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MECHANICAL

14th March 1952, Page 38
14th March 1952
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 38, 14th March 1952 — MECHANICAL
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

-IDLING the Sappers'. Way

By P. A. C. Brockington, A.M.I.Mech.E.

ilL/FECHANICAL handling has become the dominating pre occupation of industrial planners throughout the world, and whilst there is general agreement on certain basic principles, the introduction of advanced methods is often complicated by variations in individual requirements and operatives' attitude of mind.

Judging by a recent visit to a unit of the Royal Engineers, the organization of mechanical handling in a military stores depot involves many problems of diversity which are even more complex than the average civilian type, but the acceptance by the, personnel of a technical innovation and an eagerness to ,test and improve upon it, can be taken for gran ted.

Realistic Ideas

The Sappers have had a wide ex perience of handling equipment under difficulties, and have realistic ideas on conserving trained manpower and promoting efficiency. The tradition of the Royal Engineers is based on the premise that there is something new to learn every day, and contrary to the opinions of some taxpaying civilians, the reduction of waste of time and material is a top priority.

At No. 1 Engineer Stores Depot, Long Marston, near Stratford-onAvon, the Sappers have introduced a mechanical-handling system using an assortment of British and American machines for the purpose of moving a large amount of equipment, ranghag &cirri boxes of stnall 'parts to drums weighing 20 .tons .each.

The depot was forniedin 1940, and after the War it became a dumping ground for engineer stores from all

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parts of the world; it was not until 1949 that it was decided to reorganize the. unit as a permanent peace-time" depot. Some 200,000 tons of stores are spread over an area of approximately 600 acres, and much of the equipment has now been lying unprotected in the open for a number of years.

An extensive programme of preservation and re-packing will eventually entail movement of the complete stock over comparatively large distances, and the work will call for progressive developments in the handling methods employed. A system of cement roadways is planned, but for the present the vehicles must mainly operate on soft cinder tracks.

The mobile equipment on charge to the five stores-holding yards includes 46 fork-lift trucks of six makes with caPacities up to 61 tons, 17 wheeled cranes of seven makes with capacities up to 6 tons, and tracked cranes of four makes of 21 to 40 tons. In addition, there is a• number of dumpers, graders and so on attached to the service stores.

Decauville trains are employed in three of the yards in conjunction with Ruston-Bucyrus tracked cranes, and it is of interest that the use of a light railway is regarded as a temporary, but valuable, measure Pending preparation of the ground for road vehicles. A higher degree of standardization is planned to ease maintenance' and replacement problems; the availability of suitable modern vehicles will he the deciding factor.

Although the bulky and heavy loads carried, the rough and often muddy tracks , over . which the vehicles must travel, and the wide spacing of the, stores, represent conditions which: are unlike those normally found in industrial production centres, or on the typical civil engineering site, they apply to many civilian projects the needs of which appear to have been neglected by the mechanical-handling experts.

During my conversations with the depot commander, Col. E. C. R. Stileman, C.B.E., and Lt.-Col. G. M. McMullen, D.B.E., commanding the operative stores wing, the opinion was advanced that a heavier type of fork-lift truck than was in current production in this ,country was required for outdoor work.

An American Ross machine of 30 b.h.p. employed at the depot has a capacity of 6e.tons, a lift of 16 ft, and a speed of about 15 m.p.h.. it was seenin action lifting four Baileybridge pontoon sections (each weiehing 1 ton) and moving 3-ton cable drums.

Invaluable Units

Alternatively, the pontoons are lifted one at a time by a 19R13 4-ton tracked crane or by fork-lift trucks with a capacity of 2 tons of Coventry Climax and Conveyancer manufacture. Vese smaller units have proved invaluable for loading and unloading palleted stares and for stacking in Romney huts. The packages are transported by articulated units across the stores site.

