LABOUR-SAVING DEVICE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3910, 23 February 1929, Page 2

LABOUR-SAVING DEVICE.

FOR. UNLOADING METAL TRUCKS.

There is at present under construction at the Manawatu County Council’s workshop, at Sanson, a plough for unloading metal from railway trucks. The installation of this new labour-saving device was conceived by the Council’s engineer (Mr. 11. Y. Bond). In explaining its operation to our representative, Mr. Bond said at the present time when metal was required on the Himalangi highway the tram w T as loaded up and a gang of men had to be sent down with it to unload, if the tram was to run to any sort of timetable. This meant that a good deal of time was lost to the Council as the men were idle during the somewhat lengthy trip to and from their objective. To overcome this lie had conceived the idea of constructing a plough which would do the unloading within a few minutes and which could be operated by two men. Special trucks were necessary for the operation of the plough and these, six in number, were now lying in readiness at the workshops at Sanson. The only structural alteration required to the ordinary metal truck was the hinging of the road side and end flaps. When the portion of highway on which it was desired to deposit the metal was reached 'by the tram, the end flaps of the .trucks would be let down, so as to overlap, the sides dropped and a steel wire attached to the plough which would be located at the rear of the last truck. The other end of the wire 'Would, be coupled to the engine. The brakes would be set on all the trucks and (lie engine would then proceed to haul the plough, which being placed on an angle in the trucks, would throw all the imetal out ou to the roadside. The whole operation would not take more than a few minutes and could quite easily be carried out by the engine driver and guard. , In the event of the line being slippery and the engine not being able to grip in hauling the plough, it would be but a simple matter to construct a small Avineh on the engine for this work. Mr. Bond did not anticipate any difficulty in this connection, however, as the strain of pulling the metal off lhe trucks would not be great owing lo the fact that the plough was only shifting one truck at a time.