A NEW USE FOR THE ATKINSON WAGON.
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A Development of the Atkinson Steam Vehicle to Meet New Transport Conditions. A 10-ton Trailer. The Standard Wagon Improved. Exhibits for Olympia.
Side elevation of the Atkinson 104-ton Liverpool-type trailer, showing the main constructional features.
LIVERPOOL has always called for special types of vehicle to cope with its heavy traffic to and from the docks, and the latest development in this conneetion is the employment of 10-ton trailers hauled by steam tractors.
Atkinson-Walker Wagons, Ltd., believed that their ordinary 6-ton steam wagon was quite capable of undertaking sit& work, without the need to expend a lot of money in designing and producing a special type of tractor, which would necessarily be expensive. They therefore merely took a standard machine, "bobbed" its tail, leaving the wheelbase and other essentials the same, and fitted a sloping water tank with an approximate capacity of 1,000 gallons.
This tank, in addition to providing weight for the adhesion a the driving wheels, contains sufficient water to supply the boiler for a whole day's work, and the level of the supply pipe is such that the water cannot be removed beyond a certain level, it being intended that the tank should be replenished each morning.
-Additional bunker space is afforded between the cab and the tank, the fuel supply also being sufficient for the day.
Several of these tractors are already in operation and giving great satisfaction, the gross weight of trailer and load being 12itons. The greasiest streets can be negotiated without wheel
slip.the users of this type of macine are J. Bibby and Sons, Ltd., the seed crushers.
The price of the road tractor is the same as that of the ordinary steam wagon. In addition to the tractors, the company are supplying suitable 10-ton trailers, strongly constructed in rolled channel steel. amply braced by limner ous cross-members. Particular attention has been given to the wheel bearings, the wearing area being exceptionally large.
The chief dimensions are :—Wheelbase, 13 ft.; loading height, 3.ft. 0 ins.; track, 5 ft. 4 ins.; overall length, 20 ft.; overall width, 7 ft. 2 ins.
An interesting feature of the construction is that the cross-members are dropped to carry the floor, so that the steel side members actually form an undamagable cone. The brakes 'are of the internal-expanding type with large drums; they can be applied either front the side of the trailer or from the tractor.
Several detail improvements have been made in the standard steam wagon to bring it right up to date and to meet the call for bigger load capacity and higher speeds. For instance, the engine power has been increased by 8 per cent. by enlarging the bores, whilst the boiler capacity for steam and water is actually 50 •per cent. greater, with an addition of 10 per cent, in the heating surface.
Formerly solid tyres of 160 mm. crosssection proved ample for use on this wagon, but lately excessive wear has been observed, so the section has now been increased to 180 mm. all round.
The Atkinson exhibits for Olympia will include an example of the latest 6-ton unifiow steam wagon with special covered body, supplied to the order• of Mr. " Walter • Green, Castle Roller Mills, Beccles, Suffolk. • A boiler with the top outer shell removed will show the interior conStruction and workmanship.
An example of the uniflow engine will also be arranged elearlY to 'show its simplicity.