THE NEW U.S. ARMY MOTOR TRUCK.
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Output 4000 Per Month. The Official Story of Its Rapid Production
US.A. ARMY OFFICIALS tell us they believe that the new standardized motor truck is l' superior to any now in use for war purposes. Details just announced by the Council of National Defence certainly show that it rivals the Liberty aeroplane in demonstrating the remarkable advantages of co-operation of the leading makers.
. From all parts of America, to Washington, D.C., wete called forty engineers, and hundreds of draughtsmen, and after a little over a month's work the first completed truck was tested at Lima, Ohio, and a few days later another ' machine was assembled at Rochester, N.Y., and started on the road.
In summarizing the co-operative talent embodied in the engine, it might be said that the crankcase is Continental, the cylinders Waukesha, the oiling system a combination of Wisconsin and Buda, the pistons Hercules, and the timing-gear system a combination of Buda, Wisconsin and Continental. The governor is a combination of Kelly-Springfield and Waukesha. The camshaft is a composite design. The engine has been designed with the thought of using the heavier fuels, the combustion chamber and other parts having been designed to meet these requirements.
What has been said of the engine can be said of the transmission, the axles and other parts. Three or four of the leading axle makers have worked together on the axle designs. So with the transmission.
• , Promptness in First Deliveries.
• So well have all of the engineers co-operated that the schedule set for the completion of the different truek units, as well as of the completed truck, have been lived 'up to and generally improved upon. The first engines built in different factories were to have been delivered on 30th September, and they were de-, livered on that date. The completed chassis was to have been ready 10th October, and was ready on 7th October. It is the personal opinion of COMMERCIAL MOTOR'S U. S.A. representative that, of all America's endeavours to produce needed war products, that of motor trucks will excel, and that quicker production will result than with any other product, be it ships, guns, soldiers, or aeroplanes.
In spite of the fact that a large number of interests were involved in the building of the truck, making compromises in design more difficult, the great unani mity of feeling among those participating makes the result the more remarkable.
Roughly, there were four major divisions of the engineering work, those relating to the engine, the transmission, the axles, and the other chassis parts. Each was manned by a corps of engineers. There were three, four and in some oases five different companies represented in the work on one unit, and it was naturally necessary for the engineers to subordinate all personal considerations to the end of achieving the very best known to the art. Each unit represents a composite of the best features contributed, rather than the work of any one individual. The engineer best qualified to design a certain part handled it in consultation with his fellow engineers.
The speed with which the different makers attacked their respective tasks and completed them is shown by the following : -
The Continental Motor Manufacturing Co., which was one of the several engine producers participating in the programme, received blue prints on 9th September, and had an engine running .19 days 18 hours afterwards. The Waukesha Motor Co. had its first engine running in 11 days and 74i hours from the time the blue prints reached its factory. These companies did not have to make all the patterns for castings or.
the dies for forgings, some of these having been made previously, but they had to do most of the machining and other operations on the parts. "In developing the engine four or five makers cooperated by dividing the different parts between them, one making several parts not only for itself, but for the other engine makers. In this way time was saved. The Continental Co. made the cylinders, gearcase cover, and many small parts such as pumps, bushings, etc. The Waukesha Co. manufactured the cylinder heads, the crankcase, intake and exhaust manifolds, roller push-rods, etc. The Wisconsin Co. made the lower half of the crankcase.
The Matter of Weights.
The remarkable patriotic response of manufacturers of raw and finished produets made possible the completion of the units in record time. As an illustraa, tion, the Park Drop Forge Co. worked continuously in three shifts and succeeded in sinking the dies for the crankshaft in seven days, an operation which is rarely completed in peace times in less than three weeks. The Werra. Aluminium Castings Co. produced the pattern for main crankcase and first casting in five days, this usually taking from three to four weeks on smaller jobs. The Continental pattern department completed the pattern for the cylinder pairs in slightly over five days, an accomplishment which can be appreciated only by those who have manufactured engines. Any apprehensions as to the truck being too heavy for its carrying capacity have been dissipated by the statement of weights given by those companies building the units entering into the first machines. The maker who assembled the first truck states that the total weight of the chassis without body is 8500 lb., which, with a 1400 lb. body, will bring the total up to less than 10,000 lb. A few examples of weights as given by the makers that have produced some of the parts indicate how well the engineers have worked, notwithstanding they were under orders to build a stout robust job suited to the extreme service of the war zone. The engine weighs 1012 lb., and early testa produced 58 lo.h.p. at 1350 r.p.m. The rear axle weighs 1592 lb., with hubs and btakedrums, the front axle with hubs 352 lb., the transmission 233 lb., the dutch and case 103 lb., the frame without castings 053 lb.' the front springs 148 lb., the rear springs 544 lb., in such a case as the engine, and there are smaller variations with other parts. -Without doubt weights of these parts taken after they are well in production will show many cuts in all of these figures.
General Baker points out that standardiz,ation in France would save the American Army the necessity of maintaining immense supply stations, which the British and French are forced to keep up. The new truck has less than 7500 parts, while the Allied Forces are said to keep in stock at all times, more than 2,000,000 parts !or their various kinds of motor vehicles.
Officials of the Automotive Products Section of the War Industries Board are confident 'that the new
vehicle will prove to be one ef the most valuable transportation factors develcrped.for modern war. It was designed for a three-ton load but with a capacity of five tons. At the present sixty factories are manufacturing and assembling parts, and it is estimated that the Government soon will be able to turn the trucks out at the rate of 4000 a month. One firm, it
• was said, had been equipped to manufacture more of the trucks than all the firms in England could turn out when the war, started. The Government's first order calla for 10,000 trucks.