me to be impracticable, offers very considerable advantages wherever the installation can be made without too many modifications.
By looking at the performance figures of-the pump against the power consumed, it is also fairly obvious that the Godfrey pump is of very high efficiency, even with liquids of the highest viscosity. This must surely mean that its application through normal power take-offs will show similar, if less spectacular, gains to those obtained on the electric drive.
Altogether it seems that Sir George Godfrey and Partners, the Regent Oil Company and certainly Mr. Harry Dugdale, who started it all, are to be congratulated on a major contribution to the handling of liquids by road.
Ascot, Berks. KENNETH W. HOLE.
Turbocharging More Popular FROM vehicles seen in and around Birmingham it would appear that turbocharging is increasing in popularity. The activities of "Midland Red" are already well known since the introduction of the company's CM 5 Motorway coaches with turbocharged 8-litre engines.
But now there is at least one D9 type double-decker in regular service, fitted with a turbocharged engine. This D9, No. 4773, is easily distinguished from its counterparts by the absence of the chrome strip along the lower body panels and, of course, by the turbo whine.
The largest British manufacturer of motor vehicle electric components also appears to be interested in the potential of turbocharging because the company is now operating a B.M.C. 7-tanner with a third axle conversion and a Thames Trader articulated outfit, both vehicles being turbocharged.
Lastly, a manufacturer of various motor components in Wales is operating a B.M.C. 15-ton articulated outfit' fitted with a Perkins P6 turbocharged engine.
Perhaps British manufacturers and operators are at last beginning to "wake up" as far as turbocharging goes. And about time too!
Small Heath, Birmingham. N. J. PAINTING.