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TRANSPORT PROBLEMS OF PHE CHINA-CLAY INDUSTRY

1st April 1938, Page 46
1st April 1938
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 46, 1st April 1938 — TRANSPORT PROBLEMS OF PHE CHINA-CLAY INDUSTRY
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THERE is only one place in the world from which best-quality china clay can be obtained, and that is in the district around St. Austell, Cornwall. From there it

goes all over the world. .

China clay is obtained from decomposed granite and is conveyed from the pits in a colloidal state, carried in water, and piped to the kilns or "drys:" The first process is that of settling. The water containing the clay is delivered to large, shallow settling tanks and the material allowed to collect until • the tank contains a mass of clay of the consistency of thick mud.

When the contents of a tank reach this Stage, the supplies are diverted to the next. This thick clay is conveyed by small trucks, on a narrowgauge line, and tipped into the kiln. The kiln is, in effect, a shallow reservoir, perhaps about 100 ft. long by 20 ft. wide, being designed to accommodate the soft clay to a depth of about 10 ins. or 1 ft. At one end are furnaces, the flues from which traverse the whole length of the oven, and the hot gases in these flues dry off the clay.

When the clay commences to dry it is cut by shovels into squares about 8 ins. to 10 ins, wide, so that when completely dried it may conveniently be dug out and shovelled into large hoppers .located along the full length of one side of the kiln. In actual fact, the three components of the " dry " lie side by side; first, the series of settling tanks, then the kiln and, thirdly, the hoppers.

The problem of transport of this material may be described as simple, yet complicated. In broad outlines, it is as follows : Lorries convey the clay to the nearest harbour, Charlestown. There it is delivered by shutes aboard ship and carried either abroad or to Liverpool or Manchester, whence most of it is conveyed B32 by canal to the ultimate destination in the Potteries. Alternatively, it goes to London ports and, whenever possible, by barge to paper works, where it is used for the glazing of art papers and the like.

The complication arises from the fact that the loads are spasmodic. There are serious gaps in between these loadings.

The happenings on the occasion of my visit to St. Austell are typical. I met Mr. Hodgson on a Wednesday evening, when I was addressing a meeting in St. Austell. He is director of the Heavy Transport Co., Ltd., of that town, and kindlY offered to show me something of the chinaclay industry, but said that the extent of what I should see Would be determined by circumstances, prin cipally as to whether the "Jeanette," a French boat engaged in this industry, would be in dock the next morning. .

Fortunately for me and, perhaps, even more fortunately for Mr. Hodgson, the " Jeanette " did arrive, and from the time the vessel tied up until dusk Mr. Hodgson's fleet of 15 Dodge lorries, carrying 4 tons and 6 tons, was engaged as hard as possible in completing the task of transferring 530 tons of china clay from the hoppers to the holds of the vessel. Dividing 530 by 15 gives 35+ tons per vehicle per day to be delivered over a lead of 34 miles or 4§ miles, according to the kiln from which the material was drawn. • This is approximately the limit of capacity. The 6-tonners, doing seven loads to eight loads per day, carried 42 tons to 48 tons; the 4-tonners, doing eight loads or nine loads per day, 32 tons to 36 tons. Between them they are able to clear that quantity within the specified time.

At the kilns, four or five men are .told off to help in loading. The lorries waste no time in getting thence BS3 to the weighbridge, where 10 seconds to 15 seconds suffice for the check of the load to be made and entered. From the weighbridge there is a final run of, perhaps, 200 yds. to the tip, high above the level of the vessel, from which the load goes into the wide-open mouth of a shute, leading into the ship's hold.

From the haulage contractor's point of view the principal snag is the irregularity. When trade is satisfactory and weather is good, so that ships arrive regularly, the business is a reasonably satisfactory one, but a handicap is that parts of the road leading to the kilns are mere cart tracks, and that the yards in which the vehicles have to manoeuvre in order to get to the hoppers are beds of dangerously slimy, slippery clay. Incidentally, the largest types of vehicle cannot be used, because they could not be mameuvred into the gateways of the hoppers.

In the case of some hoppers, loading is easy, because the level of the base of the hopper is above that of the lorry. Here, with the assistance available, the loading time is from 20 minutes to half an hour for a 4-tonner and five minutes or 10 minutes longer for a 6-tonner.

The principal difficulty arises from the fact that the trade "fluctuates. The tonnage for January of this year was 4,000 less than the corresponding period for 1937. Bad weather may keep vessels out of the harbour for days, and sometimes for weeks, on end.

Not Work for Casual Operators.

The nature of the demand, coming as in the above case hi hundreds of tons at a time, makes it essential that a comparatively large fleet of vehicles should be available for use on this work at short notice. There is the semblance of asilver lining to this clouded aspect—that china-clay transport is not one in which the casual operator can take any part. It is impracticable for the companies handling the clay to deal with small operators.

The fluctuating nature of the work prevents orthodox methods of calculation being applied in arriving at economic rates. There must be provision for the high ratio of standing charges and overheads involved in having to keep standing-by fleets of upwards of half a dozen lorries at the beck and call of conditions.

Even the method of costing is, to some extent, modified, because of the conditions of working. The accompanying two forms are used by Mr. Hodgson. It will be observed that he reverses the procedure usual amongst haulage contractors and sets down in the early part of the form the extent of each vehicle's earnings. An important column is that headed "Day's Work "; in that column is entered the number of actual working days per week.

Mr. Hodgson provides, as is so essential, that the data recorded should be such as to allow him to check over the performance of each vehicle. Each sheet suffices for entries over a period of six months, week by week, and relates to only one lorry.

There is an immediate check on the average m.p.g. for petrol and oil, and data relating to the proportion of loaded and empty mileage. He sets out in one column the total of standing charges, in which he includes licence, insurance, depreciation and a figure which covers overheads, as well as garage rent. This figure is _arrived at as the outcome of a careful note of the overheads and is checked and corrected from time to time.

The second form is of particular interest, not only because it affords a simple and straightforward means for ascertaining actual cost of maintenance and repairs, but also because it provides for a record of the expense of any driver-assistance in connection with this work.

Here, again, the essential factor of segregating repairs under the heading of "Lorry Number" still prevails. There is space for the description of the work to be done, then a note of the materials used and their cost, and, after that, of the labour employed, the time and its cost.

With a view to eliminating unnecessary clerical work, in connection with time sheets and the like, this daily report sheet carries the names of the, employees. Take,

for example, the first line. The blank form reads : "Neil," the name of an employee, followed by a blank space, then the word " to " and then a further blank space, in which, presumably, Mr. Neil records the time he spent on the job. Four employees are thus named. The fifth is "Driver," which, presumably, relates to the driver of that parel01;d1 vehicle.

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People: Neil, Hodgson

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