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MULTI-WHEELED
BY reason of the ingenious means adopted for superimposing part of the carrier-unit weight -upon the motive unit, the Beardmore multi-wheeled vehicles, now almost entirely British made, are favourably placed as regards taxation, Speed limit, fuel economy, tyre wear, speed, stability, braking and legal load-carrying capacity.
Under the Road Traffic Act, Section 2 (4), this design of outfit is classed as a load-carrying vehicle drawing a trailer. As such, its legal speed limit, provided it is equipped with pneumatic tyres, is 16 m.p.h., whereas the limit for a tractor when drawing a trailer is 8 m.p.h. It is allowed an overall length of 34 ft.
and a trailer length, exclusive of drawbar, of 22 ft. Its maximum legal laden weight is 22 tons and, as the unladen outfit weighs only 7 tons, it is able to carry a pay-load of 15 tons. Under the Finance Act the outfit is taxed as a load-carrying vehicle drawing a trailer, and the tax of the Beardmore Python is, therefore, £32, plus £6.
Although the motive unit can be quickly uncoupled from the carrier unit, this outfit in no way resembles a tractor-trailer combination, neither is it similar in performance to an articulated three-axle machine.
For those who are not familiar with the Beardmore design it may be explained that the turntable of the carrier unit has no king-pin, but consists of two inter-locking rings, which can be parted only in the position corresponding to placing the drawbar underneath the body.
A turntable of this design obviously has great lateral rigidity— in fact, with the standard, rigid drawbar, it is possible to raise the front wheels of the laden carrier unit clear of the ground. This, incidentally, is useful for wheel changing and gives the one advantage of the articulated three-axle machine, namely, easy reversing in confined spaces, for a lock is provided to hold the turntable in the central position for this purpose.