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How Motors Have Replaced Horses at Leicester
Page 100
Page 101
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IN Most of our prominent cities the street-cleansing and refuse-collection departments are merged, so that it is possible to organize a fleet of vehicles in the most efficient manner, with certain types of machine•overlapping on the two classes of work. This state of affairs obtains in Leicester, where Mr. F. W. Brookman supervises the collection and disposal of refuse, street cleansing, including gully emptying, various waste-utilization plants, slab-making and the public baths.
The connection between the lastmentioned branch of the city's activities and the cleansing department lies in the fact that the collected material is burned, and the heat generated is used to warm the water for the swimming and slipper baths.
Refuse Facts and Figures.
Besides the main depot in Jarvis Street, where all the vehicles are housed and repaired, there are four other depots, each equipped with a destructor and the necessary accoutrement for obtaining useful by-products from the material incinerated, The total weight of refuse collected in the city during the last year for which figures are available was 63,734 tons, and the area over which collecting vehicles had to operate was 8,582 acres, the population being estimated at 240,800 persons. The total weight of refuse disposed of actually works out at 71,951 tons, the additional 9,000-odd tons being made up by tva.ste material brought in by • tradesmen.
An interesting sidelight on incineration may here be mentioned. At the Humberstone depot a careful record of the heat value of the collected material was kept over a week's operation, and 534 ' a figure of 1.25 lb. of steam per 1 lb. of refuse was obtained after dust and metals had been extracted from the material.
During the past year the gross expenditure for the collection and disposal of refuse, excluding loan charges, worked out at £57,403, and the gross income from the various activities of the department amounted to £13,853, giving a net cost of £43,550. Over £5,000 worth of paving slabs were sold during the year, and, amongst other items, £2,250 worth of tins, ashes, mortar, scrap iron, etc., were sold to the profit of the department.
It is interesting to compare the costs of collection and disposal. Excluding loan charges, the net cost per ton works out at 8s. 0.2d. for collection and 5s. 0.1d. per ton for disposal. Actually, the gross expenditure in each case is approximately the same, but in disposal there is an item of 3s. 5.2d. per ton derived from the sale Of various by-products of incineration.
No fewer than 404,472,840 sq. yds. of street were cleansed during the year and 339,635 gullies were emptied. The total mileage of the roads is 198, whilst the average length of haul to the tips is 2 miles. Excluding loan charges, the net cost works out at £32,622, which is equivalent to 16s. lid. per 10,000 sq. yds. cleansed.
Details of the Fleet.
The foregoing figures illustrate the size and character of the work under taken by the cleansing depai tment. We can now turn to a consideration of the vehicles employed for collection and disposal purposes. In the first place,
it should be mentioned that a gradual change-over from horse-drawn carts to mechanical vehicles has taken place during the past 10 or 12 years, and now there are but two horses stabled at the Jarvis Strat depot.
At the moment there are 11 electric vehicles and 16 petrol machines actively engaged on the collection of refuse alone. In addition to these, however, a Foden 5-tonner and a Super Sentinel 7-tonner should be included, as they are used for general haulage purposes connected with the disposal of the incinerated material. Furthermore, a MorrisCommercial 30-cwt. lorry serves as an auxiliary to the waste plant. The earliest electric vehicle was purchased in 1921, but since that date three Garretts, three G.V.s and four Electricars have been added, the last purchase having been made in February, 1933.
Medium-size Vehicles Preferred.
The petrol-engined machines are made up of 14 S.D. Freighters, a Karrier C.Y.R. type and a MorrisCommercial 1-tonner. Two hundred and fifty men are employed in the collection and disposal of refuse, whilst in the street-cleansing department there are 149. It is the opinion of the superintendent that moderate-sized vehicles are much more suitable than either small or large machines, practically all the vehicles employed in Leicester being of 7-cubic-yd. capacity.
Interchangeable Tank Bodies. , An interesting arrangement has been designed to allow the ordinary container bodies of two of the S.D. Freighters to be replaced by water tanks. In summer-time, when refuse collection is relatively easy and the demands upon the water department for street watering, etc., are heavy. the interchanging of work for the vehicles involved helps to maintain efficiency and very appreciably to reduce working costs.
Two Lacre three-wheeled road sweepers carrying 200 gallons of water are still used for street-cleansing purposes, despite the fact that they are seven years old and run on solid tyres. In addition, however, there are two Karrier sweepers with picking-up gear'; they are capable of dealing with 3 tons of sweepings.
Another Karrier machine carries a 700-gallon water tank and is used largely for scrubbing streets. Iii the summer it is out night and day, sweeping at night and watering during the daytime. The remainder of the machines are S.D. Freighters and a couple of Vulcans, the two 'attar vehicles being used for haulage purposes after collection of the rubbish is finished.
At the Jarvis Street depot there are workshops for mechanics, where general overhauls are carried out, a woodwork and wheelwright shop, a paintshop and an electrical department. Practically all repairs are carried out under the supervision of the depot foreman. Each night the batteries of the 11 eiectrici vehicles are recharged, two B.T.H. transformers being utilized to convert the A.C. current into D.C. One transformer is capable of dealing with the whole current load and the other is used as a standby.
Naturally, the costs for the removal of snow are entirely dependent upon weather conditions. During 1932-1933 the cost was £649 net. One of the accompanying illustrations shows an interesting arrangement whereby a snow plough can be coupled up to one of the normal sweepers. A simple framing has been arranged, so that attachment can be made to the main frame of a vehicle. As fixing can be completed in a quarter of an hour, the utility of the scheme is considerably increased.
Only Two Horses Left.
Thus, the city of Leicester, with a mechanized fleet of vehicles, deals efficiently and promptly with the problems of cleansing. Eight years ago 54 horses were employed, but, as we stated earlier, there are now only two at the Jarvis Street depot—surely an indication that mechanical transport is essential in any organization that makes a claim to efficiency.