AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Passing Comments

19th May 1950, Page 30
19th May 1950
Page 30
Page 31
Page 30, 19th May 1950 — Passing Comments
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Ses.vice that the IT is understood that the 16 R.H.E. Could Not 'outstanding applications to Give the Road Haulage Executive

for permits relate to film transport, a highly specialized business which has much closer affinities with the film industry than with road transport. It is an activity in which the driver carries great personal responsibility, He delivers and collects films during the night and at week-ends, and he must necessarily enjoy much greater freedom of action than is customarily permitted to commercial-vehicle drivers. No normal transport undertaking could supply the kind of service that the film industry requires and it is unlikely that the R.H.E. will seek to engage in the business.

Interesting Research nNE of the most interesting Seen at the Ricardo -/—f subjects of research which Works is now being undertaken at the Shoreham Works of Ricardo and Co., Engineers (1927), Ltd., to which one of the visits of the Public Transport Association was paid during the recent Conference, concerns a curious phenomenon of fuel combustion in i.e. engines; /M.

known as "cool flame." This shows itself in the early stages of firing as a bluish glow, quite unlike the hot, brilliant white of the normal flame. The tests are being conducted on one of the well-known Ricardo variable-compression engines. The trouble with cool flame is that it affords little or no power and delays full combustion. It is amazing what facilities are now available for dealing with such problems. For example, samples of gas for analysis can be removed at various positions of the firing stroke, a solenoid-operated valve enabling these extractions to be made over periods covering as little

as 4 degrees of crankshaft movement. Other investigations include the addition of various chemicals, such as paraformaldehyde, to the mixtures in the cylinder to observe how they affect conditions of knock. Such admissions are made between 20 degrees before and 20 degrees after too dead centre. Petrol injection is also receiving attention, and it has been found that this gives considerably less noise than does ordinary carburation, possibly for the reason that combustion begins when there is only about 20 per cent, of the charge in the cylinder, instead of the normal 60-100 per Cent.

Tracking "A Firm Called ' British Road Services'"

RECENTLY we were trying to check a news item in a London evening paper about a heavy-haulage job. We wanted to find out the name of the haulier concerned. Pickfords seemed the most likely people, but they told us over the telephone that they were not doing this particular assignment. The work entailed the haulage of steel trusses to the Festival of Britain site. A call to Waterloo 1951 provided us with another clue. The trusses were for a concert hall being erected there by the London County Council. We telephoned the L.C.C. and were told by someone in the Press Department that the work was to be done by "a firm called British Road Services." This "firm," as readers may have heard, is State owned and runs a few thousand vehicles of various types. When we finally discovered the haulier, through the offices of the Road Haulage Executive, we found that the work, which took place during this month, has involved an eight-wheeler and a four-wheeled bogie. The evening paper mistakenly called it:" Biggest Haulage Job Since the War." Big—but not the biggest. American Driver Who IT is sometimes interesting Showed Courage ind I to know how commercial

Initiative vehicle drivers of other nations behave. For example, there was the 30-year-old driver of the month" named for January by the Texas Motor Transportation Association. This man was in charge of a petrol tanker holding 4,000 gallons. The vehicle was running down a hill with a slippery surface when an oncoming car drew out to pass another, thus blocking the way. The resulting collision set fire to both vehicles, but despite the extreme danger of an explosion, the tanker driver rushed into the flames and dragged the unconscious motorist to a safe distance, beating out the fire which enveloped him. Returning to the vehicles, he advised a highway patrol to riddle the huge tank with rifle bullets, to reduce the pressure within it and lessen the danger. Only after this did he go to hospital for personal treatment. Our recent request for such stories concerning British drivers met with a very poor response. We are sure, however, that similar courage must have been displayed by them on various occasions. Modesty must be another virtue of British drivers.


comments powered by Disqus