A NEW IDEA IN CABLE-DRUM TRANSPORT.
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An Interesting Electric Industrial Truck With Special Equipment for Lifting and Carrying Cable Drums.
Alt TE have on several occasions in V the past commented on the utility of the tractor-trailer type of vehicle for the transport of cable drums. Another type of vehicle which is equally useful for performing such work, although, of course, in a somewhat different capacity, is that shown in the accompanying pictures. It consists of a B.E.V. electric truck as made by Wingrove and Rogers, Ltd., Mill Lane, Liverpool, to which special lifting and conveying gear has been fitted. This type of machine is certainly of the utmost value for service in the works of cable manufacturers, in railway sidings and 'goods yards, in docks and, in fact, in any sphere of activity where unwieldy drums have to be dealt with. At one time it was (and still is in some quarters) the usual practice to roll the drums by hand, altering their course by the use of a skid. The electric truck designed for cabledrum transport supersedes this laborious and uneconomical method, over which it can claim many advantages.
The truck is designed for dealing with drums up to a weight of 6 tons and it is so constructed that the box containing the batteries acts as a counterpoise to the weight of the load, thus reducing to the minimum the effort required to lift the drum clear of the ground and enabling this task to be carrlied out by a motor of comparatively small size.
Our illustrations clearly show that this counterpoise takes effect at the end of a powerful lever, to which it Is strongly secured. It will also be
noticed that the weight of the drum is carried immediately over the back wheels, thus making flit* complete _stability. Furthermore, the use of triple tyres at the rear (they are of 20 in. by 31in. dimensions) spreads the load over a fairly large area of contact and prevents an overload being carried by the tyre equipment. The manner in which the lifting gear operates and raises the drum so that its axle falls into its proper niche at the forward end is indicated by the pictures.
The frame of the truck is particularly robust and is made up of 6-in. by 3-in, channel-steel members. The transmission from the motor is by means of a countershaft. The drive from the differential is of the spurgear type and from the ends of the countershaft to the rear wheels by Coventry chains.
The driving platform is arranged so that the truck can be driven in either direction. The machine is equipped with two brakes of the internal-expanding pattern, one being hand-operated and the other foot-controlled. Both these brakes are interlocked with the controller by the maker's special electric trip gear.
The truck can be easily manceuvred, and we are told that it will travel fully loaded at a speed up to 5 m.p.h. over the rough surfaces which are so often found in the vicinity of factories and in works yards. Moreover, it will negotiate an incline, such as a railway siding ramp, with a full load up.
Although the track is primarily intended as a carrying unit, it can also be satisfactorily used for the actual laying of cables.