Third Series
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A Tasker 5-tonner Shows Advantages Over Petrol for Special Work. It is a Fine Ready Steamer with Great Capacity for Collar Work.
There is a curious fatality about the arrangements which we have to make in connection with the observance of one
day performances of standard wagons, in that we so frequently find we are forced temporarily to engage ourselves in the dispatch department of a brewer. There may be some of our readers who would be inclined to approve such circumstances, and to suggest that " One day's work" with a brewer's wagon must obviously be more pleasant to the observer than for instance, a similar period of occupation carting ice hi November, or, perhaps, chemical manure in JUtle. Be that as it may, we feel we owe some little apology to our readers for once again inflicting upon them an account of a day's work with a wagon engaged in delivering hogsheads, firkins, and what not.
Our reason, in this instance, for further choice of a brewer is due to the fact that we have wanted for some while to observe the performance of one of the fiveton Tacker steamers, and, Largely on account of the circulation-congested state of business in our offices, we found that we could fit in our arrangements with none of the other Taskers which were suggested to us by Mr. A. Kay, the district agent of W. Tacker and Sons, Ltd.. Andover. It certainly simplified mat ters to choose the machine which is rue by Mr Elgar Brett, on contract for
Messrs. Ash and Co., the well-known Canterbury brewers. So that beer it had to be once again, and, as circumstances turned out, we had no cause for regret in our choice. This fine example of a five-ton steamer left us with a remarkalde impression of its power and speed. In particular, too, were we pleased with the unusually good arrangement of the control gear—much more sensibly disposed than on many another wagon.
This Wagon was Shown at Manchester Show Last Year.
Many of our readers know the Tasker steam wagon quite well, and in its particular sphere it. is creating quite as good a record for itself as has long been possessed by the " Little Giant" tractors, examples of which are found all over the country. The wagon is of the accepted Inca-boiler type, with its engine built over the shell, and the drive through the usual two-spur gear pairs. and a long roller chain, to a live back axle. In regard to the general arrangement of the mechanism, therefore, this steamer is much like other examples of such a type, but there is much detail which renders the Tasker five-tonner a distinctive machine. In this respect, we found, during the day's work which we did with Mr. Brett's wagon, that it was a remarkably easy steamer, and that the provision of a relatively big engine—the H.P. and L.P. cylinders are zg in. and 6i in. re spectively—COmbined with skilful designing of valves and ports, and the provision of a separate-exhaust simpling system, enabled the wagon to start. away under full load and more or less heavy road conditions without any of the fuss and "pother" which are peculiar to some wagons and to many tractors, and to haul up long gradients in fine style.
A Remarkably Easy Steamer.
It anything, we were burning a coal which was a little too fierce on the day of the run : the safety valve was blowing off during the best part of the day. The large-diameter boiler tubes, considerable grate area, and a good free exhaust, resulted in a first-class haulage performance from the point of view of good steaming and fuel economy.
It takes, as a rule, three-quarters of an hour to raise steam on one of these big Taskers, and that, it. will be admitted by those who are inured to a two-hour operation on some ot her wagons, is a good performance. As a matter of fact, Mr. Brett, Junr., who drives this particular wagon, never draws his tires at the end of a day's run, but throws on a little household coal over night and closes the chimney, so that he keeps the boiler warm and can readily rake out and get a good fire with a little wood and waste early in the morning. The fire is drawn once a week—on a Saturday ; washing-out day is Sunday.
Our Load.
It is customary, with these "One day's work'' trips, to get up before the streets are properly aired, and 5.30 a.m. saw us on the road, with a big mixed cargo and total load of about 8 tons. The wagon and trailer between them carried 6 hogsheads, 13 barrels, 6 firkins, and 2 pins of finings. A " pin,'' be it noted, is the local name given to what is elsewhere called a " joey," or a 21-gallon barrel. Of bottled beer, the wagon had on board 118 dozen one-pints and 79 crates each containing four one-quart bottles, so that one spectator who saw us off from Canterbury was correct when he expressed the opinion that we carried " quite a lot of beer."
Our waybills were for a number of deliveries in Folkestone. This involved: a straightaway run over roads which, at this time uf the year, happen to he in first-class order, but through billy country, to Folkestone; deliveries under condi. tions which promised ample " copy," at 11 or 12 licensed premises in that. seaside and fishing town; and the return journey to the brewery in Canterbury.
The Effect of New Stropes.
