TRANSPORT TIPS FOR TRADESMEN.
Page 19
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Particularly Addressed to Those Who are Replacing Horsed Vehicles by Motors; or Contemplating So Doing.
. EVERAL notes which have appeared on this page recently have been devoted to various methods
of improving efficiency by the aid of improved organization. The same subject has recently been referred to by a correspondent of The Tians, who points out some of the many reasons why a big percentage of motor vehicles do not give the economical results of which they are capable.
Some Causes of Poor -Efficiency.
Some of the causes of comparative failure ate beyond the control of the motor owner. Among these may be numbered inferior roads, heavy gradients, and bad traffic regulation in towns. The tram, for example, is a fruitful cause for aelay of all other vehicular traffic, and, in this way, is directly responsible for putting up the costs of transport and -delivery. Then, again, restrictive legal regulations
• are beyond our control, except in so far as we may co-operate successfully through representative organizations to combat such restrictions.' This is not the showy side of association work, b-eca.use it is. often impossible to point to definite results. It is, however. one of the most important, and is alone adequate justification for the payment of a subscription to a central body which deals competently with such matters.
Big Vehicle Weights.
Another cause of lost efficiency which can hardly be laid wholly at the door of the motor user is excessive -vehicle weight. It is necessary that there should be some limitation of gross weights and laden axle weights. This is required to safeguard the roads from wilful damage. It follows that excessive vehicle weight leaves a smaller margin for the weight of the useful load. Users are partly responsible, inasmuch as they often take little interest in the weight of the vehicle. They merely accept the manufacturer's statement that it will carry so many tons, without even asking if it is legally entitled to do so. In a sense, also, users are responsible for excessive vehicle weights, because these are frequently the direct consequence of habitually overloading. The manufacturerl knowing that many users will overload their vehicles continually, cannot be contented to give only the margin of strength that will be necessary if there were no overloading. The man who overloads habitually blames not himself, but the manufacturer, when trouble follows. The manufacturer must, then, take thiaprecaution of providing an unnecessarily strong and, therefore, an unnecessarily heavy, vehicle. Any user who is sufficiently confident in his own organization to feel assured that overloading will not be permitted would (1.? well to state this fact when purchasing. Ho will then often find that a lighter type of chassis will be recommended as adequate for his work. This may bring him into a category permitting higher legal speeds. It will oertainly allow him larger useful loads—overloading being, of course, avoided—without increasing his axle weights to such a point as to put him into ahigher and slower category.
Load Distribution. ,
A cause of lost efficiency for which either the manufacturer or the user, or both, may be responsible, is bad distribution of load, leading to legal axle weights being exceeded before the whole load for which the vehicle is designed has been got on board. Bad distribution of load may be encouraged by faulty design of the vehicle or by the load-carrying platform being so placed that• practically the whole of the load comes on to the rear axle instead of the four-fifths which is approximately usual. This generally means also an excessive overhang, with racking and rapid depreciation of the body. Bad distribution of load is sometimes due also to careless or lazy loading, in which case the user is responsible.
Assimiing that we have a vehicle as light as possible, consistent with long life and proper loadcarrying capacity, and that our load is in all eases properly distributed on the vehicle, there still remain numerous causes of lost efficiency, the bulk of which are traceable to bad organization or to obsolete or inadequate equipment.
Are Records Valuable?
In many cases poor efficiency will be fairly promptly revealed if accurate and sufficient records of performance are kept. It is necessary to explain that the term "records" is not meant to imply " accounts." The latter are, of course, necessary to show the financial results over a period; the former indicate rather the comparative performances of various vehicles and any falling away of, efficiency, whatever may be the cause. Primarily, properlykept records reveal the consumption of fuel and other supplies per mile run and per ton-mile of work done. They reveal also any falling away of average running speed, or any lack of reliability on the part of any specific vehicle. Roughly speaking, records indicate the efficiency of drivers and alio* inferior men to be weeded out. Again, roughly speaking, they indicatethe comparative merits of different makes of vehicle. Their indications do not necessarily amount to proof ; they merely amount to a strong suggestion that some inquiryor particular investigation is needed. They are really an essential part of any thorough organization, though there are any number of motor users who neglect to keep any records whatever, and, consequently, do not discover the poor or reduced efficiency of their working until many months have elapsed. If the work consists of daily journeys for the transport of known loads from point to point on regular routes, the keeping of accurate records is an easy matter. If the routes covered are constantly varying, it is more difficult, and a reliable mileage recorder is then an essential fitting. Great care should be taken to make sure that the mileage recorder is such that it cannot be tampered with--so as to give misleading readings, apparently showing more economical results than the driver has really secured. If the work is in the nature of retail deliveries, the estimation of the tonnage dealt with and of the ton-miles of work done is not simple. If NIT know the average weight of the load sent out, a fairly satisfactory plan is to assume that, on the average, 'half this load is carried over the distance represented by the round. Where several journeys are done in a day, the mistake is not infrequently made of adding up the total tonnage dealt with in the day and multiplying it by the total mileage to give the ton-miles of work done. The correct method is, of course, to treat each journey separately for estimates of ton-mileage and then to add together the results for the day.