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Sugar Manufacturer's Tanker F1( Expands

2nd May 1952, Page 52
2nd May 1952
Page 52
Page 53
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Page 52, 2nd May 1952 — Sugar Manufacturer's Tanker F1( Expands
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BECAUSE its many brewery customers work to strict production schedules, Manbre and Garton,. Ltd., Winslow Road, London, W.6, finds it necessary to operate its own C-licensed vehicles to ensure prompt deliveries at specified times. This company is one of the leading makers of sugar products, some of which need careful handling. This requirement is also met by the use of ancillary

• transport facilities.

In addition, there is a large output of flaked cereals. This traffic is extremely light . and bulky, and requires a great amount of vehicle capacity for its haulage. By carrying these goods on its own vehicles, the. company reckons to save big sums.

The predominant feature of the fleet's post-war development has been the extension of bulk delivery work. Most sugars are produced in solid form and may be dispatched as such. Transfornied into liquids, they may either be racked into casks or 50-gallon drums for transport by drop-sided lorries, or piped into medium or _ high-capacity tank vehicles.

It is usually more economical for a manufacturer to take these products in liquid form, because if received as solids they have at some time in the production processes to be dissolved. The physical change involves a great loss of heat and extra power has to be consumed to maintain the working temperature. This entails high expense.

Furthermore, it is obviously cheaper to take deliveries of liquid A34 in bulk rather than in containers of the kind mentioned, except where demands are small, and many of the company's customers have installed static tanks so that they can receive supplies of sweetening agents in the most convenient and economical form.

Manbre and Garton, Ltd., which claims to be the first company to start bulk delivery of sugar in this country in 1930, has welcomed this trend, which is continuing. A given quantity of sugar may take up 75 per cent, greater cubic volume in liquid form than in solid, so that there is no Saving in the volume of the load by eliminating packaging. In transport, there is little advantage, if any, in handling liquid in containers, compared with solids in packages or sacks. Immense gains are made, however, when tank vehicles can be used, because load handling is so much easier.' Because of the reduction in terminal delays, e tanker can make three local deliveries in a working day where only two could be made by a drop-sided• lorry carrying packaged or sacked solid goods or liquids in containers With the growing demand for bulk delivery and a concomitant decline in the use of different kinds of packaging and container, expense on packaging has been saved and a large number of containers made superfluous.

The company operates Scammell articulated eight-wheeled 2,180-galton tankers. Liquid sugars have a specific gravity of 1.3-1.4, depending upon the type of product, so that the gross weight of a loaded vehicle with a tank of this size comes within the maximum permissible limit. There are also some Morris-Commercial 810-gallon tankers based on 5-ton chassis.

Austin 5-6-ton and BedfordScammell 8-ton drop-sided vehicles • handle roughly the same tonnage, at the moment, as the tankers. It is expected that the bulk-delivery vehicles will be more intensively operated in the near future for the

reasons already explained. • When there are no special requirements, much of the delivery work in the London area is done by outside carriers. The company's own dropsided vehicles work largely in the medium-distance field up to 200 miles' radius on. hauls where deliveries can be made more conveniently by road than by rail. Speed in transport is an important consideration in summer, for the heat of the sun has a harmful effect on some types of solid sugar.

Altogether, more than 100 different packs of sugar products are Rade by the concern. Various solid types are bagged in small 1-cwt, sacks, but one variety, invert sugar, is packaged in 1-cwt. blocks that measure about 2 ft. by 1 ft. by 7 ins. These blocks require careful handling. Invert sugar has a delicate crystalline structure, and if a block suffers a bruise, the part affected turns viscid and the remainder will gradually break down.

Sacks for Cereals The 1-cwt. sacks used for cereals are about 5 ft. by 3 ft. folded flat. Their large size, determined by the lightness of the product, does not permit capacity loads to be carried by the drop-sided lorries. A 5-6tonner usually carries 60 bags, although an experienced man can stack 80. The drop-siders also cater for the transport of syrup canned in sizes up to 56 lb.

Besides that at Hammersmith, there are other factories in the Manbre and Garton group, each with its own C-licensed fleet. Two Lancashire plants produce solid invert-sugar; the familiar granulated sugar is made at Earleston; and Garton, Sons and Co., Ltd., York Place, London, S.W.11, makes liquid glucose.

This product has a specific gravity of 1.4, and 2,180-gallon tanks, similar to those of the Hammersmithbased outfits, are built on the Scammells used at Battersea. Garton, Sons and Co., Ltd., also has MorrisCommercial tankers, BedfordScammell tankers and road-rail tank outfits. There are big Scammells specially -used for carrying cornsteep liquor to penicillin producers.

Pump Equipment

All the group's Scammell tankers have power-take-off driven pumps built by the chassis maker. Pumps on the Hammersmith vehicles have a working pressure of 130-140 lb. per sq. in., and those on the Battersea machines 100 lb. per sq. in. Delivery rates vary according to piping arrangements at the customers' reception points, the type of load and its viscosity.

The viscosity largely depends on the temperature, and tanks are insulated against loss of heat. Glucose may be taken either from the manufacturing pans at 130 degrees F. or from storage at 120 degrees F. If the temperature falls below 100 degrees F., pumping becomes extremely difficult; a drop of 1 degree involves about a minute's extra pumping time.

At 120 degrees, 12/ tons (2,180 gallons) of glucose can be discharged in 45 minutes. The equivalent weight of liquid sugar, which has a lower viscosity, can be pumped out in 30 minutes. Invert sugar in liquid form (the term " liquid sugar" applies to liquefied cane sugar) can be emptied at the rate of 121 tons in 40 minutes. . Loading through overhead lines is done in some 15 minutes with all types of product onto the big tank vehicles.

There are workshop facilities for effecting running maintenance to vehicles at the two establishments, and their plant-service departments can tackle many kinds of vehicle repair. Major work, such as engine reconditioning, is sent to specialists.

Vehicles receive a weekly inspection, and greasing and oil-changing are done monthly. The petrol engines of the lighter vehicles, running on Sovac oils, are changed every 100,000 miles.

Praise for Austin

Mr. V. McLaren, transport manager at Hammersmith, has particular praise for four Austin exW.D. six-wheelers which have given fine service. The Gardner engines of the Scammells, for which Dervac lubricant is employed, are naturally changed at longer mileage periods, usually about 150,000.

To ensure accuracy, Mr. McLaren has his drivers' log-sheets marked with the details of the delivery runs before departure, the drivers being expected to enter only details of the return journeys. This has provided a definite check on vehicle operations.

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Locations: London

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