bird's eye view
Page 45
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by the Hawk
• The Royal We
Although Reg Knowles developed the stepup/step-down transmission described in this week's issue, none of the family is left out when the talk is about gearboxes. Mrs Knowles is completely with-it in any technical discussion, sons John and Arthur are completely with-it plus, and daughter Jean who does the office work can whip up a cuppa in no time and is an authority on diametral pitches!
The Knowles Live in Tansley, close to Matlock, which is one of those villages where the grass roots grow, the hills are steep and there are no shop stewards. But Derbyshire is tough on transmissions, and it was many years ago that Reg decided he would do something about it. He's proud of the fact that local specialists can cut gears and cast housings that are as good as, if not better than the parts turned out by companies with big names at a far higher cost. And running at low torque and high speed, there's no wear it seems. Machining marks could still be seen on gears that had run for 100,000 miles and were not new when they were put in.
It comes natural to the Knowles to use the royal we. "We are Foden service and spares agents. We built the garage, the canteen and the offices. We installed a generating set to supply all the current—except for the clock. We make a reasonable profit and don't want to be big." But it's my guess that bigness will catch up on them, willy nilly.
It's a pity that there's a speed limit on the motorway. Young Arthur would have derived a lot of satisfaction from demonstrating that the Knowles box could give an old Foden tractive unit a speed of 80 mph.
• Workshop wise
They take apprenticeship seriously in the States. I have just had a letter from Charles Mollard, who is chairman of the publicity committee of the US National Transportation Apprenticeship Conference, now an annual event which draws prominent representatives from Government, management and the unions connected with all forms of transport. This year it will be held for three days in September, at the Statler Hilton Hotel, and the theme is: "Skilled manpower the nation's lifeline".
The chairman of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority will be the principal speaker, but there will be contributions from industrial and union representatives too.
The conference is intended as a forum for the exchange of information and ideas about apprenticeship techniques and training throughout transport, and it includes all-day workshop sessions.
If anybody from this country is interested in attending I suggest they write to Charles Mollard at the Transportation Institute 200 L Street N.W., Washington DC 20036.
• End of the road I see that the British Road Federation's Bulletin has ceased publication with its issue Number 412—it was first produced in November 1936.
We shall miss the Bulletin—a useful digest of road developments and comment, but it is nice to see that the editorial in the last issue ends on a note of optimism. 1 quote:—
"There are valid forecasts of 30m vehicles by the turn of the century, ten times the
number when the first Bulletin appeared and twice the number there are today. The Department of the Environment is equipped —given the will—to concentrate policies and resources towards the resolution of the road and traffic problems which the community's use of the motor vehicle is creating. Who will say that progress in this direction in the next 29 years will not be greater than in the whole period of publication of the Bulletin? Not the BRF."
• No trouble at t'mill
How many firms, I wonder, can claim that "throughout its fifty years of operation, the organization has been able to continually expand without any record of an industrial dispute"? That's the proud claim of B. Dixon-Bate Ltd, which this month celebrates its 50th anniversary.
The firm is still a private company, managed by Barry and Dennis Dixon-Bate, the two sons of the founder, Basil DixonBate, who was an engineer in Chester at the time. In those days the firm worked as engineers and brassfounders, mainly for the transport industry, but it went into trailers in 1920 and these have become its best-known product.
• Tideway Transit
Expected to provide the main British challenge in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta this week, the Tideway Scullers have got the added on-dry-land support of Ford Motor Co.
Rooney Massan, captain of the Scullers, tells me that they had a major transport problem because they needed a vehicle capable of carrying their crew, thei r 38ft-lo ng sectional shell racing boat and a set of 13ft. oars. For Henley week they've been given the use of a Transit 15-seater bus.
During the rowing season, the Tideway eight have to race in international regattas as far afield as Belgium, Germany, Holland and Switzerland, and they are obviously looking to the Transit to carry them to some of these spots as well.
• Appeal for help A Hampshire reader writes to tell me that he and two friends have just bought a 1916 Halley lorry for restoration, but are lacking some essential parts and would welcome the help of readers of CM. The vehicle, with a payload of about 24 tons, was built by Halley Industrial Motors and is chain-driven, with solid tyres. Unfortunately, the parts that it lacks include such vital things as an engine, a radiator and a gearbox/cliff unit. The body, or what's left of it, is a Romanystyle showman's caravan, and could be made very attractive.
Readers with information about the vehicle or the whereabouts of parts might care to write to Chris Neal at 66 Shore Road, Warsash, nr Southampton.