THE LIBERTY TRUCK " WHAT WAS WRONG?
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THE LIBERTY TRUCK, about which we heard a . great deal of. rather wild newspaper talk from across the Atlantic but a-ship-it time ago, has of late only been spoken of in a very minor key in fact, te.put the matter bluntly, we are allowed to form the 'conclusion that it-has been quite the reverse '-of the great success -which,according .to, the prograthine of
itssponsors,-it shiaidthhaVe been. :
Itis painfully: evident that something is seriously wrong somewhere, and. it has-been aasuneed by.many that-the-project of -building standardized trucksof special design has been shelved owing to the powerful opposition of interested makers of successful existing patterns. • •
It is, however, difficult to believe that the true eause is not rather to be found elsewhere, and an investigation into the .whcile question of " standardization in. a hurry '.' may be. usefulin this connection.
Let it be stated at the outset that this article is,not an attempt te belittle the mechanical achievements of our Anaerican'allieS.• The writer .yields to none in his admiration for the splendid: spirit of enterprise and efficiency -which animates -the American, engineering industry as Weir as'fOr the :magnificent results which have been onitare being obtainecl..: The, present caseseems to point to an example of 'the unreasonable influence Which the untechnieal-busineas elereent is,too often allowed to exercise over the better judgment of
the engineer. • All of us, as has often been said, have our limitaB34 tions and suffer from the defects of -our qualities.
' This being so, and granting that one the outstanding features el Ainerican enterprise is speed,' we may reasonably expect to .find that the mistakes resulting from over haste would soMetimes be apparent. • .In the particular case under-discussion; • much, capital was made at thei outset of the wonderful :speed -with which-the whole -scheme was coneeived and' car
ried oat. . .
• A corps of designers selected from some ef the lead.
-.-ing firms in: the American, truckindustrywere gathered .together,somewhat after the manner of a special jury, and given the gigantie task of designin a-new vehicle which should beall butperfehtlY apted to the supposedneeds of'the Mechanical-Trans. port of the U.S. Army in a ridiculously, short period of time. • New those who are conversant with the work ofthe drawing, office are well aware that this proposition.verges on the impossible. •
.It, is an established fact that a new design of .a
plex nature such as.that for a complete motor vehicle, however :great the ability of the staff engaged on it,
• cannot be brought to the stage at which-it can-be-said :
to bereasonably near perfection in a matter .of 'weeks, • much less -days. More often the process occupies months, and if we, put the time-roughly at six-months we shall not be-far wrong. . The 'mere -multiplication of designers and draughtsmen does not, by any means, reduce theytima required in anything like a reasonable proportion to the number of men engaged, since effective co-ordination of the various units is thereby rendered more difficult.
Successful design is not the outcome of hurried work, but is always the result of, perhaps, dozens of tentative schemes laboriously worked out, which sometimes icach an advanced stage before they are found to be unsuitable and are accordingly'scrapped ; the whole process then starting "de novo. Furthermore, the design of each part, being more or less dependent on the others for the completion of a perfect whole, involves a complicated process of shuffling of idea'which occupies what is, to the uninitiated, a surprisingly long time and may not be hurried. Concurrently with the striving after an efficient arrangement of parts must be considered the equally important question of manufacturing methods. Herein lie pitfalls in. various directions which often escape notice until the " shops " suddenly find themselves faced by a " snag " which arises from the mm.possibility of executing a certain machining operation except by costly and uneconomical methods. Such " snags " are nearly always the result of hasty design
Even when the first vehicle or batch of vehicles has reached the erecting stage, it would he little short of a miracle if various minor modifications, if nothing more, were not found necessary, or desirable.
In ,shoxt, we may put the total lapse of time from the initial stages to the completion of the first satisfactory machine at about 12 months.
Of course, some kind of fairly satisfactory product can be and, in this case, has been, turned out in a much shorter -time, but such meagre particulars as we have been allowed to gather, together with published photographs of the complete vehicle, give a distinct impression of a hurried job, and represent is machine which is probably far from being ideal for its purpose and, certainly, not quite so good as one or two of the already existing standard designs being turned out in large quantities by some of the foremost 'manufacturers in America. This brings us to our main contention, which is that U.S. military authorities would have been better advised in selecting one or more of those designs which are known to be a thoroughly sound job and causing them to be manufactured in the required numbers, it necessary in several factories simultaneously. By this means they would undoubtedly have obtained their requirements with a maximum of delay and at
far less expense. This same policy was adopted by our own M.T. Department .at the beginning of the war and has been proved sound, Subject to the possible criticism that, perhaps, too many different models were accepted. The writer does not intend to convey the impression that he is opposed to standardization as such. It is generally agreed that standardization in engineering matters is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. and its further development inevitable, but, unless we wish to run the risk of seriously diminishing if not cancelling altogether its advantages, it should he approached with great circumspection. Each single point in the proposed standard 'design should be scrutinized most. rigorously from all points of view before its adoption in the complete design; and, what is-equally important, the finished whole must be subjected to prolonged tests in order to eliminate possible sources of trouble which cannot be foreseen in even the most careful scrutiny during the planning stage of the undertaking. These essential conditions for success have not been observed and, in fact, were not possible within the absurdly short time laid down in the present case. It does not, therefore, surprise engineers to hear that,
• after a short period of artificially forced growth, that exotic plant the "Liberty Truck" is already fading away.
This example of mistaken enterprise seems to recall memories of certain attempts in a, similar direction initiated on this side of the herring pond under official auspices not so very long ago. Fortunately for us, the bud in this case was nipped whilst it was yet too
small to attract much attention. LIVE AXLE.