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Fuel additives and engine design ACCORDING TO LUBRIZOL, ENGINE MAKERS

COULD EXPLOIT SMOKE DEPRESSANTS ADVANTAGEOUSLY TO MODIFY COMBUSTION AND BREATHING CHARACTERISTICS

LE staff of Lubrizol Great Britain Ltd. robably know more about fuel additives any other group of technicians in the try and the comments on smoke deants made by Mr. Ian Glover, of izol, in a paper recently presented at xting of the Institute of Petroleum. I be of outstanding significance. parsly with regard to engine design and aces in fuel technology.

ter describing _the development and g of additive-treated fuels and out, some of the engine modifications that Nes could advantageously justify. Mr. .T.1referred to their potential in terms of e output. In his words: "The reduction toke conferred by such fuels could be utilized to enable new designs of ento be uprated by between 10 to 20 :ent with negligible smoke rating and ly negligible increase in fuel contion."

is pertinent that a number of oil coins have stated categorically that the nages offered by additives do not in an uprating potential and that to e makers the availability of smokessants would only be welcomed if all were additive-treated and were marwithout a significant increase in price. re marketing of smoke-depressants ately from the fuel for adding to the at the discretion of the driver or an ye-treated premium fuel would, the rs claim, confuse their development and decisions regarding standard

ices remaining

:verting to Mr. Glover's paper, he obd that "the avenues that remain to be ✓ ed" should embrace a new look at composition, which should take into nit the possibility that many previous Mons might no longer be valid in the of additive-treated fuels and that the icial influences of additives on fuel ity and compatability might widen the on of fuel components. Moreover, m. developments could undoubtedly to other improvements of value to the industry. e "natural course of progress" could the development of combustion, in n and timing characteristics designed lain maximum fuel economy, which

normally have resulted "in departrom the point of minimum smoke". lopments intended to make full use of 3tentialities of smoke-depressants could include modification of the breathing Lcteristics of an engine to improve the mum-load performanceof the vehicle. oking further into the future, Mr. .z noted that, as evidenced by Lubrizol

investigations, additives promoted an additional heat release by providing combustion of extra carbon. Whilst this probably was too late in the cycle to provide any overall benefit in the current stage of development, further progress might well enable the heat to be released earlier in the cycle and thermal efficiency to be thereby im proved. In a test of an uprated Volvo TD.96B 9.6-litre, turbo-charged, direct-injection engine, having a standard rating of 240 b.h.p. at 2,200 r.p.m., described by Mr. Glover, a smoke density of 60 Hartridge units was reduced to 18 units when full additive treatment was applied to the fuel. In a 300 hr. test of the engine there was no increase in exhaust temperature or reduction in fuel consumption when the engine operated on the smoke-depressant fuel. In fact, there was a slight improvement in both cases.

There was also an improvement in piston cleanliness, whilst the valves and turbocharger were in excellent condition at the end of the run and bore wear was negligible. The condition of the injectors was unchanged. Assessing the relative merits of Hartridge and Bosch smoke meters, Mr. Glover pointed out that the chief advantage of the Hartridge unit was its ability to record continuous smoke readings and that it was thus ideal for measuring smoke density of stationary engines in transient conditions. It was, however, cumbersome, difficult to install on a moving vehicle and required a separate power source, other than the vehicle battery, to avoid voltage fluctuations. The method of exhaust sampling employed was fairly critical unless a damping chamber was employed to ensure reasonably constant sampling pressures.

A permanent record

The Bosch meter provided a permanent record and was particularly suitable for measuring density at any given condition. on or off the road. Given that the sampling pipe was well purged, sampling was less critical than the record afforded by the Hartridge unit. Because only one reading could be taken at a time. the Bosch instrument was not suitable for measuring transient conditions, but it could readily be clipped on to the exhaust tail-pipe of a vehicle. The Hartridge unit was normally used for measuring smoke in a free-acceleration test in which the engine of a stationary vehicle was accelerated three times from idling to full speed to purge the engine, the reading of smoke density being recorded on the fourth acceleration.

