MUNICIPAL MOTOR APPLIANCES.
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The Development of the Use of Motor Power in Municipal and Urban Services Has Been Rapid, Because of the Better Service Provided.
THE MOTOR-PROPELLED vehicle, in its more utilitarian development, has become an important feature of municipal and urban service, more generally in the way of refuse removal and cleansing and scavenging work and in the important department of fire-fighting service.
Amongst the most useful of the vehicles adopted for Public service of this character, the tipping wagon for cartage and placement of material for roadmaking and repairing stands out as a particularly useful and even necessary appliance. Even in conjunction with road-sweeping appliances, in the removal of the refuse, its usefulness is quite apparent. . In the present article it is intended only to point out what, at the Show, interested the municipal engineer and surveyor, from the point of view of cleansing, sweeping, scavenging, cartage, etc. All the appliances mentioned. were covered, as regards general outline, in our stand to sta,nd report.
A particularly well-designed and widely-useful vehicle is the Ka-mer sprinkler, road sweeper, and refuse collector.It is a combination well thought out, and consists of a combined water tank and refuse receptacle and three-brush sweeper. In front is a sprinkler situated immediately below the radiator, and other sprinklers are situated in front of the rear of the three road-sweeping rotary brushes.
These sprinklers supply, from the water compartment of the tank body, enough water to lay the dust and render the sweeping up of the road refuse easier and less objectionable. The tank is capable of holding 160 gallons of water, and an engine-driven pump forces the water out of the spraying nozzles so that sufficient surface is covered without the needsof using a large quantity of liquid.
The two forward brushes are driven by a diagonal shaft, bevel geared to the engine transmission shaft and capable of being raised and lowered and clutched and declutched. They sweep the material from the sides to the centre, ready to be gathered by the rear brush. The driver is situated on the left-hand side of the vehicle, in order that he inay so drive as to keep the left brush at the kerb. The back brush picks up the sweepings of the side brushes and also brushes the road track in the middle of the vehicle path and conveys the sweepings into an iniclined trunk which contains a pair of rotary brushes, which act as conveyors. These brushes are arranged one over the other. The intermediate brush is geared to the road brush by chain gear, so that it rotates in the same direction and brushes up the material thrown up from the ground. It rotates in a casing which it closely fits, and at the top this easing is open. By centrifugal force the refuse is thrown through this opening, and is then caught by the third brush, which, by spur gearing, is geared to drive in the opposite direction and so takes up the material And throws it over into the receptacle. All the road brushes are balanced, and all can be independently put into or out of operation by levers at the driver's hand.
Another form of road sweeper is the De DionBouton, which also combines the work of watering. In this machine sprayers are fitted ef the drum type with oscillating eclipsing covers, by means of which the amount of water and the distance sideways which it can be sprayed are inStantly under the control of the driver. They can deliver 50 gallons per minute. The sweeping brush is immediately in the centre of the chassis, and clears both sides, and there is a sprayer in front of the brush to lay the dust. A centrifugal pump, engine-driven, supplies middle and front sprayers, and the sweeper can be operated without the front sprayers, or the front sprayers can be opera,ted without the sweeper. The front sprayers will cover a full width roadway at one traverse if necessary, while, for traffic negotiation, one or other, or both, may be put in or out of operation instantly. The capacity of the water tank is 800 gallons.
The broom is held down to work by equalizing springs, while, when the driver lifts the broom, the drive becomes declutched. The engine is of 20 b.p. at 1,200 revs.
