)pinions and Queries

8th November 1957, Page 179

8th November 1957

Page 179

Page 179, 8th November 1957 — )pinions and Queries

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Keywords : Truck, Vehicle, Scammell

Where Is the Ideal Parcels Van?

WOULD like to refer to your leader entitled " Business Goes Begging" in your issue of September 20 and m articular to a reply published in your issue of October 11, rom Mr. A. H. Carter, Northallerton, Yorks.

I heartily agree with your remarks, as there is a very arge market for the type of vehicle you describe. It may e that Mr. Carter, based as he appears to be in the county own in Yorkshire, does not appreciate the difficulties of lelivering parcels and small consignments in congested treas. Every moment counts during the day and anything hat can be done to assist the driver in the easier fulfilment vf his day's work should be most carefully considered.

If the driver can be helped by giving him a cab such as fou describe, with only one step up to the floor, and the 3ossibility of walking through his cab to the near side a) that, in fact, he need seldom use his off-side door, all pf this will be of much value in the day's work.

To be able to fit such a cab means that the engine has :o be placed elsewhere in the vehicle than in the convertional position. There are already models on the market built in the manner described, with the engine underneath the floor of the body. We operate such a vehicle and it is by no means as inaccessible as one might imagine. Far from the suggestion by Mr. Carter that there is no market for such a vehicle, I can assure him that if a manufacturer will produce this type of vehicle at an attractive price, there is a very large market. I am sure that the express carriers would be much interested in this vehicle, as would many other operators, whether they are operating under A, B or C licences, who would have to deliver a number of consignments per day, in congested areas.

You will no doubt remember that with the help of Mr. L. J. Cotton, M.I.R.T.E., then a technical editor of The Commercial Motor, I designed such a vehicle, which was the subject of an article, "The Ideal Parcels Vehicle," in your issue of January 15, 1954; In that connection an excellent cut-away drawing of our proposals was reproduced. The only additions that I would make to the proposals since that date are a glass-fibre roof and the use of self-colour glass-fibre sheeting in the sides and ends of the van body_

I sincerely hope that the manufacturers will take note of this correspondence and do something about it.

South Benfleet, Essex. R. B. BRITTAIN,

Managing Director, Essex Carriers, Ltd.

A New Era for Haulage?

IN some ways a page in the book of science history has I been turned and we are now in a new era. A speed of 18,000 m.p.h., which was once ridiculed as scientific fiction, is a distinct improvement on the 30 m.p.h. of our eightwheelers on the so-called Great North Road. In fact, space journeys may become possible before we get our 30-year-overdue arterial roads.

Meanwhile, fill in the canals and make roads out of them. At least the road beds would then be ready made. It is useless to spend millions on obsolete canals which will take only a 10-ton barge.

If the Road Haulage Association wish to serve the country in a better way they should become organized on the lines of B.R.S. and encourage linking up of the "backyard hauliers" with their one or two lorries—often overdriven and badly maintained. The smaller haulage concerns could be grouped and have modernized depots with tele-type service. In this way a lot of empty running would be avoided and the vehicles could load and unload at depots outside the congested areas. Local deliveries could then well be performed by vehicles, such as the mechanical horse, which are better able to get through narrow streets. There might even be a nationwide radio system for hauliers.

Doncaster, Yorks. J. W. MORRIS.

More Reasons for Smoky Engines

'MUCH has been said on the subject of the emission of "I smoke from vehicle oil engines. However, I would like to give my views, with some reserve, in answer to the letter from Mr. L. W. Frampton (October 11).

I think that the following are the main reasons for the trouble. First I would put overloading of the engine. Sometimes a driver will hold on to a high gear too long, so that the engine is pulling hard at low revs." It is advisable to change down reasonably early as this keeps the engine speed at a tolerable limit, otherwise the fuel and air are not so well balanced. I may add that with some engines and gearboxes gear changing under load is an art in itself. It is also as well to use large-type air cleaners, and I believe that these should be dry and not oil-filled, it pays to spend time and money on keeping the exhaust system in good condition, and the expense will not be great. Where possible, tests should be made on the road with the normal load on the vehicle, and the pump advanced or retarded until the best position is found for operating with the least smoke. With some engines this can be done more easily than with others.

To my idea governors of the pneumatic type are not ideal. In some cases there has been dangerous reverse running, although it is now usual to fit an anti-reverse camshaft to prevent this happening. I am not, however, particularly impressed with this means.

Saxmundham, Suffolk R. NORMAN.

Score— One All

BEFORE he complains of inaccuracies, Mr. J. E. Day, of British Road Services, should read articles in The Commercial Motor more carefully. As the author of the article in the October 4 issue about a British nurseryman's transport of bulbs from Holland I was already aware that B.R.S. had moved loads of flower bulbs from Holland to Lincolnshire before Mr. David Maitland made the trip I described.

Mr. Maitland's journey was "a first attempt by a British nurseryman to collect flower bulbs from Holland with his own transport "—which is nothing to do with the services, however well carried out, of a commercial organization.

Mr. Day is correct, of course, in saying in his letter in the October 25 issue that the vessel runs into Tilbury Dock and not London Docks. This, I fear, was a question of loose phraseology, but one, I suggest, that was of minor importance in view of the fact that it was made quite clear earlier in the article that the service used was the TilburyAntwerp ferry.

London, W.C.2. LESLIE JOHNS.

)pinions and Queries

Page 179

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