The Motor Drivers News.
Page 25
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Concerning Clutches.
" H.L." (no address) sends this letter :β" I have been a reader of THE COMMERCIAL MO'IOR since it was first published, and have read the paper in a recent issue which was read before the Society ot Motor Omnibus Engineers. Concerning clutches, I may state that I am in charge of a zoh.p. 4-ton petrol lorry, which has steel tired driving wheels 36 inches in diameter, and a tread of 9 inches. This lorry is fitted with a lielc-Shaw metal-to-metal clutch, having thirty-three plates, each of which is 6 inches in diameter. The wagon has run a month, and has, during that time, run 600 miles and delivered 200 tons of goods. The clutch has not yet been adjusted in any way, only being charged every morning with paraffin and oil. I may state that I have had a trailer behind this wagon, which carries an extra 2 tons to cwt. upon it, making, in all, a total weight of x it tons. The clutch will pick up on second speed on the level road from standing. The wagon is still running in London, and I am in no way connected with the makers of this clutch, but write this for the benefit of readers of '111B COMMERCIAL MOTOR,' as I have benefited myself from the perusal of the Drivers News.' I shall be glad to send you a photograph of this lorry if you will accept it. I think it will interest your readers, as it was . a steam lorry, and has been converted into a petrol lorry. I have had a lot of rude remarks made to me when on the road, such as ' Old iron,' etc., from passing drivers of motorbuses, when going up hills with 5 tons on the platform. I think that if some of the drivers had 5 tons on their motorbuses, or TO tons on some of their 4oh.p. vehicles, they would not pass such remarks; I know that some of the drivers do not understand about motor haulage, or general engineering." [" II.L." has omitted to send his address. Will he rectify the omission as soon as convenient ?βEn.] A Magneto Experience.
" W.B." (London) is a road-foreman to one of the principal omnibus companies, and sends us this letter :--" As I am a regular reader of the Drivers News,' I thought you would be interested to hear of some trouble I had with a motorbus a few weeks ago. I get, as you may guess, many different kinds of jobs. The particular bus I am talking about was a 3oh.p. vehicle of a well-known make, and when I arrived at the place where it was broken down, I asked the driver if he could form any idea as to why it stopped, and how it had been pulling before the stoppage. lie informed me that it had been going well, so I set to work to find out what was the matter. First of all, I got him to turn the handle, after glancing at all the plugs so as to make sure the tappets were all correct. We saw that the petrol was all right, after which we tried to start the engine, but it was no good, so the driver gave another turn to the crank, and I put my finger on the buzz bar to get a shock, but I found that no current was passing. I at once looked to see if the lead from the contact piece of magneto to buzz bar was fixed, as it sometimes happens that these fall off, but it was all right. I next tested all the plugs separately with the connections from the buzz bar, but still nothing happened. I watched while the driver turned the crank, to see how the magneto acted, but I found that the fibre wheel had slipped, so I reset the magneto to first plug. I was now confident that it would start, but no, and on looking again I found that the fibre ring had slipped again, and kept on doing so each time I set it. I set to work to take the magneto down, which was rather a nuisance as the exhaust pipes were in the way. The magneto was of the Simms-Bosch type, with a stationary armature and a revolving sleeve. I took out the armature with the sleeve attached. I found that the sleeve would not revolve round the armature; the sleeve is attached to the armature by six counter-sunk screws at each end; three at the top and three at the bottom. I found that these screws had worked loose; in fact, two were missing, and the lower ones were, of course, rubbing on the plates at each end of magneto at the point where the spindle goes through. I tightened the screws up, and fitted two new screws in the place of those which had come out. I then put magneto up, and set it again to plug, making sure that all the plugs were right with the magneto by measuring with a cycle spoke dropped
through the compression Laps on to cylinders. Then we started engine up ; it went with half a turn of the handle, and pulled well. I may say this was about the first one that gave us trouble like this, but we have had several of late. The magneto apparatus in some of our other types of vehicles is different, because the armature revolves, and has no sleeves, so it was something new for us to find out. As I have had close on four years' experience on all kinds of vehicles, I thought this might be interesting to some of your readers, as they may, some time or other, be in the same fix."
Boiler-Feed Troubles.
" T.G.G." (Bradford) sends the following account of a run :β" I am the driver of a steam wagon, owned by a large firm at Bradford, and have been a reader of your paper since it first came out. I think the following account of a trip will be of some interest to other driver readers, and am sending it to you in the hope that it will be published. The wagon is a well-known make, and is over five years old. I have been driving the vehicle since last July, and when I first came, my master gave me two days to overhaul it. I gave the engine a thorough cleaning down, and washed out the boiler and water tank; there was a considerable amount of thick brown mud in both boiler and tank ; in fact, in the former it was over the mud holes at the bottom of the firebox.
" The destination for my first journey was 17 miles dis.. twit, so I had to face 34 miles on a strange wagon. I left the yard about 8 a.m., and I was glad to see that the boiler Meanie(' very well indeed. The boiler feed was very bad; the pump, a geared one, worked all right at a certain speed, but if I drove slower, or faster, the pump stopped working altogether. I tried the injector two or three times at different boiler pressures, but it seemed as though it had never worked for months. I got home about six o'clock in the evening without having any other trouble with the wagon, and I asked my master for the next day in the shed, at the same time telling him the reason why I wanted it. Next morning I set to work on the pump, and took everything to pieces, from the tank to the. clackbox; then I cleaned out the pipes, ground in the valves, and made fresh joints throughout. I next paid attention to the injector, and on taking it apart, I found it was worn out, and beyond repair. I now have a new injector, which has given satisfaction, and has never once refused to work. The pump has done fairly well up to now. I have had about four breakdowns, only one being serious, although even then I was able to bring the wagon home.
" I have often wondered if other motormen ever mice how much drivers of horses, and others who do not use the road much, delight in seeing a steam wagon or motor in difficulties. I have a hill to climb almost every night
which is paved wi" and is generally one mass of grease, and the wason has never yet gone up without trouble. The side of the road is generally lined with a lot cf grinning idiots, who, instead of offering to give my mate a hand with a bag at one side, shout : Do you want a chain horse, or shall I fetch you a carrot?' The other day I was climbing a rather stiff hill on the wrong side of the road, as the other side was all loose stones; about half-way up I met a horse and empty dray coming down, so I asked him to draw on to the stones till I got past, but he said he was on his own side of the road, and was going to stop there, so I was bound to steer back on to the stones to let him pass. It took me fully half-an-hour to get off the stones, as I had a big load on board, and the road was both wet and soft. I should like to know what another driver would have said to this man, as I called him everything I could think of, and then was not satisfied."