Collecting Street Refuse Efficiently
Page 35
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PHE Ochsner system of dealing with street refuse is one for which deimite advantages are claimed, and records of its operation in actual service show it to be highly successful. Early experience was obtained in Switzerland and more recently the system has been applied in the County Borough of East Ham, where 32 sweepers are now able to deal with the 80 miles of streets every day, and the litter, when once collected, is not again exposed until it is tipped.
Every sweeper is provided with two bins of special pattern, each having a capacity of 3 cubic ft., and being carried in a two-wheeled steel frame, considerably lighter than the wooden hand-trucks which they have displaced. Shovel and broom complete the sweeper's equipment.
Four times a day, a Dennis low-loading refuse collector, with special body, calls to collect the contents of the bins.
Each bin is provided with the customary lifting handles at the sides, and has, in addition, a special bar, in shape like a double-looped handle, in front and near the top. Above this, a lug projects from the lid which is hinged at the mar.
In the top of the body of the vehicle are five openings at each side, normally closed by sliding aluminium shutters side from damage by the containers. When the bin is in this position, a 'hole in the lug on the lid engages with a pin on the sliding shutter. As the bin is rotated about its support, the shutter is pushed, away, towards the centre of the body, and the lid of the hin is simultaneously opened, so that when the bin is completely inverted, the body opening is fully uncovered, allowing the refuse to fall straight in.
As the bin is lowered to the upright position for removal, the whole action is reversed, thus making it impossible for any of the refuse to be blown about either before or after loading.
Up to the rave rail, the volume of the body is 7 cubic yds., the weightcarrying capacity being 3 tons. The 'wheels are shod with 27-in. by 6-in. pneumatic tyres (twins on the rear wheels), other characteristics of the chassis being a four-cylindered engine, four-speed gearbox and overhead-wormdriven rear axle. The forward-control cab gives accommodation for two men in addition to the driver. Hydraulic gear is used for tipping the body.
By cifreful co-ordination of beats and journeys, each sweeper being visited four times daily, the total weekly mileage of the machine averages only 180, in collecting some 24 loads.
Such, briefly, is the main routine of working with the Ochsner system, but Mr. Bridgewater, the borough engineer and surveyor of East Ham, reports that he is able to put the vehicle to
further uses. The removal of four bolts allows the top of the body to be lifted away in a minute or two, giving a useful generalpurpose tipping lorry. A further and more regular use of the machine is the towing of a trailer equipped with tewer-cleansing implements.
As mentioned in our forecast of the vehicles and appliances to be shown at the Cleansing Conference at Edinburgh, nil example of the Dennis street-refuse collector with -Ochsner equipment will be available for inspection during the event.