THE GIANT PNEUMATIC TYRE ON BUS WORK.
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The Experience of a Prominent Company Who Own a Large Fleet of Passenger-carrying Vehicles.
1-`1 URING the past few years the
Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Co., Ltd., have done much to popularize the use of the giant pneumatic tyre on commercial vehicles and motorbuses, and they have put forward special claims on behalf of this equipment for vehicles up to a definite carrying capacity. Amongst these claims are those of greater cushioning, lower petrol and oil consumption, and increased traction, apart from the fact that such tyres enable higher average speeds to be maintained, and thus permit a greater mileage to be covered within a definite time'. Moreover, they give increased comfort to passengers on motor coaches and buses as compared with ordinary solid-tyre equipment.
The majority of these advantages have been readily acknowledged, but, at one time, certain scepticism prevailed as to the ability of giant pneumatics to give a sufficiently large mileage to enable them to be employed economically. If any doubt still exists on this point we would direct our readers attention to the behaviour of the Goodyear giant pneumatic tyres which are fitted on many of the regular-service vehicles engaged on all-the-year-round work for United Automobile Services, Ltd., of Lowestoft and Bishop Auckland.
This company, as is well known, operate a comprehensive network of passenger-vehicle services in several parts of the country, and, in view of their wide experience and the fact that their vehicles operate over road surfaces of all descriptions, one is justified in
referring to the success which they have achieved with Goodyear giant pneumatics on a fleet of saloon buses, some of which are shown in the accompanying illustration.
Their experience is not founded on the running of a single set of tyres, but on the behaviour of 300 giant pneumatics of this make, which, between them, have recently completed a total distance of 7,031,400 miles. This in itself is testimony to the durability of the equipment, but, what is more, 149 of these tyres are still in active service. From records which have been kept the average distance covered by each of the 300 tyres is shown to be 23,438 miles.
To give some idea of the remarkable carcase strength of the Goodyear giant pneumatic one can relate a curious in
cident which recently occurred on one of the company's buses to which such equipment is fitted. The vehicle developed an elusive noise, which was thought to be due to some defect in the differential mechanism, but a thorough inspection subsequently carried out failed to locate the trouble at this point.
After further investigation had been undertaken, without success, it was noticed that what looked like a small Piece of steel was protruding from the tread of one of the Goodyear giant tyres. No thought had been given to trouble arising from this source, as the tyres were all still fully inflated, but, from careful observation, it was found that the noise was created by the metal coming into contact with the road.
The piece of steel was extracted with some difficulty, when it was found to be a section of broken spring leaf measuring 6 ins. long, 14 ins, wide and in. thick, With a very sharp corner. Although the piece of steel became almost, entirely embedded in the tread, the tyre from which it was removed appears to be little the worse for its unusual experience and is still in operation.
The Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Co. (Great Britain), Ltd., inform us that during the five years that have elapsed since their first giant pneumatic tyre was fitted on a public-service bus in this country there has been a constantly increasing demand for this type of equipment, which has given proof of its efficiency and economy under actual service conditions of all grades.