From Thames To Nile
Page 46
Page 47
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Kenneth Bowden
• I F variety .really is the spice of life, • the heavy haulier has the . most
highly flavoured job in transport. Bulky as his problems may often be, .. boredom is not among . them. . The job. he does tomorrow is likely to be as different from • the one he's :doing today as the one he finished yesterday.
Certainly this would seem to be the case with . Annis and Co.,. Ltd., of Pump Lane, Hayes, Middlesex, specialists in heavy haulage since Mr. Frank Annis founded the business in 1923. During that period they have established .not' only national custom ' as practitioners in sheer tonnage and footage, but a reputation for versatility and ingenuity which in no small iNay aniseContribute to the variety of . the
present working day. •, . _
• Looking around the vehicle yards at Pump Lane, at the workshops and the equipment, and the photographs of former loads proudly preserved by Mr. Annis's staff, one can imagine a manufacturer's transport man confronted With some monstrous item movable by road only saying confidently. to himself: "Annis probably haven't got anything to shift this, but if they haven't they'll make something."
A fair example, perhaps, of Annis enterprise is to be seen in the photographs on this and the next two pages. They show in rough sequence the operations involved in the removal of a lighter from the Thames and its transportation to a film studio. The pictures were taken, incidentally, in an amateur capacity, by Mr. Will Summers, of the Michelin Tyre Co., Ltd., whose " Metallic " tyres are used on most Annis load-carrying vehicles.
The lighter, a mighty veteran of London River, measures 84 ft. x 16 ft beam x 10 ft. and weighs 50 tons. It was acquired by Tough Bros., of Teddington Lock, -for 20th c14
Century Fox, and modified in situ at Isleworth Draw Dock ftir the role of Cmsar's and Antony's barge in the film "Cleopatra," still in the making. Annis and Co. were engaged to remove it from the Thames at Isleworth and install it in a setting of ancient Egypt upon an artificial Nile at Pinewood Studios.
The task was not simplified by the decrepitude of much of the timber, nor by modifications involving the cutting of apertures for 40 oarsmen (aided in the film, incidentally, by a winch), which weakened the sides. A very careful lift was called for, plus generous support during transit, if a broken back was to be avoided.
Some time previously Mr. Annis had built—or rather extensively modified from tank transporters—a number of dolly-type trailers especially to move a pair of crane spars, each 136 ft. long (the longest loads, in fact, ever moved through Metropolitan London). So successful did these trailers prove that it was decided to protect them by patent. which has now been done.
Simply Constructed
The dollys are simple in structure, consisting basically of a heavy rectangular chassis mounted on two axles each carrying eigbt wheels in line, in pairs. Their usefulness has been proved on many occasions, and it is probably fair to say that they have enabled Annis and Co. to accept loads that would have been immovable by other means.
It was decided to use these trailers for the barge, the load playing the part of a body in linking the two units, but there was a difficulty in that the single swivelling beam supports as fitted might not sufficiently have spread the load to obviate all risk of a broken back in transit. To overcome this the Annis workshops produced in heavy girdering a pair of rectangular frames which were fitted to the swivelling beams in such a way as to tilt fore and aft, and these in turn were found so successful that they will remain in service.
Ingenious Lifting Gear
As in the trailers, Annis ingenuity is apparent in the lifting gear employed. Three pairs of tower-jacks with swan-necked lifting beams were used, located fore, aft and central under the lighter, and the tower-jacks again arc "home-made." The three main components comprise front axles from QL Bedfords, lead screws from lathes, with reduction obtained by means of final drives from TD 14 International bulldozers.
Using this equipment the tighter, after being floated by the tide on to the lifting beams set on barrels on the dock
hard, was lifted to a height of approximately 6 ft. and the trailers were placed, final alignment being effected b!,. jacking sideways. Loading occupied a Saturday--" a good day's work," said Mr. Annis—and transportation was undertaken on Sunday. fifteen men, a tackle wagon and a crane were involved .in the operation in addition to the dollys and tractor.
The tractor used is perhaps the ultimate example of Annis technical enterprise. It is one of a pair made some years ago at Pump Lane, and is a six-wheeler powered by an 8 LW Gardner engine, producing 165 b.h.p. A Mack five-speed gearbox is employed with three-speed booster, giving 15 ratios, the lowest of which is 198 :1.
And the registered maker's name on the front? You've guessed it—Annis!