Tilling' s Bullion Vans.
Page 13
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A Load that is Worth .E25,000 on a Two-ton Motorvan.
It does not, perhaps, occur to the ordinary mail that, in the course of modern business transactions, large accumulations of certain kinds of coin have often to be dealt with in certain quarters. Such accumulations, due to extraordinary circumstances, are sometimes of such an extent that special means have to be taken, by bankers and others, to ensure their proper redistribution. The principal banks in the Metropolis, and in the chief provincial towns, frequently have to transport large quantities of bullion, in addition to gold, silver, and copper coin in bulk, from headquarters to branch offices, and from one banking institution to another. In the Metropolis and in other large centres, the cartage of this valuable freight has .hitherto been effected by means of pair-horse vans.
Thomas Tilling, Limited, has now For some years sustained the contract for the horse-cartage of bullion and coin for many of the banks in the Metropolis. This tong-established company now has iS lilnes-Daitriler, motor, mail vans runningsatisfactorily in regular service. In view of the fact that it has so suc:essfully applied the use of the commet:ial-motor vehicle to many of the other :lasses of jobbing-contract work, it was to be expected that it would be only a matter of tittle before Tilling's decided t..:\ employ the motor vehicle in its cont-acts with the banks. The first of a set three specially-constructed bullion cans has just been completed in the notor department of this undertaking at Peckham. Of these three machines, ken are to be kept in regular service For the carrying of bullion and coin between the head office and the wanches if one of the leading London :\anks and the Bank of England, and he third is, for the present, to be kept n reserve Through the courtesy of Mr. \V-l-ey, one of the directors, and of "Ir. Frost-Smith, the engineer, of Thomas Tilling, Limited, we have been .itabled to secure early photographs.
It is intcresting to note that each of these machines is expected, at times, to carry a freight valued at between 25,000 and 430,000. Each van-body can aceomniodate a total load of two tons, composed of coin and precious ingots. Gold in bulk for banking purposes is transported on small, low trollies, which Can carry up to 35 cwt. of the metal. The most interesting point in the construction of Tiling's new van is the fact that the coach-work and chassis are specially adapted to allow one of these trucks to be run from the ground up I he small ramp, which IS clearly shewn in one of our illustrations; the trolley is next turned round on a turntable, and it can then be pushed into the body of the van with ease. Silver and copper are carried on shelves. The ramp and turntable fold up neatly into the back of the body, and form the lower part of the door.
Immediately in front of the bullionstorage compartment, .comfortable accommodation is arranged for two messengers or guards, arid the back door to the storage portion of the van is entirely under the control of these guards; it is impossible to obtain access to the bullion, unless the rear door is released by a lever, which is fitted in the guards' compartment. A small writing desk is disposed in this middle portion of the body, and ample side doors are provded. A sneaking-tube gives communication between the guards and the driver, between whom the glazed front portion of the main body lies. In order that the \\ eight of the landed truck should n:a have to be raised to the height of the ordinary chassis frame, the back axle is of special cranked de and, as can be seen in one of the photographs which we.reproduce, it hrs thus been possible to build the back part of the body with a deep well.
Morse silent chains are provided, and the whole chassis, which, as we have already mentioned, has been constructed entirely in Tilling's works, is the embodiment of the very consider
able experience that Mr. P. Frost-Smith has had with the various types of machines which his company runs. The engine has four cylinders, and is of the original 24h.p. Nlilnes-Daimler type. The design of the transmission gear is on the Milnes-Daimler model, but with the important exception that the drive from the differential gearbox is secured by means of side chains and sprockets, in the place of the customary internallytoothed rack and pinion. The tare weight of the van is 3 tons 15 cwt., and four speeds forward and a reverse are provided. The speed of the van, fully loaded, is well up to the limit, and as the machine will generally run in London it has plenty of power.