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Buy wisely and now by
Page 78
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J. P. B. Sherriff, MITA
IN CHOOSING equipment for snow clearing one must be selective because it is all too easy to purchase too elaborately —or even worse, inadequately. As the field of suppliers is limited, it is relatively simple to collate details of the available equipment without being bogged down in a mound of sales literature which tends to confuse rather than clarify.
It is essential, however, to be absolutely certain what has to be done and what standard of efficiency has to be achieved. Spreading equipment is available in three categories: Permanent, semi-permanent and portable. In the first category Atkinsons of Clitheroe and Ste-Co. produce fixed or demountable bodies. These are available to suit almost any chassis frame and carry about 6 tons of material. The spreader is powered by an independent unit and controlled by the driver. This type of operation requires only one man.
In the semi-permanent category I place the Tuke and Bell Mark 5. This is mounted in front of the offside rear wheels of the vehicle and is fed through a trap door in the vehicle floor. It can be fitted during the entire winter season and will not interfere with normal work. While the equipment is controlled by the driver it is necessary to have a man in the vehicle to feed the salt into the equipment.
Tuke and Bell and Massey Ferguson each market trailer spreaders with towbar connections. The TB is fed over the tailboard of the vehicle but the Massey is connected to a tractor and carries its own material, about 1+ tons. I understand that with the exception of the permanent bodies these spreaders are all available at short notice.
If the requirement is for ploughing it must first be decided whether or not the job is likely to call for a V angle, or straight blade. In all but exceptional circumstances either of the latter two should suffice. Normally, where a demand for a V blade exists this has been supplied by the Ministry of Transport or the Scottish Office.
James A. Cuthbertson Ltd. of Biggar manufactures all types of blades suitably constructed for all vehicle chassis. The heaviest V blade in this range costs less than £300. Atkinsons produce a snow plough which is used on motorway service in conjunction with a spreading machine. Wm. Bunce and Son of Swindon markets a large range of blades from the giant Windsor to a small pavement plough. These have linkages which are suitable for road and agricultural vehicles. Specially designed for agricultural tractor use are the Leeford Muledozer and Mulegrader in the price range £60 to £250.
Claimed by its manufacturer to be unique the Esse rubber-bladed snow plough by Smith and Wellstood (Mfg.) Ltd. of Bonnybridge costs about £80. The rubber blade appears to stand up well to wear as one authority claims a working life of 13,000 miles before retreading. This is tractor mounted equipment, as is that produced by Bomford and Eveished Ltd. of Evesham which produces the conventional metal blade in four sizes. Many authorities are now using four-wheel drive tractors for snow ploughing to relieve their road vehicles for salt-spreading operations. The use of tractors is also applied to snow brushing and in this field Danline Brushes of Birmingham has equipment suitable for most tractors. Mercury Truck and Tractor Co. Ltd. has developed a brush linked to a Sicard tractor for airport-runway operations.
Snow ploughing or dozing are normally synonymous terms but the German company of Rolba Ltd. has given this operation a new look with its well established rotaryploughing technique. The principle here is to cut the snow and blow it off the highway. This equipment is more suited to trunk roads than to city operation although this cannot be excluded as a possibility.
Much of the equipment described here will be on show at the Public Cleansing Conference in Brighton next week.