Continental Municipal Vehicles Show Their Form
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Fifty-eight Appliances of All Kinds Demonstrated at Fourth International Public Cleansing Conference at Amsterdam. Exhibition Included Railway Wagons and Barges By L. GRAHAM DAVIES
AN outstanding feature of the Fourth International Public Cleansing Conference, which was held in Amsterdam from Selitember 15-19, was a demonstration of municipal vehicles. Because of pressure on space, it was impossible to deal with this event in the report of the Conference published in last week's issue of "The Commercial Motor."
The exhibition was, nevertheless, well staged, and 58 models were shown, ranging from street-cleaners' box tricycles up to an impressive new railway wagon, designed for the bulk transport of refuse from the Hague to the province of Derenthe. This wagon takes a load of 33 metric tons and is selfdischarging.
There was a floating section in the show, for Amsterdam, "the Venice of the North," has exceptional facilities in the way of water transport for conveying refuse to the incinerators. Motor barges of special design are employed.
Although relatively few new vehicles were shown, many of the exhibits were well worthy of attention. Hundreds of standard dustbins decorated this outdoor motor show. Standardized dustbins are employed in Amsterdam city and in many other Dutch towns. Bodies are specially designed to deal with them, two or three traps being arranged at the rear for automatic emptying of the bins.
A good example of this type was the Van Doorne's Aariaangwagenfabriek, designed by D.A.F. for Amsterdam municipality. This vehicle is under experimental test. The contents of the bins are pressed into the container by power-operated rotating blades.
Low Loading
Another refuse collector worthy of mention was one with a special low loading line, designed by Messrs. C. V. Geesink and Son for the city of Utrecht. Messrs. Geesink are specialists in this work and make most of the refuse vehicles used in Holland.
This particular example is based on a normal Ford chassis. It has a capacity of 11.5 cubic m. and a separate cubic m. compartment is arranged between the container and the driving cab, to take bulky or awkward articles.
Another Geesink vehicle on rather similar lines is arranged for dustless automatic loading from standard bins.
An exhibit from the town of Eindhoven had a different loading system. In this, the ..ontents of standard bins are pushed into the container by means of double-acting power-driven continuously operating rams.
Another neat, small collector, based on a Faun chassis with Ford engine, had a removable container suitable for transport by barge. This was of a type normally used in Amsterdam.
Among strret-cleansing, sprinkling, and grit-spreading vehicles, an unusual exhibit was a swedper-collector, by Messrs. Geesink, for the town of Leiden. This has a C.L.M. opposed-piston oil engine, and hydraulic servo control for side and rear brooms. The width swept is 2.5 m. and the water-tank capacity 850 litres. In this machine the two forward brooms are mounted vertically.
A neat sweeper-collector, also by Messrs. Geesink, for the municipality of Zwolle, is incorporated on a Ford V8 chassis. This has a single vertical side broom and a curved central broom, mounted between front and rear axles. The container for sweepings, which has a capacity of 2 cubic m., can be tipped mechanically.
A businesslike sprinkler-flusher for the town of Bois le Due was also based on a standard Ford chassis. This vehicle has a tank capacity of 4,500 litres. Hydraulically operated spraying nozzles are mounted in front and a rubber squeeg:e is carried. There are two fire-hose connections for use when the vehicle is employed as an emergency tire-fighter.
A remarkable little appliance for spreading sand and salt was shown in the form of a single-wheeled trailer, with universal coupling and adjustable vanes for controlling the width of spread.
A grit-spreading machine, designed and built by the Amsterdam municipality, was also shown. This spreads grit in front of a vehicle to prevent skids.
A Super Gully-emptier
The city of Rotterdam had an impressive exhibit among the gully-emptiers. It was constructed by the municipal authority and based on a Saurer sixwheeled chassis. Rotterdam also provided another exhibit in the form of a Karrier vehicle with Fowler sludge separation and high vacuum suction.
Another well-designed vehicle was a Geesink cesspool emptier with a capacity of 3,500 litres in a conical main tank, with air-lock valve. When this machine appeared on parade, the loudspeaker expressed a regret that " We have no cesspool available." I did not share this regret!
Snowploughs seen at the demonstration included a clever little Fordson conversion by the Amsterdam municipal service and a Geesink outfit from The Hague. with a ploughing width of about
2.5 m. There was also a gigantic Caterpillar grader on pneumatics, employed for clearing the Amsterdam Airport at Sehiphol.
After the inspection of stationary vehicles, delegates to the Conference proceeded to a grandstand, in front of which the demonstrations were given. Sand sprinklers made a mess of the road and sweeper-collectors cleared it up.
Standard refuse bins wen handled smartly and refuse lorries went through their usual routine. Gully-emptiers found a convenient manhole in which to operate, just in front of the tribunes:
Dredging Sewers
Here, one of the most interesting demonstrations was given by a vehicle from Rotterdam, designed by that city's municipal service, Based on a Chevrolet chassis, this appliance dredges the sewers of Rotterdam with a chain and bucket arrangement, operated by an engine-driven winch. This work was, until recently, carried out by hand.
A grit-spreading appliance that gave a good impression of efficiency was one designed and built by the Rotterdain public cleansing service. It was a fourwheeled trailer with a container capa4 city of l cubic in. A vibrating chute projects the grit on to a fast-running steel disc with curved vanes. The spread obiained by this machine was remarkable. The dustbin-emptying exercises were certainly a triumph for the standard type of bin. The ease and extreme rapidity wilt' which these can be emptied into a collecting vehicle designed for them, and provided with mechanical loading gear, were amply demonstrated.
In this connection, the prototype vehicle by Van Doorne, mentioned above, looked useful on demonstration. Another interesting one had a dual-purpose body by Geesink, suitable either for refuse collection, with side loading, or, by removing the top half, for transporting sand, etc. The rear door of the container on this vehicle can be locked and unlocked automatically.
The transfer of refuse containers from road vehicles to motor barges, and of loose refuse to other vehicles equipped with compressing gear, was also demonstrated during an interval.
For this a mobile crane of special design is used in the city of Amsterdam. Mounted on a Faun chassis with petrolelectric transmission, the crane has a lifting effort of 3 tons and a sweep of 5i m. It deals with the standard types of container used on domestic refusecollecting vehicles in that city.
Hospital Service
Among special vehicles at the tail end of the procession past the stands was a van constructed by the Amsterdam municipality and incorporating an Austin chassis. This has been designed for the collection of used surgical dressings from Amsterdam hospitals.
At the conclusion of this interesting show, Amsterdam dustmen, in smart blue uniforms, niarched past, swinging their rattles in time to A drum. The rattles are normally used to warn householders, The dustmen were followed by a march-past of the municipal band, which had played from time to time during the proceedings.
In addition to this open-air show, a small, but instructive, exhibition of models was staged in the Indich Instituut, where the Congress was held. This building, incidentally, corresponds With our own Imperial Institute, as it deals with the Dutch, Colonial Empire. The models shown were beautifully made. One which I admired particularly was of a refuse collector arranged for side loading and fitted with a snow plough. Another good one was a model of the Ochs= collector.