A PLEA FOR SIMPLICITY.
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ALTHOUGH many of our manufacturers realize that, in..order to compete against the prices ruling for lorries imported from foreign countries and to reduce the greatly congested state of practically all the repair,shoPs, the keynote of the future must be simplicity, unfortunately others de not, and vehicles are being turned out to-day which are just as complicated as, and, in some cases even more so than, those 'produced before the war.
It must he remembered that., quite apart from the employment of "gadgets," every ounce of unnecessary material used in the construction of a vehicle means so ipuch' more wear on tyres, and so much greater fuel consumption and cost in upkeep. It is of little use endeavouring to cut 'weight on existing designs.
The only method is to redesign throughout and, to do this effectively, there rriust be the most cordial cooperation between the drawing office and the shops. In some works there appears to be a certain amount of friction between the two, and designs are passed which, if ;full criticism had been allowed by 018 .
the shops, would never have been finally approved. The draughtsman is notoriously fond of incorporating his personal ideas into the design which he is producing arid is rather apt to resent eritioism from the practical man and, where the work is split up between a number of draughtsmen, each unit bears the mark of individual effort ; whereas, if these efforts had been compounded with a view to simplifying the design within' reasonable limits, the improvement throughout the whole chassis would be marked, and the number of different sizes of such articles as bolts, studs and setscrews would be considerably reclueed.
In C;ertain makes of chassis the variety of sizes of similar small articles is simply astounding ; where, possibly, three standard sizes would be ample, a dozen are employed. Every non-essential -part means an increase in the cost of manufacture owing to the extra Material, time and tools required, an increa,se.in the cost of upkeep, and difficulty in the maintenance of effective service. The fewer spare parts which it is necessary for a repairer, agent or manufacturer to keep, the-more likely is that stock to be complete, and the less thf., expense to which the repairer, agent or manufacturer is put. It is claimed that, in certain foreign makes of lorry chassis, between 600 and 700 fewer parts are used than in British chassis of similar capacity. Many of these foreign chassis give very satisfactory service and as regards the replacement of worn or broken parts, the service is second to none.
Efficient design .c9n. only be obtained by employing sound .materials to the best advantage. The amount of work required to maintain a commercial vehicle, in good saint-ling' order.must be small : new that the use Of motor vehicles has become so widespread they are often placed in the hands of men who not only cannot perform even comparatively simple repairs, but who often neglect the lubrication of all parts except, perlaps., the main units.
On certain American lorries, tEe use of compound bronze and graphite bushes is becoming general on• ad parts 'Which are liable to this neglect. These bushes reqpire no oil and are particularly suitable for such parts as spring eyes, shackles, brake connections, etc. Their cost is not great and is more than balanced • by dispensing with the lubricators usually employed.
It must not be thought that we ,advocate skimping in any -way. General efficiency is not obtained by merely making parts under size. The factors of safety must not be unduly reduced. What we advocate is quality, not quantity, and. therein lies the crux of the whole matter, However good the service a vehiclemay give whilst actually running, this service will-be largely discounted if the length of time for overhaul and repair is excessive, and the fewer the parts the shorter will be this time, and thesless will be the difficulties experienced in obtaining replacements.
At one time we were inclined to sneer at American lorries because., of their appearance, but the point is that they do the work and often do it well. Those who can afford to employ a cook do so because she can cook, not because she may look pretty.