ROADSIDE AND GARAGE.
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A Page for Drivers, Mechanics land Foremen,
How Not to Unload.
The sender of the following communication , has been awarded the extra payment of 5s. this week.
[2,370] " H.M." (West Bromwich) writes :—" The wintry weather is liable to eate.h us all unawares, in all sorts of waye. One of our drivers recently was crossing, a snow-covered yard, when one rear wheel sank into a hidden hole and refused to come out. The yard was actually his destination, and his load hap
pened to be in the Shape of a single casting, weighing 31 tons.
"The yard foreman, being of an accommodating dispositiOn, declared himself quite willing to accept delivery of the casting, and gave our driver permission to deposit it on the ground then and there, thus relieving the wagon of its load, as a preliminary to taking steps to get it out of the hole. The work of unloading, therefore, went forward with perhaps more haste than consideration. Our man tipped the casting off the side of the lorry, and, in so doing, broke three of the cross-members of the body, those marked 1, 2 and 3 in the accompanying sketch.
"The repair of the bodywork was a small matter. It merely required thiee new beams, of the same cross-section as the bfoken ones, to be laid beside the old ones and bolted thereto. I would not waste the Editor's time by referring further to that, I would like, however, to indicate, for the benefit of new drivers, the proper method of off-loading a heavy piece such as this, when the operation has to be conducted without the aid of a crane or other lifting apparatus.
"It. has to be borne in mind that tie edge of a lorry platform is not so constructed as to be able to stand, concentrated near one point of its length, a load such as the one mentioned above Additional support is therefore needed. and can, readily be afforded by means which are sure to be at hand whenever such a load is being received or des! patched. The first essential is a stoat plank, about 12 ins. by 3 ins. This should be placed longitudinally under the edge of the body, as shown at A on the sketch. At each end it should be supported by a jack, and the jacks themselves should be set on baulks of timber so as to spread the load over the surface of the ground. The jacks should be set so that they are just relieving the spring, on the side of the chassis near to them, of its load. As an additional safeguard, a couple of pieces of 'timber (marked B aid C on the sketdh) should be driven in between the tyre of the wheel and the underside of the plank A."
GetEing Home with a Broken Valve.
[2,371] " (Dublin) writes: ' A short time ago, when returning home with a 31-tormer, fully loaded, one of the exhaust valves broke clean through the hole for the cotter pin. I had no spare valve on board, and it seemed .as if the only thing to do would be to blank off that particular cylinder and struggle home as best I could on the remaining three. In ordinary circumstances, no doubt, such procedure would have sufficed. Unfortunately, however, the road which I had still to traverse to the extent of 11 miles or so was in very had condition, and, moreover, most of it ran through boggy country, which necessitated, even with an engine at full strength, a considerable amount of low. gear running.
" In view of all this, it will be understood that my chances of getting home with such a lame duck as a threecylinder engine dragging a fourth were anything but. rosy, so I thought again, and in this case second thoughts proved best. I removed the inlet valve and put it in place of the broken exhaust. I then. put the exhaust valve in place of the inlet, where it operated automatically, opening on the suction stroke, closing satisfactorily, if perhaps a little late, on completion of that stroke, and remaining closed, partly by reason of its own weight, and partly because of the pressure within the cylinder, during the other three strokes. So equipped, I not only ran home without trouble—indeed, with hardly any perceptible difference in the running of the car—but continued to run in the ordinary course of business, for a further week, pending the dilatory arrival of a new valve."
A Hint to Dennis Driver.
[2,372] " N.A.G." (Royton) writes " Most Dennis drivers will have noticed, particularly towards the close of a long run, or at the end of what has been a hard day's work, that, whenever the vehicle is brought to a standstill, with the engine still running, there is a clatter of the universal joints on the clutch ishaft, even when theSe joints are comparatively new and, presumably, but • Slightly worn. If the cover of one of the joints be removed, it will be found that the joint is dry, all the oil having run away through the small gap between the shaft and that end plate. This only happens after a long run, as I have said, and the reason is that, after a while, the heat from the engine has had time to travel down the shaft and thin out the oil.
" I have ,prevented this by substituting grease for oil. I turned one of the end plates round through 180 degrees so that the two oil plugs, =teed of being, as they are in the standard machine, opposite to one another, are now on opposite sides of the shaft, as shown in the accompanying sketch. I then took away both oil plugs and replaced them by standard Dennis greasers, which are, as it happens, screwed the same thread as the plugs. I screw two or three capfuls of grease into each joint at the begin.. fling of each week, and the same about the middle of the week, and have no trouble now from these joints.
"Of course, if the joints are badly worn the internal ports must be renewed."
Will " H.E.M.B." (Lincoln), the writer of letter No. 2,367, please communicate with us as his address has been mislaid?
Lamps Alight.
On Saturday, March 18th, light your lamps at 6.37 in London, 6.43 in New castle, 6.44 in Birmingham, 6.50 in Edin burgh, 6.49 in Liverpool, 6.47 in Bristol; and 7.32 in Dublin.