Motor Wagon Wheels in Winter. (By T. C. Aveling.) One
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of the earliest difiiculties met with by introducers of motor wagons was the slipping of driving wheels in snow and, frosty weather, but, thanks to the mild winters we have experienced in the last six or seven years, the importance of producing a motor wagon driving wheel giving results in wintry weather approaching those obtained in the summer has not attained the prominence this question would have done had our winters been more severe and had snow lain upon the roads for some considerable time. The first steam wagon the writer had experience with was delivered in a snow storm. A wagon, light on a wet day, at those early times, required careful hand• ling, but with a layer of snow
deep on the road it was impossible for the wagon to travel with the wheels fitted as they were with s ooth steel Fig. 1. tyres. The
wagon, however, made a journey to the depot from the railway station, by means of substituting bolts having at their ends a spike protruding from the surface of the tyre some Sin., for the ordinary flush bolts securing the steel rim to the wooden felloes. These six spikes on each wheel enabled the wagon to travel slowly and uncertainly over the snow, but their use was, of course, a contravention of the Light Locomotives Act. Snow shoes have been fitted on motor wagon driving wheels, consisting of two segments, serrated on the face and bolted over the tyres. The faces of the segments cut through the snow and gave the grip on the surface, but this system was inadmissible for permanent use, as it failed to conform with the requirements of the Act. Nearly all the contrivances that have been tried have, in one way or
another, roughened the surface of the wheel, and all have had the common objection of contravening the requirements of the Act. Diagonal plates, studs, and such like will for a time prevent slipping, but the variations to be met with in wintry weather are so great that something more than roughening the running surface of the wheel is required to obtain the necessary hold on the road. If the surface of the tyres is smooth, with whatever material made, there must be some method provided to prevent a binding of snow upon. the surface of the wheel.
Let us, first of all, consider the different surfaces usually to be met with during the winter months in this country_ At one time you may be travelling on snow in the country and then upon stone setts in the town from which the snow has been removed; again you may he travelling over slides or solid ice. You may go out in the morning with the roads of good surface, hard and consolidated by the frost ; as soon as the sun gets up, this becomes moist and damp, and steel wheels with a smooth surface may hold. As the sun sets, the dampness in the road is evenly frozen. owing to the falling
temperature, d, perhaps, we m a v meet on the journey home a road which in reality is nothing more than a sheet of ice, when the wagon has either to break through this surface of ice, or to travel over it ,without slipParts of Goodwin's Patent Snow ping. Another not Shoe : the oblong blocks are corn zncorn rn on experiposed of rubber. Fig. 4.
ence is to start out in the early morning with, perhaps, a kin. fall of snow which has frozen, but, as mid-day approaches, the usual rise in temperature occurs and the roads become slushy, freezing again at night. Sand boxes on steel, smooth-tyred wheels, will accomplish much if you take with you a sufficient amount of sand. The nozzle on the sand box should be set so as to throw the sand or small shingle on the inner edge of the rim of the wheel, whether fitted with snow shoes or not.
Mann's Patent Steam Wagon Co., Ltd., of Hunslet, Leeds, has produced a patent winter wheel for heavy motor vehicles. The wheel (Fig. i) consists of a cast steel inner wheel with a polygonal rim, to which is bolted beech wood blocks or segments with grain end on. To prevent the wood splitting, plate segments or clamps with slot holes in them are bolted against the sides of the blocks and the rim of the inner cast steel wheel. The ends of the plate segments are a sufficient distance apart to allow them to be drawn towards the centre of the wheel, so that they will not come into contact with the road as the blocks are worn down, but by occasional adjustment may be kept at a suitable distance from the tread or outside of the wheel. These wheels enable wagons to travel in snowy and frosty weather when roads are impassable to ordinary steel-tyred machines, and when used in combination with a sanding box will climb steep hills. The writer has not seen any of these at work, but ventures to think that the Gate patent wheel (Fig. 2) would have the same effect, but there does not seem to be any provision in either of these wheels to prevent the snow from binding on the face of tyre as the wagon proceeds. Users of the Mann patent winter wheels report as follow :— " We beg to say we have had very little snow ; the frost has been pretty severe, and that, combined with the snow, made the roads very slippery. However, we are pleased to say the wooden wheels have done remarkably well, and are undoubtedly a wonderful improvement."