Intimately connected with the question of scavenging is the business of sewer and gulley and gutter cleansing and flushing. In this connection, the Straker-Squire machine has some remarkable and distinctive features. The object of this powerful machine is to clear and flush the galleys and empty the traps, and it is specially designed to loosen the mud and then to draw it up in liquid form into the tank. For this purpose a large-capacity centrifugal pump is mounted horizontally about the middle of the chassis, with its drive shaft vertical and driven by skew gearing from the gearbox. This pump is connected with two suction pipes and a delivery pipe. The pipe, leading down from a point about 2 ft. below the top of the tank and inside it, comes down direct to the suction side of the pump, and not only primes the pump but also allows water to flow via the flexible suction pipe to the drain or gulley. This water loosens the mud, and the operation of the pump lifts the diluted mud, once the valve to the pump suction is opened, and delivers it, via, the sloping pipe shown, to the tank. The bottom of the tank is inclined as shown in the illustration, and the more or less solid sediment flows down to the bottom rear end and can be removed by the opening of an4iter-tight screwedup door. The clearer water above is used for flushing, until the tank is exhausted of liquid, when a fresh quantity is taken on board. The constant circulation of the water and the precipitation of the mud at the back of the tank are features of the arrangement which economize time in filling up and in use. In practice the filling up of the tank may not be necessitated, even over an extended use of the deviceasince the water is being constantly circulated through the machine and the solid or semi-solid matter being precipitated. There is, in fact, a continuous cycle of operations—drawing up the mudimpregnated water, separating the solid matter and
. sending back the clearer fluid to form a new solution with the mud, and be, in turn, denuded of it. The water, in short, merely acts as a vehicle. The fire-engine shown by Leyland Motors, Ltd., is fitted with a multi-stage rotary (centrifugal) pump, which is geared up from the gearbox and operated by a clutch. It is capable of lifting and delivering 500 gallons of water per minute at high pressure of outflow. The pump is situated immediately at the rear of the vehicle, and the suction and delivery unions are most accessible—a point of the greatest importance in respect of rapidity of getting to work. The' hose box has a capacity equal to storing and carrying a considerable length of delivery hose and. about Kl ft. of suction hose is carried at the side of the carriage.
Above the crew's seat is a telescopic first-aid ladder. The engine is of 48-60 h.p., and is capable of keeping c14
the pump at lull output for long periods, the lubrication system. being specially designed for long stationary runs and -the cooling system being similarly devised for ample cooling when stationary. One of the earliest of the motor firms to specialize in fire-engine work is Dennis Bros., Ltd., and the engine exhibited by them is a remarkably fine example of this class of engineering. The engine shown by them is the standard 60 h.p. machine, with a delivery capacity of 400 to 500 gallons per minute. The particular example shown is built to the order of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, and is intended for service in the island of Trinidad.
The pump is of the three-stage turbine type, and is geared up to one and a half times the engine speed by gearing from a multiplying gear situated in front of the gearbox, the pump shaft passing above the latter and across to the rear to the pump. The gear has a friction clutch and is operated independently of the gearbox by the engine through the multiplying gear. It may be mentioned that the three-stage turbine pump was first introduced by the Dennis people, and has proved eminently successful in this arduous service. There is a small starting device, driven by gear from the main pump shaft to exhaust the pump chamber for starting. Automatic flap valves in the two-way delivery branch close against the atmospheric pressure while this operation is in progress, and open automatically so soon as the pump is primed aral commences delivery.
The control of the engine and the suction and delivery of the pump are all at the hand of the engineer, and the engine throttle and the speed of delivery can be accurately regulated.
The equipment includes a. 35 ft. telescopic ladder in the usual position above the hose box and seats, and 2,000 ft. of delivery hose is accessibly situated in rolls along the side in hose racks. C.A.V. lighting by batteries is used, a spare set of batteries being always carried and available in case of long duty sobs.
Dust and Refuse Carts.
Amongst the exhibits of interest to the municipal engineer or surveyor were the dust and scavenging carts, many of which, being of the tipping variety, are included and described in the article on tipping wagons in another part of this issue. But space should be allowed to mention the Newton (Derby) electric vehicle shown by Newton Bros., of Derby.
This model is shown with a fine electric transmission system. The batteries of these vehicles consist of either 44 lead cells or 60 nickel-iron cells. The series-parallel method of control is used, no resistance being in operation when the controller is in the running positions, thus conserving the electrical energy. To do away with the differential gear, two motors are used in the drive, and no mechanical loss is sustained. There are no universal joints, diffeieritial gears, gearboxes or carda,u shafts, chains, or beve/ wheels. One ,pinion find one internal t spur wheel to each motor constitute the whole of the power transmission mechanism. These gears age entirely enclosed. The mileage averages 40 to one charge of the accumulators.
Messrs. Ransornes, Sims and Jefferies .showed a municipal truck for general work, using Ironcladoxide eel's, and two 4 h.p. nominal motors. The accumulators are of 250 amp4e-hour capacity.
Another gad, exhibit was the G.V., shown by General Vehicles, Ltd., using two chloxide batteries. The motor in one case has its axis parallel with the differential shaft, and side chains are used. The drive from the motor to the differential gear is by silent Morse chain, and the wagon is fitted with electric tipping gear by separate motor. In addition, and as a reserve, a hand tipping gear is provided. The body of the wagon shown was by the Eagle Engineering Co., of Warwick, and these vehicles have beea supplied to the Montrose Corporation and the corporation of the city of Sheffield.