CONTROLLINGA REFUSE COLLECTOR FROM THE KERBSIDE.
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ONE OF the small advantages possessed by the horse vehicle which have helped it to retain a somewhat precarious position in municipal work is the fact that the driver of the vehicle can help with the loading of refuse into the container, and that, in -moving from house to house, the horse can be led. The power-driven vehicle, with a cab at normal height, has not hitherto possessed this advantage, the driver baying either to keep his seat, and thereby being deprived of the opportunity Of helping in the loading, or having constantly to get up and down between intervals of collection.
To overcome this and; incidentally, to take advantage of the ease of control of the electric battery vehicle, Richard Garnett and Sons, Ltd., have introduced a patented kerbside control gear' by which the vehicle can be moved from door to door, the driver walking beside the vehicle, steering and controlling its speed. The steering being on the off side, the driver will drive, when so controlling the vehicle, facing oncoming traffic.
The steering wheel is arranged so as to be quickly detachable, by Means of a lever and nut, being then transferred to a horizontal. auxiliary .steering spindle, which, as will appear from our photo-.
• graph, projects from the side of the cab an inch or two beyond the edge of the off-side mudguard. This steering Spindle is indirectly connected to the main steering wheel by a pair of helical gears, a vertical shaft and a pair of spur gears running in an oil-bath. Close by the steering wheel in the auxiliary position is a handle, which is keyed to a spindle and 'auxiliary controller supported at. the sides of the
vehicle in an accessible position, the controller being, generally speaking, of a standard type. It is similar to the main Controller of a vehicle except that some of the contacts are omitted, the maximum speed permitted being 4 m.p.h. So as to prevent interference with the controller by any unauthorized person, a change-over switch is provided inside the cab, cutting out either one or both controllers, the switch being accessible through a sliding panel in the side of the cab.
A brake lever is provided at a.cenvenient height so that the driver can apply the brake whenever necessary from either position. When the vehicle is left unattended with the brake on, it is quite impossible for any unauthorized person to tamper with it.