Eight-wheeled tipping sludge tanker for Redline Purle
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• Cradle mounting of the tank in the lowered position is a special feature of a 3600ga1 vacuum-filled 30-ton-gvw rigid sludge tanker of the tipping type recently completed by Clarke Chapman-John Thompson Ltd, transporter division, Durham, for Redland Purle.
The tanker is the biggest tipping type employed by the operator and cradle mounting was developed in close liaison with Redland Purle technicians, who remark that the advent of the 30-ton-gvw eight-wheeler has enabled the usefulness of tipping tankers to be greatly increased, partly because the larger shell facilitates cleaning out. It will be employed for toxic and non-toxic waste, but not for inflammable materials.
The tank is mounted on an AEC Mammoth Major 3TG 8RT double-drive eight-wheeled 30-ton-gvw chassis, and it is claimed that the form of tank mounting enables the vehicle's chassis to flex in the normal way while providing lateral restraint in off-the-road operations without restricting flexing of the vehicle chassis which would produce high localized stressing. It also obviates the transfer of torsional stresses to the shell and acts as a guide to centralize the tank when it is lowered. Providing a payload of 17.53 tons, the tank has a usable capacity of 3600ga1 when it is carrying waste with a specific gravity of 1:155, the normal range of gravities being 0.85 to 1.5. It is the largest sludge tanker to be built by the company in tipping form and is destined for Belfast.
Of circular section with a diameter of 5ft 9in., the single-compartment shell is built of ain. mild-steel, the ends being of +in. material. It is fitted with two baffles which act as stiffeners and have large cut-outs, while its strength is augmented by external steel bands. In effect it is a rigid structure that can accommodate bending stresses — when it is lifted by the Edbro 6 CAN twin-ram front-mounted tipping gear — without the use of longitudinal members.
A Reeve11 T100 compressor/exhauster is belt-driven from a pto propeller shaft and provides for fill and discharge rates of up to 260 gal /min. The tank is designed for vacuum loading at 25in. hg and pressure discharge at 20 psi, the time for loading and discharge being normally about 13min.
Other details of equipment include Sykes Bauer quick-release couplings that can accommodate a degree of misalignment, gate valves that are operated through a gear mechanism to give quick action, and
spring-loaded clamps on the rear door. The end of the internal suction pipe is located high in the tank to prevent back-siphoning of the product and to reduce erosion of the shell by the incoming sludge. A sight glass indicates the level of the product.