t Keeps Going When Others Have Stopped
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ERY three hours, J. C. Nicholls, Ltd., )sham, complete a new house in ampshire. Their operations are divided private-enterprise estate development and ; contracts for local authorities; in both me is usually vital. Mechanization is much y Nicholls to ensure efficiency, but this La nought when sites, predominantly clayd, are impenetrable by wheeled vehicles.
nigh tractor
and track-laying The R-type Bedford en t can operate with scow-ended body ;uch conditions it tips its load into the
il cannot enter the site. Likewise, work comes to a halt. Although s use tractors to haul tippers on sites under the most difficult conthey regard the practice as amic, detrimental to the life of idles and to be avoided except in :essity.
equently, they have put into m a novel tipping vehicle which :.11 solve their problem.
basis of the new vehicle is a R-type 4 x 4 chassis and cab. dard, the model has a 300-cu.-in. engine and a 156-in. wheelbase. )atents, Ltd., reduced the wheel132 in.—the shortest practicable on without imparting excessive ity to the propeller shafts—and :ed the frame between the rearfront hanger brackets and the ring rear 'hangers with standard I flitch plates.
Oil-engine Conversion
iicholls have an exclusively oil fleet, the vehicle was not ble with a petrol engine. Vauxhall , Ltd., do not offer an oil engine R type, but United Service s, Ltd., the Vauxhall main dealers rtsmouth, who developed and 3 the complete vehicle, have, the past two years, carried out han 40 successful oil-engine cons of this chassis.
Bedford 300-cu.-in. six-cylindered tjection unit is substituted for the engine with little difficulty. d Bedford parts are used for the ion, including an exhaust pipe was employed originally with the R6 engine in 7-tonners. The s a flat formed on it at one point additional clearance, and the ub for the silencer has a short ytt piece welded to it. Slight ations arc made to the engine rigs.
t ra battery is fitted and the dashcontrols are altered to conform le standard Bedford oil-engine ;ion. The deep sump provided for the R-type petrol engine is taken off the original unit and fitted to the oil engine to cater for the steep angles at which cross-country vehicles operate.
The approximate cost of the oilengine conversion is £450 net, plus batteries. When it is carried out on a new vehicle supplied by United Service Garages the allowance for the original petrol engine is £100, bringing the net cost down to £350.
Tyres fitted to the Nicholls' vehicle are 9.00-20-in. (12-ply) Goodyear Trakgrips, with twin equipment at the rear. On the Bedford R type, United Service Garages offer 12,00-20-in. (14-ply) single tyres all round, in addition to the standard Bedford options which range up to 11.0020-in, singles.
Use of such large tires is advised only where maximum cross-country payloads have to be carried as, at the moment, with the 5.34 to 1 ratio axles fitted as standard, the tyres increase the overall gear ratios excessively.
Nicholls did not specify single tyres, as the vehicle will operate for only a small proportion of its working life on really difficult ground, and a compromise between satisfactory road operation and reasonable cross-country performance with a 7-ton payload was required. Thus the tyres, which have a directional tread, are opposed on the front and rear wheels lo give maximum traction at the rear and least rolling resistance at the front.
Edbro-R, and E. Tippers, Ltd., made the all-steel body, which, like the chassis, is an effective compromise. Its unusual design enables it to be used for tipping bulk material, such as sand or rubble or for carrying bricks, sacked materials or other building supplies.
It is 12 ft. 6 in. tong and 6 ft. 10 in. wide, with a depth of 2 ft, 0) in. A low 12' scow end to Nicholls' own design is incorporated with a tailboard above it. Most unusual for a scow-ended body are the single drop sides, which extend up to the point where the scow end commences.
The scow end was incorporated largely
to allow the vehicles to tip hardcore directly into foundations before -concreting. Previously the lorries had to unload hardeore away from the foundations and it was then shovelled in. By virtue of all-wheel-drive, the new vehicle makes the precise approach which is essential, whilst the scow end tends to shoot the shingle farther away from the rear of the .body.
The body was calibrated at .6 .cu. yd. It is tippedby an Edbro 4LIsD( tripleextension twin-ram forward gear, which gives it a tipping angle of 55'. The complete vehicle to the specification described cost a little over £2,000..
It It is operating on a 280-house building site near Fawley. I spent a morning with it at its normal work.
Self-extricating
With front-wheel -drive and its attendant low ratio in the transfer box engaged, the vehicle gave an impression of go-anywhere capabilities. On a very soft-surfaced tip at the bottom of a sandpit the rear wheels sank alarmingly. Doubts were dispelled, however, when the vehicle, loaded with 6 cu. yd. of gravel, Pulled itself clear without difficulty.
A weigh-bridge check of the laden vehicle was not possible, but the load of wet gravel carried was estimated to weigh about 7 tons. Combined with an unladen weight of 4+ tons, this gave a gross weight of over II tons. The 300cu.-in. oil engine, which has net outputs of 89 b.h.p. at 2,600 r.p.m. and 210 lb.-ft. torque at 1,400 r.p.m., proved, rather to my surprise, quite capable of dealing with this weight.
The vehicle handled well, with rather lighter steering than the normal Bedford 7-tanner. Figures for weight distribution over the front and rear axles were not available, but I would guess that the front axle was not carrying its full share, as the forward tipping gear requires the body to be set back from the cab. I was told that if further models were supplied. the tipping gear would be inset into the front of the body. A.P.