AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

THE WIDE SC1 DF THE WINCH.

26th August 1924, Page 16
26th August 1924
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 16, 26th August 1924 — THE WIDE SC1 DF THE WINCH.
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR 46

• THE MODERN motor lorry is something more than a mere unit of transportation. It is rapidly becoming the factotum of many industries, and this is especially the case when the vehicle is equipped with a winch.

Such a lorry has many and varied requirements to meet, especially as almost every hauling proposition has its individual peculiarities. It is not a matter for surprise, therefore, that the demand for lorries fitted with winch equipment is rapidly increasing, and that many manufacturers are giving as much study to the perfecting of the winches with which their vehicles are equipped as they are to the development of their chassis. Winch equipment has been found invaluable for moving heavy loads in the more undeveloped parts of the United States. The conditions existing in these districts are in many respects similar to those prevailing in many corners of the British Empire, and it is hardly an exaggeration to state that winchequipped lorries can renci2 a more potent servicein rapidly developing backward areas in Australia, Canada, South Africa, India, and elsewhere than any other invention that the mind of man has yet perfected. One instance might be quoted. In a recent issue we showed a number of' Thornycroft lorries being employed outside Calcutta in connection with the construction of a fresh-water pipe-line for the city. These vehicles were so equipped as to load and unload themselves with sections of pipe 60 ins, in diameter.

In many cases winches form an integral part of the chassis, and are operated from the standard power transmission. By this means extra gearing and shafting or mechanism is eliminated, with a consequent saving in -.veight. It also permits the 'use of the change-speed gear set of the lorry, thereby giving a practical range of speed and power for the various uses to which the apparatus can be put. In most instances the winch is entirely under the control of one man, usually the driver himself, who operates it by levers located beside his seat. The present-day winch is designed to handle loads within its capacity with ease, to lift them, to hold them safely suspended, and to lower them, as desired.

In the case of the winch fitted to White lorries four change-speed gears and one reverse are provided. These are furnished by the ordinary lorry transmission, and, controlled by the throttle, give a .wide range of speed variation. Power is supplied to the winch by the operation of the power transmission clute'n-operating lever. In other words, the driving force is disconnected from the lorry

B32 drive-shaft by a jaw clutch in the winch transmission, arid transferred to the gear-driven tower, through which it is transmitted to the winch drive-shaft.. This operation drives the niggerhead whilst the drum remains stationary. • The forward movement of the winch clutch operating lever advances the winch clutch. This locks the drum on the winch drive-shaft, causing it to rotate with the nigg,erheads. The backward movement of the same lever disengages the winch clutch, and permits the drum to run free on the shaft. This is controlled by the winch drum brake lever when it is desired to unwind the cable or rope.

On some of the F.W.D. vehicles the winch is placed beneath the rear end of the chassis. It is claimed that this location is an advantage, in that, no matter how hard the pull, there is little chance of straining or twisting the chassis, as might be possible in the case -where the winch is located either on the top or in the centre of the chassis.

In many spheres of industrial activity winch equipment is virtually a necessity. For instance, in the oilfields throughout the world the .winch is being used to advantage in the work of transporting drill jug equipment ; hauling drilling machines that weigh many tons around oil sites, often over very soft ground; erecting drilling rigging ; hauling loads of timber, and unloading heavy machinery. The winch. indeed, has been used in some cases in connection with the actual drilling of oil wells.

In the logging industry the winch can be put to a multitude of uses. Logs can be snaked out of difficult places, loaded either on to the truck itself or on to trailers, and unloaded at dumping points. Heavy sawmill machinery is readily moved by the use of a winch, besides being unmounted and erected at convenient points. Perhaps, however, it is in connection with general contracting work that the winch is most widely used. It can be used for hoisting heavy timbers and girders into position, erecting scaffolding, and loading and unloading heavy materials at railway sidings. It has frequently been utilized in parts of America and elsewhere for moving dwelling-houses from place to place.

• In the agricultural field the winch has often proven its worth. Ploughs, harrows, harvesters, and other agricultural machinery can easily be loaded on a lorry and transported to the fields where they are required by the use of such equipment. This is a great advantage, in that machinery need not be left in fields, where, by being exposed to the weather, it deteriorates raPidly. The winch can also be used for stacking trusses of hay, bags of grain, etc.-

The results obtained in economic loading and unloading, together with increased flexibilty of action, have made the winch-equipped lorry a valuable asset in most fields of constructional and transportation activity.

House-breaking contractors have found the winch to be an ideal emergency appliance, and some months ago an Autocar lorry fitted with such an equipment pulled down the steeple of a church bodily in an hour or so. This operation, under the methods generally in use, would have taken several days to accomplish. The winch is frequently put to good use in unde veloped districts. Where roads do not exist it can he of much value in helping bogged lorries to get on to firm ground. It has also been used to help lorries and trailers over steep gradients that are beyond the power of vehicles.

Winches installed on lorries have often proved of invaluable assistance in moving heavy slabs of granite and other stone from quarries. whilst in the lifting of statues, weighing several tons, into position they have many times proved their worth. An indication of the intricacy of such a task is clearly shown in one of the illustrations reproduced on this page in which it will be seen that a huge specimen of the sculptor's art is being set in position with the assistance of a lorry winch. Removal contractors find winch cquipment valuable when moving heavy and bulky articles, such as safes, pianos, sideboards, etc., into the upper storeys of houses or into the higher floors of repositories,

Other uses to which the winch can be put are concerned with loading or unloading horses and cattle, whether alive or dead ; moving boilers, dynamos, and other heat, engineering and electrical

1334 machinery ; setting and replacing telegraph and telephone poles ; trenching and excavation work ; pulling underground or aerial cables ; loading, unloading, and erecting transformers ; handling and hauling bridge masonry ; erecting steel stacks, fireescapes, water tanks, and derricks ; erecting structural steel building framework, etc. ; pulling easing, tubing and sucker rods ; salving wrecks in rivers and docks ; moving broken-down vehicles from roads, and driving piles. Assuredly it seems that there is hardly any sphere of industrial, agricultural, or mining work in which the winch cannot be employed to advantage in any part of the world.

Tags

Organisations: Freemasonry
Locations: Calcutta

comments powered by Disqus