T THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR 770 ' January 22, r929. HE flat
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and low-lying nature of a large area of the county of Norfolk has made it a district eminently suitable for the growTIME-SAVING in the TRI lag of sugar beet and it will-quite probably become one of the chief centres of this new
The beet becomes mature during the autumn months, and its pulling is usually the farmers' first job after the conclusion of the harvest. It is dealt with by hand and carted by the farmer to dumps along the roadside, either just inside, or close outside, the field where it has been grown. These dumps vary according to the size of the field, ranging from 15 tons to 1,000 tons. The beet is loaded into lorries from these dumps and transported in this manner to the factory at King's Lynn, which is capable of dealing with 1,500 tons of beet per day.
Loading and Transport by Day and Night.
Owing to the fact that the season lasts only a few months of the year, both men and machines have to work extremely long hours. The urgency is shown by the fact that binding is carried on day and `night, the work during the hours of darkness requiring the use of flares.
With dumps of various tonnages scattered all over Norfolk, the problem of expediting the loading of the beet by mechanical means was to find an appliance combining a high grabbing output with exceptional mobility, and a new combination to meet these requirements is the Priestman Universal excavator, mounted on a special F.W.D. lorry, supplied by the Four Wheel Drive Lorry Co., Ltd., 46. Charing Cross, London, S.W.1. This machine was delivered last August to the Eastern General Transport Co., Ltd., Ring's Lynn, Norfolk.
The actual grabbing unit employed is the No. 10, driven by a fairly powerful Dorman fourcylindered engine, arranged to start up on
OF SUGAR. BEET. petrol and run on paraffin. The grab is of
light construction for handling beet and light construction for handling beet and
so designed that the jaws effect a.minimum of damage. The grab, when heaped, can carry 17 cubic ft.; its flush capacity is 14 cubic ft. and it is capable of lifting approximately 6 cwt, of beet at a time, which, together with the 'total weight of the grab, represents a load of a ton—the maximum duty for which this crane is designed at a radius of 18 ft. The crane is secured tc
the lorry in such a way that a full circle swing is possible
Mobility a Factor of Great Importance.
Naturally, one of the most important features of this outfit is its mobility. It can load a dump in a short space of tithe and travel quickly to the next dump. It can be
driven so easily that „a girl could well control it. The driver has a comfortable seat in full view of his work and all the levers and engine controls are conveniently grouped. Providing that there is an adequate supply of lorries available, the outfit is capable of loading at the rate of 60 tons per hour, representing three to four complete operations per minute. This output is, of course, impossible over extended periods, partly because a continuous supply of lorries is DA always available and partly because the machine deals with one dump and then may have to travel miles to the next before operations can be recommenced. The grabbing machine weighs 6 tons 18 cwt, with the grab empty and for this reason a special chassis had to be built to carry it. It waa also necessary to employ a wider track, this being 6 ft. 4 ins., as compared with the standard F.W.D. track of 4 ft. 8h. ins. With the exception of stronger axles, frame springs and bigger tyres, the chassis is standard and it is equipped with the large-type F.W.D. engine of 5* ins, bore and 5i ins. stroke. A special reducing gear is also added to the standard gearbox.
Reference to the illustrations will show that the machine is being employed continuously over soft ground where driving on all four wheels constitutes a most important asset. The grabbing machine starts at one end of the dump and moves back as the beets are being picked up. The lorry engine is used only for driving purposes, the grabbing machine being provided with its own power unit. The wheels are of cast-steel equipped with 36-in. by 5-in, twin solid tyres at the front and
3.6-in. by 6-in, twins at the rear.
Seine of the special features of this machine are as follow:— It is equipped with two. independent 'power barrels arranged for operating a two-line grab, so that the grab can be discharged at any height at the will of the driver. The barrels are grouped to avoid overlapping of the ropes.
The Priestman Universal machine is certainly versatile, and anyone who has seen examples cleansing the main-drainage channels in the len district may well be surprised that, a similar machine is capable of giving such efficient service on the transport side of this new industry.
F.W.D.
The axles are of the full-floating, bevel-driven pattern running on ball or roller bearings. T h e foot brake is of the external-contracting type acting at the rear of the transmission, whilst the hand brake expands drums in the rear wheels: A constant-mesh gearbox is utilized, this giving four speeds forward and two in reverse, the normal road speeds being 16, 8, 4 and 2 m.p.h. forward and 4 and 2 m.p.h. in reverse. The clutch is a HeleShaw multi disc pattern.
084' So far as the engine is concerned, this is equipped with a Bosch F.R.4-type magneto with an impulse starter, whilst carburation is attended to by a Soiex instrument.
An exclusive, and patented feature of the grabbing unit is what is termed a "load-easing gear" fitted to the relay clutch levers. This eliminates all shocks on the crane super-structure as the load is being transferred from the hoisting motion to the. grab.
In the development of an entirely new industry such as this it is essential to study every method by which production costs can be kept low. Transport charges must be considered under this heading, as the produce to which they apply is the sugar, not the actual beet, and every charge before the sugar is obtained has to be added to the cost of production.
It would appear that the PriestMan-F.W.D. outfit has an important future before it, because it can handle masses of, the raw material with ease and, although it has theappearanCe of being seineWhat c umbersome, in reality it has a high degree of mobility, which makes it one of the most satisfactory outfits which have been produced for this work.
Transport may be said to be one of the dominating factors in the progress of the industry, and, unless the beet ean be handled rapidity and carried cheaply, the Price of the commodity for which they are employed cannot be kept at an economic level. The industry is considered to be a most promising one and should be encouraged in. every way possible.