HOW WETHERED'S OUR CHALLENGE CUP.
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Cleanliness Reduced to a Fine Art. 'H Notes on the Shell-Mex ined Elsewhere. Pointers on Maintenance. and Mack Teams.
THE REMARKABLE feat of winning The Commercia Motor Cup for the third year consecutively, achieved by a team of Thornycroft vehicles entered by Thomas Wethered and Sons? Ltd., the well-known brewers, of Marlow, Bucks, did not come as a great surprise to many of those visitors to the C.M.U.A. parade of commercial moter vehicles who had taken an opportunity of inspecting the vehicles shown by the various entrants before the judging was completed. Last year the teams entered by the company were in wonderful condition, but this. year the winners surpassed all previous conceptions of how a motor vehicle may be kept, in spite of being in every-day service.
It was inevitable that certain comments should be .,. ..
passed upon their condition by those not fully informed. Some thought that the polishing of the various parts had been done in the workshops, and others thought that the vehicles were seldom on the road, and, consequently, the drivers and their mates had ample time to spare for the .purpose, but we are happy to be in a position to disillusion all who have received such impressions. Every vehicle does its full share—and often a trying one at that—of its day's work in delivering the various products of the brewery which also include large quantities of mineral waters and a smaller amount of spirits. •
The normal working hours of the men are 48 per week. They start at 6 a.m., have from S to 8.45 for for breakfast, and from 1 to 2 for dinner, and if
later than 4.45 p.m. on legitimate work they are paid
overtime.
During a recent visit to the brewery at Marlow we had a long talk with Mr. V. B. Butt, A.M.I.Mech.E., the chief engineer and transport manager of the brewery,. and went deeply into the question of the extraordinary efficiency of the fleet under his control. He pointed out that his men have always been keen on cleanliness and that a real start was made in March, 1919, with the first Thornycroft vehicle. The man in charge of it took an extraordinary interest in a machine which repaid his attention. This inaugurated the spirit of friendly rivalry, which increased as other vehicles of the same make were purchased and put into service.
It was the drivers themselves who expressed a desire to enter for various parades, such as those held at Reading by the Reading Comrades and Veterans' Association, under the auspices of the Commercial Motor Users Association, and they actually won the C.M.I.7.A. silver challenge cup for two years running, viz. 1921 and 1922. Unfortunately, they were debarred from competing a third time by a new rule, which made one of the qualifications for entry that the owners should be within a radius of 10 miles from Reading Town Hall.
The men actually put in a large amount of work during the course of a year in cleaning and polishing their vehicles, and although they are supposed to finish at 11 a.m. on Saturday, they usually stop until 1 p.m.
Any man who did slacken his endeavours would certainly receive a considerable amount of chaff from the others, but no case of this kind has occurred up to the present, and the secret of success is that the men have a quality which is far too scarce nowadays—that of real enthusiasm for their work. The men have showed that they are proud of their vehicles, and the owners do their part by seeing that they are always kept in the host possible condition, both as regards chassis and bodies ; also, both Mr. Butt and his men receive the cordial approval of Colonel F. E. Stevens, the managing director of the company, who is extremely interested in the motor fleet and has encouraged the use of mechanical transport in every way during his service of nearly 25 years with the company. Before the teams started off for the Parade they were all inspected by Colonel Stevens and a party of visitors, and the men congratulated. Such interest is of great assistance to the men, and encourages them to put forth their best efforts. Those who consider that it is impossible to keep the vehicles in practically perfect condition during the working week would be interested if they could visit the brewery at Marlow and see the vehicles for themselves.
While being loaded or unloaded, if there are a few moments to spare, the bonnets will be opened, and either the driver or his mate, will be busily engaged with the polishing cloth. So keen are the men, that Mr. Butt hashed to issue instructions that no more paint must be removed without special permission being given. It is not only the parts which can be seen in the ordinary wad' which are kept spotless, but clutches, gearboxes, cardan shafts, and even the cross-members through which the cardan shafts pass, are all bright. The method employed for polishing is first to scrape off all the paint, where this is necessary, and then to keep hard at work with an old file, following this by liberal applications of emery cloth. One driver even employs a burnishing chain. Mr. Butt • humorously remarked: "They would take the vehicles home with them if they could get them through the front doors."
