MOTOR VEHICLES IN LAUNDRY SERVICE.
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Some of the Difficulties which Have to Be Met 'A Comparison of Types. Users' Experiences.
VOR MANY years laundriee'. have been faithful adherents to mechanical transport, and they were amongst the first to recognize its undoubted advantages over other means for conVeying goods. This pioneer work shows itself to-day in the number of old vehicles which are still in laundry service in many parts of the country. In many cases vehicles ten or more years old are still running, and apparently giving satisfaction.
In pre-war days the greatest difficulty which had to be faced was that of peak loads at the week-ends. The British housewife had, as the result of many years' practice, adopted the custom of demanding to have all soiled linen collected on Monday and returned on the following Friday. This means that the motor vehicles were very fully employed on these two days, and practically idle for the remainder of the time. However, the war gave the whole scheme a thorough shake-up, as transport had to
be conserved, and the few vehicles which could be used had to have their work spread over the whole week, so that at last. the custom was, if not actually broken, certainly altered for the better. Unfortunately, there are sigqs that a return is being made to this old and, so far as transport is concerned, unsatisfactory system.
Laundry service presents other peculiar difficulties. The areas of collection and delivery have, in most case.s, been greatly extended, and it is frequently found that one laundry in a certain district will be obtaining most of its work in the district occupied by another laundry, the reverse holding good.
Much of the work has to be done in fairly dense traffic, and it practically always necessitates a very large number of stops, each vehicle making as many as 100 calls per day. The duration of such calls may be anything from a few moments to perhaps five minutes, and the engines are usually kept run
ning during each wait. Thus, it would seem ideal work for the electric vehicle but for the fact that speed is necessary between the stops, and the normal electric vehicle cannot do much more than' 12 m.p.h., altireugh successful efforts have been made to produce comparatively high-speed vehicles of -this type, which should meet the requirements.
So far as stopping and starting are concerned, the electric vehicle is far more suited to the work than any other, and it i,s rather surprising that more are not employed.
The larger laundries' employ fleets of Vehicles, ranging in load-carrying capacity from 7 cwt. to 3 tons. In most cases the vehicles are loaded to their utmost capacity, both on the outward and homeward journeys, so that there is little dead mileage; on the other hand, the. work is of a very gruelling nature, arid everything has to be subservient to punctuality in collection and delivery. Vehicles which, if employed by the
average tradesman, might not be considered fit for service, often have to be sent out and worked until an opportunity occurs for repairs to be made, although in certain laundries the transport managers are paying more attention to this matter, and are, so far as possible, allowing at least half a day per week for the inspection and repair of each vehicle.
In talking of laundries, it is necessary to make distinctions. Some deal only with private work, others confining themselves exclusively to contract work for hotels and shipping companies, whilst others combine the two classes.
As an example of those in the middle class, we will deal with the Camden Steam Laundry. Ltd., of 260, York Road, London, N. 7, and Fulham. This laundry does no private work at all, but in its contract work for hotels and shipping it employs a fleet of one Dennis of 3-ton capacity, a 30-cwt. Fiat and 4-tanner of the same make, a 30-cwt. Overland, and two ton Fords. It also has to hire a considerable number of vehicles for the heavy loads which have to be dealt with when liners arrive at _ the docks. The extent of this work can he ganged when it is mentioned that in some boats the soiled linen amounts to 30,000 pieces, which means three or four lorry loads. A typical load is 100 to 12/0 specially large bags and 200 bundles of blankets, each bundle containing ten blankets.
Most of the shipping arrives at the London Docks, whilst the hotels and restaurants are in the West End.
When the Ships arrive the vehicles employed in connection with them sometimes have to do three double journeys each in the morning and afternoon, making a total of six double journeys for the day. Every piece haS to he checked off the boat on receipt and checked on to it on delivery, and the whole is loaded by hand. Ma,ny of the loads consist of bedding, which is remade by the laundry company.
