CONVEYING COAL FROM LIERY TO CUSTOMER.
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How the Price of an Essential Commodity is 1 Some Aspects of Coal Distribution Work in Aux the Method Employed for its Transport. etails of Types of Vehicle Used for this Service.
MANY EXPERTS believe that the British coal trade is at the moment facing the worst crisis in its history. This is all the more a matter for concern when it is considered that the greater part of British exports, so far as actual bulk is concerned, is made up of coal. Continental countries are not able to buy on the pre-war scale owing to financial difficulties' whilst they are straining every effort to render themselves so far as possible independent of imported fuel, either by developing their own deposits or by hydro-electric projects.
Some idea of the magnitude of the coal industry in Great Britain will be gathered from the fact that 3,197 mines are in operation, and that they are capable of producing nearly 300,000,000 tons yearly. They give employment to about 1,250,000 hands. Two-thirds of the coal produced is used for home consumption. Distribution costs have risen over 108 per cent, since pre-war days—wages of loaders and carmen have increased by 199 per cent., cartage expenses by 178 per cent., sacks by 167 per cent., rent by 300 per cent., and salaries and establishment charges by more than 70 per cent.
Dr. E. W. Smith, in a paper recently read before the World rower Conference, conclusively proved that better means for transporting coal would result in a saving of millions of tons annually. In Dr. Smith's opinion coal could be distributed with much greater efficiency than it is to-day and that its cost could be appreciably reduced by the use of a more economical system of transport.
The average length of the railway journey over which the whole of the 250,000,000 tons of coal mined in this country annually is transported is 50 miles, and this increases its average price by abut 5s. per ton. About 10s. 6d. per ton as railway rate and wagon hire has to be added to the pithead price of coal which is destined for London from Nottingham, Derby and other Midland collieries, and 12s. for that mined in Yorkshire. In addition to this, Dr. Smith estimates that a further 6s. per ton must be added for delivery charges from the siding to the consumer's house.
In the last Government the Ministry of Mines held a conference with the coal distributors, as a result B32 of which it had under consideration a scheme for the retail distribution of coal through municipal authorities and co-operative societies. It is hardly probable that this scheme will now materialize, but the mere fact that it was considered by a Labour Government goes to prove that it is felt there is room for some improvement in the means for distributing this essential commodity.
According to official figures, the cost per ton of distributing house coal in London last August ranged from 50s. to 55s., dependent On the pithead price. Estimating the latter at 318., railway freight cost 9s. 10d., wagon hire 28., wages of loaders, etc., 4s. 5,1d., cartage, etc. 28. 5d., sacks 30., loss, small coal, etc., 9d., siding rent, etc., 3d., clerical salaries is. 11id., and establishment costs is. 3id. These figures do not comprise the cost of delivery to the consumer or the price to the consumer.
On account of its relatively low value in pro portion to its bulk, it should be possible to transport coal more economic ally by rail than by road. Yet there must be many centres in England where deliveries of coal straight from the pithead to the consumer could be more economically and expeditiously effected by motor lorry, and where this could be done 12s. id. per ton could be saved so far as railway freight, wagon hire and siding rent are concerned.
In addition, the wages of loaders would be less, or they would do more work for the same money, in so far as one handling of the coal at least would be saved. The charge under the heading " sacks" would also be less, because in many eases bulk deliveries could be made. The lower number of handling operations should bring about a reduction in the " loss " item by 50 per cent. and clerical salaries and establishment costs would not be so high. In short, practicable deliveries by isotor, lorries should, in many cases, effect a saving of at least les. per this, even if the cartage item be increased from 2s. 5d. to les.
Since transport costs so largely
inflate the price of coal to consumers, it is remarkable how slowly deliveries by horse trolley are dying. It is true that many of the more .progressive distributors in this country are taking increasingly to the use of lorries, but we must go to the United States in order to appreciate the extensive developments that are being made in this
direction. The great majority of the 1,300 concerns in the United States which are engaged in effecting deliveries of coal are confirmed lorry users. Indeed, some of the larger companies are entirely dispensing with the horse for delivery work.
Amongst the many advantages claimed for the mechanically propelled vehicle for coal delivery service are those of quicker delivery, ability to transport bigger loads, and the possibility of extending the range of distribution.
It is at the point of actual delivery, however, where the lorry shows its superiority. The modern coalman in the United States hardly knows what it means to stagger from the delivery vehicle to the coal-hole beneath heavy sacks of fuel. All he has to do to-day is to back his vehicle as close as possible to the coal-hole, place a chute into position and tip the whole of his load straight into the customer's cellar.
So far as is known, no serious attempt has been made by makers in this country to produce vehicles of this description, and it is to be presumed that the demand for them has not yet arisen. There must surely, however, be some spheres of operation in which their special features would prove of inestimable value. It is known, of course, that ingenious coaltipping bodies have been fitted to various types and makes of British chassis, but in practically all cases these vehicles are arranged to dump their loads in juxtaposition to the lorry and not to deposit them several yards away from the position of the lorry.
