THE CENTRAL GOODS CLEARING HOUSE.
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A Description of the System Devised by Mr. Gattie.
FOLLOWING on the genaral consideration of the requirements of an adequate scheme for sorting and clearing goods, which formed the subject of my contribution last week, I propose now to endeavour to indicate how far the actual scheme originated by Mr. Gatti° seems likely to fulfil those requirements. Doubtless, in the first instance, the scheme must be practically and thoroughly tested on it comparatively modest scale, but ultimately, if it achieves success, hondon will be the centre at which the benefits accruing from it will be most felt. We will therefore consider the characteristics of a proposed clearing house for London. This clearing house would take the place of the 74 goods yards at present in existence. It would occupy about 30 acres as against about 3000 acres. It would thus free an enormous quantity of valuable land, and, by so doing, would largely neutralize its first cost. The position proposed for the clearing house is about midway between King's Cross and Liverpool Street stations. There do not appear to be any insuperable el ifficulties in the way of bringing to this point under
ground extensions of existing railway lines, which would serve to connect the clearing house with the whole railway system.
At the base of the house itself would be a crypt, providing big accommodation for storage. Immediately above this crypt large numbers of railway lines, providing accommodation for 24 goods trains, would pass through and underthe structure. Above the railway lines again would be the street level. This would consist of 12 bridges crossing the railway lines at right angles. Above the street level come the four sorting floors. It is unnecessary here to go into further details of the building itself, except to mention the provision of trains for lifting Toads from the railway and street levels. The motor lorries used in connection with the clearing house would, of course, come in over the bridges on the street level. Each lorry would have body readily detachable and called a container. On the arrival of the lorry, the container would be promptly hoisted off by a crane and carried up one of the wells shown at W in Fig. 1, which indicates a part of one of the sorting floors. Arrived at the desired point, the container would be opened and the parcels inside would be sorted in one of the bays roughly indicated in the figure, as at B. Each group of bays is in coin
munication with a string of electric truckers (LT.).
The trucker is an electrically-propelledvehicle provided with mechanism which enables it to grip magnetically a tray fed to it. and carrying parcels in course of being sorted. J.T. is, in each case, an endless string of truckers kept constantly in circulation. In addition to the inner belts of truckers, each floor has an outer belt (0.T,), the truckers of which move at a somewhat different speed. Each package, when removed from the container, is placed on a steel tray, a continuous stream of which is always passing along . the bay at the porter's feet, the movement of the trays being under his control. 'The alleys on which the trays move divide the bays 'from one another. When the parcel has been placed upon a tray, this tray is fed to the end of the alley, and the pressing of a button serves to establish the electrical connections which start it tipon its journey to the bay upon which are being collected all the parcels for its par. ticular destination.
• When the connections are made, the first empty trucker exerts a magnetic grip upon the -tray,. draw ing it gently on to -1-,self from the alley as it passes. If the parcel has only to be moved to another of the same group of bays, the trucker, when it gets round to the right Point, automatically' delivers it on to the proper alley: Suppose, however, a parcel has to be taken from the'point 1 to the point 2. It starts its journey on the inner belt of truckers, and continues until it comes to the point where thle inner belt and the outer belt (0.T.) run alongside one another. There the trucker on the inner belt automatically passes over the parcel to the first empty trucker on the outer belt. The parcel then moves along the outer belt until it comes to the group of bays in which the point 2 is situated. There the outer belt trucker automatically passes the parcel back to the first empty trucker of the inner belt, which, in turn, delivers it to the alley at the point 2. In this way, by the pressing of buttons in various parts of the building all the goods -which have to be collected at the point 2 for transmission to some particular destination are carried to and delivered at that point with no more hand. labour than is necessary. to place each parcel upon a tray and to take it off again. The porters are not continually running about the length and breadth of the building, but each man has his own station and. stays there.