The vans visiting the hotels and big restaurants start, out in the morning at 8 o'clock taking the clean linen and returning with the dirty. They sometimes visit the same place three times a day, said the linen consists chiefly a tablecloths and serviettes. The Fords each carry 32 large hampers of washing, and the total number ad pieces
dealt with is approximately 130,000 per week.
The Dennis although purchased in 1918, is still doing excellent work, and even in the crowded traffic conditions runs eight miles to the gallon of petrol. The Fords were doing 14 m.p.g. until the warm weather, when the mileage rose suddenly to 16 m.p.g.
The repairs to the Fords are carried out by Wallace-Harmer Motors, Ltd., whilst of the other vehicles Carter, Paterson and Go., Ltd., attend to the bodywork, and Dent and Hellyer, Ltd., to the chassis.
Another large laundry which does a big trade.with hotels and restaurants is the Savoy Hotel Laundry, of 17, Union Road, Clapham, London, S.W. 4. The fleet used by this concern is of peculiar interest, in that it includes battery electric vehicles as well as those employing petrol as fuel.
The actual fleet is composed of two Burfords, each of 2-ton capacity, a ton Ford, and the aforementional electrics, consisting of three Garretts of 2-ton capacity.
The manager of the laundry, Mr. Barry Neame, has very decided opinions upon the value of mechanical transport, and particularly of their advertising value. He pointed out that the vehicles must always be in a perfect state of repair, both as regards bodywork and
chassis. This laundry is remarkably clean and well organized, and the workers perform their tasks under ideal conditions, and in many instances their outlook is upon a beautifully kept rock garden; but there are few visitors, and therefore it is only by seeing the transport vehicles that many people draw their conclusions as to the sanitary conditions prevailing.
Making a comparison between the petrol and electric vehicles, it was pointed out that the particular advantages of each depended entirely upon the position of the customers in the areas served. If they are•close, then the electric is ideal; but if far out, then the petrol vehicle is essential.
The Savoy Laundry has a certain advantage in this connection, as arran.gements have been made for the batteries of the electric vehicles to be boosted at the Savoy Hotel, and through this they are able to perform on one night-charge journeys of from 26 miles to 48 miles. The qualities demanded from transport vehicles by the company are speed in traffic, the capacity for carrying heavy loads, freedom from breakdown, and economy in operation while working in areas which involve a tremendous number of stops. The electric fulfils these conditions fairly well, except that it is not fast enough in traffic.
A certain amount of trouble has been experienced in charging them. Up to the present this has been done by mercury vapour lamp rectifiers, but the concern is now installing an Austin charging set, which, it is believed, will effect great economies.
One little trouble was mentioned, and that was, if an electric vehicle breaks down and another has to be sent out to pick up its-load, the second vehicle has to have its batteries recharged before it can start out; that is; of course, unless a spare vehicle can be kept ready, which is hardly a paying proposition. As, however, the. firm uses petrol vehicles in addition te the eleotrics, should an electric break down, one of the petrol vehicles would be sent to give assist
The electric vehicles have proved very eesnon.iCal on tyres, the .sets lasting approximately 2 years, during which time they have travelled between 18,600 miles and 20,000 miles.
In the opinion of the manager, there is a tendency for the manufacturers of electric vehicles to design the chassis so that too much weight is thrown on the steering -wheels, thus making the steer ing unduly heavy. It has also been found that the absence of a bonnet and the positioning of the driver so far forward have disconcerted the man accustomed to driving petrol vehicles, with the result that accidents have occurred through the drivers misjudging distance, whilst, owing to the steering wheel being trather far from the off side of the cob, the driver, while reversin.g, has to release it in order to see where he is going.
Apart from the Savoy Hotel, the cornpany .aisaeliave contracts with Claridge'n the Berkeley Hotel, and Simpson's Restaurant, and, although it was at first not intended to do any private work, they were forced into taking some, as visitors to these hotels insist upon this being done; but, as they do not wish to be troubled vaith small accounts, they fix the minimum account at 21 per week..
