omanian trucker Costica Fransinisco could have been in a real
Page 21
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jam after his truck broke down at a Yorkshire service station. Penniless and hungry he faced a 10-day wait for parts to be shipped from Romania.
Fortunately for him, Connect Truck Centre at Ossett came to the rescue, offering food, shelter, casual work and even visits to local beauty spots.
Workers took it in turns to bring Costica breakfast, while technician John Flower's wife supplied a packed lunch. The Yorkshire kindness kept the Romanian smiling while his Inspectorate's announcement that it has developed a "corrosion assessment tool", to you and I a hammer (CM 18-24 July), prompted air brake wizard Bendix to reveal that it made a similar breakthrough in 1976.
Technical services manager Neville Field sent the Hawk a fact sheet describing a Universal Service Tool for Air Brake Equipment which was handed to disbelieving customers at the 1976 commercial vehicle show.
The UST was said to be "a tool of two halves" working on the "age old principle of vibratory and percussive persuasion. The large surface area (A) is designed for major overhauls and the smaller surface area (B) for routine maintenance. The selected surface is applied with a rapid downward movement to the offending valve. The resulting impact is directly proportional to the force exerted. With practice the operative can quickly learn the required amount of effort, but instructional literature will be made
hree CM readers
with long
memories each get an autographed copy of the hardback version of Triumphs of Transport by John H Boughton for knowing that the Boughton business was founded in Buckinghamshire in the late 1800s (CM 18-24 July). They are: R Pickering of Telford, Salop; TJ Etheridge, Skegness, Lines; and Owen Kristiansen, Ampthill, Bedford.
available if required."
At the same time Bendix reinvented the bicycle pump and an admiring customer, s Peter Wilson described the tools as the "only ones that the majority of our customers can use with any success".
Crane Fruehauf announced that it would host weekly training seminars for service personnel "to make sure this important information is totally absorbed".
Other Bendix breakthroughs included the multiple open-ended wrench; the bi-blade screwdriver; and the multiple-head and two-handled hammers — ideal for simultaneous use by left and right-handed technicians.
Alas, Bendix's US parent company failed to see the joke and demanded an explanation of the "purpose of these promotional items so we can explain it to possible US customers".
Whatever happened to the carefree seventies? Thanks for the reminder.