Opinions from Others.
Page 20
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The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one side of the paper only, and type-written by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for the views exbressed is accepted. In the case of experiences, names of towns or localities may be withheld.
Alsers' Experiences.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1,024] Sir, -I am sending photo
graphs of our motor lorry which took part in the Romford Carnival proces.nion. [See pages 10 and 15.—ED.] The decorations were all prepared in leas
than a week, the work being done in the evenings by voluntary helpers, members of the works social club.
• The tableau, representing " A visit from the East," would have been seen to greater advantage but for the fact that we recently have had fitted to the lorry a pair of permanent sides, which prevented a, full view of the group being obtained from the side of the road. However, the whole thing was eminently successful, and won us first and second prizes.
The most-interesting time of the whole day was before the procession commenced, and engineers only can fully appreciate the excitement of a repair job against time. A link—the first one to go—had given out in the chain, and the only conclusion we could arrive at was that one of the sleeves inside the rollers had broken. We had already made provision for spare links, pins, and rolls, and had wired the makers for new sleeves, but the notice was evidently too short, for the sleeves did not come in time, and we found that our surmise was correct, and the inner link had cut off the end of two of the sleeves. It was now 10.30 a.m., and the lorry was due at the rendezvous at 3 p.m., so there was nothing else to do but to make our own renewals, which we did, machining them up from a bar of cast steel, and hardening and tempering. At 1.30 p.m., the chain was still off. By the aid of our motorman and a few volunteer friends of our staff who understood the difficulty, we got that chain on, and at ten minutes to three were steaming gaily along the road, the happy crowd inside the ear not knowing the fight we had had.
It may interest you to know that since the "Milieu" lorry made her first trip in January, 1908, she has covered approximately 12,500 miles, burning lees than two cwt. of coal .a day. -11.1e l'OStS us hut little for repairs, hieing in charge of an excellent driver (Jesse Sa,rgeant), who has that natural affection which a good man always has for his engine. We are now making a foot-controlled brake, to act on the flywheel, for use in emergencies. The device, I believe, is not new, but might with advantage be more used by lorry builders.—Yours faithfully, The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL Alveoli.
[1,025] Sir,I append some percentages, showing the proportion of various items of expenditure to earn ings, which I hope will be of use and interest to others. I believe the figures, which represent the averages for six months ended the 31st July, may be taken as fair average results to be obtained by motor-wagon carriers to-day, though I have no doubt they have been tar surpassed in the most successful cases. The perial covered includes three months of very indifferent trading, and three months of fairly-good returns ; February and March were months during which the weather made the work most difficult to perform.
Wages certainly appear to take their full share of importance, but against that must he set the absolute need of trying to obtain the best. men for such responsible work, and also the need of having some reserve of labour to assist either at times of pressure or when the regular drivers are ill. Repairs may also be criticised, but the machines are all " two year olds " and are as far as passible kept in the best condition ; in fact, the figures include a C50 " general overhaul " on one machine, which may be considered as an extra to the ordinary repair account, and may I add, by .the way of parenthesis, that. in my opinion it is impossible to keep a machine in too good a state of repair. Wagon sundries include the paraphernalia attaching to a wagon on general carrying work, sheets, ropes, lamps, etc., and in the present case include a considerable sum for sheets.
There is tio doubtthat so long as wagons burn coke the sheet account must be heavy, as the sparks emitted in ascending hills play havoc with the sheets. The peculiar nature of many of the loads I have to handle is also accountable for heavy depreciation in this matter. It seems impossible to teach drivers that a load of boxes must not lie held on by a. sheet's being tightly tied over then'. 1 am trying the effect of a pole, running along the top of the load, for the sheet to hang over, as a means of preventing sparks from resting on the sheet, and also allowing water toruin off rapidly; it likewise provides a means of drying 'a sheet, should the wagon be running light after a heavy storm.
Fuel account is, perhaps, the most interesting, as every man idio runs a motor wagon delights in performing his journey on less fuel than his competitors, and the joy that " Jones " derives from doing his run on a bag less than " Smith " surpasses that of most earthly pleasures, and helps to compensate for many of the worries which both have to undergo in their calling. I hope to give further particulars as to coke used per mile run in a subsequent letter: I can only say that the item includes a fair percentage spread on the roads during the early months of the year, because the road authorities did not think it worth while to supply a better material. A few heaps of sand or gravel left at the road side of steep hills during frosty weather would assist to keep down both the coke account and the repair bill, whilst its provision and use would save a great deal of time and trouble to all vehicular traffic. The fuel account has also been detrimentally affected by the wet weather which has prevailed this year The coke used has been ordinary gas coke of average quality.
The oil account is heavier than it should be, but, for the present, it seems impossible to obtain ideal results. The work of a motor wagon is so variable, and the conditions under which the machinery works so unfavourable, that generous lubrication becomes necessary even at the risk of a certain wastage. Moreover, manufacturers have not yet applied to motor wagons the refinements in their lubrication arrangements which we find in the pleasure motor vehicle of today. My opinion of splash lubrication is not improving with experience; it is, in most cases, wasteful and inefficient, and in all cases it means a very unpleasant job for the man who has to overhaul the machinery in a hurry, or find a lost pin or nut.
I hear of quite a number of bark axles breaking lately : I wonder, Mr. Editor, if you Live any statistics to offer on the average life of a hack axle, presuming, of course., that it is not overloaded. I believe that railway authorities have arrived at some ideas on the subject of their own engines, and the sooner we collect some information the better.
Our log sheet for the week is as follows: earnings, £66; tonnage, 144; mileage, 749; percentage of work done.. 90; coke used, 8 tons, 17 cwt.; oil used—(gear), 10 gallons, (cylinder), 7 gallons.
Percentages of running expenses to work done (for six months): To wages, 30. [4 ; fuel, 8.73; cartage, 1.94; oil, 2..36; travel] eg expenses, 1.80; damage to goads, etc., .97; wagon sundries, 4.27: repairs and renewals, 14.35; balance, 35.76. By work done, 100.00; discounts, 0.42.—Yours, etc.,