A Night in a Big Cab Garage.
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The Following Article is a Resume of an Interesting Description which appears in the Current Issue of Our Sister Journal "The Motor." We have Culled those Paragraphs which are most likely to Interest Readers, of this journal, many of whom are familiar with Garage Procedure.
In the current issue of " The Motor," there appears an interesting illustrated account of the routine of work in a large London cab garage. It is written specifically for those whose acquaintance with motor vehicles does not extend to a knowledge of their housing and maintenance en masse. A large proportion of our own readers is, of course, quite familiar with such conditions ; nevertheless, there is much in the article in question which is of more than passing interest to TEE COMMERCIAL MOTOR and its supporters. We read, after the perusal of an irtroduction with reference to the organizing skill of Messrs. Du Oros, whose garage at Acton was the chosen subject of the investigation :—
"Every experience gained from the running of the cabs is tabulated and made use of as far as is possible, and these data are applied to such advantage that higher economy and efficiency are arrived at.
"In tires, for instance, they reckon to get from 50 to 100 per cent, longer life than the private motorist would obtain from the same tire. In two years running some of the cabs have never been held up by a puncture. Two extra spokes have been put into the cab wheels, and statistics have shown the utility of this. The quality of the glass in the cab windows has been arrived at as the result of an analysis of data carefully collected from many trials ; and so from the records of every department and of every article experience is gained which can be translated into efficiency and economy."
The care which is taken of both driver and cab seems to have impressed the writer to a considerable extent. He continues:— " Let us go down to the entrance gate and trace the career of one of the mud-splashed home-coming cabs now pouring in. The vehicle halts at the gate, its number is taken down, and to the rapid question, "Are you resting to-morrow 1" the driver answers
move the lamps, and these are taken away to the lamp rooms for cleaning and trimming. The driver sits immovable at his wheel. Again the cab moves down the hall, and to another group of men. An electric light is flashed on the taximeter dial and its figures are read out to a second man, who notes them down on his tablets. Meantime, at the other side of the car, the seat has been lifted and a measuring rod dipped in the petrol tank. With his electric lamp the official sees the contents of the tank, and calls out the measure to the recorder. A moment later the cab is on its way to the particular bay in which it is stored, according to number.
"It may seem an absurd sub-division of labour that two men should do nothing but blow out the lamps, but when one sees a stream of cabs coming along, and each rapidly deprived of its lamps and surveyed as to meter and petrol, it is at once realized that disorganizing congestion can only be avoided by swift treatment and clever sub-division of labour. Over 100 cars can be passed in during an hour, and this means that the staff of workers and cleaners can get at the cars more rapidly. "When the driver reaches his bay and steers the car into position, he stops his engine, dismounts, and walks to the pay office, where each department deals with a certain set of numbers. He pays in at his proper section, quickly settles the account, and having left in another place his complaint sheet detailing matters to be attended to about his cab, he goes to the mess room for refreshment, a game of billiards, music or discussion ; or he walks straight home,
"He may leave in its bay at midnight a dirty, mudstained cab, with punctured tire, crumpled mudguard or defective brake. He can return by 7 o'clock next morning to find the same car as clean and as fit as any cab in London. What would not the private motorist or chauffeur give if he could be
relieved in the same way of the drudgery of cleaning up and overhauling at night "The taxi driver has nothing to do but start and stop his engine and steer his car. He attends to no mechanical troubles. He just rings up for repair men to come to his assistance if he is held up in the street. For tire failures he has his Stepney wheel, llis earnings largely depend on his industry, lie works only as much as he wants to. Altogether his lot seems a very enviable one. Since Scotland Yard made the topography test more difficult than the driving test, the old horse-cab drivers have enjoyed an advantage, for it has been found easier for a man with a cabby's knowledge of London to pass the driving ordeal than for a good motorist to come through the topographical trial."
Later, a practical test was made of the precautions which are in all such big depots taken against the risk of fire :—
" We had arranged for a fire call to be given. Under our feet were petrol storage tanks holding 10,000 gallons of the nimble stuff, but no one was flurried when the fire alarm sounded. We rushed to the main hall, and our conductor pointed to a red lamp which now glowed brightly over one of the bays. This automatic location signal goes on when the fire alarm in its bay is pulled. At the same time a great bell alarms the whole building. Immediately the sound is heard the members of the MT. and G. brigade rush to their fire apparatus, and at a run the men stream from every side, some wheeling large chemical extinguishers of the latest type and others carrying hand machines. A semi-circle is formed round the mouth of the red-lamp bay, and a score or more nozzles are ready to pour the extinguishing fluids on the fire in a few moments."
Use is second nature, and we can admit no proper appreciation of the undoubted skill of the tire workers in a big yard, until we perused the following paragraph :— "it is an education to watch the tire brigade at work in this direction. The man brings his box to the cab requiring attention, takes out the jack, lifts the wheel from the ground, plays easily with valve and bolts for a few moments, does a few simple operations with his hands and the levers—and, lo! the tire is off. There is no fuss, no scramble, and none of the wrestling which one associates with tire work on the road. It looks gentle kind of work, and you wonder why you have regarded the operation with dread. There is absolutely nothing in it. The W. and G. man does not work with the mystifying rapidity of the fakir at the shows who is demonstrating the merits of a new detachable device. Every movement is easy—but so sure. Everything seems to happen rather than be done. Of course, it is all knack, long practice, and good training, in which every movement is made with a purpose and a certainty that produce inevitable results.
" The new tire is refitted with the same ease. Nothing seems to kink, or crumple, or nip. You scarcely can believe that these are new tires going on old rims. While you are musing, a connecting pipe has been joined to the compressed-air main, and the tire stands inflated and ready before you. In the engine room is an air compressor, which pumps air at the proper pressure to a supply pipe in every bay."