The Broom and Wade Colonial Wagon.
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The wagon is employed, chiefly, for the transportation of copper ore over precipitous mountain trucks, on which stiff gradients and very sharp bends must frequently be negotiated ; the largest of the three views we give shows the wagon being driven round a sort of " devil's elbow " on a mountain track, and the mean radius of that part of the track, which is illustrated, is less than 15 ft. Then; again, the vehicle must often be driven over unmade roads, and even" unbroken" land in the open country,
and, if the second of our illustrations can be taken as typical of the local conditions, the resistance to traction, on such land, must be very high indeed. So satisfactory has the Broom and Wade wagon proved, in these trying circumstances, that another large trading concern in Chile has placed an order for several machines; these are now being built, at High Wyeombe, to the same specification.
In addition to these repeat-order wagons, the same maker will shortly be packing four or five vehicles and
tractors for shipment to several of our Colonies, and to places abroad. The orders in hand include machines for South Africa and New Zealand; the Government of the latter Colony already owns one Broom and Wade paraffin tip-wagon, and employs it chiefly for the cartage of the materials needed for the making of new roads.
The tractors which are being erected embody many important improvements, and the design is a great advance on that of the machine which competed in this year's trials of the War Department at Aldershot. Of the improvements, perhaps the most important is the new arrange ment of the winding gear. ment of the winding gear. • 1 his gear is not now mounted On the live back axle, as is the usual and clumsy practice of many tractor builders, but is mounted on the frame so that it may be driven, by gearing, direct from the change-speed gearbox ; the winding drum may, therefore, be brought into operation without the necessity for the driver's dismounting, or the unlocking of the road wheels from the axle.
Many of our readers may be interested to learn that a machine of the type illustrated, when peeked for shipment, measures about 14 " tons." The combination of measurement and weight may appear strange to those who are unacquainted with the shipment of goods, the "tonnage" for which is on their cubical capacity, and, consequently, the space occupied in the ship's hold ; the standard shipping " ton " is equivalent to 40 cubic ft. We understand that the total cost for the shipment, to Chile or New Zealand, of such a ease as 'taint mentioned above, including the charges for loading, insurance, freight, and landing at the port of delivery amounts to about 270.
We have recently had before us four sets of figures, based giving the total running costs for Broom and Wade wagons owned by Messrs. Burton, Son and Sanders, of Colchester, The Jackson Millboard Co., Ltd., and Messrs. Keen and Co., and, from particulars extracted therefrom, we have compiled the adjoining table. The costs per mile there given may, of course, possibly not hold good for similar vehicles used in countries other than England, but they will serve as a useful basis from which prospective users can build up an estimate for their own particular
cases.
Writing from Port Shepstone, in South Africa, a trader who does a large business between Port Shepstone and Harding, recently sent a letter to T. C. Aveling and Co., Ltd., of Birmingham, and in the course of his communication stated " 1 think that the wagon (Broom and Wade) is the ideal vehicle for the work and the Colon. 'fin' price would compare satisfactorily with the work done by mule teams, and I do not think that the repairs should he great, as you have, with the single-cylinder engine. brought the whole outfit down to a matter of simplicity." This trader sends loads of general goods, over the 62 miles