Dealing with the factors that cause exhaust smoke, Mr. Glover emphasized that unless the injection equipment could be tailored to deliver fuel in the right quantity at the right time in the right state throughout a widely differing speed range, exhaust smoke would be produced at some point in the range and that this largely governed the maximum output obtainable.

Fuel compressible

Because fuel was compressible, pressure waves were generated by the sudden closing of the spill ports of the injection pump, and the flow of fuel from the nozzle might, therefore, bear no resemblance to that produced by the pump plunger. Changes in specific gravity and temperature had also to be taken into account, a 3°F rise in temperature giving an increase in compressibility of as much as 1 per cent. Such deviations from the designed injection characteristics would increase exhaust smoke, quite apart from that produced by a worn or incorrectly timed injection pump and faulty or partially blocked nozzles. Comparing directand indirect-injection combustion systems, Mr. Glover observed that the exhaust of a direct-injection engine could "darken considerably" at the top end of the combustion loop without any marked falling off in efficiency. In the case of an indirect-injection type, a large increase in smoke density followed a small increase in b.m.e.p. when air utilization exceeded a proportion of rather more than 80 per cent. With both types of chamber, the timing for optimum fuel consumption differed from that for minimum exhaust smoke by as much as .6°, the best consumption being obtainable by advancing the timing. The timing that provided the least exhaust smoke gave a specific fuel consumption of up to 4 per cent above the minimum at the most economical setting.

Mr. Glover also described tests of a number of other engines, including a Perkins 4.99 that had completed 58.000 miles installed in a vehicle. At 50 m.p.h. untreated fuel gave a Bosch meter reading of 1.5, whilst the reading with treated fuel was reduced to 0.5. When running at 30 m.p.h.. the respective readings were 3.4 and 2. HIE best starting point in considering the problems of the C icence operations of the manufacturing industries is to fully .eciate and understand that the whole of the transport and disition organization is as much a part of the production line as ctual "product making" departments.

. was Adam Smith who defined production as "a process 11 adds value to the commodity", and I believe everyone will lily agree that without the means of transporting goods to the Lt of sale, the goods themselveS are valueless. This is true in clothing industry and the problem is the same as for all other .stries—to have the right goods at the right place at the right for the customer to buy.

iithin the Burton tailoring organization, the problem of disition is a little more complex in that the various production s serve the retail outlets direct—outlets stretched across the th and breadth of the United Kingdom, from Stornoway to zance, from Londonderry to Lowestoft. Within this framework scattered more than 500 retail establishments and a dozen D manufacturing units.

o fully appreciate the whole problem of transport distribution ie clothing industry, it must be appreciated that at no one time

possible to forecast accurately the sizes of deliveries for a icular area. This is completely dependent on the customer. -e than half the clothing sold is "made to measure" and as a It the customer makes the first approach to the retail shop ire an order can be put into production. Consequently, such ors as local weather, local industrial unrest, local unemploy

t and even local industrial holidays all affect the trading ms and, therefore, the future loads to be carried to that area. 'ransport planning is therefore a mixture of guesswork and :rience—it can, however, be divided into three main headings: type of vehicle, (b) size and type of body, (c) frequency of reries.

le of vehicle the clothing industry, because of the wide retail coverage, long-haul and town-delivery vehicles are needed. In the itague Burton organization the whole of the distribution probrevolves around long-distance night trunking and towniery work. The theory is to move garments as far as possible • e the retail branches are closed and then to give maximum :rage to a single area during branch trading hours.