It will be noted in Fig. 1 that there are a number of points marked " E." These are escalators, which carry goods to other floors. Each escalator is formed, like the belts, of an endless string of truckers. The movement of a parcel that has to be -sent from the fourth floor to the Ifirst is illustrated in Fig. 2. It leaves the starting point (A) and moves along the inner belt until it is transferred to the outer belt. It passes round this until it gets an opportunity of delivering the parcel to an empty trucker on one of the escalators. The thick line in Fig. 2 shows the jour
, ney1' of the parcel. It is assumed that some of the escalators, as, for example, X and Y, are passed without a vacant trucker coming along lb is not until the point Z is reached that an empty trucker happens to be available. At this point -the escalator takes charge of the tray and conveys it to the first-floor. Here it is once more handed over to the first empty trucker on the outer belt. It has to be delivered at the point B, but we 'assume-that at the point P no empty truekerjon the inner belt.happexis to be available. The parcel therefore continues round the outer belt until it reaches point R, where it is delivered to The inner belt and passed on to the right alley at the point B. Here it finds itself in the company of other parcels for the same destination, and these are being loaded into a container. J As soon as this container is filled and closed it is passed down by a crane,to one of the lorries waiting'on the bridges. In this way every lorry as it comes in has its whole load promptly taken off it, and al,most equally promptly replaced by another load ready packed, and so constituted that its nextiourney will not keep it wandering about a large area, but will ensure a direct run to the neighbourhood in which all the goods carried have te be delivered.
' Automatic Action.
In some cases the lorries might not get full loads on their return journeys to the clearing house. Their loads would, of course be picked up in the same neighbourhood in which their deliveries had been made. In many instances firms in this district doing big business through the clearing house would have containers ready loaded awaiting the arrival of the lorry, but this woul& not always be possible. The goods coming in by train would be dealt with in a similar manner at the clearing house. Each bay would serve for the reception of goods from one point and for the preparations preliminary to the delivery of goods to some other point.
As regards the truckers themselves, their operation and their regulation by the electrical connections appears to be absolutely .certain and very smooth. The writer has watched the experimental plant at work, and has seen a brimming glass of water transferred several times from one trucker to another without a drop being spilled. He has also seen the parcels sent
off upon the truckers obey exactly the varied instructions conveyed by the pressing of the various buttons. Admittedly, it is conceivable that something might go wrong. Electrical machinery, is not everlasting or capable of working perpetually without breakdown. There is no reason to suppose, however, that there are any insuperable difficulties about providing for the overhauland maintenance of this machinery, or for temporarily removing truckers that may need repair, without permitting dislocation of the whole system.
1500 Motor Lorries.
It is estimated that a central clearing house for London would employ some 1500 ,substantial motor lorries, and that the use of these would render unnecessary the continued employment of upwards of 90 per cent. of the slow-moving vehicles which at present fill up our streets. A tremendous amount of time would be saved at warehouses at winch considerable loads had to be delivered and from which considerable loads had to be fetched. The goods going out fromisuch a warehouse would simply be packed into a container regardless of their destination, and this container would be slung on to the motor lorry as soon as the one'which it had brought had been detached. All the sorting would be done at the clearing house.
On the whole, then, it does not appear that the adoption of the system by big retailing stores would, on the average, involve any delay in deliveries. What would certainly happen would be that a very much smaller number of vehicles would be required to effect all the deliveries of all traders to any particular district. Each lorry would, of course, have its own district to serve, and roundabout journeys wonld be eliminated.
It is impossible, in any limited space, to prove the case for a scheme of this,kind. As a matter of ,fact, it, can only be proved beyond dispute by practical demonstration on a fairly large scale. The writer aims only at endeavouring to indicate that the whole thing is well worth considering, and ought not to be turned down asja merely visionary proposal for the reason that it is unquestionably revolutionary. Ohr entire system of sorting ainl deliveries has grown so complex, and involves to much overlapping and duplication, as to make it absolutely essential that we should give any suggested alternative a fair chance of proving, itself. Fortunately, from what I hear, the present President of the Board of Trade is Of the same opinion, and does not share the view of his predecessors to the effect that this is a matter with regard to which the Government is not called upon to interfere or to conduct investigations. VECTIS.