Passing Comments
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Encourage Inventive Faculties
THE true engineer often feels an urgent need to be A creative, and one of the ways in which he can realize fulfilment of his desire is to see his name on a patent specification referring to some achievement in design. Denial of this symbolic expression can have a depressing and negativing effect on his future activities in this direction.
Some employers completely fail to understand this and invariably require their engineering employees to take out such patents in the names of the companies concerned. Others go so far as to join the inventors' names with those of company executives, thus even if some monetary recognition is made, there still remains amongst engineers in this position an underlying feeling of frustration.
It is quite understandable that where the companies' facilities and " know-how " fiave been used in developing ideas they have certain claims, but the-se can well be the subject of suitable and appropriately generous agreements.
Refrigeration Helped by Science
CIENTIFIC laboratory and road tests are being instituted by the National Bureau of Standards for the cooling efficiency of refrigerated trailers. They are being sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Army, and the Truck-Trailer Manufacturers' Association.
The main objective is to establish a standard rating method to simulate accurately heat-transfer conditions while the vehicles are on the road. Methods are being devised to cover the effects of solar radiation, wind pressure, and ait and moisture transfer through trailer walls.
Already a cOmparison of laboratory and road-test results shows that the heat gained is significantly greater on the road than during stationary conditions, for the same ambient temperature and humidity. Present indications are that this is due principally to air leakage into the body under the impact of air pressure against the front, whilst small increases in heat seem to be due to colour radiation.
It is believed that if air leakage can be eliminated, smaller refrigeration units can be used or, alternatively, less insulation will be necessary. Another point is that if moisture can be kept out of the insulation spaces, deterioration of the bodies will be reduced.
In carrying out the first tests three 35-ft. refrigerated semi-trailers were employed. For the laboratory tests these were placed in an insulated structure equipped with humidity and temperature controls. They were mounted on three calibrated platform scales to determine the gain in weight caused by the condensation of infiltrated moisture. For comparison outside this enclosure was installed a prototype refrigerating equipment with a metered heat comparator.
In Britain increasing attention is being paid to refrigerated or purely insulated vehicles, but it is quite possible that some of these are constructed on hit-or-miss methods, whereas tests such as those described would provide sound basic information for designers. These might well be a valuable task for the National Physical Laboratory.
Early Form of Auto Wheel
nISCOVERED recently in a Chicago booksellers was a picture of what must certainly be one of the oldest types of commercial vehicle, dating from the late 1890s. It showed a two-wheeled van with a single driving wheel mounted openly at the front. This forward wheel was carried on a tubular bracket with a forked extension, together with a two-cylindered air-cooled engine and a fairly large open flywheel, two small cylindrical petrol tanks and the appropriate controls. Steering was by a fairly large horizontal wheel mounted on a vertical pillar.
An advantage of the "power wheel" is that it could be damped to any other type of wagon in a few minutes.
Salute to American Truckers
THE October 20 issue of Transport Topics, the national newspaper of American hauliers, celebrated the 25th anniversary of American Trucking Associations, Inc., of which it is the official organ, and The Commercial Motor congratulates its editor and publisher, Mr. Morris H. Glazer, on a remarkable production, which established a record in size and interest.
Included are full details of the origin, background and achievements of 63 representative motor carriers who elected to join, editorially and by advertising, in this salute to the national organization. They tell of the men who risked pioneering a new field in American transport, which is now an enormous business, and has recently earned the felicitations of President Eisenhower for its remarkable service to the economy of the American nation, its manufacturers, traders and the public.
Hauliers in the U.S.A. have their ups and downs, and a constant war against them has been carried on by the railways, in which Government bodies at various times have participated, but they have won through and retained their independence and right to operate, although subjected to stringent regulations and, at various times, a multiplicity of individual State laws in respect of a variety of permissible 'loads and vehicle sizes, but at least they did not experience the tribulations of nationalization to which so many British hauliers were subjected.
Claims for Transit Damage
THE research agency of a large insurance company in
America has discovered some interesting points concerning freight handling there. One is that 70 per cent. of all claims for loss and damage can be traced to anger. hate, other emotional disturbances and temporary rage on the part of the personnel, concerned.
This was stated at a conference on the subject, where a professor also claimed that another study revealed that about 30 per cent. of the damage occurred before carriers accepted the commodities. Often, too, transport companies paid claims without proper technical and scientific support. Tests had shown that some commodities were handled as many at 35 times before reaching the carriers, and each added to the chance of damage.
No Forty Winks
VARIOUS forms of alarm to prevent tired drivers from v falling asleep have been invented. The latest seems to be a battery-operated device which resembles a hearing aid, with a tiny receiver fitting into the ear. It is made of plastics, is very light and the miniature battery resembles that used in some modern electrically driven wrist-watches. If the wearer begins to nod an automatic switch sounds a buzzer. The instrument, which is called "Driver-Larm,' is made by Wright Airborne Electronics of Kansas City, U.S.A.