ONE DAY'S WORK WITH A BEARDMORE.
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Details of Some Previous Tests With the 30-cwt. Model. A 20,000-mile Guarantee, Delivering Beer For a Well-known Brewery.
AFTER THOROUGH tests lasting many months, Beardmore Motors, Ltd , 112, Great Portland Street, London, W.1, have placed their 30-cwt. chassis on a production basis, and have entered the market with. it., and so con• fident are they as to the high quality and efficiency of this machine that with it they are issuing a guarantee which is, we believe, of a more comprehensive nature than any issued before with a motor vehicle.
For the full details of this guarantee scheme we would recommend our readers to apply to. the company, and would mere y point out that it covers a period of 12 months or a distance of 20,000 miles, if this distance be covered within the aforementioned period. During that time or distance any fault discovered, if found to be due to defective material Or workmanship, will be repaired by the company or a duly authorised agent, or a new part supplied, such repair or new part to include dismantling and reassembling free of charge, so that the vehicle is left in working order. Naturally, the guarantee does not cover defects caused by overloading, racing, dirt, misuse or neglect, and is conditional upon the fitting of a reliable, sealed mileage recorder.
Some of the tests to which the new Beardinores have been subjected have
been of a most arduous nature. The first chassis was driven 10,000 miles in a trial lasting six months, for during more than half of which mileage it cartied a 20 per cent, overload. The route lay over some of the most difficult country in Scotland, and included tests over such notorious hills as Amulree which starts with a sharp bend,. after turnin‘, which the vehicle is faced at once with a rise of 1 in 5 over a humpback bridge, this being followed by a double hairpin bend.
Surprising facts in connection with these tests are that one set of pneumatic tyres lasted for the whole distance, whilst the petrol gave 19.3 miles per gallon and the oil 2000, m.p.g. In view of the reports regarding this machine, we were anxious to know how it would perform in the course of a day's delivery work involving, in some parts of the round, a large number of stops and, in others, the covering of fairly. long stretches of road at a good speed. We, therefore, asked the makers to see if such a test could be arranged and, as a result we were informed that the vehicle would be available for the test at the premises of Truman, Hanbury Buxton and Co., Ltd., the well-known brewers, at Spitalfields,, London, E., where we arrived just before 8 o'clock One morning recently. Here we found the vehicle being loaded with 27 cwt. of bottled beer in crates, and a start was made on the first delivery round at 8.30 a.m. Much traffic was encountered on the way to the first stop at King's Road, Chelsea, but in spite of this we arrived at 9 a.m.
The complement of the vehicle consieted of the driver, the brewer's man and a representative of this journal, so that, if anything, the vehicle was slightly overladen, for its correct load of 30 cwt. includes the weight of the body.
Some of the deliveries could be performedquite expeditiously, it being merely a question of unloading the crates and carrying them into shops, but in other cases, as when delivering to public houses, the brewer's man had to enter by a side door, descend to the cellar, and thus push up the flaps in the pavement, after which the orates had to be slid down a ladder and the empties lifted up; consequently, the next stop at "The Britannia," kulhain Road, oc
cupied from 9.20 a.m. to 9.45 a.m.
Several other deliveries were then made in the neigblacarrImod of Walham Green, Hammersmith, Earl's Court and off Oxford Street, the last being completed at 12.30 p.m:, after which the vehicle was driven back to the brewery co that the empties could be unloaded and a further supply of crates of full bottles taken on board.
-The results of the morning's round showed that the Beardmore has a wonderful degree of manatuvrability 1n traffic, thoroughly efficient brakes, and an engine which can he started with one null up after a stop. The acceleration was all that could be desired, the vehicle getting away very easily and 6moothly on second speed, whilst in traffic it was. eeldom necessary to change down from to
In the afternoon a start was made at 3 p.m., and there was a straight inn 1.6 Woolwich Road, Greenwich, where a large Part of the load was deposited, the time occupied in this and reloading the
empties being 35 minutes. Next the vehicle proceeded to Blackheath, which it left at 4.25, and made a stop at Erith at4.55 p.m. Leaving this place at 5 p.m., it reached Bromley at 6.5 p.m. On the route it climbed Shooter s Hill, a long and fairly stiff climb which has to be takee slowly, an there is a mainroad crossing at the bottom; consequently first 'speed bad to be resorted to for a small portion of the hill, but a ,change was quickly made to second, and even to third, before the top was reached.
The Representative of "The Commercial Motor" Takes the Wheel.
We took over the wheel for some 10 miles. Rain had commenced to fall and the Toads were in a very objectionable state of greasiness, but in spite of this the vehicle was able to maintain a very fair average speed without any tendency to skid, and even when the brakes were applied fairly strongly there was only a slight amount of tailwag.
At one point while driving, along the -level the engine suddenly ceased firing, just as if it had been switched off or the petrol had given out, but it started up again immediately it was cranked and gave no further trouble. It is probable that the trouble was due to a momentary air lock in the fuel tank. Finally, Fiter a 20-minute halt for tea, the Beardmore returned to the brewery at 7.30 pm.
Our personal experience with this machine showed that it is very nearly as easy to drive as a private car, and the controls are extremely simplea-providing that thought is given to the fact that a clutch brake is fitted. It will be of interest to give a brie' speeificatioa of the chassis. -The Beardmore engine has a bore of 3i ins. and a stroke of 44 ins., the Treasury rating being 15.6 h.p., but, actually, it develops 32 lah.p. at the comparatively low speed of 2,000 it-p.m. The cylinders are cast en bloc, the head being removable to permit easy decarbonizing without lifting the whole cylinder block.
Three bearings are employed for the crankshaft, as also for the camshaft, and the chrome-vanadium valves, which are all on one side are interchangeable. The camshaft and magneto are driven by a silent chain, provtion being made for adjusting this. A pump supplies oil to the main bearings, easnehaft bearings and both ends of each connecting rod.
Cooling is effected by a film-type radiator, water being circulated on the therrateelphonic principle with a water impeller as a supplementary means, this being driven from the fan spindle. The cooling appears to be very effective, and no signs of overheating were noted, even on the longest hilla.
A Fereclo-laced" cone clutch conveys the -drive to the four-speed gearbox, and the drive from this is taken through a two-piece cardan shaft, with Hardy fabric joints to a rear axle of the full-floating ' type and provided with worm final drive. All the bearings on this axle are of tha Timken taperrroller -type, and the oil . filler is se located that the axle cannot be overfilled
Both brakes take effect on the rear wheel drums and, whilst being powerful, are emooth-acting.
A good poi-it in the design of the steering gear isthe full wheel, which gives four times more wearing life than the sector type The price ea the chassis is £395, and that of the complete vehicle with a lorry body and cab L475, whilst the price of the standard box van is £495 and of the 16-seater coach £675