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HEAVY COMMERCIAL

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 922 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HEAVY COMMERCIAL VEHICLES Heavy types of motor-cars are now widely employed for commercial purposes. The earliest See also:

British-built type was the See also:steam-propelled See also:wagon, and its See also:evolution was largely encouraged and hastened by important competitive trials, at See also:Liverpool, in the years 1898, 1899 and 1901, which were conducted by the Self-Propelled See also:Traffic Association. Other See also:series of trials were held by the Royal Agricultural Society of See also:England and the Royal Automobile See also:Club. From the end of 1896 to See also:early in 1905 no commercial motor vehicle was legal in England if its unladen See also:weight exceeded 3 tons, and this See also:limitation caused much See also:financial loss to purchasers who overloaded them. The Heavy Motor See also:Car See also:Order of 1904, which came into force on the 1st of See also:March 1905, increased the maximum unladen weight to 5 tons, whilst limiting the See also:gross weight to 12 tons; by the same order, the combined unladen weight of a motor wagon and the single trailer which it is allowed to draw was fixed at 61 tons. In effect, the gross weight of a trailer and its load may not exceed 8 tons, thus yielding a See also:total gross weight, for loaded wagon and loaded trailer, of 20 tons. Excesses in any particular cause a commercial motor to be treated as a " heavy See also:locomotive," or See also:traction See also:engine, when its freedom of See also:movement, See also:speed, &c., are restricted more severely. See also:Miniature traction engines, constructed to comply with the requirements of the Motor Car Acts and Orders, have progressed since 1905; they are chiefly used where it is a convenience to See also:separate the See also:power and carrying See also:units, as by See also:furniture-removal and other contractors. The working cost of a steam wagon with a 5-ton load, in See also:Great See also:Britain, inclusive of See also:provision for See also:interest on See also:capital, depreciation and See also:maintenance, varies from 71d. to 9d. per mile Particulars. See also:Net loads carried : See also:Costs in pence per vehicle-mile. (Petrol at See also:Tod. per See also:gall.) to cwt. I ton 2 tons 3 tons 5 tons See also:Average weekly mileage .

. 400 400 390 350 300 See also:

Driver's See also:wages . . 0.84 0.84 t•oo 1.09 1 60 See also:Fuel (See also:petroleum spirit) 0.55 0.77 0.95 1.25 1.67 See also:Oils and grease 0.12 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.24 See also:Rubber tires 0.50 0.75 1.15 I.50 2.60 See also:Repairs (material and wages) 0.55 0.85 1.03 1.17 1.55 See also:Rent, rates and See also:lighting o• 12 0.15 0.25 0.40 0.50 See also:Insurance and claims . 0.12 0.24 0.35 0.42 0.65 Depreciation 0.65 0.90 1.06 1.36 I.6o Interest on capital. 0.15 0.25 0.33 0.47 0.64 Totals 3.6o 4.87 6.26 7.82 II.05 has a virtual See also:monopoly of use in England; above that, it shares the See also:trade with steam. A See also:tabular statement of current working costs of approved petrol vehicles is published herewith. Before proceeding to describe and illustrate representative types of vehicles, tractors and See also:special See also:machines, a brief See also:summary of the outstanding points in the See also:English statutes and orders which apply to heavy motor-cars may well be given. Any motor-car with an unladen weight in excess of 2 tons is held to be a " heavy motor-car," and a " trailer " means a vehicle See also:drawn by a heavy motor-car. The expression " See also:axle weight " means the aggregate weight transmitted to the See also:surface of the road or other See also:base whereon the heavy motor-car or the trailer moves or rests by the several wheels attached to that axle when the heavy motor-car or trailer is loaded. The expression " weight," in relation to a heavy motor-car or trailer when unladen, means the weight exclusive of the weight of any See also:water, fuel or accumulators used for the purpose of propulsion. All hea' y motor-cars have to be registered with a See also:county See also:council, cow ty See also:borough, or other registering authority, and owners haw to declare, on suitable forms, the unladen weight, the axle w Ight of each axle, and the See also:diameter of each See also:wheel. When a i . gistration certificate is issued it bears these data, in additi' n to a statement of the width and the material of the See also:tyre on each wheel, and the highest See also:rate of speed at which the heavy motor-car may be driven. The owner, after See also:registration, must cause to be painted, or otherwise plainly marked, upon some conspicuous See also:part of the offside of the heavy motor-car, the registered weight unladen, and the registered axle weight of each axle, whilst, upon the near See also:side of the heavy motor-car, he must similarly cause to be painted the highest rate of speed at which it may travel.