The chief engineer, apart from supervising the work of the vehicles, has to look after .the whole of the equipment of the brewery, which he joined in his present position at the end of 1903. The first experience with mechanically propelled vehicles was in 1905, when three Wallis and Steevens' steam tractors were purchased. These were followed by two Ave,ling and Porters in 1906. In 1911, however, petrol vehicles began to be looked upon more favourably, and a HaIlford 4-ton lorry was the next machine, followed in 1913 by two Aveling petrol lorries, so that in 1914 the fleet consisted of . five steamers and three petrol lorries.
We have already referred to the placing in service of the first J-type Thornycroft in March, 1919. Another was bought in the same month, followed by a third in June, and it is these three vehicles which have won The Commercial Motor Challenge Cup. The first two had run over 54,000 miles apiece up to the end of March, whilst the third had passed the 50,000 mark, but this gives little idea of the work they have to do, for in their delivery radius of 20-25 miles they often have to traverse many miles of lanes so narrow that two vehicles could not pass each other, and the differences in the routes may be judged by the fact that a vehicle at one time may do only N m.p.g., and at another time 84 m.p.g..
The second team, which won fifthplace at the Parade, also consists of three Thorucrofts, and it is interesting to note that the bodies on all these are 15 years old.
The chief engineer cannot praise the vehicles too highly. In five years not a single crankshaft main bearing has been replaced, but merely been let together approximately once a year during the overhauling. Only one big-end bearing has run out, and that six weeks ago, through the gradual silting up of an oilway, after which incident the oilways in every engine were thoroughly cleaned out.
If the slightest knock or unusual tap is heard in any engine, the bottom half is dropped immediately and a thorough investigation made. This accounts for the remarkable fact that only two big-end bearing linings have been replaced in all. There has never been a breakage in a main spring leaf, although a few of the smaller leaves have been replaced. Four of the leather universal joints have been renewed, but these were all taken in time and no failures occurred ; so that the total cost of the replacements on the whole fleet has been practically negligible: We must emphasize the fact that no assistance, as regards the cleaning of the vehi cies, is given to the drivers by the garage staff, as a matter of fact, this consists of three fitters and two lads only, and these have also to deal with repairs to the brewing plant.
The brewery at Marlow was established in 1758, but the equipment has been entirely renewed' and made thoroughly up to date. The power is obtained from dynamos driven by an engine working on producer gas, and the use of electric motors for driving all the machinery has greatly assisted in obtaining the scrupulous cleanliness which we observed throughout every .portion of the brewery during a critical inspection which we made with Mr. E. N. Crewe, the head brewer, and his assistant, Mr. C. T. Foulsham.
The transport side of the busi-ness is only a cog—although an important one--in the complete machine, and it is perhaps the care taken to exclude dirt from the other part of the orga-nization which. has encouraged the transport side to do its share towards general efficiency, and it is, therefore, not surprising to learn that many of the highest awards for the quality of their products have been won by the company.
The transport system deserves far more attention than we can give it in the space at our disposal, but. we must refer particularly to the careful inspection of every vehicle, which is made weekly, and the ,fact that no complaint from a driver is considered too trivial for investigation.
The repair shop is equipped with a number of excellent machine tools, and it may surprise many to leain that, during the latter part of the war, this shop turned out many thousands of I8-pounder shells, these being finished ready for filling, by means of special ma,chines designed by Mr. Butt. • Before leaving the brewery we. examined a B.T. type Thornycroft which, although never entered for competitions is, if anything, more carefully looked after than the rest—at least in respect of its engine, for even the cylinders had been stripped of their paint and highly polished.
The Runners-up.
