For DRIVERS, MECHANICS & FOREMEN.
Page 21
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. A PRIZE OF TEN SHILLINGS is awarded each week all others are paid for at the rate of a penny a lane, with an published. Mention your employer's name, in confidence, Commercial Motor," 7-15, Rose
Lamps Alight.
On Saturday, March 8th1 light your lamps at 6.19 in London, 6.49 in Edinburgh, 6.20 in Newcastle, 6.20 in Liverpool, 6.17 in Birmingham, 6.29 in Bristol, and 7.13 in Dublin.
An Ingenious Ratchet Spanner.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the 108. prize this week.
(1950) "H.J.0." (Chiswiek) writes :—" The accompanying sketch (which we have had redrawn.—ED.) shows a most useful combined box and ratchet spanner, which I designed and made some years ago, and I believe it is the most useful tool in my kit. It was evolved as the result of an extremely awkward job 11,1tich I had to tackle, certain nuts which had to be unscrewed being quite inaccessible to ordinary tools. "Referring to the sketch, it will be seen that it is double-ended. The main body of the spanner is a piece of ordinary bar steel about 6 ins. long, I in. wide, and in. thick. Dress it up a little to make it look respectable, and drill four-in. holes through it, two near the ends (see sketch), the others spaced approximately at equal distances along the length of the bar.Now take a piece of bright bar, turn it down for a of an in. of its length' to j in. diameter. Its outside diameter should be such that it will fit the interior of tubing suitable for making into box spanners. Rivet this in position in one of the -Pa in. holes at one end of the bar. At the other end fasten a similar stud, but make this perhaps a little smaller in diameter, to accommodate a smaller. size of tubing for a similar nut. Make short tubular spanners as shown in the sketch from tubing which internally fits the studs secured on the bar. Only one end of the tube should be made hexagon, the other should be left plain circular or cylindrical.
"Now get another couple of pieces of flat bar, and shape them as is shown on sketch A. Cut suitable ratchet teeth at one end, and turn the other end up to form a sort of handle. Case-harden the teeth. Slip one of the tubular spanners into place., 3ush the part A hard up against it, and mark off a hole to correspond with one of those already drilled in the first bar. Drill the part A, and rivet it to the main bar so that it is free to move round the rivet as a centre. Fit the other one up in the same relation to the other
to the tender of the best letter which we publish on this page ; allowance for photographs. All notes are edited before being as evidence of good faith. Address, D., N. and F., "The bery Avenue, London, E.C. 1.
end pin and the other size of tubing. The spanner is now complete.
" You will find that if the tubing be slipped into place on the nut. and the spanner be applied, the ratchet will tighten and grip the tubing when being turned in either direction. The principal advantage, of course, of a spanner of this type is that with inaccessible nuts you can continue to tighten up, making only small movements of the spanner."
A Temporary Repair to a Steam Wagon Crankshaft Bearing.
(1951) " A.H.W." (Bristol) writes :—" I was returning to Bristol from Margate recently with a full load on a Foden wagon. Everything went well until I got within two miles of the London side of Wrotham, when one of "the bearing cap studs for the crankshaft broke. The bearing was that at the flywheel end of the shaft, and I found that I could not get the stump of the stud out. Being'rather tied up for time, as I had to be back in Briatol the following day, I had to think out some means of temporarily securing the cap and brasses in place during the remainder of the jourc ney. It occurs to me that the method I adopted may be of interest and possibly of use to some other Foden drivers who read your 'D., M. and F.' page. I have therefore made a sketch [We have had this redraWn.—End, showing how I effected a. repair. "I procured a in. look with plenty of thread on it, and a running nut. The end ofthe thread I filed down so that there was a nipple left on the end of the bolt which fitted to the bolt hole in the cap, the main body of the bolt being too large to enter this hole, so that there was a shoulder which bore on the cap. I secured a short piece of strong chain to a convenient bolt an the wagon. This chain was then disposed so that the in. bolt could be passed through it, the running nut slipped on, and the nipple on the end of the bolt fitted into the hole in the pedestal cap. I then screwed the running nut hard against the chain so that the effect -of the tension of the chain waa continuously to pull the bolt down on to the bearing, and this proved sufficient to hold the cap and brasses in place. Having done this, I ran on, keeping an eye on. theabearing,-and I kept going for about 20 miles, and .then had a look round arid found everything all right, so proceeded to finish my journey. 1 delivered the goods at the right time, and have been running for a week since with makeshift bolt in place."