Dairy Unit Has
Page 38
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
In-built Refrigeration
A MING at reducing handling costs,
Howard's Dairies, Ltd., 265, London Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, has recently put into service Vehicles fitted with refrigeration plant. In the normal way of the company's business, crates of bottled milk are taken from the bottling station to the various distributing depots. There the vehicles are unloaded, the milk being kept overnight in a refrigerated chamber. The company is now experimenting with a new articulated outfit which has an inbuilt Kelvinator refrigeration plant mounted in the fore-part of the semitrailer body. By. this arrangement the milk can be kept in the vehicle during the night, thus obviating the necessity of unloading—an hour's work for two men—and , the attendant risk of breakages.
The semi-trailer was constructed by Carrimore Six-Wheelers, Ltd., Great North Road, London, N.12, and the tractive unit is a Leyland Comet. The interior of the semi-trailer is of galvanized steel, which is insulated from the exterior light-alloy panelling by Onazote exploded rubber. The vehicle has a steel floor with half-round steel runners. Dunlop rubber mudguards are fitted.
The refrigeration plant, which runs on 400-volt three-phase current, is thermostatically controlled, coming
into operation at about 42 degrees F. and cutting out at about 40 degrees F. At present. with the general hot weather, the plant runs for half-hour stretches, with 20-minute periods between. The mains plug is of the safety type, current being switched on after plugging in and switching off is necessary before unplugging.
The dimensions of the semi-trailer body are: length 22 ft. 4 ins., width 7 ft. 6 ins., and overall height 8 . ft. 10 ins., this measurement being limited by the construction of the operator's maintenance garage. The interior height of the body is 5 ft. 8 ins. The semi-trailer has an unladen weight of 3 tons 17 fcwt. and its capacity is 1,000 gallons of bottled and crated milk, the weight of which is approximately 10 tons.
At present Howard's Dairies, Ltd., is running two semi-trailers of this type in conjunction with one Leyland Comet. Two more semi-trailers and another tractor are on order.
For some years now refrigerated vehicles similar to the kind described have been in use in the Argentine meat trade, and in this country one or two producers of cooked food have been operating machines of the same kind. However, it is claimed that Howard's Dairies; Ltd., is the first company in the dairy business to use vehicles of this type. Many operators,Thesides the owner, are watching the experiment.