A ROCHDALE LAUNDRY FLEET.
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The Problems Arising from House-to-house Delivery and Collection. One Hundred Stops in 38 Miles.
USEItS OF commercial motor vehicles since 1911, the Rochdale and District Steam Laundry and Dry Cleaning Co., Ltd., have found that the chief problems in laundry transport are the result of house-to-house delivery and collection of parcels. The average daily mileage of each of the vans operated by this company is only 38, but the average number of stops per van per day is about one hundred! On most occasions the engine is stopped while the housewife or servant maid , prepares the various articles to be sent to the laundry, and then the van moves on to "the house just round the corner."
The roads traversed by this company's vehicles are mostly rough stone setts and the district is rather hilly. This sort of work made it imperative to employ vehicles with (1) a clutch which will stand up to the continual stopping and starting; (2) an engine powerful enough to enable the driver to get quickly into top gear and thus economize in petrol, and (3) an electric starter which will start, up the engine promptly on every occasion with, perhaps, the exception of the first start in the morning.
The Rochdale and District Steam Laundry and Dry Cleaning Co., Ltd., who are now considered to be one of the most up-to-date companies of their kind in the North of England, commenced busineas..30 years ago. They gradually developed until a dozen horsed vans were employed, making regular twice-weekly calls on houses within a five-mile radius. The first motor vehicle was a Belsize Van purchased in 1911 and shortly afterwards two more vans of the same make were bought. This enabled the company to dispose of some of the horsed vans and to widen the collecting area.
In 1915 the Belsize van § were replaced by Ford vans and the company were compelled to employ women drivers, as most of their men had joined the Forces. The present fleet consists of three 15-cwt. Dodge Brothers vans, a Dixie Flyer and a Ford van, which are housed at Rochdale, from which, centre the collecting radius has been extended to 15 miles, and two Dodge Brothers vans and three horse-drawn vans stationed at Tottington, near Bury.
The company have instituted a twodays dry-cleaning service, which, of course, is only rendered possible by the 1180 of rnotorvans.
All the vans are equipped with rigid side curtains and self-starters, interior lighting, windscreen wipers, two horns (an electric and a bulb), driving mirrors and speedometers ; oversize tyres, 33 ins, by 41 ins, are fitted.
The 1911 Belsize van to which reference has been made had a 16 h.p. engine and was fitted with solid tyres on the rear wheels. Owing to the bad roads in the district these tyres were a source qf trouble and, after experiments, they were replaced by pneumatics.
The horse-drawn vehicles make calls within a radius of two or three miles of the receiving centre. All the vans leave the works at 8 a.m. daily and make a first short, rapid-collecting journey in order to -bring in sufficient work by 9.30 a.m., so that the sorting-room at
the laundry can start work. On the remaining days of the week the work is mainly divided into half-day journeys.
The farthest point of collection on the Yorkshire side of Rochdale is Haden Bridge, which is 15 miles from the laundry. Regular collections and deliveries are also made at Oldham, Littleboro', Reeaon, Middleton, Blackley (Manchester), Heywood and Bury. The rush periods occur immediately before any public holiday, and it is then that the advantage of a fleet that can be operated at high speeds with full loads is particularly felt. It is stated that 95 per cent, of the breakdowns in
the motor-vehicle fleets of laundries occur at holiday times, the work at such periods being very strenuous.
The company have a system whereby all transport invoices are detailed to show to which vehicle the goods have been supplied. A check is made at periodic intervals of petrol and oil consumption. The petrol consumption on the Dodge Brothers vehicles is a gallon for every 1S-. miles run, according to the nature of the journey, whilst on the Ford it is 16-17 m.p.g., and on the Dixie Flyer 15-16 m.p.g. The life of the tyres is about 15,000 miles on the Dodge Brothers vans and about 12,500 miles on the Dixie Flyer.
The engines are decarbonized after every 10,000 miles, and the brakes usually call for relining after approximately 15,000 miles have been recorded.
The -fuel which is used on the company's vehicles is Pratte No. 1 spirit, and in the laundry garage there is a bulk storage installation capable of holding 500 gallons.
The maintenance and repair work in connection with the fleet are carried out by the local Dodge Brothers agents, Messrs. Clarke's Motor Co., whose premises are adjacent to the laundry.
The oldest vehicle now in the service of the company is the Dixie Flyer, which has 42,000 miles to its credit. When it reaches the stage at which it would be uneconomical to operate, it is to be replaced by another Dodge Brothers van.
The first Dodge Brothers vehicle owned by the company has covered 28,000 miles, the total repair cost up to date being represented by the purchase of one set of brake linings and one set of piston rings.
So far as petrol, oil, maintenance and tyre charges are concerned, the coSt of operating one of the Dodge Brothers vans during its first year, when it covered 10,000 miles, was as follows :—Tyres, .5d. per mile; petrol, .85d. per mile ; lubricant, .08d. per mile and repairs and replacements .125d. per mile, "making a total of 1.555d. per mile. In the second year, on a similar mileage, this total was 1.70d, per mile.