Road Transport Engineers Welcome Projected Institute
Page 28
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EVERY day we receive letters of congratulation and approval concerning the proposed Institute of Road
Transport Engineers, Many contain useful suggestions and advice, all of which points are carefully noted. , As regards the luncheon-conference to be held at the Connaught Rooms, London, at 12.30 ,p.m., on Friday. April 28, we are strictly limited to 150 seats, and by last Tuesday not more than 20 were still available.
Subject to the approval of the committee which is to be formed, we feel that there should be four grades of membership, comprising full members, associate-members, associates (those not actually engaged in the maintenance of fleets); and affiliates, students, graduates, or some such term, to cover those whose responsibilities or. present training do not yet warrant their inclusion as members or associate. members.
Excerpts from Applicants' Letters We have already published quite a number of comments regarding the scheme. Here are a few more : As a transport engineer of 20 years' experience, I heartily endorse the suggestion for the Institute. May I congratulate you upon your vision and enterprise in developing this scheme, which will certainly fulfil a long-felt want. I would like to help in any way possible in organizing the proposed Instifute in.the Northern Counties.
Being London service manager to a well-known commercial-vehicle maker, I feel that I may be able usefully to contribute to the activities of the Institute in the capacity of an associate.
As a :technical assistant in the M.O.W.T., and with a full -technical and practical knowledge of the design, running and 'maintenance of vehicles, including those operating on producer gas, also as a lecturer in connection with training schemes, my services may be of use to the proposed Institute.
The response to the suggestion for the formation of an Institute of Road Transport Engineers has been wonderful, and I feel that your efforts in this direction will prove to lae the high light of the transport year.
I am looking forward with the greatest interest, to the inception of the Institute, which, to my mind, will be the first step towards the proper recognition of the " forgotten ones " of the road-transport industry.
I have often felt, in the past few years, that there should be some organized channel through which our recommendations as practical engineers, based on hard facts and years of experience, could be transmitted to the vehicle makers. If the proposed body can do anything U.-) raise the status of our calling, then its formation is long overdue, for, previously, we have had no practical means for voicing our opinions. If your Institute be formed: I hope that professional snobbishness will not be allowed to interfere with the usefulness of its functions, as happens with certain other bodies. The committee or council should be prepared to consider applicants upon their personal ability and qualifications, without the, need for proposers and seconders, who, particularly in the case of a new organization, would be -difficult to find. If, eventually, there is to be an examination, anyone who wishes to sit for this should be allowed to do so, even if he cannot produce a record of
previous successes, .
Being greatly interested in the projected Institute, perhaps my own experience may point to the need for such a body. I have been with the transport department of a large manufacturing company for 24 years, the past three in charge of the garage. I have looked about for some society in which I could make contacts with people in positions such as my own, chiefly' with the idea of improving my value to my employers. I tried to sit for examinations for various technical organizations, but found that they were not so much 'interested in my capabilities as a transport manager or my technical knowledge of motor engineering, but as to whether my parents had been able to afford to give me -an education by which I could have 'passed my matriculation. Eventually I thought that I had found a suitable association, only to realize tlia:t I had joined a trade union, which presented me each month with a booklet giving details of disputes with, and triumphs over, !' capitalist employers,
. As a qualified engineer in charge of a large fleet of p.s. vehicles, I wish to submit my name for membership of the Institute. At the same time I would like to congratulate you upon your efforts to bring about the formation of this much-needed body. I may add that I am an A.M.I.Mech.E., and F.I.T.A., being a council member of the last.
The Institute should be formed with as little delay as possible because, with a vast organization such as road transport, co-operation through the engineering side has, to a great extent, been lacking. It should also be a great advance towards co-prdinating the views of the manufacturer and the user.
Considered as a whole, your scheme is an excellent one, and should be of considerable benefit to engineers con-. nected with it. It would be a means by which experience and ideas could be pooled and used to the advantage of the community.
As an Assistant Regional Transport' Officer to the Post Office responsible for the maintenance of over 2,000 vehicles, and with experience covering_ 19 years, I heartily endorse all that you and your contributors have said as to the desirability of forming the proposed Institute.
Value of Pooling Wide Experience
The Institute would enable designers, operators and engineers to get together and thus pool their wide .experience. Although British built transport vehicles are, in general, well and soundly constructed, they still show faults. Some of the "heavies " are tinder-powered, -and. there is a
mental need for sounder braking systems. At the moment I am responsible for the maintenance, design and construction of special-type .vehicles used for the transportation of abnormal loads.
Such an Institute as you visualize has become indistiensable to the industry,' for, with post-war planning more than ever to the -fore, those who have to " keep them running" must have a say in this, and the Institute should provide the " -voice " that we require. I am transport .maintenance engineer for an important company dealing with the. production of metals, after being invalided out of the Army, where I was a technical officer in the R.A.S.C., Formerly' I was works manager of a large garage.