It is difficult to know whether to congratulate Mr. 0. M. V. Ambler, A.M.I.Mech.E., M.I.A.E.' on the fact that a team of She11-Mex tank wagons of Leylandl make obtained the position of runners-up for the Challenge Cup, or whether to commiserate with him and his staff on not obtaining the premier position. Certainly the vehicles and their drivers did great credit to Mr. Ambler and his able assistant and garage superintendent, Mr. R. T. Smith, and although there might not have been so much polieh on the vehicles as on the winning team, yet their mechanical condition is little short of marvellous, especially in view of the fact that one of the runnersup is 14 years old and has been in service for the whole period, first in the hands of the British Petroleum Co., being afterwards taken over by its present owners. This vehicle has approximately 100,000 miles to its credit, whilst the other. two, are both ex-W.D. machines, one dating from 1914, the other being a vehicle of a later date reconditioned at the Ham factory of Leyland Motors, Ltd., and both nearing the 100,000 figure.
It will be remembered by many of our readers that a Shell-Mex team won Th.-e Commercial Motor Challenge Cup in 1921, and Mr. Ambler received the Engineer's Prize. .
A visit to the Shell-Mex garage in Townmead Road, Fulham, London, S.W., shows that the cleanliness is not confined to the vehicles,for the garage is as clean as the proverbial new pin ; in fact, it more closely resembles a firestation than the ordinary building of this type. A part of the secret lies in the fact that Mr. Ambler has had a naval training, apart from considerable engineering experience in 'railway and motor work. Every man is encouraged to take a personal interest in his work, and to assist in this there are weekly meetings of the staff in the case of the London garage, when the men state their grievancei, if any, or suggest improvements.
The hours of work are fairly long. The drivers ustially take out their Vehicles about 7.30 a.m., have one hour for lunch and finish about 5 p.m., but they remain every night for about half an hour to clean their vehicles. Even if a driver returns at 9 p.m. or later, the bright parts are cleaned and greased to prevent the formation of rust, as many are of bright steel.
Every care is taken to prevent oil being spilt on the garage floor, and radiators are all emptied info pails. As regards washing, no hoses are employed, their place being taken by small tanks fitted with balloacks, and the washers withdraw the water from these by means of pails.
Additional cleaning to the tank wagons is usually done by the drivers while the vehicles are being loaded and unloaded, as it generally takes about half an hour to pump out the spirit, so that it will be seen that no opportunities are ever missed for im proving the condition of the vehicles.
One secret of success, as stated by Mr. Ambler, is that once a garage or a vehicle is thoroughly clean it is a direct incentive to further cleanliness.
Messrs. Maas' Fine Effort.
Messrs. M. and W. Mack, whose team of. A.E.O. vehicles won third place in the Parade, have done all they can to encourage their drivers to compete, and it is most satisfactory to them to receive proof that their efforts have been crowned by a considerable measure of success. The fleet numbers 16 vehicles of A.E.C., Thornycroft and Lancia makes. All are ex-W.D. machines overhauled by. their present owners, and the A.E.C.s have been running since 1918. The work is by no means light. In summer they are usually away from the garage between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., returning an3atime between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., whilst in winter they leave a little later. On Saturdays they return at about 11 a.m. the mat of the morning being spent in cleaning add making running adjustments.
Only one man is employed on each vehicle,. and he also acts as a loader and unloads, so that all the more credit is due to the drivers for the careful .way in which the whole fleet is looked after. All the men look forward to the C.M.U.A. Parades, and the vehicles are recognized in Covent Garden Market as being amongst the smartest working there.
Mechanical fitness is considered of the utmost importance and is attended to by a small but capable staff of fitters, to whom any faults are immediately reported by the drivers.
Messrs. Meek pointed out to our representative that only very capable drivers arc any geed in the Market, for the traffic congestion at certain times of the day is most trying and much skill is required to avoid having the Vehicles knocked about in a way which would soon ruin their appearance, if. not their efficiency. Personal interest counts a long way towards inspiring enthusiasm in the men, and for this reason the vehicles are inspected weekly by the heads of -the firm, although a. minor inspection is carried out every night by the foreman, who has any defects attended to immediately.
It must be remembered that these vehicles have each completed between...94,000 and 112,000 miles since their army service: We believe that few of our readers will deny that the experiences of these three users amply supports the contention that meticulous care and attention to mechanical and bodywork condition are of real value, not only from the pointof view of the running of the vehicles, but also from that of all-round efficiency, which.is reflected to a considerable extent in the bill for repairs and maintenance. Moreover, the moral effect on the driver of a well-kept vehicle. is of the greatest importance.