The Motor Drivers News.
Page 15
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How to Make a Rope Tyre.
J.W.M." (Leicester) writes us under date the 23rd inst :— " I think the following explanation of how I overcame a bad tyre burst will be interesting to the readers of the ' Drivers News' :—I was making a journey with my delivery van from King's Cross to Maidenhead; we got as far as Staines without mishap, but while running through that town I had the misfortune to have a bad burst in one of my tyres. I immediately stopped the engine and got off to have a look at the damage. .:Ifter taking off the tyre, I found that the rent was much too bad to repair by the wayside; in fact, the only way for it to be mended properly was to have a large patch vulcanised on, so I had to resort to other means. At some time or other I had heard of winding rope longitudinally round the rim, to form a temporary tyre, and this .1 determined to try as, after going to all the principal shops, I found it impossible to purchase a cover of the right size 1760mm. by omm.). I went round to a builder's yard in the neighbourhood and bought a quantity of second-hand rope; I also furnizthed myself with some thick copper wire, and, at the same time, borrowed a brace fitted with a fine bit. In the first place I removed the defective cover and its inner tube; then I wound the rope twice round the rim and bored a hole horizontally through the diameters of the two ropes. I threaded a piece of the copper wire through these holes and tied both circles of rope securely together, repeating this at intervals round the circumference of the wheel. I then wrapped a second two coils of rope over the first two and secured them in place in precisely the same manner, after first pulling the rope 0S tight as possible. I cut the rope, tucked the end underneath the top layer, made holes through the top layer opposite every other spoke, and passed some copper wire through making it fast to the nearest spoke. My reason for passing the wire through, instead of over, the rope was to prevent the wires being cut, as must have happened had they made contact with the road surface. I had not proceeded on my way more than a mile when I had a splendid flat tread on the rope, and on this 1 travelled through Windsor, Slough, and on to Maidenhead, and right home again to King's Cross. I did not have the slightest trouble with my temporary tyre. and, when I took it off the next day, found it so firmly fixed that a hammer and chisel had to be used before I could remove it from the rim. A very good plan to repair an ordinary burst on an inner tube is to patch the tear, inflate slightly, wrap a long strip of canvas round it, replace in the cover and pump up. This plan will prevent any bursting afresh through the hole in the tread. An apparently hopeless case may be patched up in this way so as to enable the van to complete its journey."
A Typical Day's Work.
" N.F..R." (York) writes on the 22nd inst. :—" The following account of a sharp day's work will, I think, interest the readers of the • Drivers News.' On September 7th, I and my mate commenced work at 6 a.m. at the depot. We then took out our Straker steam wagon and went to the North-Eastern Railway Company's goods depot, where we loaded the vehicle with five tons of coal. A start was made at 7.20 a.m. for a run of about eight miles; on the way the wagon had to climb a long bank with a gradient varying from r in 16 to i in 20, and we arrived at our destination at 9 a.m. We unloaded, turned round for home, and arrived at the railway dep8t at 11.3o a.m. We had to fill up our water tank on this journey. The wagon was again loaded with coal, left home at i p.m., and arrived without any incidents at the same destination about 2.45 p.m. Here we unloaded our coal and filled up the wagon with sacks of grain, departing once more on our homeward journey at 3.30 p.m. Unfortunately, we had trouble with the pump, which suddenly refused to work for some unexplained reason,, so I immediately took out the water strainer and found it choked with grit and sediment. I cleaned the strainer and replaced it ; the engine was then re-started, and we arrived home at 5.5 p.m., having lost only about ten minutes on the road. This wagon works splendidly, 32 miles a day being done easily, and, although there may not seem to be much of interest in my communication, I am sure it is a good thing for a driver to be able to say how very regular he finds his engine."
Two Classes of Drivers.
" R.C." (London) writes us on the 25th inst. :—" I was very interested in the two letters of • Experience ' (September 7th) and Driver ' (September 141h). 1 think they are both right as regards their views of the necessary qualifications to make a good driver. Roughly speaking, there are two classes of owners of motor wagons. The first, which employs a driver and mate, may reasonably expect them to keep the wagon in running order, and, if the machine is kept working regularly, they will receive the credit due to them ; the second, which employs a driver and a mate, with the addition of a litter, or possibly sends the vehicle to a garage and has it kept in repair under a maintenance contract, is the class described by Experience.' He says that such a driver has to be able to steer properly, also, if necessary, to start and stop the machine; but can a man of this class always start when required? He may be, as Driver ' says, industrious, observant of the requirements both of boiler and general machinery, methodical, and possessed of average intelligence, but it is quite within the bounds of possibility that, on endeavouring to start the wagon by opening the steam valve, he may find no result, in which event he first thing he does is to send his mate for a fitter from the nearest town. This may mean a distance of as much as 20 or 30 miles. When the mechanic arrives on the scene of the hitch, in all probability he finds that the only thing that wants attention is the nut on the valve spindle, which has unscrewed for some reason or other. I have known the following case to occur on a wagon which was driven by an inefficient driver :—The regulator valve stuck in its seat, so that, when the handle was turned, the valve remained behind arid blocked the passage. A light tap with a ham mer rectified this trouble at once. Driver ' does not say who has kept the wagon almost as good as new. Was it himself or his mate? At the present time I know of a Leyland wagon which in 12 months has run 12,000 miles and carried about 3,000 tons. Only the driver has attended to it in any way, and it has never been behind a tow-rope. I have seen a steam lorry, with full steam up, overtaken and passed by another lorry of the same make and with the same load on. The first had the regulator wide open and the steam blower full on, and yet the driver wondered why the second wagon passed him. The first man had a wagon with the nozzle at the end of the blast pipe COO small, with the result that he was choking the free outlet of exhaust steam. I have been in touch with a driver who reported that his pump would not deliver sufficient water for the requirements of the boiler. The pump was examined, and no fault was to be found with it. The trouble really lay in the fact that the boiler was priming, or carrying over a large quantity of water with the steam, so that, although the pump was working normally, it could not keep the water the right height in the gauge glass. I think it is a mistake to be too methodical when running and looking after commercial vehicles. It is a mistake to oil too frequently, paying no attention as to whether the machinery really requires lubrication at the time. Also, it is not a good principle to replenish the fire at the same intervals of time on a flat road as is done when driving the vehicle up a long hill. A driver worthy of the name should be able to tell if his machine is running as it ought by the feel of it. F hope a lot of drivers and others will send you suitable letters for The Motor Drivers News page."