T HE type of vehicle usually required for the transport of
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coal and coke is one which will carry safely a load in sacks. Facilities for bulk transport are often necessary, particularly for coke, a ton of which occupies twice the space of the same weight of coal.
The platform lorry is favoured by the coal merchant because of the ease of access that it provides to any part of the load. A high front-board is an advantage if at any time there will be an upper tier of sacks. There must be no wheel-arches, otherwise the load cannot be arranged com
pactly. Moreover, a low loadingline is seldom demanded because the lorry is often loaded from a bay, apart from the fact that a fair height of floor is convenient for shouldering the sack.
Side Protection for the Load.
Although the loaded sacks, when packed closely, hold well together, some form of side protection is desirable for a swiftly moving vehicle which may encounter sharply cambered roads. Side protection is given by the use of stanchions and chains. The stanchions are from 2 ft. to 2 ft. 6 ins, for a single tier of sacks, or they may be up to 5 ft, high with a double row of chains, if coke be carried frequently.
Many coal lorries have no further equipment for loading, but by dividing the lorry lengthwise by stanchions and rails both loading and unloading are made easier, also it facilitates the arrangement of the sacks if more than one kind of coal be carried, or there be consignments for delivery to more than one customer. From this point of view further division of the body may take the shape of cross-rails.
Body irons sloping across the outer corners of the ends of the platform, or at any cross-partitions, assist the function of the side chains in keeping the load in position and increase the-rigidity of the stanchions. The load may also be protected by enclosing the front of the platform with a short length of sideboarding.
A tailboard provides extra platform area when wheeling the sacks on to the lorry and is an effective safeguard when the vehicle is ascending steep hills.
A sided lorry is often used for carrying coal, and if the sides be hinged it has practically the same ease of access as a platform, with the advantage that the lorry is available for bulk loads and for carrying other classes of merchandise.
There are various ways of increasing the capacity of the sided lorry when coke has to be carried. There may be a permanent superstructure of close-boarding or spaced slats. This should be mounted on fullheight standards or pillars extending to the floor, if the lower part of the lorry sides be hinged, so that they • may be opened independently. The full-height rear corner pillars are utilized for hanging the rear gates, which are mounted above the tailboard.
A removable superstructure has outside irons, the feet of which drop into staples, or it may be hinged to the lower part of the body. In the latter instance, the upper portions of the sides have outside irons, the eyes of which register with hinge hooks or pin plates: The sides are fastened in the usual manner with a slotted pin and key.
For delivering the load in bulk the sided lorry may be equipped for end or side tipping, or it may have a moving floor. Another method is by means of a lorry with a sloping floor, or hoppers, so that when released the load is self-discharging. The lorry has a central lengthwise partition and the floor slopes each side to the bottom of the body. Or the method of discharge may be varied by including an end compartment with its portion of floor sloping downwards to the rear.
The flaps through which the load is discharged are hinged either on their upper or lower edge. When hinged at the top the flap may be utilized to check the flow of the coal, or if at the bottom it then forms an extension of the chute and the point of discharge is closer to the ground. This extension of the chute, if fitted with side guards, also localizes the discharge.
Each opening of the lorry has, in addition to its hinged flap, a pair of inner hinged doors. To ensure compactness these doors are of metal, and when latched hold the load in its compartment independently of the outer flap, When it is desired to unload a compartment, the flap is lowered and
is kept in position by a pair of side chains. On the inner side of the flap there is a pair of metal plates, which normally lie flat. These are lifted until they form a right angle with the surface of the flap and cannot be opened beyond this position, because they are mounted on stop hinges.
The inner doors are then opened against these metal plates and thus form sides to the open flap. The inside surface of the flap is recessed to accommodate the latch of the inner doors when it is closed against them.
With this type of body the partitions, or their supports, must be arranged so that they do not prevent
access to the chassis. For this reason there should be a compartment the centre line of which is situated approximately above the axis of the back axle.
Rear Compartment Accessibility.
A rear compartment may be entirely behind the rear wheels. Accessibility is improved if the sloping floor units be easily removed. The compartments, if of wood, should be metal lined, which not only increases the life of the body but facilitates the discharge of the load.
A lorry used for retail deliveries has to carry scales and weights because the customer is legally entitled to have the declared weight verified, although the right is seldom exercised. The dwarf scales are kept in an underslung locker, which measures about 2 ft. square inside and is about 1 ft. deep. This is secured to the bottom framework by a pair of irons which pass underneath it. The front of the locker has a door or bar.
The weights are usually kept in a separate box, access to them being by
lifting a portion of the floor. The load represented by the weights is avoided if a weighing machine with a registering dial be used instead.