Parcel-carriers ; Mining Needs ; Municipal Motors ; Rail Cars ; Special Cases.
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Parcel–carriers.
Quite the best. uf parcel-carriers on the market is that sold by F. B. Goodchild and Co., Ltd. _McNamara and Co., Ltd., the well-known contractors and jobmasters of London, have a number of these in service for big London tradesmen, and for at least one important London newspaper. This Auto-carrier is a.ble to take loads up to 6 cwt., and it can be packed and put F.O.B. London for approximately £105. Experience shows that the working cost is on the right side of 21 per mile; in fact, more than one user has got it down to To Mining Companies.
To mining companies, whose possessions and sources of wealth are often far removed from ordinary facilities for communication, we are fullyconvinced that this issue, will convey good news. The bare fact, for example, that a wagon or tractor, with either an internal-combustion or a steam engine, can travel 100 miles independently, of supplies, with 5 or 6 tons of useful load, over sandy or rough country, means a. lot. It means that. machinery can be got to the mine, both quickly and in heavy parts. Mine managers, in special cases, in Eg,ypt, Africa and Western Australia, would willingly pay £1 a mile, let alone a few shillings (which means the trebling of any home costs), were he able to get up a 5-ton load in a single consignment. We invite such recipients of this issue. to cast an eye over its contents, and to accept our statement that the commercial-motor movement has come to their rescne. Not only are engines good, but the genLial construetion—transmission, wheels, etc.—is in keeping with the improvements on the energy side.
Municipal Motors.
There were, but little more than five years ago, only 18 public authorities, throughout the United Kingdom, which made use of commercial motors; all of these employed 37 steam wagons for street watering, street brushing, the cartage of stores, dust removal, electric overhead-gear repair, and other special purposes. To-day, there are more than 300 machiuos, including steam wagons, petrol vans and lorries, tractors, and small road rollers, so owned. Either endtipping and side-tipping bodies can be fitted to order, for the rapid and convenient discharge of materials, whilst riot a few of the councils employ the vehicles to move gangs of men about quickly, and therefore to avoid any waste of wages. Amongst the large owners are the Councils of Chelsea. Liverpool, and Westmin ster, who jointly own no fewer than 30 steam wagons, iris ny of which are fitted with rubber tires in order to reduce noise. The engineers of these respective authorities have been able to report considerable economies, and more especially in respect of street watering and the cartage of materials. For road construction and 'ma'am:nue, where broken metal and stores have LO he delivered some miles away from a railway, and in connection with the effective supervision and repair of main water-supply pipes, motor vehicles and tractors are also being turned to account, In a. few instances, large tanks, fitted on a wagon frame, as illustrated on page 297, are used for the emptying of cesspool contents or other accumulations of filth, the lifting power being derived from the vacuum created by the introduction of cold water into the steam-filled tank, rapid condensation ensuing, and thus providing the necessary suction effect. Some of these vehicles are fitted with sludge, ejectors, driven from the engine, and others, of which we may name a particular machine built by Mann's. of Leeds, with disinfecting outfits. ILL some few cases, where the authorities Lake in hand the feeding of poor people during times of stress, at various centres. distribution has been undertaken by motorvan.
Rail Cars.
The petrol or paraffin rail car should appeal to railway and tramway officials for inspection purposes, and to builders and contractors for use upon narrow
gauge temporary tracks. pair of light rails, laid incApensively. is often a convenient and economiced means of handling material. but the cars or tracks must be good value to secure the best
results. The lightness ef the petrol rail ears now oe the market renders them emirently suitable for service over any ground where the top strata are not consolidated. Nn steam engine, apart from its greater weight, earl, by reason of the extra labour of supplying it with fuel arid water, eempete.
These. cars are made in England. and the best of them are sold by Brown Bros., Ltd., the Drewry Car Co., Ltd., Mc:Ewan. Pratt and Co., and Straker and Squire, Ltd. They eau be supplied to rim at any speeds between 5 and 50 m.p.h., and some of them—for, say, two persons—can readily be lifted off a single track, so as to let any heavier ear or train go through. Pikes, according to
size, vary (ruin .£125 to £560. It is Messrs. McEwan. Pratt and Co. who have snecialized in trucks for oontractors. Their machines are designed for all purposes and duties, from hauling loads on light portable railways to heavy goods and fast passenger trains on main lines. The small size; known as " Murray No. 12," is particularly adapted for plantation and estate work of every kind, and, where adopted, is giving satisfaction. Standard locomotives and tractors are supplied, or built, to order for special purposes, by this maker.
The Drewry Co. includes, in its exeellent range, both two-cylinder and fourcylinder engines, and employs Hans Renold silent chains for the final drive. We hear good reports of those trolleys from the Benguella Railway.
Special Cases.
We might fill a lot of space with lists of export buyers, but that would serve no useful purpose. Manufacturers have, we take it, sent such lists to us as a guarantee and assurance, so that we may be confirmed, as we are, in the view that. our recommendations to new buyers are justified by past achievements. We extract., therefore, only the names of a few places to which sales have been made,, except where a brief note is added about a particular application. In the other cases, in spite of imperfections of highways, or their entire absence, it goes without saying that the machines have held their own against competitive transport. The immunity of a mechanism in regard to the tsetse fir and other pests is a point to be named in passing.
We quote destinations, many of which are repeated often: the Straits Settlements ; New Zealand; Ceylon; British Guiana; Trinidad; Ottawa; Spain ; Brazil (broad wheels for soft, roads); Rangoon; Sydney; Siam ; India (various parts); Melbourne ; South Africa (Derban and other ports); Southern Nigeria; ITaanda ; Pernambuco ; Peru ; Buenos AVres; Russia ; Italy; Turkey. These places, for example. are all found in the lists from Albion, " Commer Car," Dennis, Halley, Lacre, Leyland, MilnesDaimler, Straker-Squire and Thornycroft. Tin-lined bodies ; sheathed wheels, to prevent sand from enclosing the felines when running over the de
sert ; special winding gears for " boggy " places ; insulated bodies for hot climates ; extra-large clearances; abnormally-short wheelbasee ; fire-boxes to burn wood, and even brushwood or straw ; oil-burners to withstand and' work when treated unskilfully ; allmetal wheels and bodies for insect-ridden territories; detachable " spuds " or grippers for travelling over loose earth: these, again, are but a few of the special points that have been met.