THE LONG-DISTANCE TRANSPORT OF PIANOS.
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A Sphere of Service in which Dependable Running is Essential
1.11HE TRANSPORT of valuable • L pianos is an operation which requires considerable care in so far as musical instruments of this kind are peculiarly sensitive, and rough handling or insufficient attention to packing may readily impair their tone and character. That, such tasks have been entrusted to the motor vehicle is indicative a the fact that such instruments can be as safely transported by road as by railway. One might be excused for holding the view that the railway is to be preferred for the conveyance of asianostever long distances, especially those required for concert work or similar entertainments, where it is essential that -wide differences should not exist between schedule and actual arrival times. The motor vehicle, however, is able to render service which is equally as reliable as that given by the railway; and inasmuch as its use dispenses with the need for the duplication of loading and unloading operations (with attendant increased risk of damage); it possesses certain distinct advantages.
These factors have been keenly appreciated by Messrs. Steinway and Sons, the prominent piano makers of Steinway Hall, 115-117, Wigmore Street., London, W.1, for they -use a fleet of motorvans which has given unremitting evidence of its value for this long-distance transport of pianos. The firm own a standardized fleet of Milnes-Daimler vans— six in number—and the vehicles which are primarily used for the conveyance of pianos required for concerts being held in different palls of the country, are often away from headquarters for a
period of two or three weeks, during which, apart from other work, they deliver a concert grand to various centres in Great Britain for such famous pianists as Hoffman, Raahmaninoff, etc.
A van engaged on work of this description may often be called upon to execute a journey up to 200 miles be
tween one evening and the next, in ordetathat the same piano can be placed at the disposal of an artist who is fulfilling an engagement in a town 150 or 200 miles distant from a centre in which he has already given a:perfolanance,
possibly, 24 hours earilier. A 'van is
often called upon to early as many as six pianos at a time, the weight in the aggregate. approaching 3 baits, and in order that this number iaf instruments can be satisfactorily accommodated, a body of deep and wide proporiions must of necessity be used. The firm are perfedtly cognizant of the fact *that the employment of such large-capacity bodies obscures, to some extent, the vision of other users of the road, and have, with conuneadable reapeet for other driv'e.e. arranged that the roller-snutter blind enclosing the tear of each vehicle :bears a notice carrying the following inserip-t tion:—" We desire to extend the courtesy of the road to all motorists; ,please sound Yew horn."
Road users take full advantage of this desire to give them a clear road, and when the driver has drawn in to the near side, after having been made aware of the presence of an oncoming vehicle, the driver of the overtaking car or lorry often acknowledges the thought for his .welfare by an appreciative salute. This observance of the rule of the road, which prevents the driver from unknowingly obstructing the passing of other vehicles, cannot 'but redound to the -benefit of Messrs. Steinway's, although, maybe, indirectly. It is, perhaps; worthy of mention that the idea to which . we 'have referred was adopted as a, result of a suggestion which recently 'appeared in the correspondence columns of the motor journals. Each of the vans in the service of the firm covers approximately 12,000 miles in the course of a year.