We soon got away out, of Canterbury on to the main road to Dover—a long and mere or less uninteresting route, but which, as we have said, at the present time of the year has a fine hard surface, upon which the newly-stroped hind wheels of the wagon made no itripres, sion. These wheels, by the way, were no less than 12 in. wide, being 2 in. more than the normal. It was noticeable
that, on the newly-made roads, and with the freshly-fitted stropes, the wheels ran practically all day on their inner edges only. When following the wagon by car this was most noticeable, especially after tlw tarred surfaces of the highway were shiny with the rainfall which occurred during the whole of the latter part of the journey. Some fine hill-climbing was dune at good speeds, the boiler blowing off hard all the time; only on occasional bad bits of gradient was it necessary to "shift wheels."
Kent Coal.
Some little way out of Canterbury we passed close to one of the trial bore-holes which are being driven in to the Dover coal strata. In the opinion of our driver, who was something of a practical authority on coal, and who had seen a good deal of this Dover product, the principal seams which have been tapped in Kent $o far produce either coal of altogether too friable a nature, or else it is so hard as to be uncoostimable—in a steam-wagon boiler, at any rate. There is a local tale, it appears, that whenever anybody places an order for Kent coal, it is always wise to retain the services of a chimney sweep at the same time.
We passed a lot of steam haulage of one kind and another on the way into Folkestone. It, is, we believe, accurate to state that there are more steam traction engines, tractors, lorries and wagons to the square mile in Kent than in any other connty in Great Britain. The meal authorities themselves are considerable users of plant of this kind. We were particularly interested when Mr. Kay pointed out the number of trailers, made at the Andover works of W, 'Pas-key and Sons, Ltd., which are employed in conjunction with tractors and traction engines by other makers.
The Use of the Double High press.
_ We noticed, on the run into Folkestone, that our driver very seldom resorted to double high-pressure running, although, on occasional stiff gradients, when the engine seemed to be struggling on top gear, he would temporarily have recourse to this method for but a few revolutions, and then, on getting back to compound, the engine would tackle the load much more cheerfully_ There is little doubt that this is the correct way to use a device which, under certain circumstances, is invaluable. Some drivers, however, we notice, are inclined too frequently to resort to this method as an alternative to changing gear. This is punishing treatment for most of the small high-duty boilers which have to be fitted to steam wagons.
Chewing Pitch,
It is uphill practically the whole way to Folkestone from Canterbury, and there is plenty of opportunity for testing the hill-climbing capacity of machines running on that route. One needs to be very sure of braking facilities to drive a heavy wagon over that road with anything like confidence. Much of the surface is treated with tar or a mixture of pitch and tar, When great heaps of pitch were pointed out to one of the party, who abounded in local knowledge, he assured the writer that the men who had to handle this stuff during roaddressing operations complained that, while being heated, it affected their eyes very seriously. It was curious to hear
it stated that almost all the men encaged by the road authorities in this class of work regularly chew the pitch !
We stopped for water for the first time at 7.52 a.m. The water was of none too good a quality, but it was the only available pool on the main and short route. This was in proximity to what is known as the " Black Horse." A start was made again in another 15 minutes : up to that time we had used 148 gallons of water. On the read down Whitehorse Hill into Folke-stone—a picturesque part of the route—a skid pan was fitted to the near hind wheel of the trailer.
Folkestone's Public Houses.
At 8.50 we arrived at our first delivery point. This was the " Eagle" licensed premises, and another small delivery had to be made at the "Prince of Wales," only a few doors away. We noted, in our tour through Folkestone on the wagon the extraordinary manner in which 'large numbers of public houses were grouped in close proximity; in one instance there were three next door to one another. This, to some extent, facilitated deliveries, of course.
While barrels were being "put down" at the Bouverie Arms, the Bouverie Stores, and The Gun, in the upper part of the town, we searched for breakfast. A rather heated argument with a foggy Italian waiter, in a huge restaurant, which resulted in a declaration by that employee that "Nobody had breakfast in Folkestone," was followed by the discovery of a suitable hostelry, where the inner man was promptly and satisfactorily attended to.
Good Driving and Brisk Delivery.
After breakfast, the deliveries; which had to be made were in the lower or harbour part of the town ; first at the " Trne Briton" Hotel, and this involved the descent of a good still hill, which needed and received very skilful attention on the part of Mr. Brett, Junr., for whose handling of the wagon throughout we had great admiration. He is very skilful with the steering wheel and the reversing lever, and yet he never punishes his engine. We were also pleased to find that the deliveries to the various houses were made with very considerable promptitude, and that the more leisurely methods which we have had occasion to note on other trips on brewers' deliveries by no means obtained in connection with Ash's men. This in spite of the fact that the second man on the steam wagon weighed 18 stone 9 lb., but his ability to lift an empty hogshead from the pavement and put it unaided over the sides of the wagon had something to do with the promptitude of service undoubtedly.