The vehicles go up and down to the Savoy Hotel five times a day, and for the hotel alone there is a turnover of 120,000 pieces per week, apart from the work for the staff, visitors, and other private customers. In all, the vehicles have to deal with approxiMately 1,500 hampers, and some of these weigh as much, as 150 lb.
Once a week each vehicle is kept in for the whole day for inspection and repair. While on this subject, we may mention that great satisfaction was expressed regarding the Burford vehicles, one of which has run 15 months and never had a breakdown. Part of this was placed to the credit of the governed esigine, 'which prevents vehicles from being driven at excessive speeds. All vehicles are repainted every year and touched-up every six months.
It is interesting to mention that Mr. Berry Neanie used to run the Army laundry at Salonika, and this was large enough to require a fleet of 30 lorries to carry the linen.
With regard to laundries which deal with a lot of private work, we cannot do better than refer to those operated Loud and Western, Ltd., comprising the Sunlight Laundry, at Broughton, Road, Fulham, London, S.W. 6, and the South Park Laundry, South Park Road, Wimbledon. About half the work done by these laundries comes horn the West-end of London, the rest being local. The company blvo so arranged the work that it is spread over the entire week, and this prevents rushes. They collect and deliver every day, and also carry on a week-end service, collecting on Thursdays of • one week and delivering on Wednesday of the next week, and have even carried out work in four hours where quick delivery has been essential
The motor vehicles include a 2-ton Pierce-Arrow, a 30-cwt. Napier (dating from 1912)' a new 30-cwt. Maxwell, and four 1-ton Fords. These are all at Wimbledon, whilst at Broughton Road they have a ton Ford and two 7-cwt. vans of the same make. Three of the ton Fords and the Pierce-Arrow are on what is known as the "48-hour roughdry service," which consists of work sent oat unfinished so fax as ironing is concerned. The collection and delivery of this linen is done through depots spread over West and South-West London; by the aid of these offices the number of calla is reduced from apProxiinatety 300 to 32. The other vehicles collect and deliver in the West-End, Hampstead, Belgravia, and also do journeys to Malden, . Epsom, Ewell, Kingston, etc.
The company have installed an AngloAmerican petrol tank and pump, and find this gives a very big saving.
All the Fords have been fitted with h.t. magnetos in order to overcome troubles experienced with the ignition. The ton Fords average nearly 14 m.p.g., and do a mileage of about 180 per week. The 7-cwt. Fords do 20..m.p.g. -to 22 m.p.g.
in spite of continual stops and starts, necessitated by as many as 100 calls per day on private work. Our last visit was paid to Oceana Laundry, Ltd., Cornwall Road, London, N. 15. This company employ two 1-ton Napiers, purchased in 1913; two 'ton Fords, dating from 1919 and 1920; and five 7-cwt. hords, bought between 1916 and 1917. They are also taking delivery next week of a 2G Commer Car. This laundry also has receiving offices, of which there axe 12. These are visited daily, the vans returning at about 10.30 a.m. The vans then go out on their rounds, collecting soiled linen from private houses, returning at 2 p.m. At 4 p.m. they again leave to deliver clean linen, returning from this work at between 7 and 9 p.m.
Each van is kept in half a day per week for repairs. A staff of engineers looks after the laundry, and members of this also attend to the .motor _fleet. A bonus system is inoperation for the drivers, As a basis, the company have taken a figure for total'costs over a whole year—and this an excessive 'one, immediatelyfollowing the war. They then give a bonus of 21 per cent., which is shared between all the drivers, for any saving below the basic figure; thus, it is -in the interests of each driver to help the other,
The tyres used on the tight vehicles are most Dunlop cords, and these have given very satisfactory resalts,• in spite of the fact that the vehicles are very fully loaded.