A NEW CONTAINER SYSTEM OF TRANSPORT.
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An American Motor Manufacturer's Scheme Which Reduces Delays in Loading and Unloading.
IN some spheres of transport activity the motor vehicle is not able to give of its best due to the length of time occupied in loading and unloading, and this ' factor often results in working costs being unduly inflated. In some trades delays must inevitably occur in effecting such operations, but in others, particularly where bulk loads, such as tea, have to he dealt with, it is possible to bring about distinct economies by the use of containers, which can be loaded whilst the vehicle is employed on useful work and removed bodily from the platform of the chassis at a point where it is required to deposit the load.
For some years such containers have been used successfully by railway companies and for dealing with mails, and they are also employed by certain transport users who find them of considerable value for dealing with commodities which have to be distributed to various centres far removed from headquarters. We believe that an important London company employ a system of this kind by which loaded containers are carried on motor vehicles to railway goods yards, there to be transferred to trucks for conveyance to their destination, where they are picked up by other motors engaged on local distribution.
The International Motor Co., of New York, who are the manufacturers of Mack commercial vehicles, have just introduced a new container system a transport, the primary purpose of which
to eliminate the many handlings of freight necessary under the old methods of shipping, thereby materially reducing costly delays and releasing lorry and rail truck for other duties.
In transporting goods between two points located some distance apart, it is a customary practice to load the motor vehicle, unload it at the terminal point and reload on to a railway truck, the process being reversed at the destination, in each case the motor vehicle and railway freight truck being held up for some time. With the new Mack system all unnecessary handling is avoided, and, as the special containers can be loaded during the vehicle's absence and transferred from road vehicle to rail truck in a very few minutes, the rolling stock is not held up for any apprec.lable time.
It has been proved that in transferring containers the ramp-track method, which is the main feature of the Mack system, can carry out the work more expeditiously than a crane. The Mack ramp-track is a simple, inexpensive structure, available in various forms to meet all loading conditions, and its general details of construction can be gathered from our illustrations. The containers can be loaded whilst on the ramp-track, the horizontal portion of which is slightly higher than the plat forth of the lorry, thus enabling the vehicle to be backed under the container. A pair of guard rails is fastened to sleepers in the ground to facilitate this operation and to avoid the risk of injury to the supports of the ramps.
The containers are constructed almost throughout of aluminium alloy, and the dimensions of a standard unit are 12 ft, 8 ins. long, 8 ft. wide and 7 ft. high, these being outside measurements. Each has an internal capacity of 550 cubic ft. and can carry a load weighing 15,06o (American) lb, The weight of the container is only very slightly over 15 per cent. of the total weight which it is designed to carry, and one container constitutes a load for a 7i-ton Mack truck, three being the full load for a 40-ft, flat railcar. The containers are constructed with hinged double doors at both ends, and are provided with strong eyes for hoisting purposes.
Mack trucks designed for use with these containers have a coupling installed in the centre of the platform directly behind the cab, and a locking device on each of the four corners to secure the container in position.