Motor Vans and Lorries for Laundries.
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Additional Reports from Users.
It is a matter for regret that some particulars were too late for inclusion in our eight-page section of last week, but a further two pages can now be utilised to dispose of them, and there is no question that the laundry managers whose interest was aroused by a perusal of the previous issue of "THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " will also read this and subsequent numbers. Of the various communications to hand, we give two from users who have been employing motor delivery for some considerable time. Mr. Alexander Kennedy, of Castlebank Laundry, Anniesland, Cilasgow, writes :-" We have pleasure in saying that we are using motors in our business as laundrymen, dyers, cleaners, carpet beaters, etc. In getting our first lorry about a year ago, we felt it was largely an experiment, but we were principally influenced to do so to try to Work some extra rounds where the long jour. neys and hilly districts made it impossible to use horses. They were at a considerable distance from our place, and we had to leave them as it was, For these, the motor has been found to serve admirably. The first one, for we now have two, disappointed us in only one particular—the tyres. The back tyres varied between 1,Soo and 5,000 miles, but the front tyres have not given trouble below 5,000 miles. We consider it a distinct defect that tyres cannot be repaired or refixed when so much good rubber is still left in them, and it is certainly one which must be ultimately overcome ! We now have a to,000-mile guarantee for a set and hope they will do well, as we think we were very unfortunate in finding Our tyres cost us 2Id. a mile for the first year. We seldom find our load to exceed 2ocwt., and the total cost for petrol, lubricants, repairs, and renewals has been under 20. a mile. Duringthe summer months, our first car ran anything from 200 to 350 miles a week, whilst it gave a direct and more efficient service to our customers. We have saved very largely on railway freight account, compared with the previous year, and the van replaced the work of two horses and vans as well. We may say that we entered upon motor delivery work prepared to treat it in a generous spirit at the start and that we now place considerable value upon the cars as an advertising medium for our business." Mr. Kennedy is to be congratulated on his keen and far-seeing judgment in this matter, and the fact that he has recently taken delivery of a second " Arrol-Johnston " lorry is proof that the troubles with the tyres have not been allowed to deflect him from what he perceives to be a sound business scheme of conveyance. In illustrating the " Clarkson "van owned by Lever Brothers, Limited, of Port Sunlight, it was mentioned last week that the Osborne Laundry, of Grosvenor Road, Hanwell, had one in use, but we had not received any report then. Bv the courtesy of Messrs. Osborne and Company we are able to reproduce a picture postcard which they distribute widely amongst their customers as an order card, and they covered this to us with the following note—" Last September we started a steam motor van, and, a:= this laundry is six miles from he Marble Arch, found it an excellent means of carrying our work to and from London. It is a very smart-looking van, and our experience shows it to be well adapted to do the work of a large laundry business. We also find it an excellent advertisement."
Several illustrations of vans suitable for laundry use which reached us last week were not included in " No. 9 " owing to want of space. Of these the Maudslay and the Argyll are of interest, because they are typical instances of development from the successful pleasure car. It is only by degrees that manufacturers are able to embrace the various branches of the industry which include vehicles for touring, public passenger service, delivery service, and goods haulage, and each month adduces fresh evidence that some of our makers of the highest repute in the lighter sides of autmnobilism have passed through the several intermediate stages between pleasure and commercial motors. The Maudslay van is designed to carry a load of one ton, the body being finished in the natural wood, varnished, and fitted with a canvas tilt top, and there is no question that where bulky loads have to be conveyed, a great saving of dead weight results from the use of such a waterproof cover in place of wood throughout. The Argyll van is similar to the two in use by the Bon Marche, Liverpool, one of which we illustrated in our first number. The standard body is built of the finest selected materials throughout, with frame of ash and panelling of mahogany. The varnished work is of walnut, and the inside panelling is lined with pine. Two sliding doors of walnut are immediately behind the driver's seat, so as to give easy access to the interior.
There are two points to which we feel additional reference should be made. Many laundries have some very heavy loads, at times, of goods which occupy but little space compared with ordinary requirements. In particular, carpets are heavy, and often form part of a load. Where this trade is a regular feature, our warnings about high cubic capacity will not apply, and laundrymen will be able to use successfully vans with smaller bodies. Then there is the tyre question, which several correspondents regard as a most serious one. Nke can only repeat that a solid rubber tyre wears and gives satisfac,---• tion (a) in proportion to its section and (13) according to the method of securing it to the rim. It is useless to buy tyres which strip away from their holdings -long before the rubber is worn down.