Auckland Orders 40 More B.U.T.'s
Page 40
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FORTY single-deck trolley buses have been ordered from British United Traction, Ltd., by the Auckland Transport Board, New Zealand, which has been operating 55 B.U.T. vehiclesfor the past few years. Type ETB I chassis, specially designed• for overseas, have been called for and B.T.H. electrical equipment and Westinghouse braking gear will be installed.
Saunders-Roe light-alloy bodies will be fitted to carry 45 seated and 36 standing passengers. The entrance and exit will be forward of the front and rear axles respectively and will have jack-knife doors operated by G. D. Peters pneumatic mechanism. The vehicles will be 35 ft. long and 8 ft. 6 ins. wide.
Originally designed for 33-1t.-long bodies, the chassis will be lengthened to provide a wheelbase of 18 ft. 6 ins. and accommodate a body of the length required.
FLAWS DETECTED BY NEW "INK"
THE detection of flaws in magnetic and non-magnetic materials by the use of fluorescent "inks," has been successfully developed by Manchester Oil Refinery (Sales), Ltd., Twining Road. Trafford Park, Manchester, 17, A new product of this nature is Lumor, a fluorescent magnetic flaw-detection ink which, when applied to the piece under test, immediately shows up any flaw, including those which do not extend to the surface.
Magnetization of the test piece can be by the current-flow method, using a low-voltage, high-current transformer, or by the magnetic-flux method, with a permanent magnet, electro-magnet or magnetizing coil.
For viewing the flaws, a beam of ultra-violet light is directed on to the Lumor-treated metal, when any flaw which may exist is revealed in the form of a concentration of the applied magnetic fluid.
This new ink is being produced in two grades. Lumor K has a petroleum base, and Lumor S has a nonpetroleum base and is odourless. The latter can be used with safety on steel or cast iron bonded with rubber, without causing the rubber to swell.
NEW TRANSPORT AUTHORITY FOR SCOTLAND?
THE Government is to be asked by the Scottish Council (Development and Industry) to make specific provision in the Transport Bill for the establishment of a Scottish transport authority. The council has been demanding transport autonomy for Scotland for some time and its decision to approach the Government was made unanimously last week.
Mr. R. A. Maclean, chairman of the council's standing joint committee on transport, said that the Secretary of State for Scotland had given the council to understand that the Government was
c2 sympathetic towards greater executive authority for Scotland, but the committee was disappointed by the nature of the Scottish area authority which was proposed.
SPOT-WELDING AWKWARD JOINTS
JOINTS which are inaccessible to conventional spot-welding equipment can be spot-welded by the new B.O.C. Argonarc process. Another important advantage is that it is possible to join thin sections to heavier material.
The Argonarc torch uses heat from a low-current arc struck between a ttingsten electrode and the workpiece, the arc, the electrode and spot area being protected from the atmosphere by a shroud of argon gas.
By means of an electric timer unit the operation becomes automatic. Further details can be obtained from the British Oxygen Co., Ltd., Bridgewater House, Cleveland Row, London, S.W.I.
MORE R.A.F. STATION SERVICES A SUCCESSFUL application was r-1 made to the West Midland Licensing Authority by Blackheath Coaches, Ltd., Blackheath, last week to run services from Bobbington R.A.F. station to Manchester, Liverpool and Cardiff, and to provide railway feeder facilities to Birmingham for men travelling to the west and south and Derby and Leeds. Applications to run to London and Coventry were refused.
Objections were made by the Railway Executive, which, however, agreed to co-operate with feeder services.
SCOTS WIN WALKER CUP
THE Walker Cup for the highest efficiency of any group in the Road Haulage Executive has been won this year by the Caledonian group. Mrs. G. N. Russell, the wife of the chairman of the R.H.E., handed over the cup to Mr. T. Atkin, Caledonian group manager, at a ceremony at Dumfries.
Traveller Must Keep Records
BILSTON magistrates decided last week that a commercial traveller using a C-licensed van had to keep records of hours worked and journeys run. Louis Desorgher, 5, Highgate Road, Walsall, was summoned for not keeping records and his employer, Swinnertons (Walsall), Ltd., Garden Street, Walsall, was summoned for permitting the offence.
A constable said that Desorgher told him that he was a commercial traveller and that he did not have to keep records because he carried only samples. The clerk of the court stated that the company had written a letter saying that it had been told by the police that special exemption from keeping records was given to commercial travellers.
Supt. T. H. Gregory contended that the defendant should keep records, as the vehicle concerned was operated under a C licence. , He quoted from the Road and Rail Traffic Act (Exemptions) Regulations, 1951, which provided that the keeping of records "shall not apply to the use, for the purpose of soliciting orders by a commercial traveller, but not for the purpose of advertisement or the sale or delivery of goods, of a motor vehicle constructed solely for the carriage of not more than seven passengers, exclusive of the driver and their effects and not adapted for the carriage of goods other than samples."
The vehicle concerned, he said, was constructed for the carriage of goods, was licensed as such and the Licensing Authority had granted no dispensation from keeping records.
Desorgher was discharged absolutely on payment of 4s. costs and the company was fined £1.
TWIN STEERING IN NEW TRACTOR
ATW1N-STEERED three-axled tractor for use with articulated units has been produced by the White Motor Co., Cleveland, Ohio. The third axle increases the legally permitted load on the driving unit and minimizes the difficulties encountered by American operators in consequence of the differences in weight limits imposed by the various States.
A lightweight axle, known as the "steering pusher," is mounted just forward of the driving wheels and carries 10.00 by 20 tyres. It has steering knuckles at each of the wheels, which, through drag-link and tie-rod, are coordinated with the front axle.
Ratio of angle between front and rear steering axles is 3 to 1, so that if the front axle turns through 27 degrees, the steering pusher" wheels move nine degrees. Increased stability on the road and longer tyre life are among the advantages claimed for the new tractor.