!lose-coupled tractive units and semi-trailers are used on the it trunk routes, and these are employed essentially as rigid cies in that the unit and semi-trailer, once they leave the factory, am n coupled until they return. The reason for using articulated Its is to take full advantage of the new maximum lengths trailers and it is possible to carry up to 5,000 garments in one er from the factory to the point of distribution. Once the bulk loads have been received at the various transport depots for distribution, these are reloaded on to smallercapacity town-delivery vehicles for direct delivery to the retail branches. The vehicle used in this type of delivery is one which must be able to negotiate the town and city traffic, be easy to park for unloading, carry an economical load, and cover up to 200 miles a day on a fairly rigid schedule.

My own company, after lots of research, decided on the Bedford 5-ton TK, with a 36 in. chassis extension. This gave the vehicle a carrying capacity of about 1,000 garments, which generally would serve between 12 and 20 delivery points in a day, depending on the area.

Size and type of body

Here again the clothing industry has a problem all its own. In earlier years, clothing was packed in cases and shipped either by rail or in company transport, the cases being returned to the factory after being emptied at the branches.

The more accepted and modern way is to hang all the garments in the vehicles on the same suit hangers as they left the factory presses. This saves many hours of unproductive packing and enormous costs for the purchase of cases. More important, it certainly ensures that the garments arrive at the branches in a reasonable condition. All the garments carried in Montague Burton vans are carried on hangers in this way and, of course, this has a big bearing on the type of body to be built.

It has been proved without doubt that the best type of body is a "square rigid box", with no fancy coachwork, and one which has all the strength built into the frame of the body. Because the garments are hung in the vans, all the stresses and strains on the body itself are on the framing and it is vital that no expense should be spared on this part of the structure.

One of the commonest criticisms levelled at the system of carrying garments on hangers is that the suits are likely to be damaged by dirt and dust which may get into the van while it is travelling on the road. This is nonsense. If one knows this problem, it should be guarded against and made "dust and dirt proof" when the van body is designed.

Frequency of delivery

This is perhaps the trickiest decision to make—should the van go once a week to the branch and deliver a full load, or should it go everyday and deliver a possibly uneconomical load? This, of course, is a problem which has to be discussed with both the sales director and the production director. In my company it is felt that customer service is one of the most important assets we have, and maybe we tend to give too many deliveries to each branch. However, the "customer is always right" and without him we would have no deliveries to make at all. Indeed, it would be very difficult to explain to a customer that his suit was ready at the factory but he could not have it for an important function because the van came only once a week.

Wilkie design

Vehicle design is something I feel strongly about. Specialized body design are magic words with some people—but they forget that for straightforward delivery work simplicity might have a lot more to -offer. Spending less on a more standardized body, against the higher cost of a more specialized design, might be a straighter line to a more economical and so a more efficient fleet. For example, some of the older vehicles in the Montague Burton fleet had rounded, coach-built corners and roofs, just for appearance sake. But I cannot fill up these awkward spaces with garments.

Our new vehicles have simple boxvan bodies and interior space can be used to a maximum. So far as "public image" is concerned, I feel that a good, clean, well painted and maintained boxvan is equally, if not more, attractive, than some of the more elaborate coach-built vehicles.

Distribution—a new word in transport management

A transport man now has to be a distribution man and must consider himself and his department as an extension of his firm's production line—a man who can use every single facility at his disposal to maximum advantage.

In the clothing industry in years gone by garments were either dispatched by rail, van or post and I believe this was the general outlook of most dispatch and transport departments. This is wrong thinking. Today, garments can be dispatched by combining many ways of shipment and I do this within my own company. As an example, my company has six branches in Northern Ireland and each week a van crosses from Stranraer to Larne, making direct deliveries to Belfast, Londonderry and Portadown.

Because these branches have a delivery by van, is it fair to ask ry customer in Northern Ireland to wait for this weekly van? o not think so, and my compaoy has made other arrangements as to give a daily service of "made to measure" orders in all the rthern Ireland branches. The method is easy and economical. Each night, on the way to our Lancashire factories, the night nk vehicle calls at Ringway Airport and delivers parcels of Is for these branches. These are flown over to Belfast during the lit by British European Airways_ On arrival at Belfast Airport, BEA local van delivers the garments direct to the Belfast inches, whilst a local delivery service (E. Williams and Co.) :es over the delivery to Portadown and Londonderry.

