ILcrrie, Britt Lime l'ucm the Hill,
Page 25
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LTHOUGH not so much in the
A as the major
• factoring industries,' lime production is essential in many ways to our daily life. Up in the Derbyshire hilts, well above. the 1,000-ft. line, at Hindlow, near Buxton, are the quarries and plant of Beswiek's Lime Works, Ltd.; which from this point delivers its • products by road over a radius of 60 miles.
The business in its present form was founded 25 years ago. A small plant existed under a different name before 1923, but since then development to the
present size has proceeded almost continuously, Products of the works are lime and limestone, .which go. out in. various forms to the .steel. glass. making, paper-making, sugar-manufacture, textile, tanning and building industries, among others.
Lime is also used in:chemical works for a variety of purposes and fairly extensively in municipal undertakings for water softening, gas purification and. sanitation. In industry; it plays a paramount part in a .number ofprocesses and in agriculture is Used various for-ms, :hydrated as Well as calcium oxide. Pulverized limestone is also used extensively. With the expansion of the business. the need .. for road transport first became apparent about 20 years ago. In 1929 an .A.E.C. Mammoth 8-ton tipper prbvided a foundation for a fleet which grew to 15 vehicles.present a dozen Bedfords, 5-6-toners; are in service, four of them being conversions Irons ex-W.D. lorries. Most. of the company's products are carried in bulk and nine of the machines are fitted with deep-sided bodiestipping gear, whilst the remainer have flat
platforms. for the carriage of packed lime and limestone.
Where loads are carried in bulk, the machines are run under specially built hoppers at the Brieriow Works. Load-. ing of .bags from the warehouse stacks is performed by means of mobile power conveyors, working on the endless-belt system. Because of the nature of their work, the machines are not often washed, all the surplus dirt is removed from them, usually at daily intervals, by a compressed-air jet..
Although working on arduous duties in hard country, with many steep hills, careful maintenance keeps the fuelconsumption rate at an average of about 12 m.p.g. So as to maintain -interest on the part of the outside staff, eachdriVer is allocated a particular vehicle, and he is entirely respcinsible for its normal day-to-day maintenance and weekly greasing.
. The fleet never lies idle on working days, but on Saturday mornings, When the lorries do not undertake long journeys; the available time is devoted. to general Maintenance. Before finishing for the morning, vehicles, wherever possible, are loaded and sheeted, so -that they can make their departure with a:minimum of delay on the Monday. The well-equipped 'modern garage haS.facilitms for performing all normal
niaintenance and running repairs,' andeach -Machine receives a monthly inspection.* Normally, eitensive overhauls are not necessary, as it is the policy of
, -the!,. company, so far as possible, to aequire .new machines frequently.