Bird's Eye
Page 51
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ViewBY THE HAWK
Lost Bonus Convinced Them!
THE proof of the pudding, it is said, is in the eating. Never was this more true than in the case of the installation of fuelsystem water traps fitted to the vehicles in the fleet run by Norman Baker, of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. Norman also has interests in the company that invented and is making and marketing the device, and much of the proving has been done on the machines in his own fleet. Last winter, on a particularly cold morning, a number of Norman's tippers were stranded at the depot with the water content of their fuel supply frozen. Only a couple of the tippers had been fitted out at that stage with the trap and, as usual with drivers, much talk had not convinced them that the device was useful. However, they watched their mates go off at once to start piling up the bonus earned on a certain number of loads per day, whilst they queued up to wait for the workshop staff to attend to them. This resulted in a complete reversal of their feelings and created a big demand for immediate fitting of the trap to their machines. Subsequent coffee-shop chat has resulted in many orders from other operators in the district, not the least important being one from a major oil company.
Safe Return
DO I hear sighs of relief from the direction of Argosy House, Great Portland Street? Perhaps so, because a delicate load of valuables has just been brought home by Roadferry. This was a collection of antique furniture, furnishings and silverware which has been on a European tour, with exhibitions in Milan, Frankfurt and Cologne. BP were the sponsors.
Two Roadferry TIR tilt semi-trailers carried the load, valued at £200,000 nominally, but some items were irreplaceable.
All Rounder!
THE Transport Tribunal has been functioning for many months a man short, although this has not affected some very interesting and important decisions. Since the lamented death of Mr. Mellor last year, the president, G. D. Squibb, has been most ably supported by C. P. Hopkins, who is an adroit fielder in any position. The processes of consultation before the third man can be appointed are devious and lengthy. What are the chances, I wonder, of a veteran road haulier being picked?
Man o" War
DESPITE the Government's cut-back on naval expenditure, the Lorry Driver of the Year Dunfermline Centre will have an aircraft carrier competing in this year's competition on April 24. However, the aircraft carrier is in fact a 32 ft. articulated unit drawn by a Leyland prime mover. It is 9 ft. 2 in. wide and has required a Ministry of Transport exemption to take part in the competition. The overall width of the vehicle is causing the committee in Dunfermline some concern as in many cases the streets are little more than 9 ft. 2 in. wide.
'Carefree Honesty'
E'OLLOWING the paper on turbochargers at the recent CAV Conference, J. W. Wicks, of London Transport, said he was impressed with the "carefree honesty" of Mr. Kellett who presented the paper. Colleague Tony Wilding tells me this was the feeling of many present and, he says, with justification, for details were given of alarming (to the uninitiated) failures that were experienced in destruction tests. Tony remarks that is was good to see the full story given without any attempt to gloss over early problems. Pictures of a shattered turbine wheel and a broken casing were alarming until it was realized that these were tests to destruction and balanced by many thousands of hours of tests in normal conditions without trouble. Certainly the advantages of turbocharging were convincingly illustrated and it is reassuring to know that the amount of work done by CAV gives them a considerable amount of knowledge of turbocharger design. The best way to find out how good a component is must be to overstress it until it complains.