The use of tipping wagons for eft-Kiting direct deliveries of coal would remove one of the objections -that are at present raised against the use of lorries for the retail distribution of coal. It is generally found that the drivers of mechanical vehicles are not willing to carry sacks in the same way as the isisin in charge of a coal trolley has always done, but a driver in charge of a mechanical tipper could easily be pre. smiled upon to realize that the actual discharge of the load should be part and parcel of his duty.
Another argument put forward against the use of the lorry is that a horse trolley can be loaded while another is engaged on delivery work, and that, on the return of the empty trolley the driver can unharness his horse and back it into the shafts of' the trolley loaded in his absence. Such a practice, however, is just as practicable with a lorry, the body of which can not only be partitioned off into compartments but can take a much heavier load than the trolley. Then, again, tipping trailers capable of being operated from the power unit of the prime mover can be employed to overcome this difficulty. An important point to remember is that the delivery of household coal is largely a seasonal business. The standing charges on an unused lorry cannot be so great as those for maintaining horses when no work is required to be done. Moreover, the roads might, at any time, become almost impassable to horse transport owing to snow or sleet, whereas such conditions have little or no effect on the operation of the modern motor lorry. • Some progressive coal-distributing executives in this country believe that no mechanical device has yet been found that will equal man-power, aided by shovel, sack or basket, for loading or unloading coal, but hoppers are used successfully for this work in America, Improvements in methods of loading at railway sidings have lately been introduced so that lorries can be efficiently and expeditiously loaded. The usual method is to shunt the. loaded coal truck to the required .point and then to tip its contents. A portable loader is placed between the heap of coal and the tipping lorry, and all a man has to do is to shovel coal on to the base of the loader, whence it is conveyed automatically into the body of the road vehicle.
From far underground at the face of the seam to the cellar of the ultimate consumer, coal is now handled almost entirely by machinery M the United States. In the pits electrically driven machines hew out the coal, electric drills sink holes for the Powder charges, electric locomotives haul the loaded trolleys to the base of the shaft, whilst the lifts can be so operated by electricity that the loads of coal can be shot oat promptly at the pithead. At this point the coal is automatically dumped on to sizing screens. The fuel, moving along conveyors over the picking tables, passes through the washing plant and down into railway trucks or lorries at a convenient point. When the coal arrives at the yards of local dealers, similar modern devices are also utilized. Giant elevators, known to the trade as coal pockets, are now largely employed by up-to-date coal dealers, and. these huge structures, which are built of reinforced concrete, are as high as a seven-story building. The average pocket has a capacity of some 1,000 tons of coal, and can unload about 500 tons of coal a, day. The coal is received by the dealers from the railway through a hopper and drop-bottom trucks, and is precipitated into a large centre pit. It is then passed by means of power-driven conveyors into the elevators, from which it is loaded by gravity into self-tipping delivery lorries, from which it can be *shot straight into the cellar of the consumer. By means of this equipment coal can be handled m remarkably quick time. Because of its relatively low value in proportion to its bulk, speed in delivery and low cost of operation are essential if coal dealers are to handle this commodity with profit.Vehicles must also be reliable in running, and kept in almost continuous operation. Owing to the defects Of past, and, indeed, of certain modern methods of building construction, the delivery of coal into the cellars of consumers, whether business or residential, is often difficult. To meet such shortcomings it is found to be of great benefit if the lorries used for this work be possessed of a short wheel base, for they can be manipulated with greater ease in loading yards than the standard type of vehicle.
The delivery lorries used by the J. M. Sweeney Coal Co., of Chicago, are Autocars, and this company have declared. that because of the .ease with which short-wheelbase vehicles can be manceuvred they have been able to effect economies in time which have enabled the size of the fleet to be kept down to a minimum. On an average the units operated by this company make nine round trips daily, each trip being about eight mile l long.
" The Black Diamond," a leading organ in the American coal trade, recently compiled a census showing the number of makes of lorry engaged in retail coal deliveries in the six States comprising New England. The result showed that Autocars led the ' field With 644, followed by 552 Fords ; 50 other makes were also represented. Almost one-third of the coal dealers in Massachusetts reported that they used lorries exclusively for delivery purposes. With the exception of about a dozen concerns, all the dealers in towns with a population of 20,000 or more used lorries. There seems to be a rather definite relation between the size of the city and the use of motor lorries by dealers.
The census also showed that in. 12 representative cities with populations ranging in size from 75,000 to 150,000, out of a group of 30 miscellaneous coal dealers only one used no lorries, whilst six made no use of horses. In a similar selection of 12 cities with populations between 20,000 and 70,000 it was found that out of a group of 30 coal dealers three used no motor lorries and seven no horses.
In the smaller towns there is shown to be a greater dependence on horses, but this survey really explodes the old idea that coal lorries are more useful in large cities. The belief is contradicted by the fact that some of the best and most efficient motor fleets in New England are in use in small towns. A fleet. of that kind exists in Maine, the owner using lorries exclusively, in spite of the deep snows which are often experienced.
This survey revealed that service is regarded as being an important feature in connection with vehicles used on coal distribution work. The, dealers who expressed the greatest degree of satisfaction with their lorries also stated, in nearly every case, that much of their satisfaction was due to the fact that a service station, specializing in the repair and maintenance of the particular units in their fleets, was near at hand and always ready to give prompt attention to their varying needs.