Points for Standard Loading Systems.
Page 15
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By Sir John H. A. Macdonald, P.C., K.C.,
We are naturally a jog-trot nation. Once settled in a groove, we remain in it, and frown on all advice which tells us that our groove is obsolete, and that we suffer loss by complacently staying there. Who does not remember how, for nearly half a century after steam. cranes were established on our quays, vast quantities of luggage were carried on men's backs at ports like Dover, Folkestone, Holyhead and Kingstown, from shore to steamer and from steamer to shore, when they could have been picked up in bulk and transferred direct without any difficulty ? Either there was no imagination, or imagination was crushed by the spirit of routine. This is but one illustration of such ways of doing the system under which breaking bulk was the rule, transit in bulk from start to finish of journey being the exception. Is it to be the same when the road waggon that conveys goods carries with it the means of moving goods in bulk from waggon to train and from train to waggon ? Are goods going by rail still to be put through three loading operations before delivery at their destination Are they to be delivered to the railway by being put down piecemeal on loading-banks and lifted into railway waggons, while the power to transfer them slumbers uselessly under the motor bonnet, and is the same primitive process to be gone through at the arrival station when the goods are to be transferred to motor waggons for delivery? Judging by the past, it is quite conceivable. No doubt something is being done here and there, though by no means universally, to modify the present system by the use of " flats." But surely there must be some greater development than this. It may serve, in a way, at large depots where power cranes are always available. But it can give no improvement at roadside stations, or manufactory sidings, where fixed power appliances cannot be available. The subject. calls for consideration, and nowhere could it be better ventilated than in THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, in which it has been touched upon recently. But though discussion in technical journals may do something, little will be effected until it is taken up and considered by representatives of road transit and of rail transit sitting together. Would it not be well that the C.M.U.A. should endeavour to induce the railway companies to appoint representatives with a view to conference, that the best mode of action may be thought out and adopted ? Every day's delay will make the standardization more difficult, and absence of standardization spells evil. For it is, indeed, certain that, without organization between the two modes of transit, no
un i iformity will be established, and f uniformity be not established, improvement will be delayed, with the result that, in the meantime, much capital will be wasted in unsuitable plant, and time and money will be daily wasted in carrying on a service which is not the best, as regards either economy or efficiency.
Of course it will be said that there is a large quantity of plant, both on the rail and on the road, which might have to be altered or even scrapped, if a, general system were devised and adopted. But is it
i not well worth considering whether this s not the best and the cheapest course in the end? As the great Napoleon said of the Romans : "Ils ont toujoters renonce a lent. usages, sitot gulls y-ont trouve de meilleurs."
They had no idea of an economy which pottered on with what had become no longer the best. Surely we may learn the lesson that our Transatlantic friends have taught us, that to scrap what is not the best obtainable is a paying policy. It is earnestly to be hoped that commercial motor manufacturers and railway engineers will now -to-day—take up this question and deal with it comprehensively and thoroughly. The devising of a system, where at present there is no system, is of importance to the public whose work has to be done, and to those who undertake to do it. It would be well if they would combine, and offer a handsome set of premiums for the best designs for transit of goods from power road vehicle to goods train and vice versa, without delays in transhipment, and without the damage which too often is the result of breaking bulk. The most rapid and convenient system must be the cheapest, and if it were reached, would soon repay the cost of a change of appliances.
To the writer, the system which suggests itself as most likely to prove successful is one in which the body of motor waggon can be moved horizontally on to the railroad truck, the waggon's motor power being used to draw it off the one on to the other. The frame of the motor waggon and the floor of the truck would have a set of rollers projecting slightly above the floor, and the load would be hauled over the rollers, as is done in a hearse when a coffin is rolled in and out of it. The motor would be used to warp the load on and off by a small capstan drum and wire rope. The detail in doing this should not present any difficulty. It would, of course, be necessary to have the two floors at nearly the same level when brought together ; but this could be accomplished in the same way as is now done for running gentlemen's carriages or furniture vans on to railway trucks. It will be seen also that such an arrangement would be most convenient for the merchant, who sends goods out of his premises, whether to go by road or rail. He would be able to use one frame and motor to run two goods-carrying bodies, the second one being loaded while the first was out for delivering, the empty body being brought back and run off to be reloaded, and the loaded one run on to go out for the second delivery. Thus one machine would do double haulage work, and this would reduce cost. But, whatever may be the system to be adopted, what it is desired to press is that there should be a system, that it should be a general system, and that it is false economy to have no system in which the great conveniences of the power vehicle are utilized for rapid and easy transfer of goods in bulk. Shall the appeal be made in vain to the C.M.U.A. to take this matter up without delay, and to have it dealt with as its importance demands? Every day that passes without its being given practical attention will make it more difficult to deal with.
An Enlarged Manual.
" The Motor Manual" has long had an enviable reputation as the ideal handbook of instruction on all matters connected with the mechanism of the petroldriven pleasure vehicle. A new edition— the lath— consisting of 40,000 copies, has just been published. Already a quarter-of-a-million copies of the "Manual" have been sold. The new edition has been brought up to date in every respect. The contents have been exhaustively rearranged ; the many descriptions of engines and other components are all reflections of the latest practice. Much of the letterpress has been entirely rewritten—in particular we would instance the section which deals with the magneto.
A useful feature of the book is the index, which has been specially expanded for this edition ; ready reference to any point is now an easier matter than ever. "The Motor Manual" should be of considerable interest to many readers of THE COMMERCIAL MoToit. The price is 1s. 6d., or by post from these offices 1s. 9d.