Taking the Hand
Page 37
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Out of Handling
INDUSTR1AL equipment hag' of recent years shown a tendency to grow heavy and bulky to a degree which causes despair to dispatch and transport departments. To their assistance have come mechanical handling aids.
The extension of this line of development into the commercial-vehicle field is of great importance. Mechanical loading devices enable an unaccompanied driver to handle awkward and heavy loads without difficulty, and invalidate the "waiting about all day for assistance" excuse which is so often heard.
Among the devices at present available on the British market, two are power-operated and a third incorporates a manual winch which greatly multiplies the human effort employed.
Manufactured by the Burtonwood Engineering Co., Ltd., The Hyde, London, N.W.9, the last-named applica tion is known as the Burtonwood elevating tail-lift, loader and stacker. Simple in design, this tailboard loader comprises a self-sustaining and braking winch permanently fitted underneath the rear of the body, operating cables which raise or lower mild-steel runners, moving on ball races in vertical, pressedsteel pillars. These are fixed to the ends of the body sides and are braced by boxsection extensions running from the chassis members.
Any type of vehicle may be fitted with this equipment, which is available for 10-ewt. and 1-ton loads. The respective weights ,of the appliances are 3-4 cwt. and 4-5 cwt., depending on the size of tailboard used.
The value of this design, which is the subject of a patent application, is its simplicity—it may be fitted to the
lightest type of vehicle, such as the 10-cwt. van—and its versatility. Apart from lifting loads to the level of the floor of the body, it can be adapted to stack loads up to 6 ft. to enable superimposed loads to be carried. Moreover, eastoring wheels are provided which fit
into the underside of the detachable tailboard, thus making a convenient hand trolley, manceuvred by one of the two diagonal bracing struts.
Thus the driver can leave his vehicle at a distance from the loading bay if congestion prevents closer approach, and can move his load to the vehicle on the tailboard, which is hitched up to the loader and lifted to platform level. The load is thea removed and the tailboard closed in the normal way.
Since 1948 another type of tailboard loader has been in production in this country, and has found favour with a variety of users. In this design, manufactured by Anthony Hoists, Ltd., South Ruislip, Middlesex, the power take-off of the vehicle gearbox is used to drive a pump from which oil under pressure passes to a 5-in.-diameter hydraulic ram, pivoting on a rear cross-member of the chassis. Below and behind the base of the ram is the fabricated frame supporting the radius arms around which the tailboard moves.
Controls at Hand
Control levers are fitted wherever convenient, one to raise, lower or hold the tailboard, and the other to release the automatic safety latches which lock the tailboard in the upper position level with the platform.
The latest attempt at solving the loading problem is a neat design by R. H. Corbett and Co., Ltd,, Burgess Hill, Sussex. In this loader, which is attached to a lorry tailboard, a small two-stroke petrol engine drives a pump operating a hydraulic ram. This raises a platform on a vertical guide rail and handles loads of up to 7 cwt. It is being shown for the first time at the Mechanical Handling Exhibition, now open, in conjunction with other loading equipment manufactured by the concern.
As the loading platform in this machine is not the full width of the body, its particular virtue lies in its adaptability, for, as with other Corbett products, it can be stationed at a loading bay and used for loading a number of vehicles in succession.