Lt.-Col. McMullen referred to lorry-mounted cranes as the most valuable of all the depot equipment for outdoor work. The comparatively high speed at which they can travel enables them to be employed for consecutive jobs in widely spaced yards without a long time-lag, and their mobility on the road reduces delays when transference to or from sub-depots is required. Wheeled cranes are represented at the depot by a Ransomes and Rapier 6-ton vehicle, a Coles 5-ton crane, a Smith 5-tonner and a number of smaller units of Coles, Chaseside, Jones and Hyster manufacture, In conformity with regulations, the travel of fork-lift trucks is limited to 250 ft.; for greater distances, all stores are loaded on trailers and rail trucks, or are cranehandled. This regulation is justified on the ground that the optimum use of the trucks would not otherwise be made and that maintenance costs would be increased. I think it suggests that both small and large fork-lift trucks could be developed for " long-distance " travel, or alternatively a forked vehicle specifically designed for inter-stores transfer across open spaces at an increased speed.

The work of the sappers in the field was not a subject for investigation, but a comment by Capt. K. Duffik on handling Bailey-bridge parts during erection was of special interest as it also related to high-capacity fork-lift

trucks. In his view, a larger machine with sufficient ground clearance would be of great assistance on such cross-country operations.

If it were possible to fit a mechanism, as used in gun turrets, to keep the load level when traversing rough surfaces, the gain would be still further enhanced. As an alternative, the steel parts might be magnetically clamped to prevent slipping.

In the preservation building, parts such as oil-pipe couplings are handled on pallets by a Conveyancer fork-lift truck and loaded on a 6-ton articulated trailer, drawn by a Bedford tractor. Here it was observed by Maj. R. C. R. Valentine, who conducted me on the tour, that

rimless platform trailers and lorries would greatly facilitate loading.

An electric overhead travelling crane runs over the work benches and is used for unloading and transfer. After manual rust removal, the parts are treated with phosphoric acid, washed in cold water and dipped in bituminous paint. This provides resistance to corrosion for two years if storage be in the open, and for an indefinite period when the parts are stored under cover.

More Wanted

The boxes are transferred to Romney huts, unloaded by fork trucks and stacked in 3-ft. sections to a height of 12 ft. There are three trucks to every 30 huts, which, according to the officer in charge, Capt. F. Catchpole, is far below the optimum. A measure of the work to be done is indicated by his opinion that the number of trucks could usefully be increased to one for every two huts.

The total stock of Bailey-bridge parts amounts to many thousands of tons, stored in the open to a height which necessitates removal and loading by crane This is generally performed by a 33RB 10-ton tracked vehicle, which is an ideal type for working on rough surfaces and for continuous operation on the same stretch of soft ground. Bundles of six panels are prepared for package loading by strapping with Signode soft-steel strip.

The variety of handling jobs which most be co-ordinated was shown during the tour by a group of threevehicles working in close proximity. A Coles 5-ton lorry-mounted crane. based on a Thor nycroft six-wheeled oil-engined chassis, was seen stacking bundles of six pontoon saddles, a Coventry Climax oil-engined fork-lift truck was being used for the interstack transfer of loose sway bars, and a Muir-Hill 3k-cubic-yd. dumper, powered by a Ford 24-h.p. industrial engine, was unloading scrap metal into a rail truck. The largest crane in the depot is an American Lima 40-ton tracked vehicle, employed for handling 20ton cable drums.

In addition to the mobile cranes and fork-lift trucks, a 5-ton electric derrick is used for loading raft pontoons on to railway wagons, and an electric overhead travelling crane is employed for handling 2-ton launches. The Decauville train, to which reference has already been made, is hauled by a Hudson Hunslett locomotive, powered by a 20 b.h.p. Ruston oil engine. Changes

will be introduced when the latest equipment becomes available. In some instances, road vehicles may be considered as preferable alternatives to the existing machines.

A number of hauliers, specializing in the transport of one commodity, or .group of commodities, has already increased profits and bonus payments to operatives by utilizing mechanical-handling equipment at the home terminal. The choice between stationary, slow-moving and fully mobile machines is therefore of obvious importance when mechanized loading or unloading is contemplated.

New Problems It is appropriate to quote Capt. E. A. Pye, M.B.E., officer in charge of depot equipment, who said: "The sapper is facing new problems with different machines every day and we can teach other people a thing or two about the kind of machine that is wanted. This particularly applies to mechanical-handling equipment."

To add substance to this comment, he suggested that this "wider comprehension" of technical developments was largely the result of the encouragement given to all ranks to study both technical and academic subjects in working hours.


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