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USERS' EXPERIENCES OF TYRE EQUIPMENT.

6th March 1928, Page 62
6th March 1928
Page 62
Page 62, 6th March 1928 — USERS' EXPERIENCES OF TYRE EQUIPMENT.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

A Devonshire Municipality and an Important Railway Company Give Their Views.

ivrucii interest has been aroused by _LV_Lotir notes • upon the experiene.es which many prominent Users have had

with pneumatic tyre equipment.... •

Some surprising faets have come to light, particularly regarding the extraordinarily good average mileages which are being obtained in vehicles operating in all Parts of the country, some under the most arduous conditions.

Doubts as to the safety of pneuniatie tyres have been entirely dispelled, for in not a single instance has a burst pneumatic tyre been responsible for an accident worthy of note.

In Plymouth the municipal authorities are operating 57 vehicles of the 20 and 26-seater capacities; These are oneman-controlled, and the whole of the passenger fleet was converted 'to pneumatic tyres in 1922, this being carried. out primarily for the purpose of securing quieter running in the streets, reducing the cost of maintenance and providing greater comfort for the passengers.

The services are entirely in-town, with frequent stops and severe gradients and the average mileage obtained is between 22,000 Mid 24,000.

The tyres are not kept in use on either front or rear wheels throughout their whole life, but a system of rotatiop has been adopted and, by this, partly worn tyres are transferred to the front 'wheels, so that the tyres with the hest road-adhesion qualities are utilized • on the rear wheels, which, of course, carry the major portion of the load. The experience with pneumatic tyres has thoroughly justified their adoption; furthermore. the cost of chassis maintenance has been considerably reduced, and their adoption has been the means for enabling a material speeding-up of the services to be effected. It is difficult to say exactly how much of the decrease in maintenance costs is entirely attributable to the tyre equipment, but after the fleet had been converted the maintenance costs continued to decline until they now amount to 9d. per busmile. The cost of solid tyres averaged 1336 .1634. per tyre-mile run, and recent records show that the cost of pneumatic tyres is .0894. per tyre-mile. It must, however, be appreciated that prices have come down very considerably during.the past few years, and this naturally helps materially.

tiperrision of the air pressure is a most important factor in securing long life, and this is a duty which is 'allocated to a particular individual. To. avoid front and rear wheels being changed over and so obtaining wrong pressures on respective wheels, the discs used have special indicating marks and Spares in the garages are kept in separate compartments so -as to ensure correctness of pressure whenever a change is made. The average number of tyre bursts is one in 700,000 tyre-miles.

The enginelw and general manager in charge is a great believer in not endeavouring to run these Wes to the limit, as delays in service are far more serious than the slight additional cost involved in withdrawing tyres from 'service prior to actual bursts taking place. Punctures are very infrequent, averaging only one per 29,000 tyre-miles. In the event of a puncture on the rear wheels the vehicle is run home on the single tyre, as the buses are not equipped with spares, hut in the case of any serious trouble occurring an emergency machine is sent out to deal with the matter. This is considered far more economical than carrying the deadweight of spare wheels for thousands of miles. There iS an automatic telephone System connected with the head office, and having instruments arranged at convenient intervals in the streets 'throughout. the whole of the operating area so that minor interruptions in the service can be dealt with promptly:

All the tyres are bought outright. Great care of them is taken, and endeavours axe made .to secure the utmost value. It is considered that buying tyres on a mileage basis would have a tendency to make people careless as to their maintenance and the cost would, therefore, be greater than if the tyres were the sole property-.Of the users.

For maintaining the air Supply cylinders containing air at a high. pressure are found to be most convenient, and. the. valves are set, tested and sealed so thatthey cannot be interfered with, whereby .tisurins...accurate pressure.

Providing that pneumatic tyres are kept up to the pressures recommended by the inakers,.•.they deal with any overloads which they are called upon to bear in Plymouth, but the view is taken that the overloading of passenger vehicles is entirely wrong in principle and, usually during peak loading hours, only a quarter.of the normal seating capacity is permitted to stand.

As regards the Great Western Railway, the tyres in use are pneumatic, air-cushion and solid ; the latter two are, however, gradually being replaced by pneumatics: After using ordinary solids generally and air-cushion tyres experimentally, pneumatics have been selected as giving greater comfort to the passengers and a reduction in the wear and tear of mechanical parts.

The vehicles are single-deck buses, allweather coaches and open coaches; some being 28-32-seaters and others 1820-seaters. The average tyre mileages obtained are as follow :—Large vehicles, front wheels on solids, 21,0.00; on air-cushions, 23,486; back wheels on solid tyres, 17,000; on air-cushions, 24,700; pneumatics, the same size all round, average 16,000. In the case of the smaller vehicles, at the front solids aVerage 23i000, pneumatics 25,000; at the back solids average 18,000, pneumatics 15,000.

The experience of the company with pneumatic tyres is that they are far superior to other forms in respect of freedom from skidding, this applying when the treads are not worn. Pressures are tested every morning by the local staff and travelling inspectors make periodical examinations.

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Locations: Plymouth

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