When it is realised what an enormous weight comes upon the driving wheels of a heavy motor wagon, amounting to as much as eight tons in many cases, it will be readily understood that the material used in the construction of any shoes must be of ample proportions to withstand the heavy strain thrown upon them. If they are made sufficiently strong it is necessary to divide the shoes up into a number of parts in order to reduce the weight to one that can be handled with a fair amount of convenience, thus necessitating the introduction of more bolts than would be otherwise used were it not for this consideration. About two years ago, Messrs. Goodwin and Co., millers, of Kidderminster, who have in use two steam wagons, found that, owing to the frost and snow, the working of these wagons was seriously disorganised during inclement weather of that nature. In 1903 Mr. D. Parkes Goodwin took out a patent for a snow shoe, No. 18,876. The snow shoe was manufactured from channef iron, consisting of two segments, slotted in face to allow rubber to protrude above the surface of the shoe. These shoes were used through the winter of 1903, and were successful in that the wagon was able to travel through snow and ice. Various forms of rubber packing were tried, and, from Messrs. Goodwin's experience of the use of these shoes, it appears that the rubber material is one of the most lasting components of this form of shoe. An improved form 01 this shoe (Fig. 3) was used on their steam wagon, with the result that the vehicle was neither stopped nor delayed through frost or snow, during 1e04, on a single occasion. Many difficulties confronted Messrs. Goodwin, tne most prominent one being the fact that the driving wheels of no two steam wagons are of exactly equal diameter and width, this necessitating packing of some sort between the snow shoe and the wheel. The idea of using rubber as a packing, and of allowingthe same material to protrude through slots in the snow shoes, was a happy one in that the rubber under pressure from the weight of the wheel when in contact with the road forms, as it were, a roughened and live surlace for the wheel tread, which prevents snow from accumulating on the face of the shoe. Another point to be considered was that there was very little space between the edge of the wheel and the frame of the wagon, a clearance having to be made for the connecting bolts on the inside of the wheel. Again, to obtain adhesion in snow, a fair proportion of the surface of the wheel must be of rubber. These factors necessitated cutting away the face of the snow shoe in such a manner as not to weaken the metal part. All these difficulties have now been overcome, and,, with the working of the new Heavy Motorcar Order, the foremost and most important difficulty will be met, since all wheels on motor wagons will now be of standard sizes and widths. This will greatly cheapen the cost of manufacture. Trials of these snow shoes fitted with circular rubbers instead of those of oblong shape resulted in favour of the oblong form of packing material. IN agons fitted with these shoes have been driven over both soft snow and ice. Over the snow, the wheels grip as if on an ordinary hard road; on the ice, there was a slight skidding, but the wagon was enabled to travel without the use of sand and unloaded. Fig. 4 gives a general idea of the snow shoe in parts, a portion of the rubber packing strip being shown. Fig. 5 shows the wagon travelling in snow near Kidderminster. With these snow shoes, Messrs. Goodwin and Co. have been enabled to climb, in heavy snow, an incline of m in 8 with a load of 2i tons with ease and without slip.
The snow shoe is made from a mild steel plate iin. thick, cut to template and provided with flanges bent over warm. Loose lugs are then fitted to the flanges to take the bolts, and to enable the bolts to adjust themselves to the radius of the wheels. Each set of shoes is pressed by hydraulic pressure on the tyres of the wheels in connection with which they are intended to work. No difficulty has been found in this, as most users of steam wagons have by them a spare set of driving wheels. Although in the use of these snow shoes full loads may not be carried, as in summer, it will be found that a sufficient load can be worked in almost any weather to prevent a disorganisation of the methods of transport of the business with which the motor wagon is connected. With the working of the new Act, there is no doubt that Mi.. D. Parkes Goodwin will have a considerable demand for this type of snow shoe; already we are given to understand that he has several orders in hand for the approaching winter. The price of a pair of snow ,shoes for wheels 42in. in diameter, by a width of loin., is ,C3o, other sizes being at proportionate prices.
Messrs. Sutton and Co., general carriers, of 27, Queen Victoria Markets, George Street, Sydney, are interested in commercial motors.
Japan will became a large market for motor vehicles as soon as the present war has ceased. The existing electric tramway between Kobe and Osaka has been very successful in spite of fares which seem to be the lowest we have come across. For a distance of te miles the fare is 7id., whilst for some intermediate points the fare is mid. for five miles.
The Scottish Motor Traction Co., Ltd., with offices at 40, Queen Street, Edinburgh, has been formed to establish pub-. lie motor bus services throughout Scotland. Edinburgh will first receive attention and the following routes are proposed to he covered in that neighbourhood :—Barn ton and Queensferry. Dalkeith and Eskbank, Loanhead and Lasswade, Slateford, Colinton and Juniper Green via Fountainbridge, Roslin, Glencorse and Penicuik via Morningside, and Corstorphine and Kirkliston. The consulting engineers are Messrs. Carmichael and Sharman, Queen Street, Edinburgh,