Width of tires, which in no See also:

case may be less than 5 in., varies in relation to imposed load and wheel diameter, and a table of these is issued by the Iocal See also:government See also:board. It is specified that " the width shall not be less than that 922 number of See also:half-inches which is equal to the number of units of registered axle weight of the axle to which the wheel is attached." Taking a wheel 3 ft. in diameter as a basis, the unit of registered axle weight is 71 cwt.: this unit increases in the proportion of 1 cwt. per 12 in. increase of diameter, and decreases at the rate of 1 cwt. for every 6 in. reduction in diameter below 3 ft. The speeds at which heavy motor-cars may travel vary from 5 M. an See also:hour to 12 M. an hour. Heavy motor-cars fitted with tires of a soft or elastic material may travel at higher rates of speed than if they were not so fitted. Any motor-car used for trade purposes, but whose unladen weight does not exceed 2 tons, is allowed to travel as fast as 20 M. an hour, and is regarded as an See also:ordinary motor-car. Motor-buses.—The first See also:double-See also:deck motor-bus, of the type of which upwards of r000 are in See also:regular service in See also:London, was licensed by the See also:police authorities in See also:September of 1904. The type of See also:chassis employed is practically identical with those used for loads of 3 tons in the goods-haulage branches of the See also:industry, and the accompanying See also:chart, which is prepared from Number of London Motorbuses "'in See also:Commission: data exclusively collected by the Commercial Motor (London), indicates the growth in the totals since the inception of this departure in the public See also:conveyance of passengers. The growth of motor-bus traffic has resulted in the displacement of some 25,000 horses and 2200 See also:horse omnibuses, during the five years ending the 3oth of See also:June 1910, and it is estimated that there will be practically no horse omnibuses in London, except upon a few suburban routes, by the end of 1911. The inclusive working cost of a London motor-bus, with See also:good management, varies [HEAVY between 9d. and See also:rod. per mile, which figures See also:cover interest, depreciation and See also:administration. Successful provincial motor-bus undertakings, in the See also:United See also:Kingdom, are numerous, and those at See also:Eastbourne, See also:Keighley and See also:Hull may be particularly mentioned of municipal under-takings, whilst the Great Western Railway See also:Company alone has 130 such vehicles at See also:work. Motor-cabs.—Spasmodic efforts to introduce motor-cabs in London were made during the years 1905 and 1906. It was, however, only in the See also:month of March 1907 that the See also:General Motor-See also:cab Company put the first See also:ioo vehicles of its See also:present large See also:fleet into regular service.

The growth of motor-cabs is indicated by the following See also:

numbers, for which the author is indebted to the Commercial Motor (London), and these are of vehicles licensed at the See also:dates given: See also:December 31, 1905, 19; December 31, 1906, 96; December 31, 1907, 723; December 31, 1908, 2805; See also:April 30, 1909, 3203; April 30, 1910, 4941. It is estimated that, at the 3oth of June 1910, there are only I200 horse-drawn hansoms in regular use, and not more than 2500 horse-drawn four-wheelers, in London. In 1904 London had a total of 11,055 horse-drawn See also:hackney carriages, and two self-propelled hackney carriages. The London See also:hiring rate for motor-cabs fitted with taximeters is: for the first mile or part thereof, 8d., subject to an additional See also:charge at the rate of 2d. per 22 minutes for any waiting See also:time or travelling below the rate of 6 m. per hour; 2d. per additional 440 yds., or 22 minutes of waiting or of travel-See also:ling below 6 m. an hour; with the addition of 2d. per package for any package carried outside, and 6d. for a See also:bicycle and 6d. each for each passenger above two, for any distance. The horse-drawn See also:hansom-cab is rs. for the first 2 m., with 6d. for each additional mile or part of a mile, and with a charge of 8d. per 15 minutes of waiting, after the first 15 minutes completed. Taximeter cabs cannot be engaged by time in London, but horse-drawn cabs may be so engaged at 2S. 6d. per hour for a hansom, and at 2s. per hour for a four-See also:wheeler. The taxicab rates apply throughout the See also:Metropolitan Police See also:area, which in some directions extends as far as 20 M. from Charing See also:Cross, but horse-vehicle rates (except those of time) are doubled for any distance beyond a four-mile See also:radius. Steam Vehicles.—Steam wagons may, generally speaking, now be divided into three distinct types, and these are distinguished chiefly by the particular See also:form of final drive adopted by the designer.

End of Article: HEAVY COMMERCIAL

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HEBBEL, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH (1813-1863)

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