THE HAULIERS', INQUIRE WITHIN.
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Using the Fordson Tractor on a Haulage Contract.
rE INQUIRER with whose haulage problem we have been dealing in the last two contributions is evidently a man of ideas. He want. to know; now, whether a Fordson tractor would be a paying proposition on the job which he has in view. For the benefit of those who have not been following this matter very closely, I may repeat that the job " in question is the haulage of 'gravel a distance of three miles, the payment being at the rate of 3s. 9d. per cubic yard of the material, which weighs 24 cwt. for this quantity.
In the first place we considered, a fortnight ago, how the contract would pay, using a F.W.D. lorry ; then we considered it again supposing that a couple oft trailers were employed in conjunction with the lorry, one of the trailers to be loading while the other was travelling. (Unloading is by tipping, a,nd would, therefore, be accomplished quickly.) Now, we are asked to think again, making our vehicles this time two trailers, with a Fordson tractor as source of power.
This will open up an entirely new line of thought for a good many hauliers, for although it is, as one might say, " getting about" that the Fordson has its uses on the road, I do not think that it has yet become a popular machine for that purpose. Certainly, so far as we are concerned, the consideration of the Fordson in connection with this particular problem involves our turning right back to the beginning of things, so that we shall make no mistake because of taking something for granted. We must, for example. begin, not by a consideration of ways and means, as is our usual custom, but by asking ourselves whether the Fordson is going to be a suitable machine for the job at all, quite apart from the question Of cost, with which we shall deal in full later in the article.
The answer to this, our first and distinctly leading queetion, is broadly, yes. The Fordson tractor, equipped with special wheels, two brakes, rubber tyres, and, in some cases, special rear axle gearing, appears to be making good on just this sort of work, that is to say, on short haulage jobs, where trailers can he used with convenience and to advantage.
It is, of course, impossible for me to say, for certain, that the Fordson will be suitable for this particular job, without going over the ground myself and, in any case, I think, if I were buying a tractor, I should want a demonstration to show its capacity. I should try to arrange the demonstration on a wet day, and I should want that tractor to start up from rest, pulling its full load (a) on the steepest hill which it would have to climb in the course of its daily work, arid (b) on the worst bit of unmade clay-topped road, or so-called road, which it would be likely to be called upon to negotiate, and, if there did not happen to be a bit of (so-called) road of that kind actually available, I should make a bit, or take the tractor into a field, for, •since, as is dear, the job for which we are considering it is in connection with read-making, then it is certain that the machines employed on it will have to do a good deal of starting from rest on pieces of this earth where the road will eventually be put.
I should make sure for myself that the demonstration was being carried out with paraffin as the fuel, and I should watch most carefully the behaviour of the engine while the test was going on. I should anticipate that non-skid chains would be provided, and I should make a note of the type which were used. Above all, I should want to know with what material the wheels were filled and their weight when filled. I should want to he in a position to specify that the wheels of the machine which I bought were so filled.
A most important thing, too, is the method of coupling the tractor to the trailer. A little alteration in the slope of the drawbar may make all the difference between success and failure. The tractor must be fitted with. two independent brakes. These are some of the points which the prospective buyer will need to keep in mind if and when he arranges to have a Fordson demonstrated to him. Other things will no doubt occur to him.
The average consumption of petrol in connection with this sort of .work, using a Fordson tractor properly equipped for haulage, is a pint a day. The average paraffin consumption is a gallon for between four add-five miles, say, 4 for choice. Oil will be used at the rate of one gallon for 80 miles. The maximum working load, including the weighs of the trailer, should not greatly exceed five tons. The speed should rarely exceed five miles per hour.
Now' to apply these underlying principles, as I may call them, to our own little job. The first thing we want to know is, how many loads a day will the Poulson shift. At five miles an hour, three miles will occupy 36 minutes, hut let Us say 40 minutes to allow for incidental stoppages. Coupling and uncoupling, or tipping, as the case may be' may take 10 minutes at each end, so that the total time occupied in the double journey, out and home,. including tipping the load, will be twice 40 plus twice 10, or an hour and 40 minutes in all. At this rate, four journeys would take six hours and 40 minutes, and five would occupy eight hours.and 20 minutes. If rigid rules are in force
in connection with the daily (pots of hours, then only four journeys will be possible, unless, by careful organization, the time per double journey can be. reduced a trifle. It may be possible, perhaps, to eeduce the tipping time to five minutes, in which case five journeys will he performed just inside the eight hours. It is cutting things rather fine, however, for,
as everyone knows, there are always little things that happen which add five ininutea here and five minutes there and if the schedule is cut too fine it may very well be that on four days out of every five only four
tripe, and not five, will be made. However, we can run out the cost figures both ways, reckoning on a four-journey day and on a five. Each load will be, as before, three cubic yards, since this weighs, 3 tons 12 cwt., which, with the trailer, will give a gross weight of five tons. The weekly revenue will be as before, 111 58., on a basis of four loads a day, since that is what we took in connection with the F.W.D. lorry.
The operating cost will be approximately as follows :—The first cost of the tractor, with full equip. ment, less the eost of tyres, will be about £180. The trailers will be, without tyres, about £120 apiece, so that for interest on first cost we must reckon 5 per cent. on £420, say Ss. 6d. per week. Considering the arduous nature of the work, I think we should be justified in writing off the whole outfit in 50,000 miles, which gives Us a figure of practically 2d. a mile, or a pound a week. Maintenance will cost about id. a mile, which is 7s. 6d. a week, and tyres about the same. One driver and one extra man are all that should be necessary with this outfit, which puts the wage bill at £4 10s. a week. Petrol will be consumed at the rate of about a gallon a week, is. 6d., and paraffin, at 415 miles per gallon at 10d. a gallon, 21 28. 3d. ; oil, a gallon-and-a-half a week at 4s. a gallon, is 6s. ; rent, for housing the tractor and two trailers, 7s. 6d. Insurance will be effected for five shillings, I should think—I have no very aceurate figures for this—whilst taxation will absorb 10s. The bill of weekly costs is, therefore, for a schedule of four journeys a day :—
This, it should be noted, is almost the sum that we reckoned as being the cost per week of a motor lorry, employed without trailers, on the same work. The gross profit is therefore the same as in that case, namely, in round figures, 12 a week. Now if, as has been suggested, the work can be speeded up sufficiently to allow of five journeys being done per day and every day, then the income will be 12 17s. 3d. a day, or 114 is. ad. per week. Certain of the cost items will be increased in accordance with the mileage, and the table of expenditure will be approximately as follows :— This shows a profit of 14 a week, all but 3d. It will be seen from a comparison of these figures and those published in The Comrn,ereial Motor for September 4th and September Mb that the best method still remains the lorry and two trailers, providing that four loads a day can be run with those
trailers. THE SKOTOH.