Fork Trucks Speed Up Aircraft Loading
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A _DEMONSTRATION of the Stacar true fork lift truck was recently given at -London Airport, Heathrow, as the result of the interest shown by Mr. George S. Lindgren, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, in mechanical means for loading and unloading aircraft.
As reported in "The Commercial Motor" on January 31, Mr. Lindgren made a speech in Birmingham, in which he outlined the airport operator's needs in transport and handling appliances. I.T.D., Ltd., 29, Palace Gate, London, W.8, sole concessionnaire for the machine, immediately replied by inviting him to a demonstration.
Carrying a load of 700 kilogs. (1,400 lb.) on its forks, the Stacatruc was put through a series of manceuvres and demonstrated its ability to turn in a tight circle.
A large box, open at the top and with a hinged front, was loaded with packets and' picked up on a steel pallet by the Stacatruc. A man stood in the box and gave directions to he driver as the truck approached the loading hatch of the aeroplane, a Douglas Skymaster. The box was placed is close as possible to the aircraft and at the right height, and packages were quickly transferred. By lowering the front of the box to rest on 'the floor of the aircraft hatch, heavy consignments could easily be transhipped.
Normally parcels are loaded into aircraft by using a drop-sided lorry, with a loader standing on a platform on the roof of the cab. Packages are handed up to him and he passes them to men in the aircraft.
The fork truck is particularly useful in handling heavy indivisible loads, and horses have been loaded into aircraft in this way.
We were told by Mr. R. T. Hartman, director of I.T.D., Ltd., that the machine is now being made by Clifford Aero and Auto, Ltd., a subsidiary of Clifford Motor Components. Ltd., Birmingham. at a large modern factory at Meir, Stoke-on-Trent. The production target that he hoped would be attained was 300 to 500 by 1948.
Apart from an order from the Port of London Authority, contracts had been received from the Argentine and Danish Governments for machines for use in the docks of Buenos Aires and Copenhagen.
. The Stacatruc, which was designed by Mr. F. Fenn, A.I.Mech.E., was described in our issue dated September 20, 1946. Besides forks, other fittings, including a crane jib, can be fixed to the lifting arms.