The advantages of side loading were exemplified over and over again in Folkestone, as deliveries had to be made in narrow streets across narrow pavements, and any other method would have been fraught with considerable trouble. We also had an opportunity to watch a lot of trailer manipulation, and this was carried out with the maximum of ease. It was frequently found convenient to leave the trailer behind in a aide street, and to run round to the front of the premises and there off-load over the side of the wagon whatever barrels or cases had to be "put down" at the houses.
Backing Downhill to Deliver.
One remarkable delivery was to "The Lifeboat," situated in the lower part of the town. In order to get barrels to
these premises, it is either necessary to deposit them on the pavement a long way away from the house and to roil them up a steep granite-sett paved street by hand, or to run round to the upper part of the town and then drop the trailer and back the steam wagon down a very steep hill into a cul de sac. Much to our astonishment the latter is now the method which is regularly adopted. It calls for a great display of skill on the part of the steam-wagon driver, but it involves much less manual work in the transhipment of the load. Some of the illnstrations will show the remarkab1e
nature of this particular delivery. On the occasion when we observed it, the good lady inhabiting No. 45, North Street—the house immediately at the bottom of this very steep hill and facing up it, was considerably perturbed at the regularly recurring practice of backing a loaded steam wagon down in front of her premises. She was consoled by the cheery, if weighty, second man aforementioned, who advised her immediately to proceed out to her back garden when she saw the wagon begin to back down the hill. We must admit that the conditions ',Aurally might appear alarming to a 1 idy who was obviously not conversant
with the immense braking facilities of one of these modern wagons. There appeared to the uninitiated to be considerable risk of the wagon's finishing its downward and backward journey inside the dining mom of No. 45.
Delivered 95 Tons of Beer in a Month.
This practically completed our deliveries in Folkestone, and a very good day's work we had done. In conversation with Mr. Brett, Senr., we learnt that this particular Tasker wagon had delivered just over 93 tons of beer in Folkestone during the last month, and this was about the amount. which it could handle comfortably. In addition, of course, to these deliveries, there is the regular return of between two and three tons of empty barrels and bottles. After witnessing a remarkable exhibition of steam-wagon manipulation in the course of the various deliveries in the narrow streets, and on the awkward twisting gradients of Folkestone, we got away on the return journey with a total load of empties collected at the various houses, which consisted of 120 crates of quart bottles, 63 dozen one-pint bottles. 6 hogsheads, 14 barrels, 2 firkins, and 2 pins. Previous to completing the last. delivery, the fire was raked so that we should have a good straight run on the return route. By this time, the fair weather conditions which had promised during the earlier part of the day had given place to a depressing and very chilling downpour, suffitient, however. to wash mud from the streets. The going was good, and the wagon made fine pace on the return journey over the same route as had served in the earlier part of the day.
Considerate Kentish Drivers.
We noticed, particularly in connection with the wagon to which we were temporarily attached, and as well as with all the others we met on the road, that Kentish drivers keep well over to the: near side, whatever the conditions may be, and a %cora of praise for them must be here written on that score. In London, as a. rule, of the two inen forming a steam-wagon crew, one looks after the fire and water and. the brake, whilst the other steers and drives the engine. In the country, it is generally arranged that the second man shall steer and perhaps look after one brake, whilst the chief man drives and stokes.
Good Consumption Results.
'Water was taken again after 23 miles o running all told, and it was then found that a further 120 gallons had been used. The return journey was uneventful, but distinctly fast, and Dane John Brewcry was reached soon after foot., a total mileage of 35.9 being recorded. The coal consumption was as near as possib1e 4 cwt., whilst 388 gallons of water was
the approximate amount used. Mr. Brett was not able to tell us exactly what this wage, cost him to run per mile, but he :rongly of opinion that it was and he had much to say concerning the advantages of the big tubed boiler and the big cylindered engine.
Beats the Railway.
It is difficult to draw compalisons with competitive forms of delivery in this instance. No horsed plant could tackle the long journey out, as well as the town deliveries. This wagon was doing the railway's work and doing it vastly better. Ow • publican voluntarily broke into praise of the wagon's utility. " We used, when the beer came by rail, frequently to get it just when we were very busy, at 6, 7, or 8 o'clock at night. We were never sure. Now it's here just after breakfast, as punctual as a clock." In conclusion, it should he noted that a petrol wagon would have bad to do two journeys to Folkestone to cover the Tasker's one-day's work.