The Development and Standardisation of the Steam Wagon.
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A Suggestion and Plea for Uniformity According to Districts.
The multiplicity of steam-wagon patterns is, in at least one respect, something of a nuisance. If owners in each locality could mutually agree as to which type of vehicle generally fulfilled their district requirements, and were, then, to standardise the various parls, great economies in upkeep would result. There is, of course, no such thing as a perfect, or even a really fool-proof, wagon, though few vehicles now in the market do not excel the rest in some one particular detail. Before, therefore, a purchaser introduces a new and locally untried type into his district, he should be convinced that its practical superiority is sufficiently marked to outweigh the disadvantages of his possessing something different from his neighbours. Whatever the type, the chief consideration is the repairs question ; and this, not merely from its costs point of view, but from the interruption of work—itself a source of expense—which it involves. Steaming economy is, doubtless, very essential in every way, because the less water an engine consumes the less roadside stoppages will be needed for filling up tanks, and such longer running capacity frequently ALLOWS A BETTER SELECTION OF WATER.
But, I suppose, the extreme margin of fuel differences between different vehicles developing similar b.h.p., and performing identical services, does not much exceed five or six shillings per week, where leakages past the rings and valves are absent.
What, therefore, is such a trifle compared with the infinitely more vital matters of upkeep, cost, and depreciation ? The real question at issue, is, which vehicle will, at the least maintenance cost, and for the longest period, best face the particular and inevitable " district service racket." With, however,eight or ten distinct types to cater for, it is not reasonable to expect the local repairing engineer to stock, at his own risk and cost, a full range of breakdown duplicates, but both delay and expense are necessarily involved by his haying to order such individual parts as he cannot, with sufficient rapidity and economy, manufacture himself, from the wagon builders. !Steam wagons which are built of strictly interchangeable parts are only subject to 24 hours' delay, or less, in the event of a breakage, for which no duplicate is in the local stock.—Eo.1 Hence, if, instead of incontinently flitting from one type to another, an effort towards standardisation were seriously made by local owners, not only would repairing delays and outlays be minimised, but the position of so many owners, acting in concert, would become sufficiently strong to compel the builders of the adopted vehicles to introduce improvements in mechanical details of practical worth. It is, unfortunately, the case, that the chief cause of the siiccess or failure of any particular steam wagon is not always to be found in the vehicle; it very frequently lies with the attendant. A man who can successfully operate a machine must be something more than a machine himself, and it sometimes occurs that a third-rate vehicle, in the bands of a good driver, proves infinitely more satisfactory than another of first-class rank when handled by an incompetent attendant. Few owners are themselves experts, and very few have arranged the scheme for working their vehicles according to the recommendations of competent, experienced advisers. Therefore, when troubles happen, they too often put the saddle on the wrong horse, being HOPELESSLY 'UNABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE Fetween structural and np:rative faults. The result, too frequently, is, that a really good machine makes a bad record, causing either self-propelled traffic, as a whole, to be denounced, or the particular vehicle to be exchanged for some other type, and this probably by no means a more meritorious example. Although it takes something like eight years thoroughly to train a locomotive driver on our
principal railways, it is far too commonly imagined that two or three weeks' coaching will suffice to make a trustworthy road motor driver out of a teamster with no previous engineering knowledge to draw upon But, whilst some men can be made tolerably efficient in a few weeks, others will not become competent in a lifetime! Just as one cannot train to sing a man who has no voice, so is it impossible to make an efficient steam-wagon driver out of a man devoid of mechanical instincts. You may develop, a capacity, but you cannot create one. This difficulty is,. perhaps, less serious in the case of vehicles under the constant surveillance of a competent foreman, who systemnati
caa night and morning, each vehicle in his charge, supervises each driver's performance and journey record, and remedies faults before serious mischief ensues. But it is the small and inexperienced owner who is so' much at the mercy of incapable and, oftentimes, " cocksure " driverS, who are working for their own short-sighted ends, and who fail to realise that their own interests areintimately wrapped up with those of their employers. Unless a driver regularly takes a real pride in his machine, and a real pleasure in getting the best possible work out or it, with the least possible outlay for repairs, he is but a broken reed. The driver who is afraid of doing too much for fear of" spoiling the job " should have short shrift. He isn't worth his keep.
One of the difficulties about a self-propelled vehicle is theunknown and infinite variety of strains and stresses which,. in the course of its daily road career, it has to resist. The railway locomotive designer possesses an accurate foreknowledge of the loads, curves, and gradients which have to be faced ; but the builder of the steam wagon has at his hack little or no reliable data for his calculations. And, besides, many builders, however, excellent as engineers, are. amateurs in road work. A steam-wagon designer, indeed, unless a practical driver, can scarcely be expected fully to, realise the special vagaries of British highways, in their infinite nuances of malconstruction, condition, and gradient..
The user of the self-propelled vehicle is not only forcing upon highway authorities the necessity for better surfaces, hut he is, also, unfortunately, paying for experiences of which the motor engineer is deriving the benefit. The traction engine, owing to the faults and weaknesses of British highways, has not, in its 45 years' record, developed into a thoroughly satisfactory implement. But, even in the last 20 years, it has made such wonderful progress that the engine of r886 is scarcely recognisable in that of to-day; and, for this improvement, quite as much credit is due to. the user as to the builder.
There is a tendency on the part of some commercial motor draughtsmen to
LOOK DOWN UPON ANY SUGGESTIONS which are based upon the running experiences of the homely driver-mechanic, who may be quite unable to design a wagon, but who, after handling one for a few months, may very ably criticise its details. Competitive trials are, doubtless, exceedingly valuable in demonstrating running powers and steaming economies, but they seldom furnish conclusive evidence of all-round commercial excellence : they demonstrate the capabilities of new vehicles, when handled by show drivers, but they rarely indicate life expectations ! With the increasing use of motors and tractors, there is a need for an association of drivers and mechanics, who, meeting in friendly council at frequent intervals, might freely discuss points of practical interest connected with the various vehicles in which each one is more or less directly concerned. Such an association, if formed on proper lines. would be mutually helpful, both to the members themselves and to owners generally. It would, also, be capable of immense service in the practical development and perfecting of the commercial road engine.—JOIIN MORRISON: -