THE NEW GUY LOW-LEVEL REFUSE VEHICLE.
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• Shoulder-height Loading, Which Makes for Speedier Collection and Encourages the Closing of the Covers.
TuST over two years ago there was
produced from the Guy works at Wolverhampton a low-platform chassis equipped with a 16-seater runabout body for service on the promenade at onrnemouth. As a passenger vehicle used on such a service it was immediately successful, for only a moderate speed was called for, and the convenience of the single step between road and platform (or when the vehicle was drawn up, as it would invariably be, close beside the kerb ; with no intermediate step at all) at once Commended itself to the holiday-making visitors and a profit was earned from the first hour of running.
There are not many uses for a very low-platform vehicle, but those which do exist are important, as, for instance, refuse collecting, because they are to be discovered in so many areas. Hence the wide appeal that will be made by the new Guy re se vehicle, which possesses a number o good points. In the first place, the lo ding height is about 4 ft., so that a bir may be tipped into it with ease even b. a small man, as may be judged by t e height of the figure in the three-q arter front view of the vehicle which we publish. The 2-ton chassis havirig been selected for this new product, its wheelbase has been brought • down to 9 ft, so that the vehicle is very easily manipulated in narrow streets, and the are* capacity of the body permits of a large load being taken to the tip or refuse destructor, so reducing the number of journeys and making for economy in operation.
The low overall height gives another advantage in that the opening and closing of the sliding covers are easy matters and the men are not deterred from closing up the vehicle when collecting of refuse has been concluded and the load has to be drawn through the streets. The low loading line places the Guy
refuse wagon at a great advantage over horse-drawn carts, the use of which entails the employment of ladders when emptying the contents of bins, and this in its turn is a handicap as the loaders do not like placing a ladder for every bin when the houses are close togethei
as in a town. Instead, they erect the ladder and carry the bins from a surrounding group of houses, thus involving more carrying than is really necessary.
The body can be supplied with or without tipping gear. With the tipping gear usually fitted the movement of a lever puts the engine into gear with an oil pressure ram which gives a body angle of 40 degrees, the rear doors automatically opening for the discharge of the load.
The large amount of space behind the driver's cab has been rendered possible by the placing of the driver's seat beside the engine. The accessibility of the engine is quite good, as on the near side the normal hinged bonnet panel is employed, giving full access to the left aide of the engine, whilst the cover plate on the right side and within the cab can be lifted up to give access to any details on that side. The carburetter is on the right side of tile engine.
The reasons why the mbtor vehicle which is totally enclosed and is capable of tipping is BO rapidly displacing the, ordinary horse-drawn cart in the work of refuse collecting are not only economic and hygienic, but there are also the practical advantage to the householder of efficiency and to the cleansing department of speed and reliability. The power-driven vehicle travels quicker from house to house and from collecting area to tip and back, the saving of time to and from the tip being, as a matter of fact, very substantial. With a given collecting staff the appropriate number of vehicles when they are power-driven can collect more frequently than when horse-drawn vehicles are used, and that is a state of things which the householder regards as satisfactory. In the winter the horse is often unable to work, whereas the motor vehicle is not Tendered impotent by ice or snow. On the
therefore, the power-driven refuse collector offers so many advantagee that the remaining horses employed by cleansing departments may be regarded as having their days numbered.