All parcels are delivered before noon on the day following. patch from the factories. Here, then, is an example of a combinaa of "own transport" and "the private haulier". The cost also very _small—somewhere in the region of 10d. per kg. The same type of operation is carried out in south-east England, en use is made of local bus services to provide an express ivery to more distant branches. Parcels packed in Leeds and mchester on Friday evening for Dover, Margate, Ramsgate I Deal are delivered by our own van' at the Canterbury branch Saturday morning and, the local manager puts them on the sea for these towns. This gives a special weekend delivery beatable by post, rail or private haulier, as all parcels are Livered to their destinations before noon.

ternational operations Up to a few years ago, transport managers would have gasped they were asked to make arrangements to deliver suits outside ; perimeter of the United Kingdom. But now more and more erators are giving direct deliveries from factories in the UK customers on the continent of Europe. My own company irted manufacturing and trading in France some two years ago d from the start I was determined to make this no greater a oblem than delivering to Aberdeen, Belfast or Penzance. From small beginnings, when trial runs were made between eds and Paris, a regular weekly trunk service has been estabhed with our own vehicles, which carry everything needed for a I-scale manufacturing and trading operation.

A typical load would contain cloth for making up into suits, rments made in the UK for sale in France, shirts, socks, ties and her outfitting goods, display equipment for shop windows, -niture, electrical equipment, office machinery, stationery—all eked in the vehicle without any costly wrapping paper or . pensive cases arid boxes which would be needed for dispatch by or road carrier. The journey takes 48 hours and has proved tremely economical.

This service is supplemented by an air freight service to Paris, d here again costs are slashed by using our own transport—the ght trunk vehicles already operating between Leeds and London deliver these to London Airport, where they are put on the Paris flight. A saving of up to 10d. per kg. is made with no loss of delivery time.

Recently I was asked if it would be possible to take a full load of suits to Moscow. "Yes", was my immediate reply and costings showed that this was very economical. Unfortunately, the order did not materialize and my transport department did not have the thrill of such a trip. However, our associate company, Jackson the Tailor, has established a route to Duisberg in Germany, and is already giving a service to customers in Holland by using the new Hull/Rotterdam drive-on ferry.

There are no limits to the field of international operation, provided careful planning is carried out in the initial stages and vans are not just run for the "fun of the thing". Use every type of transport available to bring down the costs and establish a real economical service for your customer. I see no reason why in the future British vehicles shouldn't cross to the Continent, be loaded on to freight trains, such as the "Kangeroo" in France, and whisked across hundreds of miles at speeds of more than 100 miles an hour, so as to be able to deliver in the south of France, Spain or Italy within 24 hours of leaving our shores. This is indeed "forward thinking". But it is possible and! see no reason why it shouldn't happen.

Final thoughts A successful and properly planned transport department is one which nobody ever hears about. This is the ultimate of the new transport organization which is being built up in Montague Burton Ltd., an organization so well integrated into both the production line and the retail establishments that it is simply taken for granted. Transport and dispatch—or, as I prefer to call it, distribution—is one of the vital links in the "chain of business". If this link is weak in any way, it is quickly discovered by all those departments which depend on supplies and the shops which depend on the finished goods.

In the Montague Burton organization, distribution plays its full part in providing the customer with the best possible service, one which is flexible, efficient, economical and, most important, a service which portrays to the customer the efficiency of the company as a whole.

I always have in my mind that the only part of our company that a customer may see, apart from the local branch, is the van and its driver delivering to that branch. An untidy driver and an old, broken-down dirty van can only conjure up pictures of dirty production units and slipshod methods. A smart driver and a clean and well-cared-for vehicle will reflect an efficient organization as a whole —that is the aim of the Montague Burton distribution organization.