A Novel Idea for Preventing Wheel-spin on Six-wheeled Tippers
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WHEN six-wheeled lorries of the
VV trailing-axle type. are used for tipping purposes, it happens, in certain
circumstances, that the basic advan tage afforded by the extra pair of wheels may prove a definite handicap. The reduction in axle leading thus obtained is obviously desirable, especially on soft ground, while the vehicle is laden and during the operation of tipping. How ever, after the contents of the lorry have been discharged, and when the body is still tipped, the fact that the weight on the driving axle is even less than that on the trailing axle tends to• permit wheel-spin, Clearly, under these conditions, good adhesion between tyres and ground is required to enable the machine to ciraw away from the tip," perhaps up a gradient; possibly with the four rear wheels in holes, and probably with the lower end of the body embedded in loose material.
Messrs. Masons' Morlode Products, 71, Lewisham High Road, London, S.E.14, well known in connection with their rigid six-whe'eler extensions for Fordson, Bedford, Dodge and other chassis, have now evolved an ingenious device which entirely overcomes this difficulty, and they are incorporating
it in their conversions or fitting it to existing trailing-axle six-wheeIers. We understand that the cost in the latter case will be about 5.
The principle is simply to link the trailing axle to the body sub frame in
such a manner that, as the latter approaches its maximum angle of tip, it lifts the former so that the wheels are raised clear of the ground.
On a Fortlson lorry—converted by this firm to carry 5 tons and equipped with single-ram hydraulic tipping gear by the Wood Hydraulic Hoist Co., Ltd., 1-3. Brixton Road, London, S.W.9— which we recently inspected, the axlelilting gear had been incorporated by the addition of a single extra cylindrical cross-member and two steel straps. The cross-member is secured by two tr-bolts to the main channels of the frame on which the body is mounted, just behind the member to which the hydraulic plunger is jointed. From each end hang the two straps which are lined with fabric at their bottom loops, and encircle the trailing axle. Thus, when the body is in its normal position, the straps hang idly, but as the body is raised they eventually tauten and lift the axle, No extra load is imposed upon the tipping gear, for it does not have to take the weight of the axle until the freight has been discharged,